Daft Brewing

Daft Brewing was built not to blend in. That was the premise the founders set for themselves — the better part of four years of work toward a west-coast-style taproom that would not disappear into the crowd, anchored in a plainer idea that every neighbourhood should have a place where people gather. The brewery opened in 2020 in Williamsville, the Princess Street neighbourhood that has become one of Kingston's busier eating-and-drinking stretches, and it has leaned on that premise ever since: a pizza board, a set of house beers, and a calendar of social nights that give a table a reason to stay past the last slice.

The food is the surprise. Where a brewery is expected to round out its taps with generic snacks, Daft runs a full pizza-and-munchies board, and the pies carry the personality. Daftly Dill-icious is the clearest house signature — garlic butter and dill sauce under mozzarella and parmesan, dill pickle, and a final scatter of dill weed, a dill pickle pizza played completely straight. The Studly Spud layers thinly sliced potato over a garlicky white sauce with white cheddar, bacon, garlic confit, and rosemary. The Slytherin Bite handles the heat — hot calabrese, candied jalapeno, hot honey, and parmesan over red sauce. On the drinks side, Cool Cool Cool is the beer to know right now, a dry-hopped pilsner built on Sabro and Nelson Sauvin hops — crisp, clean, and an easy pour against a busy pizza.