Somewhere in the last decade, Collingwood stopped being the town you drove through on the way to the chairlift. It's now a place with four breweries, a handful of distilleries, orchards turning heritage apples into cider, and a vineyard twenty minutes up the escarpment growing grapes nobody thought would survive this far north. The town has even started calling itself Ontario's craft beverage capital — and honestly, it's earned the right to try.
We're up here constantly with cameras, shooting homes and businesses across South Georgian Bay, which means we've watched this scene grow from the inside. And we've noticed something about buyers touring the area: they'll ask about school catchments and property taxes, then get quiet when someone hands them a tasting flight on a patio with the escarpment behind it. That's the moment the town stops being a spreadsheet.
So here's the honest local's version of Collingwood craft breweries and wineries — where to go, what each place is actually like, and what the whole thing tells you about living here.
01Side Launch Brewing — the one everyone knows
Start here, because everyone else does. Side Launch opened in 2014 on Mountain Road and named itself after the way ships were once launched sideways into the harbour at Collingwood's shipyards — the industry that built this town before tourism did. It's a proper Collingwood story told in a beer label.
The beers are traditional and very well made, mostly German-leaning styles, and the brewery took Canadian Brewery of the Year in 2016. The taproom is industrial-chic with plenty of room inside and out, there's usually a food truck parked on site, and the lineup now runs well past beer into seltzers and non-alcoholic options. It's a good first stop precisely because it's the least precious room in town — people come straight off the trails in whatever they were wearing.
02Black Bellows — downtown, and the best building in it
On the corner of Simcoe and Sainte Marie, in the heart of downtown, Black Bellows brews in a late-1800s building that spent over 140 years in the Dey family — first as a blacksmith and carriage shop, later as an auto body shop, making it the longest-running business in Collingwood's history. The name is a nod to the bellows a blacksmith used to feed the forge.
They brew everything on site in a hand-built brewhouse that includes an American oak foeder, which is a nerdy detail that matters: it means they're playing with barrel-aged and sour styles, not just filling the taps with the safe stuff. There's a kitchen and a fully stocked bottle shop. If you only have one stop and you want to feel the downtown, make it this one.
Knowing where locals drink on a Friday is as useful a relocation metric as anything on a listing sheet.
03The Collingwood Brewery — the locals' local
Tucked away on Sandford Fleming Drive in a light-industrial pocket that tourists rarely find, The Collingwood Brewery has a rustic, genuinely cozy taproom and an all-natural brewing philosophy. The reason to make the trip is the Freestyle Series — a new small-batch beer every month, available only at the brewery. Nowhere else, no exceptions.
That single detail explains a lot about how this town works. There's a rhythm of small, local, monthly things that reward the people who live here rather than the people passing through. You only find them by being around.
04Northwinds Brewhouse & Kitchen — the dinner option
Northwinds on First Street is the one you choose when the plan is actually dinner and the beer comes along for the ride. It's a brewpub and restaurant with an open kitchen and brewhouse, elevated pub food, and a second location up at Blue Mountain Village if you want the resort version. The Collingwood room is the better one — busier with locals, later hours, and far less of the après-ski crush.
05Georgian Hills Vineyards — the drive that surprises people
Twenty minutes northwest of Collingwood, at Victoria Corners where Grey Road 2 meets Grey Side Road 21 — between Ravenna and Thornbury — sits a small vineyard doing something quietly remarkable. Georgian Hills grows cold-hardy varieties that work because Georgian Bay moderates the climate here, the same lake effect that keeps the apple orchards going. The result is bright, vibrant whites and lighter, fruit-forward reds with soft tannins.
It's a small operation with just a few tables, which is the point — you get personal attention and a guided tasting rather than a bus-tour shuffle. There's a full menu of charcuterie and seasonal comfort food seven days a week, and live music on Wednesday evenings. Reserve ahead, especially on weekends and holidays. The drive out Grey Road 2 in October is worth the trip on its own.
06The cider houses — the part people underestimate
This region sits in the middle of roughly 7,500 acres of apple orchards, so cider isn't a trend here. It's agriculture.
- Duntroon Cyder House is eight minutes south of town on County Road 124, on a 100-acre organic farm overlooking the bay. The Schneider family bought the farm in 2002 and started planting in 2013. Everything is hand-picked heritage Duntroon Parish apples, with no added sugar and no sulphites. The flights come with popcorn dusted in their own organic garlic powder, which sounds odd and is excellent.
- Thornbury Village Cider House has been at it since 2006 out of a historic building on King Street East in Thornbury, with over 25 ciders and beers on offer, food, and cans to take home. Twenty-five minutes from Collingwood and an easy pairing with a Thornbury harbour walk.
07And the spirits, while you're at it
Georgian Bay Spirit Co. has been distilling in Collingwood since 2013 and is one of the most awarded craft distilleries in the country. You've almost certainly had their Gin Smash — it launched in 2016 as the first craft cocktail in a can in Canada, and the first-year sales beat projections by more than four times over. The Raglan Street distillery now has a retail shop attached.
What this actually tells a buyer
Here's why a tasting guide belongs on a real estate blog.
Craft beverage businesses are a reliable signal about a town's economics. They need year-round customers, not just a twelve-week summer. They need staff who live locally. They need a downtown where people linger. When four breweries, several distilleries, a vineyard and multiple cider houses all survive within twenty-five minutes of each other, it means the population base is real and the shoulder seasons aren't dead — which is exactly the question every buyer relocating from the GTA should be asking.
It also tells you something about the shape of the week. This isn't a resort strip that empties on Sunday night. Wednesday live music at a vineyard, a Thursday monthly beer release, a Monday-afternoon cider flight — these things exist because people are here on Wednesdays and Mondays.
So when you're touring the area, build in an afternoon for this. Drive Grey Road 2 out to the vineyard, come back through Duntroon, finish downtown at Black Bellows. You'll learn more about whether you want to live here than any three listing tours will teach you.
Published by Capture Media Co. Hours, menus, and tasting room policies change seasonally — always check directly with each business before you make the drive. Please enjoy responsibly and plan a safe ride home.