On a recent Friday night at Yonge and Dundonald Sts., the taps at the crowded Volo were flowing with a 18 beers from a new local brewery. This in itself was not unique: this bar is well-known for its popular single-brewery “tap takeover” events. What was different this time was that all of the beers had been brewed just a few feet away from where they were being served, on a small system tucked into a corner of the restaurant's kitchen.

Known as House Ales, this in-house brewery may look like a glorified home brew set-up. It's actually a custom-made system that's fully licensed for commercial production, and Volo owner and trained brewer Ralph Morana has been using it since late last year to produce many exceptional ales, often in collaboration with other local breweries and home brewers. The resulting beers run the gamut from traditional UK-style pub ales that are relatively low in alcohol but flavourful, to rich and robust stouts, to heavily hopped India Pale Ales that finish long and bitter.

Over the last decade or so, as Volo has been transformed from a cozy Italian restaurant to one of Toronto's most lauded beer destinations. Morana and his family and staff have been on the cusp of every new trend and development in the local craft brewing scene. And with the launch of their own brewery, they once again find themselves part of a mini-movement, as two other small Toronto breweries have recently started serving suds of their own, and two more will soon be joining them.

It's obvious that Toronto beer geeks are enjoying an embarrassment of riches in terms of locally brewed options, and there are a few good reasons for that. One is the increased popularity of craft beer not just in our city, but throughout the province and country. Another is the local food craze that has swept through Toronto's restaurants in the past few years, and which has spilled over to affect many people's choices in beer as well, causing some restaurants to go so far as to put a beer sommelier on staff. And as the demand for better beer increases, so too does the supply.

Over in Kensington Market, Burger Bar owner Brock Shepherd has designs on following Volo's model and setting up his own on-site brewing system. “But that will take some time,” he notes, so in the meantime, he's launched Kensington Brewing Company as a contract brewing operation, essentially renting production time and tank space at Etobicoke's Black Oak Brewery and working with them to brew Augusta Ale, a crisp and well-hopped pale ale available on tap at Burger Bar and a few other downtown establishments. “I wanted to be one of the first of this new breed of breweries,” Shepherd says, “(and) the fact that I have a venue to sell it at every day makes it a bit easier to move the beer.”

Contract brewing is also the route that Dimitri van Kampen has taken with Spearhead Brewing. Van Kampen and his team have set up shop at Cool Brewing to craft their Hawaiian Style Pale Ale, a full-flavoured ale with a hint of pineapple that was launched in mid-June at over 30 bars and pubs in Toronto and surrounding area, and which garnered Best In Show awards at two different beer festivals during the recent Ontario Craft Beer Week.

The instant widespread availability of Spearhead's beer is a testament to the large and growing number of licensed establishments in Toronto and surrounding area that dedicate most, or all, of their taps and bottles to local craft beer. Thanks to the support of places such as Volo, beerbistro, Rhino, C'est What, and Victory Cafe a new brewery can have some confidence that they'll be able to snag a few tap handles around town.

That bodes well for Junction Craft Brewing, which restaurant industry veteran Tom Paterson will be launching this fall. The brewery's first offering will be Local Option Ale, created by brewmaster Doug Pengelly of Saint André Brewing, and brewed on contract at Guelph's Wellington Brewery, which Paterson describes as his favourite brewery.

Also based in the Junction, the Indie Ale House brewery and pub is under construction, and is set to open later this summer. As owner Jason Fisher* explains, “I've been dreaming of starting my own brewery since my first home brew came out better than expected almost 25 years ago. Back then the Toronto beer scene was absolute zero, but since then things have gotten a lot better.”

* CORRECTION JULY 1: A previous version of this story identified Jason Fisher as Foster.