#97 Crowlers: A Metaphor For Life with Dave Lee (Eastbound)

I've lived in Toronto for a cumulative maybe 2.5-3 years, and in that time I never really hung out much in the East End. It just wasn't really cool, there wasn't a lot happening and there sure as hell weren't a ton of breweries out that way.

Over the past few years, however, the East End has been experiencing somewhat of a renaissance, not only in beer, but in culture, food and damn near everything else one would want in a neighbourhood. With exceptional breweries like Left Field, Rorschach and Godspeed popping up, and a bunch more in planning, East Enders were suddenly blessed with a plethora of options for phenomenal craft beer right in their proverbial backyards.

Eastbound are one of the newer breweries in the 'hood, officially opening both the kitchen and brewing operations in the Summer of 2017. I'd heard a ton about them through the barleyvine (get it? "barley" and "vine" because gra... ahh forget it) - word on the street is their beers were awesome, the food was fire and they had Crowlers, arguably the first in Ontario to do so (please correct me if I'm wrong). 

I got in touch with Adam, one of the partners at Eastbound, earlier this year but the timing never worked out to set up a podcast. Finally, in late July, we managed to set something up right before we were heading back to Montreal. The brewery itself is awesome, super well organized, they've squeezed a ton of equipment into a tight spot and it works well. The vibe is chill, modern and welcoming, the branding is on point, and the food smelled amazing (we only tried the fries, which were great). I love seeing a husband and wife team helm the operations (brewing and kitchen, respectively), and the events they have planned - like a proper seafood boil and beer pairing - are interesting af.

Dave is a great dude, we got along immediately, he's hilarious and self-effacing, warm and kind, and there's no wonder he's good mates with Sam Corbeil of Sawdust City, one of our fave people.

Anyway, I'll shut up now, check out the video below, or listen to the full audio via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This episode is brought to you by High Season Co. - @highseasonco // highseasonco.com

Theme tune: Cee - BrewHeads // bit.ly/CeeBrewHeads

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