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CHOCOLATE, BACON, AND BREWS

SEASON: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

LOCATION: Downtown Stratford and surrounding area

WEBSITE: www.visitstratford.ca/stratford-bacon-and-ale-trail

www.visitstratford.ca/stratford-chocolate-trail

HIGHLIGHT: Opportunity to sample locally produced bacon, craft beer, and chocolate

If you enjoy bacon, beer, and chocolate, you are going to love the Bacon & Ale Trail and the Chocolate Trail. No hiking required.

On the Bacon & Ale Trail, you’ll meet an assortment of brewers, bakers, artisans, and food vendors, all offering pork or craft beer products. Perth County is Ontario’s largest pork-producing area, so don’t be surprised to find bacon-inspired soups, bacon-infused spreads and dressings, bacon butter tarts, even bacon-flavoured jellybeans. Craft breweries not only add their beers and porters to the lineup, they also influence other offerings along the trail, like craft beer toffee caramels and beer soap.

Stratford has a reputation for good chocolate. The Chocolate Trail has about twenty-five stops that take you to confectioners and bakers, cafes and shops, pubs, and a distillery. The selection of chocolate-related items is immense. You’ll find the expected, chocolate bars, hot chocolate, ice cream and brownies, and the unexpected, aged dark chocolate balsamic vinegar, chocolate honey, chocolate tea, chocolate candles, and a chocolate pecker pop. You’ll have the opportunity to sip a mocha made with fair trade cocoa and steamed milk or a craft porter with notes of malt and chocolate.

These self-guided trails enable you to enjoy them at your leisure. Passes are available to purchase at the Stratford Tourism Alliance, 47 Downie Street, and they are valid for a week.