Thornbury Craft Co. and Blue Mountain Brewing Launch Guided Tours March 13

The building at 90 King St. E. in Thornbury has been many things: an apple storage warehouse in the early 1900s, a flea market, an ammunition depot, and a nuclear fallout shelter during the Cold War. Starting March 13, it adds another chapter as Thornbury Craft Co. and Blue Mountain Brewing Co. open a regular schedule of guided 30-minute behind-the-scenes tours of their shared Cider & Brew House production facilities.

Tours run every weekday at 4pm, plus select weekends, and include samples of four beverages spanning the combined lineup of ciders and beers made on-site. Blue Mountain's tour takes visitors through the brewing process from source water to final pour, with the chance to meet the people behind the brews. The Thornbury Craft side adds another layer: the history of the building itself, which the cidery describes as "iconic" and central to understanding what they produce there.

Advanced bookings are required. Visitors can reserve directly by calling 519-599-2616 or book through three tour partners already operating in the region: ACE Transportation, Canadian Craft Tours, and Brew Bus. No tour ticket price has been publicly listed.

The facility sits within 7,500 acres of apple orchards in the Blue Mountains, which shapes both operations under the same roof. Thornbury Craft Co. uses locally grown apples for a small-batch cider lineup that runs to 15 products, including spiced apple, cranberry apple, wild blueberry apple, and Honeycrisp variants. The company applies what it describes as old-world techniques to produce crisp, dry English-style ciders. Blue Mountain Brewing builds its beers around what it calls award-winning mountain water from the same region, with a combined taproom selection of over 25 ciders and beers available by the pint, tasting flight, or to-go.

The building's journey from apple warehouse to working cidery and brewery tracks with the company's own timeline. Founded in 2009 under the name Peeler Cider, the business renamed itself Thornbury Cider in 2011. Colio Estates acquired the company in 2016 and invested more than $1 million in the production facility, which Thornbury Craft Co. now markets as Ontario's most awarded craft cidery.

The taproom is open daily: Sunday through Thursday 11am to 6pm, with last seating at 5:30pm, and Friday through Saturday 11am to 7pm, with last seating at 6:30pm. Blue Mountain's own site lists Friday and Saturday closing at 8pm, so visitors planning an evening visit on weekends should confirm current hours at 519-599-2616 before arriving.