Chef and co-owner Steve Simpson says the 360 mustard has been in existence almost as long as Tomlin Restaurant itself, which opened in 2014. Served on their charcuterie board, the mustard became quite popular. Over the years, many diners asked if they could buy a jar of it to take home, but the restaurant made it in such small quantities that they had to decline.
That changed, however, in 2018, when Matt Pearson, then co-owner of Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. approached Simpson and suggested turning it into a product for retail. “We had been using their beer to make the mustard the entire time,” Simpson says. “This was meant as a fun little advertising tool, a fun little reminder when you open your fridge at home. A reminder about Tomlin and a reminder about Sleeping Giant.”
Released just before the holiday season in 2018, it has become very popular, particularly at Christmas time. Simpson describes the mustard as similar to a “classic Pommery mustard,” which is a French grainy mustard. “It’s not as pungent or spicy as Dijon, and not as smooth,” the chef says.
When Tomlin Restaurant developed the mustard, they experimented with various beers from Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. “We’ve tried it with Northern Logger and [Skull Rock] stout,” Simpson says. “We loved the flavour with the stout but not the appearance, and with Northern Logger we lost some of the nice bitterness we get with the 360.”
“We use the 360 Pale Ale because it adds a little bit of hoppy bitterness, but it mellows out through the fermentation. It adds a lot of sweetness and aroma. A lot of the flavour is still driven by apple cider vinegar and spices and stuff like that, but for us, it was just that little bit of extra bitterness,” Simpson explains. “360 has always been the perfect beer for it.”
The mustard is sold at a few select locations in the city; at Maltese, the Cheese Encounter, George’s Market, Brent Park Store, Barkeep, and of course, at Tomlin Restaurant and Sleeping Giant Brewing Co.
Simpson says Tomlin makes most of their own condiments and sauces, but the mustard is the only one available for sale. The restaurant also makes a lot of other things from scratch, including cured meats for the charcuterie board. “I’m of the opinion that if you’re going serve charcuterie in a restaurant setting, you have to have done something to actually create value for customers,” he says.
Collaborations with other local producers make a product appealing not only to customers, but to the producers themselves, the chef says. “It makes it more fun for us, and that’s kind of what we concentrate on first. If you’re having fun making something and you feel strongly about it, the public seems to always mirror that aspect.”
