A downtown building sat empty for four years. Two locals turned it into a whisky bar with about 30 scotches and no televisions.
The storefront at 169 Thames Street South spent years dark. Simon Savard and Scott Van Schyndel bought the building in January 2021.
They waited four years to open it.
Scotch and Ponder poured its first drink on February 12, 2025. It is a whisky bar in downtown Ingersoll, on the stretch of Thames Street South that anchors the Oxford County town of about 13,000, and it is not built like anything else on the block.
Ingersoll sits in Oxford County, about 20 minutes east of London on the Thames River. Thames Street South is its main commercial run, and for years the address at 169 was one of the gaps in it. Cheese is the town’s older story. A whisky bar is a newer one.
The Name Came Before the Bar
The idea started on a screen. During the pandemic lockdowns, five friends met over video to drink scotch and talk through the week. Savard’s phrase for the ritual was plain. They did a scotch and a ponder. Van Schyndel coined the name from it, and it stuck.
The building came next. The two bought the empty downtown property in January 2021, with the goal of putting something back into the core. It took four years of work before the doors opened.
What They Pour
The bar opened with about 30 bottles of scotch, and the list was always meant to grow. Tastings are part of the model, run as small ticketed events rather than a standing fixture. [NEEDS REVIEW: current size of the scotch list]
The beer is craft and imports only. There is no domestic macro lager on the taps. The cocktail list runs to drinks you will not find at the pub down the street, and the espresso martini comes up often in the reviews. One item on the menu is an Unapologetically Canadian whisky tasting.
The food is built to sit beside a drink rather than replace dinner: a house charcuterie board, cheeses, antipasti, olives. Ingersoll built its name on cheddar, so a board of cheese and cured meat in a whisky bar reads as of a piece with the town, not against it.
No Televisions on the Walls
There are no televisions in the room. That is deliberate. Scotch and Ponder was set up as the opposite of a sports bar, a place for conversation rather than a broadcast.
The programming follows from that. The bar has hosted wine tastings, whisky tastings, oyster nights, and open mic evenings, and it draws regulars who bring other people in. Response has been steady, and the notes that repeat are about the room, the staff, and the range behind the bar rather than any single dish.
For a town this size, a room with 30 scotches and no screens is a specific choice.
For four years the building at 169 Thames Street South was a dark window on a downtown block. It now keeps its lights on until midnight on a Saturday.
Business Details
Name: Scotch & Ponder
Address: 169 Thames Street South, Ingersoll, ON N5C 2T6
Phone: (519) 425-4444
Website: scotchandponder.com
Hours: Tuesday to Thursday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. to midnight. Saturday, 2 p.m. to midnight. Sunday and Monday, closed.
