The Build & Brew Passport: A Nine-Stop Niagara Craft Crawl That Builds Homes
There is a new way to drink your way around Niagara this fall, and the money behind it goes somewhere that matters. The Build & Brew Passport is a season-long craft crawl across nine Niagara breweries and cideries, sold by Habitat for Humanity Niagara to fund affordable home builds in the region. It runs from September 14 to December 23, 2026, and passports are on sale now.
We built the passport platform for Habitat, so we have watched this one come together from the inside. Here is how it works and where it will take you.
One pass, nine stops, a perk at every one
A passport costs $35 and lives on your phone. There is no app to download and no paper card to lose. You buy it once, activate it with your email, and then it is simply there when you walk into a participating venue.
Every stop has something waiting for you:
- The Exchange Brewery (Niagara-on-the-Lake) — free 3 oz sample plus 20% off food
- Niagara Oast House Brewers (Niagara-on-the-Lake)
- Ironwood Cider House (Niagara-on-the-Lake) — buy-one-get-one Essential Flights
- Shiny Apple Cider (Niagara-on-the-Lake) — free cider or wine sample, plus buy-one-get-one flights
- NC Craft (Niagara-on-the-Lake) — free 4 oz draft sample
- Bench Brewing (Beamsville) — tasting flight for $12
- Newark Brewing (Beamsville) — $5 pints plus 10% off food
- Decew Falls Brewing (St. Catharines) — tasting flight for $10
- Coldbreak Brewing (St. Catharines) — buy a pound of wings, get the second at half price
Add those up at the venues' own menu prices and you are north of $85 in perks, which is more than double what the passport costs. If you only make it to a handful of stops, it has still paid for itself.
How the stamps work
This is the part we like. There is no code to type in and nothing for a bartender to scan. You open the passport at the bar, tap check in, and your phone's location confirms you are actually standing there. That is your stamp.
It is a small detail that does real work. It keeps the crawl honest for everyone chasing the prizes, and it means staff can pour your sample instead of fussing with a QR reader on a busy Friday.
Planning the crawl
The nine venues cluster into three comfortable outings, which is the sane way to do this if you would rather not drive the whole peninsula in one afternoon.
Niagara-on-the-Lake gives you the densest run, with five of the nine stops. The Exchange Brewery and Niagara Oast House Brewers pair easily with a walk around town, and Ironwood Cider House, Shiny Apple Cider and NC Craft cover the cider and draft side of the day. It is the most stamps you will collect in a single outing.
The Benchlands, around Beamsville, covers Bench Brewing and Newark Brewing, out where the escarpment does the heavy lifting for the views.
St. Catharines picks up Decew Falls Brewing and Coldbreak Brewing, the second of which is the stop to save for when you are actually hungry.
You have from mid-September to just before Christmas, so there is no need to rush it. Three unhurried outings will finish the whole thing.
Two prize draws, and you are already in one
Every stamp you collect is automatically one entry in the Master Builder Stamp Collector draw, the larger of the two prize pools. More stamps, more entries, and the prizes come from the venues themselves.
Stamp all nine and you also land one entry in the separate Build & Brew Completion Prize draw. You do not have to choose between them. Finishing the crawl simply puts you in both.
Draws happen after the program closes on December 23. The full conditions, including eligibility and the no-purchase entry route, are laid out on Habitat's official program rules page.
Where the money actually goes
Habitat for Humanity Niagara builds affordable housing for local families, and proceeds from every passport support that work. That is the whole reason the program exists. The breweries donated the perks and the prizes, which is why the value stacks up the way it does.
It is a rare setup where the fundraising ask is also just a good weekend plan. You were going to go for a flight somewhere this fall anyway.
Getting one
Passports are on sale now at togetherischange.com/buildandbrewpassport. Stamp collecting opens September 14, so buying early just means you are ready on day one.
Participants must be 19 or older. Please enjoy Niagara responsibly, and plan a safe ride between stops.