Thunder Bay’s Breweries are Serving Up Fall in a Glass
Amanda Bay
October 7, 2026
Sweater weather is officially here, and TBay’s beer scene knows what’s up. While the landscapes around the city are going orange and red, and you suddenly need a hoodie every day, all day, our local brewers are feeling it too. Every year, right on cue, the tap lists flip over to fall, and the light, crushable summer stuff makes room for something a little richer.
Many believe fall is the best beer season, and we might have to agree. Pilsners on the dock are great, but fall beers are a lot different, and there’s actually a reason for it. Long before fancy temperature-controlled brewhouses and overnight yeast shipments, brewing ran on the calendar. The harvest came in, the weather cooled down, and that’s when the good stuff got made. Brewers today can make pretty much anything, any time of year, but the beers we think of as “fall beers” still carry that harvest time DNA.
So what makes a beer taste like fall? It’s all about the roasted malt, toasted grain, a little caramel, a little maple, and a fuller, cozier body. The hops chill out too, so instead of that “punch you in the mouth bitterness,” you get earthy, herbal, lightly spicy notes that keep everything balanced. These are definitely slow sipping, sit by the fire kind of beers.
“Fall is the perfect time to explore darker styles of beer and malt-forward varieties. Caramel flavours from the grains are a great pairing with cool temperatures, alongside seasonal spices,” says Hilary Hoogsteen, Competition Director for the Canada Beer Cup, Canadian Craft Brewers Association.
Now for the fun part, where to actually drink them around here.
If you want one beer that tastes like October, it’s Tiny Face Pumpkin Porter. The name comes from the tiny faced jack-o’-lantern head brewer Ashley Watt carves every Halloween, which is already the cutest beer origin story we’ve heard this year. It’s a malt forward porter with pumpkin spice, dark chocolate and roasted coffee.
Ashley gets the fall beer mood completely. Once the leaves start turning, she says, she finds herself reaching for porters and stouts. “I think of a dark, silky-smooth stout that warms up the body and soul while drinking it.”
Which brings us to Oater Limits Oatmeal Stout, a Dawson Trail fall favourite coming back the last week of October. Don’t let the dark colour scare you off. It’s surprisingly refreshing, with bread crust, coffee and cocoa notes, and at just 3.8% you can absolutely have a second (and yes, it’s brewed with real oats, the same stuff in your breakfast bowl).
Beer is only half the reason to go, though. The fall calendar is packed:
Want to nerd out? Book a brewery tour. You get 30 minutes behind the scenes in the brewhouse plus a curated flight. You’ll need at least six people, so start rounding up your friends!
First things first— Lakehead Beer just turned five on October 2nd. Happy Birthday, friends! No big party for the birthday itself, but they’re saving the energy for Halloween night. The brewery is introducing the Thirst, a late night Halloween party that’s a cheeky nod to the Hunger. There’s a dance floor, a disco ball (guaranteed, their words, not ours), and entry is free. So, costume planning starts now.
For the folks at Lakehead Beer, a good fall brew is all about feeling cozy. “Not too light, a little more body,” explains Aaron Goerzen. They’ve got three picks for your Oktoberfest season:
The Prospector lives inside an old bank in the Waterfront District, and walking in genuinely feels like stepping back in time. The pub is basically the coziest place in town to hide from a cold October night. They brew their own beer in-house (the brewing operation is set up in the basement of this old structure that’s over 100 years old), so your move here is a tasting flight. Two to look out for:
And the food? It’s not an afterthought. The menu changes up regularly, but if you see the pierogies, order them. They’re locally sourced potato and cheese dumplings, made as Baba used to, and piled with sour cream, bacon and onions. Definitely comfort food season! Also, Wednesday is Burger Night, which is a crazy good special featuring the Pub Double Bacon Cheeseburger and a featured burger for only $15 (yes, it comes with fries).
So, where are you starting? However you like your fall, there’s a pint in Thunder Bay with your name on it.
