Well-known Hamilton brewery, Ontario aim to help restore forest at Balsam Lake Provincial Park

Raise a cold one to a beloved provincial park.

A popular Hamilton brewery will be donating part of the sales of its new limited-edition specialty craft beer and merchandise towards the reforestation project for Balsam Lake Provincial Park.

In its second year of partnership with Ontario Parks, Collective Arts Brewing introduced the specialty beer with locally sourced ingredients called Trail Loop Honey Lager on Thursday, May 18, in support of planting more than 1,000 new trees at the park.

Describing the beer on its website as using a “generous amount of honey,” it said it is “an homage to our home province of Ontario and all it has to offer,” including the trails and the people who explore them.

COURTESY COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING

“In our second year we continue to amplify the beauty of our province and its parks as well as helping to make it thrive through the Balsam Lake Provincial Park restoration project,” said Steve St. Jean, head of brand creative at Collective Arts Brewing, in a statement.

Trail Loop is available through Collective Arts Brewing and at select grocery stores in Ontario. It will be at The Beer Store later this month. Trail Loop merchandise is sold at collectiveartsontario.com.

Collective Arts Brewing, which has facilities in Hamilton and Toronto, said it will donate 30 cents from each can of Trail Loop sold and 50 per cent of merchandise sales directly to the Balsam Lake Provincial Park Reforestation Project. One can is $3.65, a four-pack is $14.15, and a 24-case is $83.95.

“When we can champion an innovative partnership that restores our provincial parks and promotes Ontario’s craft breweries, you can bet our government will proudly support it,” said Neil Lumsden, minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and MPP for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek.

Ontario Parks plans to use the funds from the collaboration to plant native tree species, such as sugar maple, paper birch, white cedar and red oak, and eliminate invasive species in efforts to “support habitats and the overall enhancement of the park’s ecological resilience,” according to the province’s press release.

According to Ontario Parks, the arrival of invasive species emerald ash borer in 2007 has threatened forests’ health and ecosystem. It has destroyed millions of ash trees in Ontario, including at Balsam Lake.

“Trail Loop gives Ontarians a unique way to support the protection and restoration of the province’s natural spaces,” said David Piccini, minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, in a statement.

COURTESY BALSAM LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK

Balsam Lake Provincial Park is on the Trent-Severn Waterway in south-central Ontario, about an hour’s drive north of Peterborough, Ont. Established in 1968, the park, which has 450 hectares of forested land, is known for recreational activities including boating, fishing, camping and hiking.

Toronto-based artist Gosia Komorski, who has been visiting Balsam Lake and other parks since childhood, has created the art again for the collaboration.

“The reforestation project is helping us to bring diversity back into the habitat that nurtures species and park visitors alike,” said Mike Cappello, park superintendent at Balsam Lake Provincial Park, in a statement. “We look forward to planting even more trees this year as we work toward rebuilding this special and treasured green space.”

In 2022, the collaboration raised nearly $6,000 for the Balsam Lake project.

COURTESY BALSAM LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK

COURTESY BALSAM LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK

COURTESY BALSAM LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK

COURTESY BALSAM LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK