From delicious dark roast coffee to chocolate stouts and even a cheese bathed in beer, there are so many reasons to join the dark side in Woodstock. This tour combines four in-town stops with three rural stops, and several partner together to create some truly delicious products worth changing sides for. Grab lunch, a beer, cheese, chocolate and more on this day trip that will show you the dark flavours of the Friendly City.
Plan your Trip: This route is best completed Wednesday-Saturday in order to hit as many stops as possible. We recommend bringing a cooler, a travel mug, water bottle and growler to fill-up.
Stop 1: Early Bird Coffee
Every great road trip starts with a great cup of coffee if you ask us. Roasting beans fresh in house, Early Bird Coffee serves up delicious, single origin beans and blends of coffee. Grab a bag to go or a hot drink from the cafe. To get into the spirit of things right off the bat, why not try their dark roast. To fully immerse your self visit Roastery location for the Roasting Lab Experience where you enjoy tastings and roasting a batch of coffee with owner Elio Capporici. Bonus - you get to bring some of the coffee home.
Kick Things Up: Book the Roasting lab to learn, taste and roast a batch of coffee - bonus is you take coffee beans home.
Time to Next Stop: 9 mins
Stop 2. Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese
Days to Note: Fridays are fresh curd days!
Head out of town and wind down a quiet gravel road. You'll soon come upon Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese where the cheesemakers create flavourful, mouth-wateringly good wheels of Swiss-inspired cheese. This artisan plant is a must-visit when you come to Oxford. Using milk from their family's dairy herd, you can taste the difference that freshness makes. If you want to try a super unique product, try their Dark Side of the Moo cheese soaked in a bath of Welcome to the Dark Side stout from Upper Thames Brewing Company which is made with cacao nibs from Habitual Chocolate. Or for a caffeinated option try Moo Brew - Oxford Harvest Cheese soaked in Early Bird Coffee Espress. This, my friends, is where the dark side began.
Dark Partnership Products: Dark Side of the Moo or Moo Brew
Time to Next Stop: 7 mins
Time to Next Stop: 1 min
Stop 3: Wild Comfort Body Care
Just down the road, Wild Comfort Body Care uses natural, often local, ingredients in their skin care products. Created in house, a spin with their natural skin care line will have you feeling zen in no time. Focusing on going green, one of the coolest things about Wild Comfort Body Care is their packaging (or lack there of). All of their containers are refillable but they also create plastic-free products like shampoo and conditioner bars, facial cleansing bars and even foaming hand soap that just has to be dissolved in water in an old soap dispenser! So remember our advice and bring your own jars if you want to go waste free while purchasing decadent skincare. Join them on the dark side by checking out their soaps made using beer from Upper Thames Brewing!
Dark Side Partnership Products: Their Upper Thames Brewing Co. beer-infused soap
Kick Things Up: Check out their Soap and Solace Experience. to smell, feel and craft your own batch of artisan soap.
Time to Next Stop: 7 mins
Stop 4: Greener Pastures Eco Farm
Greener Pastures Eco Farm is a family-run operation (as are all the businesses on this list!) specializing in the farming of heritage breeds raised on pasture using rotational grazing techniques. Offering up beef, chicken, lamb, turkey and pork, the thought and care that goes into each is impressive and obvious to see. Even cooler? Greener Pastures Eco Farm is helping reduce waste and enhancing their pigs diet feeding by-products from several producers on this list. That includes whey from the cheese at Gunn's Hill, coffee chaff from Early Bird, cocoa husks from Habitual Chocolate and spent grain from Upper Thames Brewing Co. They then partner with Wild Comfort providing tallow for a seasonally available soap bar. Talk about partnership!
Dark Side Partnership Product: Purchase a variety of cured and frozen pork products. Also shop their farm store which sells products from all Dark Side Partners.
Kick Things Up: If you live in Oxford, get their groceries delivered to your door through their sister company, Blue Cow Delivery! To take a deeper dive into ecological farming book a tour.
Time to Next Stop: 9 mins
Stop 5: Upper Thames Brewing Company
Days to Note: Enjoy live music on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.
Upper Thames Brewing Co. embodies local like no other craft beer before them. Seriously, we could spend all day talking about all the local partnerships the good folks at UTBC have crafted since their opening just a few years back. We're talking everything from dog biscuits and charcuterie boards to soap and their Ontario Pale Ale made with 100% Ontario ingredients. With your cold brew (or craft sodas) enjoy a decadent thin crust pizza topped with Gunn's Hill Cheese Brigid's Brie. Shop their shelves for other collaborations including Wild Comfort Soap and spent grain dog biscuits.
Dark Side Partnership Products: Dark Side Stout and Pizza made with Gunn's Hill Brigid's Brie
Time to Next Stop: 8 mins
Stop 6: Habitual Chocolate
Heading back into town, drive down the main drag to find this quaint chocolate shop doing big things inside. Habitual Chocolate makes their chocolate from bean to bar right in house. They also make fresh ice cream using local milk in the summer and serve up some amazing coffee, hot chocolate and dipped fruit! A lot like wine tasting, you can taste the unique flavour of each different bean used in their bars. It's fascinating to learn how climate and soil can affect its flavour. It is hard to shop the counter without finding a local partnership. As what the current season is offering for dark chocolate bars, truffle, and beverages infused with local flavours (lavender, hot honey and more).
Dark Side Partnership Products: Infused Dark Chocolate Bars and summer seasonal ice creams (local berries or Gunn's Hill Brigids Brie).
Kick Things Up: Become a chocolatier with owner Angela Neddo and craft a custom chocolate bark featuring some of her local flavours (from berries, bacon to smoked salt).
Time to Next Stop: 3 mins
Stop 7: SixThirtyNine
SixThirtyNine is all about keeping it local so you'll see a whole bunch of these partners on their rotating menu through out the year. Oxford's first FeastON certified restaurant, SixThirtyNine sources their ingredients from as nearby as possible, hence all their local partnerships along the Dark Side Tour. Pop in for a bite and see what the menu has in store.
Dark Side Partnership Products: Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese, Early Bird Coffee, Habitual Chocolate and Upper Thames Brewing Company can all be found on the menu
Kick Things Up: Book your spot at the Chef's Table
Just like that, we're finished! Now grab your cooler and hit the road for a day exploring the dark side of life. Use the "My Trip" heart icon to save stops below for your own custom itinerary. Access your "My trip" itinerary in the top right menu on this website. Copy the "My Trip" link to save, share or hit the road with a ready to go map and all stop details.
