A little about Silversmith Brewing Company...

It is located in Niagara-on-the-Lake at a former church built around 1894. The exterior has been left intact however the interior has been converted into a rustic, welcoming space you can enjoy.

The name Silversmith originated from owner Chris and his family history working in the Silversmith trade. Chris together with owner Matt Swan were tired of drinking "crappy beer" as they would say, so in 2011 the idea of Silversmith brewery was conceived.

Silversmith likes to make use of the local produce taking every opportunity to use ingredients from the niagara region in their beer in order to help support local farmers. Each batch they produce is fresh, unfiltered, unpasteurized and ready for its first sip, so go ahead and take a dive into the glorious tasting beer silversmith has to offer you today.

The fermentation process can affect whether a beer is classified as a ale or lager. Silversmith's Black lager is cool fermented. This process keeps the fermenting beer around 10 degrees celsius for about one month. The method takes longer for the beer to ferment, but is considered the method that gets the most flavours out of the draft. This method can be compared to the low and slow method people use when barbecuing. Ales typically are fermented in room temperature for about two weeks. Hops can be added to the beer during the fermentation process. This gives the beer the aroma of the hops without the bitterness. This technique is called dry hopping. The beer is fermented in a sterilized airtight cask typically made out of stainless steel. At the end of the fermentation process the yeast will form a layer on the top or bottom of the beer. The beer has to be slowly drained to try and keep the yeast as separate from the beer as possible. Often beer will have to be strained a few times. each time letting the beer stand for at least an hour so the yeast can settle. Once the beer is filtered it can be bottled and capped. Once capped beers will carbonate themselves to the appropriate level if the yeast was done right. If there is still too much yeast too much pressure can build in the bottle and it can explode. Some beers require further fermentation in their bottle before being served.