The Amsterdam Brewing Company is a microbrewery

Microbrewery

A microbrewery or craft brewer is a brewery which produces a limited amount of beer, and is associated by consumers with innovation and uniqueness....

 based in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was founded by Dutchman

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 Roel Bramer and is now headed by Jeff Carefoote.

History

The company began in September 1986 as The Amsterdam Brasserie and Brewpub in a former tire re-treading

Retread

A retread, or "recap," is a previously worn tire which has gone through a remanufacturing process designed to extend its useful service life.Retreading starts with a safety inspection of the tire. The old tread is then buffed away, and a new rubber tread is applied to the bare "casing" using...

 plant on John Street in the then nascent Toronto Entertainment District. A second brewpub location with a larger brewing capacity was opened as The Rotterdam on King Street West in 1988. In 1993, the former was closed, and operations were consolidated at the latter under the current name The Amsterdam Brewing Company, with a focus as a microbrewery. The company subsequently moved to its present location on Bathurst Street

Bathurst Street (Toronto)

Bathurst Street is a main north-south thoroughfare in Toronto. It begins at the Lake Ontario shoreline and continues north to the Toronto boundary of Steeles Avenue...

 near Fort York

Fort York

Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...

.

In 2003, Amsterdam Brewing purchased Kawartha Lakes Brewing of Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

 which produces KLB Raspberry Wheat, KLB IPA

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale or IPA is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century.The first known use of the expression "India pale ale" comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30, 1835...

, KLB Nut Brown and KLB Cream Ale

Cream ale

Cream ale is a style of top-fermented American beer resembling a German Kölsch.Unrelated to cream ales, the term cream is also sometimes used to describe a texture of beers pressurized with nitrogen, allowing cans and take-home mini-kegs to resemble true draft beer...

.