Niagara Falls (Canada) brewery hosting festival to showcase best Ontario beers

Counterpart Brewing is teaming up with the city of Niagara Falls to host the upcoming Flow Fest on Sat., July 26

Those in western New York looking to experience the best in Ontario (Canada) beers would be wise to cross the border on Saturday, July 26.

That’s because Counterpart Brewing, which I’ve long stated is one of the best breweries in this region, is teaming up with the city of Niagara Falls to host Flow Fest. The event will run from noon to 7 p.m. at the Exchange (not to be confused with Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Exchange Brewery), 5943 Sylvia Place in Niagara Falls. It’s a city-owned community hub, market, and event space.

And according to Counterpart co-owner/founder Greg Gnys, it’s an ideal spot for a beer festival. This one will feature 22 of Ontario’s best breweries, many of which have collaborated with Counterpart in the past. Gnys wanted the brewery list, at least for the festival’s first edition (and considering needlessly stupid talk of turning Canada into an American state — my words, not his), to focus on Ontario. He envisions expanding the focus for future editions to include some of WNY’s finest producers.

But for now, Flow Fest is offering an unprecedented chance for beer nerds, particularly American folks, to experience the fertile Ontario beer scene all in one spot.

“When you look at the full list of breweries, it’s impressive, the range, in terms of styles that are covered, the approach those breweries have,” Gnys said. “As a festival-goer, it will be a good selection. Everything is covered, from lagers to hoppy beers, from mixed ferment to everything else. There are some breweries that do non-alc, RTDs, and seltzers. It’s a really good list and I’m excited to go around and have some beers.”

The list of breweries is just nutty. (And if you attended any of the Rochester Real Beer Expos I curated in the last three years, you already know how much I adore Ontario craft beer and wanted our participant list to showcase some of the best in regional Canadian breweries. We had seven Canadian participants in my last edition of the Expo and we easily could’ve had more.)

“We’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Gnys said. “We initially thought about doing it at the brewery, but there were some challenges there with the space. So when the city approached us about doing something together, it just seemed like a great fit and allowed us to play the role of host. We took on inviting all the breweries and setting up the logistics behind that.

“It’s a celebration of Ontario craft beer. And there isn’t really anything like that in the region.”

I’m just gonna list a few of the participating spots (but please realize that I’d be exceedingly happy to have any of their beers in my glass). My favorites include Bellwoods, Third Moon, Badlands, Blood Brothers, Burdock, True History, and Willibald. (Gooooodness, this list is just awesome.) Some of the breweries will also be offering non-alcoholic options, cocktails, and seltzers. There will also be live entertainment and an assortment of food truck vendors. A shuttle will run between the two locations, too.

Tickets cost $25 Canadian in advance (praise hands emoji exchange rate or whatever) and include your festival glassware and four tasting tickets. Additional tasting tickets are available. Since the event runs for seven hours, you can arrive at any time you’d like and leave whenever you feel is necessary. The event (like the Ontario drinking age) is for 19-plus.

The venue layout will accommodate festival-goers whether it is sunny or rainy. So there’s really no excuse not to attend. (Or in my case, I am heading to Pittsburgh the weekend before for a weird metal show and it wouldn’t be fair to my saintly wife to ditch the family for a second consecutive Saturday. But I am really hoping to attend in 2026.)

Gnys said partnering with the city of Niagara Falls has been great, because it has allowed the brewery to focus on curation, while city officials take care of all the other details.

“The plan is for this to become an annual thing,” Gnys said.

And if you don’t intend on attending Flow Fest, it’ll still be worth visiting Counterpart on that same day. Gnys said they’ll have a number of family-friendly entertainment options and food specials, as well as nine new beer releases. Most of the beers will be collaborative efforts with many of Flow Fest’s wildly exciting participants. (I’ve got it on good authority that Counterpart, which boasts one of my favorite barrel-aging programs in the entire region, if not continent, will be releasing a new set of double barrel-aged stouts. And you can bet that I’ll be doing everything in my power to make sure those beers end up in my fridge. Here’s an advance thank you, Greg!)