Toronto's Best Bottleshops - Bossanova Wine & Beer

NORA, Egyptian Ale, Birra Baladin

“Exceptional” Beer from Around the World

Bossanova Wine & Beer
103 Roncesvalles Avenue
Toronto, ON M6R 2K9
T: 647-368-5950 E: chat@bossanova.to

This year, I discovered one of my favourite beers and no, it’s not a juicy IPA, fruited sour, or Czech pilsner (not that there’s anything wrong with those styles!). Every week, I spend one day in Toronto visiting restaurants, bars, and bottleshops such as Bossanova Wine & Beer on Roncesvalles Avenue — one of the best boutique bottleshops in the city.

Opened in November 2021 by Ben Pilsky-Somers (Wine Principal) and Dan Grant (Beer Steward), Bossnova is located in a beautiful red-brick building on a bustling block full of small, independent businesses. Light floods into the space from the large store-front window, illuminating a stunning Victorian tin ceiling, plus rows of organic and biodynamic wines, and a modern tasting bar. 

It’s Bossanova’s selection of beers, however, that really excite me. If you’re looking for the very best craft beer from Ontario, the store includes two well-stocked fridges with cans from leading breweries such as Godspeed, Matron Fine Beer, Fairweather, and Tooth and Nail. And for a Quebec ex-pat such as myself, they even carry Dieu du Ciel’s Peche Mortel, my favourite beer…ever.

What keeps me coming back, time and again, are Bossanova’s selection of international beers. On my first visit, Dan recommended NORA, an Egyptian spiced beer from Italian brewery, Birra Baladin. Additions of ginger, myrrh, and Khorasan Kamut wheat give the beer delicate spice and resin notes. It was a revelation, to say the least, and now one of my go-to beers. Subsequent recommendations, such as KAGUA, a red ale from Japan’s Far Yeast Brewing Company have been no less revelatory. Bossanova also stocks hard-to-find beers from Belgium like Horal’s OUDE GEUZE MEGABLEND 2021 and Trappist beers from Zundert in the Netherlands. For those discerning beer drinkers looking to expand their horizons, there is no better place to look than Bossanova, and no better beer expert than Dan Grant to offer some helpful tips to find your next favourite beer.

True to it’s word, Bossanova offers “exceptional wine and beer in Toronto.”

AL’s CASK ALE, C’est What?