Betty’s Wine Bar offering ‘fun and funky and a little mischievous’ lounge for wine and snacks

The Bruce Hotel team would like to introduce Betty to Stratford.

Betty’s Wine Bar on 27 George St. opened on May 15 and offers a selection of unique wines made from local and global producers, as well as sharable snacks. So far, the new wine bar is a hit with guests.

"It's been good,” said Michelle Baril, the Bruce Hotel’s director of revenue and guest experience. “The theatre and the festival season helped us huge with opening week but we've had a steady crew over the weekends come in for a glass of wine pre-show so it's up and down but definitely going in the right direction."

Jennifer Birmingham, owner of the Bruce Hotel, had the space on 27 George St. E for a while and contemplated what to do with it. The hotel is named after her father, so Betty’s is named after her mother.

"We were looking to do something different from what the Bruce is, so something a bit more casual but still kind of fun and funky and a little mischievous as a nod to her mom,” Baril said.

She added that the team at the Bruce Hotel wanted to offer a casual dining space that sets itself apart from other places in Stratford’s well-established hospitality scene.

"There's a huge coffee scene, there's a huge beer scene, there's a huge cocktail scene, so we were really looking at 'Hey, what can we do that not everybody is doing?'" she said.

The white wine selection at Betty’s has been popular amid the sunny weather and 3XP chardonnay and skin-contact pinot grigio are two big hits among customers. Out of the sharable snacks, the baked brie served with focaccia and apple walnut compote is the most popular so far.

"It's gooey and yummy and just what brie should be,” Baril said.

Betty’s is open between 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from 11:30 a.m. to late from Thursdays to Saturdays. More information can be found online by either visiting https://www.bettysongeorge.ca/ or by following Betty’s Wine Bar on Facebook and Instagram.