Early last week, Rusty Bob and Timbits tripped north to Barrie Ontario in hopes of meeting Peter Chiodo, the owner of the Robert Simpson Brewery. The award winning brew master crafts the best beverage in Ontario, Confederation Ale. The drink is steeped in history, and the taste imparts the flavour of earlier times when lumber barons and Canada West settlers did business in Barrie.  

This brewery is situated right in the heart of old Barrie and although that's not its original historic location, it looks pelenty historic across from Barrie's legendary Queen's Hotel. And it’s the real thing in here - good beer is made (and consumed) right on the premises.

When we visited Peter he was in the middle of bottling 7500 bottles; the sales room was bare and needed to be restocked. Its been a cold and wet summer, but people don't usually forget the taste of Confederation Ale and sales are strong.

The local beer is made and sold in the name of a very successful Canadian, an historic figure who played a prominent role in nation building. One of the foremost men of his time, Robert Simpson was the 1st Mayor of Barrie in 1871, and a master brewer. Even back then he'd been brewing beer for almost thirty years up and down Yonge St.  

Tim Braithwaite is a stoneware collector. He posses a very rare Robert Simpson stoneware beer bottle that was made in 1849 as per the 1850 Toronto Business Index which lists Robert Simpson as a brewer in Toronto. This was a dark chapter in this historic brewer’s life. He disliked Toronto which was crowded and competitive.  After that experience he moved everything he had north to Barrie Ontario in 1851 and set up a brewery there. He was no doubt anticipating the railroad would bring more settlers and logging companies and he was certainly hoping that perhaps Barrie Ontario would continue to grow into a prosperous settlement.    

Robert Simpson lived in a different age when it was impossible to go online and get fire insurance or even the most basic homeowner’s insurance.

Robert Simpson had yet to find commercial success as three deadly fires had destroyed his earlier breweries in Tollendale and Newmarket. This move north to Barrie Ontario would be his fifth move in fifteen years, and at this point his wife and family were used to hard times. Remember, fires were ruinous and usually coincided with great loss of life. Survivors were usually just very happy to be alive, and they merrily went about trying to borrow money and raise capital to start over again… Simpson found such opportunity in Toronto in 1848, and then shifted his assets north to Barrie in 1851.

Now this particular stoneware beer bottle, which was made by an unknown pottery shop in Upper Canada in the late 1840s, is one of two survivors and certainly worthy of display in any museum. Tim was very generous with information and told Peter a lot of secrets concerning the manufacture and trade in period stoneware. Knowing what to collect comes from knowing how these things are made, and that’s all very important knowledge these days. Tim Braithwaite has developed a wide readership because of this rare knowledge, and his thoughts are sometimes privileged information – but something he shares freely on Dumpdiggers.  Timbits had a lot of questions for Peter Chiodo too, and this modern day expert shared a lot of great insights about the modern day business of bottling beer. Peter was just thrilled to be able to see and touch and connect with the namesake of his enterprise. Robert Simpson would also be proud of the association.