Muskoka Brewery is the elder statesman of cottage-country craft beer. Founded in June 1996 by Gary McMullen and the late Kirk Evans as Muskoka Cottage Brewery — and celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026 — it remains independently Canadian-owned, grew from a tiny operation to a staff of over a hundred, and helped teach Ontario what craft lager and ale could be.
Its very first beer, Cream Ale, was named Best Beer in Canada in 1996; the lineup now anchors on the Mad Tom IPA, the endlessly drinkable Detour session IPA, Craft Lager, Dark Ale and seasonal releases like Shinnicked Stout. The beers are largely unfiltered with no preservatives — clarity comes from a centrifuge rather than filtration — and the range has grown to include Muskoka Spirits vodka sodas and hard teas.
Since 2012 the brewery, taproom and retail shop have occupied its Bracebridge home on Muskoka Beach Road, where visitors pull up a patio seat (dogs welcome, lawn games out), join an in-depth tour through the brewhouse, lab and canning line, and try the Moonlight Kettle small-batch experiments poured only at the source. This is the beer of the dock, brewed where the docks are.