By Christopher Drost

WHERE: Derry Road
WHEN: Very early in the morning on Tuesday, January 11.
WHAT: We joined the convoy transporting six giant beer vats for three hours yesterday. The vats —technically, beer fermentation tanks— are making their way to the Molson Coors brewery near Pearson Airport from the Hamilton port lands, after having been shipped to Canada from Germany. The tanks are being carefully delivered by Challenger Motor Freight, a Cambridge-based logistics firm that handles, well, stuff like this.
As the tanks are too massive to be carried on any highway—they won’t fit under the bridges—careful plans were made to truck them over smaller roads with fewer impediments. The convoy travels at a walking pace, and is largely moving at night to minimize disruptions. Original plans were to have the vats at Molson by tonight, but due to weather, utility company delays, and the general logistics of moving tanks that can hold collectively roughly six million bottles’ worth of beer…it’ll take as long as it takes.
Photos by Christopher Drost/Torontoist.