The origins of hot dogs date back to the 1800s in Germany, making it an obvious pairing with a good ole’ pint of “das bier”.
From pulled pork, bacon, onions, sauces and sauerkraut from the European Deli, 46 North Brewery, in Sudbury’s West End, offers a dynamite hot diggity dawg menu.
Graham Orser and Holli Bernier, both originally from southern Ontario, moved north, closer to their camp to start 46 North in 2019.
The brewery currently offers 12 different style brews on the menu that can be paired with a variety of hot dogs like the Inferno, the Coney Island, the Euro and more.
“Graham never really wanted to have food on the menu other than chips and chocolate bars,” said Bernier. “We even permitted people to bring their own pizza in our establishment.
“Based on customer feedback, I suggested food. We knew we didn’t want sandwiches and then the idea for hot dogs was dreamed up.”
Bringing them both back to memories of Brooklyn’s famous Nathan’s hot dogs and Coney Island dogs, the two developed a menu of hotdogs three years ago.
“It was an idea Graham could totally get behind,” Bernier said.
Orser, the official brewmaster, originally worked for famed tech firm Blackberry, but with a camp in the Sudbury area, it made for a great location for a start-up brewery.
Holli is a registered nurse at the hospital who also assists with marketing and front of house.
She said that with four core premium hotdogs on the menu and four standard ones, she never strays from the Coney Island with meat sauce, white onion, yellow mustard and a sauce made in-house by Orser.
For his part, Orser prefers the Chicago, a hotdog covered with tomato, pepperoncini, pickles, relish, white onions, mustard and celery salt.
Every once in a while special hotdogs make an appearance, like the McDavid, named for Canadian hockey superstar Connor McDavid, or the schnitzel on a bun for Octoberfest.
For those not interested in hot dogs, 46 North offers pretzels and beer cheese sourced from Ripe Restaurant and Pinchman’s Bakery in the South End.
In addition to that, there is snack food like popcorn and the homemade Canadian house party dip loaded with onions and served with chips.
“It’s perfect for our in-house porketta bingos,” Bernier said.
The couple have added larger tanks in recent years to keep up with the demand. Bernier and Orser have more big ideas for the future for thirsty locals.
With the threat of looming aluminum tariffs, aluminum cans will become pricey for the mom and pop shop.
“We are likely going to run out of black cans and prices will increase, so without a Canadian can supplier we might have to consider looking elsewhere and fast.
“Of course, our first preference is to have someone manufacturing cans in our country, of course,” she adds.
Cans or not, one thing is certain, the hot dogs are scrumptious. 46 North is located at 1275 Kelly Lake Road in the West End.
Follow 46 North on Facebook here or visit their website, 46north.ca.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.