Cheap craft beer is important to know where to find in Toronto. Sometimes money is tight but you could really use a pint and other times your beer consumption needs simply require so much quantity that it's only frugal to seek out the most reasonably priced offerings. But that shouldn't mean you need to sacrifice quality by drinking cheap pitchers of Molson or Labatt's offerings (and presumably one might get the same experience for free by simply drinking from the toilet).
Instead, with a little digging, you can find a handful of places in the city offering up regular specials on craft beers. Here are 10 places that have at least one night when the good stuff is (relatively) cheap too. (Spoiler alert: I hope you like drinking on Mondays)
$5 Session Sundays at Bar Hop
Also ranking among the best craft beer bars in the city, Bar Hop offers select pints for $5 on Sundays. Usually the discount offerings are those beers that weigh in at less than 7% alcohol so as to keep things respectable. It is Sunday after all.
$5.75 pints Sundays at Thirsty and Miserable
If you've never been to Kensington's down and dirty craft beer bar, you're missing out on a great craft beer lineup and a quintessentially no-frills Kensington market drinking experience. As a bonus, on Sundays Thirsty and Miserable offer a whack of brews for $5.75 a pint, and while cheap drinking experiences abound in the market, this is definitely the only place you'll find names like Shacklands, Junction Craft, Oast House, and Sawdust City on the draught list.
$5 pints Sunday after 5pm at The Only
The Only doesn't mess around with this "select" pints business for their cheap beer night. Instead, they offer up every beer on their always-great lineup of draught for just $5 every Sunday after 5pm.
$5 pints Mondays at barVolo
On Mondays at this cozy Yonge Street craft beer institution, you'll find select pints available for just $5. Given that Volo always has a ridiculously good draft selection featuring pints you often can't find anywhere else, any day where you can grab some of those pints for $5 is a good day.
$2 pints on Mondays at Electric Mud
While the draught list is short at Electric Mud, the beers that are offered are usually decent, frequently local, and, on Mondays at two-effing-dollars a glass, pretty hard to complain about. If the BBQ isn't enough to entice you to brave the notorious wait times, surely craft beer that cheap is.
$5 pints at on Mondays at WVRST
Ontario is, as our slogan goes, yours to discover and on Mondays after 5pm the folks at WVRST are doing their best to help you discover the province's great beer. Enjoy the Ontario craft offerings on their excellent draught menu for just $5, leaving you some dough to spend on your wiener.
$5 Craft Tuesdays at Gretzky's
Gretzky's isn't a name you expect to see on a list of craft beer hot spots given their touristy trappings, but they might surprise you with their rotating cast of craft offerings available for $5 every Tuesday. As of this post, the crafty lineup includes Blanche de Chambly, Creemore, Granville Island Winter Ale, Okanagan Pale Ale, Muskoka Mad Tom, Steam Whistle, Mill Street Organic. As bonus, while you might find a lot of these other locations serving 14oz (or smaller) "pints," Gretzky's $5 offerings are a down-right respectable 18oz.
$5 Steam Whistle after 6pm at Tall Boys
If the comments section of every post I've ever written about them has taught me anything, it's that it's cool to hate on Steam Whistle. And frankly, that's fine with me because it means there's more of Toronto's own delicious refreshing pilsner for me. And anyone else who appreciates this well-made beverage is welcome to join me any day of the week at Tall Boys, where you can enjoy a Steam Whistle for just $5 after 6pm.
$5 and $6 beers during The Witching Hours at Bellwoods Brewery
For the first two hours of service every day of the week from October to April, the folks at Bellwoods Brewery are selling their beers that are normally $6.50-$7.50 for just $5-$6. While that might seem like small savings, consider that, if you normally drink six Witchsharks in one sitting, for the same money you'll be able to buy a seventh Wtichshark and still have TTC fare home!*
*do not drink six or seven Witchsharks in one sitting.
$10 Pitchers Mondays and Wednesdays, $3.50 bottles on Tuesdays, and $3.75 tall boys on Thursdays at The Bar with No Name
Presumably you don't need a name for your bar when you're offering up discounted beer multiple times a week. The Bar with No Name has all the trappings of a dive bar but manages to do it all with a pretty respectable list of all Ontario beer. If you like pitchers, the obligatory Monday deal is here--returning Wednesdays until 11pm--as is a $3.50 bottle night and a $3.75 tallboy night; making this a contender for the best value in craft beer in Toronto.
Got a recurring craft beer special I missed? Let me know about it in the comments.
Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. You can follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson.