LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2026

BEER

With a bounty of incredible local beer pours in store, it’s easy to put together tasting flights for a night of casual entertaining. Sample, sip and savour, alongside light nibbles, and pick your faves.

BY JORDAN ST. JOHN AND CHRISTINA FRANTZIS ————— PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB FIOCCA

Ontario craft beer has gone through a boom over the last two decades, and one way to acquaint yourself with fresh brews can be through tasting in flights. Trying different beers side by side is a great way to discover the flavours of a particular style and what characteristics you prefer in a beer. When a beer flight is paired with a resonant recipe, it’s a gateway to discovering how flavours interact and learning to discern the subtle differences among offerings from Ontario brewers.

POTATO CRUSTED QUICHE P. 94

Oktoberfest and Amber Beers

Burdock The Last Waltz LCBO 53047, 473 mL, $4.35 Celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Band’s Thanksgiving swan song with a Vienna lager. Expect approachable sugar cereal malt notes and a light, herbal bitterness.

Fixed Gear Jim Cuddy Harvest Ale LCBO 47561, 473 mL, $3.65 Designed in collaboration with Blue Rodeo’s frontman, this is a caramel-focused crowd-pleaser that would be as welcome in a rec room as it is at a bonfire.

Wellington Brewery Festbier LCBO 39531, 473 mL, $3.75 This is a lighter- bodied local take on Oktoberfestbier, with honey-like malt character and a restrained, earthy bitterness.

The leaves are raked, the bonfire is lit, and friends are gathered. The cooler weather creeping in calls for a more robust flavour profile. What amber beers have in common with some Oktoberfest brews is toasted caramel and toffee notes, offering the sweetness of a deeper, rounder barley flavour. In this flight, explore lagers and ales that will bring a sweet, rich body and palate-refreshing bitterness to the saltiness of Manchego and subtle heat of crumbled chorizo in our Potato-Crusted Quiche.

FOOD STYLING BY CHRISTOPHER ST. ONGE; PROP STYLING BY SHELLY SHNIER

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AUTUMN 2026 ————————