Ontario's artisanal cheese scene is flourishing. From Oxford County to Prince Edward County, the cheesemakers of our province are transforming local milk into wheels, wedges, and logs that are as inventive as they are delicious. Nutty Goudas. Caramelly Leicesters. Creamy Bries. Squeaky curds. And oh, so many more.
Some summers are measured in months. Ours are measured in festivals. Meadows (Fergus) in June. Hillside (Guelph) in July. Riverfest (Elora) in August. And, nestled perfectly between Hillside and Riverfest, the Fergus Scottish Festival & Highland Games – a weekend that feels a lot like Scotland, without the cost of cross-Atlantic travel.
We've been tight with the crew at Elora Brewing Co since the doors of this regional gem first swung open just over a decade ago. In fact, more than a few early issues of TOQUE were dreamt up over pints of 'Elora Borealis' at the far end of the brewery's long wooden bar. A lot has changed since then – at the brewery and at TOQUE – so we figured it was time to reconnect with old friends.
‘I feel as though the weight of the world has just been lifted from my shoulders,’ I say to Liz with a chuckle, dropping my well-traveled Filson luggage onto the cool, poured concrete floor. I exhale, take a slow look around, and then step fully into the spacious, design-forward oasis. It’s the peacefulness of the space that hits me first: it’s utterly serene, as though the entire suite has been acoustically tuned to quiet my thoughts.
I tend to think of hotel lobby bars as exotic sanctuaries: places where shrewd deals are made, great novels are written, stolen glances are met, and fashionable strangers – international jet-setters fresh off flights from distant ports of call – might be seen quietly sipping stiff drinks in dimly-lit corners.
Like any fallen creature, I’ve got a few vices. Craving Arabella’s glee-inducing B-b-burger, for instance. Or Elora Brewing’s tasty Elora Borealis Pale Ale. Lusting after super expensive camera gear. Binge-watching YouTube. Some others I’d never mention outside of therapy. And coveting bikes.
Glorious bikes.
There are times I wish I lived in Elora. Usually when I find myself swept up in the comfortable, generous ambience of Elora Brewing Co – a craft brewpub so agonizingly perfect that TOQUE partner-in-crime Cai Sepulis and I seem to find almost any excuse to make the trip from Guelph up Highway 6 and along Wellington Road 7 to what’s become one of our favourite destinations. For lunch. Afternoon pints. Production meetings. Brainstorms. For Whatever.
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
