#BeerEh: Where to find the cheapest beer in Waterloo Region

With the warmer summer weather, OpenFile has been hitting the brass rails in Waterloo Region to discover the highs and lows for beer prices at the bar and The Beer Store.

Waterloo appears to have a higher density of watering holes than Kitchener or any of Cambridge's Galt, Preston and Hespeler neighbourhoods, which is doubtless due to the ready market of university students and young professionals. The least pricey beers in both the retail and the bar varieties can be found within a few blocks.

Chainsaw, Waterloo's favourite saloon-cum-karaoke bar, has the best price for pitchers in town: Chainsaw Lager – brewed by Sleeman's of Guelph – is only $12.50, all night long any night of the week. The best price in town for a pint is at Waterloo's famous heritage Huether Hotel: $4.50 buys you any of their craft-brewed recipes in a 15.5 oz glass. 

Gold Crown Brewery, which brews the seven craft beers on tap at their neighbour's, the Huether Hotel, sells a 6-pack of Lion Lager for $7.10. You can pick up a case of 12 for $14.20 and a package of 24 (actually two cases of 12) goes for $28.35.

Click on the thumbnails above for larger charts that show the cheapest and most expensive domestic, import and craft beer in the city.

Compared to the least expensive beer at the Beer Store – our research indicates a four-way tie between Lucky Lager, Red Baron, Lakeport, and Carling at $8.95 for six – Lion Lager is the best bargain for a quality micro-brew.

Just down the street, Brick Brewing Company has a strong showing on both ends of the beer-price spectrum. It should be noted that Brick pushed 35,000 cases of beer off their line in their inaugural year in 1984, marking it as Ontario’s first craft brewery.

Brewers of both Red Baron and Lakeport beers, Brick has a solid presence in the cheap-but-good market. They also brew Formosa beers which, though not available in 6-packs, come very close to the lowest price point at $14.40 for 12 at the Brick retail store in Waterloo and the Beer Store.

Brick also has a seasonal recipe that is among the most expensive beer available, at $59.95 for 24: the Waterloo Radlermass. This lemonade beer is available only in 473 ml cans. The absolute highest price package of beer our research found was an import from la belle province called La Messagère, which retails at the Beer Store for $62.20 for 24 standard bottles. La Messagère is a gluten-free beer crafted outside Shawinigan, PQ, and definitely worth trying at least once.

Some of the highest prices for beer in Waterloo Region can be found in Kitchener and Cambridge. A bottle of Innis & Gunn at Charcoal Steak Housewill run you $7.

A pint of any import at the Golden Kiwi in downtown Galt, Cambridge, is $7.65 and their craft beers are each $6.25. Among the Kiwi's excellent draught selection are a few recipes from Grand River Brewing, also in Cambridge.

Available at the LCBO, Grand River Brewing's seasonal, limited edition Russian Gun Imperial Stout is $4.60 for a 500 ml bottle.

Elsewhere, just a few minutes down the road outside of Waterloo Region, The Stratford Brewing Company, born in 2004, has a 4.9 percent pilsner available at the LCBO for $11.75 (six 341 ml bottles).

As any buff of good ol’ barley and hops will tell you, price is no indicator of taste or popularity. If you're looking to find a great variety of suds though, Waterloo Region is a good place to do some research.

Looking for more about Canadian beer? As part of its reporting for #BeerEh, The Huffington Post Canada asked people, “American or Canadian beer: Which is better?” and it was no contest. They also gathered lots of great responses to the questions “What’s your favourite beer?” and “If you could have beer with anyone, who would it be?”