For over fifteen years, I’ve worked in the Ontario brewing industry. I’ve brewed at Granite, Mill Street, Side Launch, and Bellwoods, and later co-founded Still Fields Brewery. Along the way, I learned a wide range of approaches to beer, from traditional British ales and the Ringwood system, to classic lagers, to the height of the hazy IPA era. Each experience taught me something, but the thing that spoke to me most was slow, contemplative brewing in oak barrels.

When we opened Still Fields, I leaned into that instinct, making a variety of styles in oak, guided by everything I had learned up to that point. With Passage, I distilled that approach further, focusing on a small set of core beers styles brewed monthly to reflect the seasons. Still, after a couple years, I had really been struggling with where I stand in the Ontario craft beer industry. I felt lost and uninspired by where things are and where they are going. I felt like maybe I had lost my touch, or that this just wasn’t for me anymore. But I came to the realization that I was feeling something deeper. I was sensing a subtle but profound shift in the industry.

Beer for the sake of beer is gone. The old framework for a “successful” brewery is falling apart. Gone are the days when customers would line up for the next hazy release. We are now in a time when people want quality, value, and consistency. That’s not to say those things weren’t there before, but the customer wants them on a deeper level. They want emotion, passion, and an authentic story that pulls at their heartstrings. They want table side romance.

When we opened Passage, we already had a sense that this shift was happening. That’s why we decided to start small and get back to the art and craft, to find our passion again. We experimented with a model that was close to what we wanted, but it needed time and reflection to really hone in on what the business should become. In the fall of 2025, we made the decision to shift production toward longer aged sour beers. This grew directly out of what we had been doing with the Bespoke Barrel Society. We realized that this is where our true passion lies.

These beers are a reflection of time and place. They speak to what was happening when the beer was made. They are a snapshot of where we were at emotionally, energetically, and philosophically. They highlight environmental factors and seasonal shifts that can’t be replicated. A snapshot does not mean static. It marks the moment the journey begins.

These beers represent a more wine forward emotional interaction, one rooted in terroir. These beers live at the intersection of traditional farmhouse brewing and natural wine. To articulate this best, we have adopted the term Vin De Grain, literally meaning Wine from Grain. To us, this sums up our entire approach to how we want to make beer going forward. It’s less about stylistic guidelines and more about an emotional connection to the land, the seasons, and to each other through the product.

A bottle of Vin De Grain is meant to be sipped, savoured, and enjoyed slowly. It is something to share with friends or to celebrate with. It is meant to bring people together, to be a conversation piece. One of the things we try to do with beers like this is invite the customer into the evolution of the beer itself. These beers are still alive when they are packaged and continue to change over time. They evolve and undulate in the bottle as they age.

The experience as a whole is a journey.
It is a Passage.

Owen