Ottawa is hopped up about craft beer
Chris Lackner, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 27, 2014, Last Updated: September 27, 2014 8:04 AM EDT
If you brew it, they will come and probably drink you dry.
That’s the lesson Ottawans have been teaching would-be craft brewers. And they’ve been paying strict attention. It’s no coincidence that at least seven new microbreweries have either recently opened or are set to launch before the end of the year.
Case in point is Bicycle Craft Brewery, which opened Sept. 20 on Industrial Avenue. Co-owners Fariborz and Laura Behzadi point to local “trailblazers” such as Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. and Kichesippi Beer Co. as an inspiration for smaller brewers like themselves.
“They showed us the potential for a small brewery with a great product and good business plan,” Fariborz says. They also proved this city had an appetite for quality craft beer.
“There was this myth that you couldn’t sell craft beer in Ottawa,” says Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s co-founder and CEO. “We’ve proven that to be completely false. And this tidal wave of new breweries is a real testament to how supportive Ottawa has been of the craft scene… There are not a lot of cities in North America that are this supportive of their local breweries.”
Elie Dagher, co-owner of Waller St. Brewing, which is scheduled to open in October, says opening a microbrewery is still a “bold move,” but past success in the market has removed some of the “hesitation.” He links the popularity of craft beer to the wider consumer trend toward all things local, from produce to locally-owned restaurants.
“Consuming for the sake of consuming is gone,” says his partner and co-owner Marc-André Chainey. “Different people have different tastes. To me, the whole thing about craft beer is to tell people to try different beers. See where it takes you. Stop drinking the beer you used to steal from your father just because that’s the beer that you’re used to.”
The words roll of the tongue off the 29-year-old Chainey. Spend a few minutes with him and you’ll agree that he should be crowned Ottawa’s “Philosopher King of Craft Beer.” He can teach you how to brew — or argue how beer shaped civilization and human history. He can sell you an IPA, or rifle off facts about scientific breakthroughs stemming from beer.
Waller St. customers looking for an earful will find Chainey a patient, passionate teacher. They just need to find the semi-hidden staircase to the Prohibition-themed brewery, located below the Lunenburg Pub & Bar, which Dagher owns. Housed in an 1868 heritage building, their 1,000-square-foot basement brewery and retail space is even rumoured to have a ghost.
For microbreweries, personality and local character are the weapons of choice when battling the corporate behemoths like Molson and Labatt.
“They want to know the person selling the beer — people like the story” behind it, Chainey says. “I can tell them exactly what’s in the beer, where it came from, how I made it. If you walk over, I can teach you how to brew beer. I’m happy to do that.”
Waller St. will launch with three distinct beer styles, but Chainey says their small size will allow the brewery to be “nimble and quick” in responding to patrons’ tastes and requests.
Chainey is also a bit of a mad beer scientist. His path to building a brewery — echoed in that of Bicycle Craft’s founders — is anchored in Ottawa’s vibrant home-brewing scene.
“There is a very active, very present home-brewing community here,” Chainey says. “And that’s where craft brewers come from — and that’s where craft beer consumers also come from.”
The local brewery bonanza is propelled by the fact that Ottawa is a government, high-tech and university town. Due to the science and technology involved, Chainey says home brewers often come from a higher-educated portion of the population.
“It’s a very rewarding hobby,” he says. “You can rival big breweries right at home in your basement … All it takes is dedication and attention to detail.” Not surprisingly, those same ingredients are also the foundation of a successful microbrewery.
The Behzadis’ dream of opening Bicycle Craft stemmed from four years of home brewing. “We enjoyed it so much that we decided to make some beer we could share with everyone,” Laura explains.
Josh McJannett of the recently launched Dominion City Brewing Co. credits Ottawa’s craft-beer success stories to a focus on two things: quality and product availability. In the past, microbrewery startups would spread themselves too thin. “For a time, local small batch didn’t necessarily resonate with people” in terms of quality, he says. “Ottawa is becoming a national capital of craft beer.”
Microbreweries could also make Ottawa a mecca for craft-beer tourism. Ian Faris is president and CEO of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the former head of the Brewers Association of Canada. He says the city’s sudsy entrepreneurs are creating both indirect and direct financial benefits — from capital expenditures to supporting new restaurants and special events like the National Capital Craft Beer Festival and The Brewery Market.
Where a corporate behemoth like Molson might employ one local sales rep, a new microbrewery could create up to five full-time jobs, Chainey says.
Craft-beer purveyors also include contract brewers, like HogsBack Brewing Co. (which brews out of Broadhead), to brew pubs such as the Big Rig Brewery & Kitchen.
Ottawa’s navigability is also a plus. A trip between two Toronto microbreweries might take more than 45 minutes via car or public transit. Here, craft lovers can make the rounds of brewers within the city limits in an afternoon.
Brad Campeau is even making a living at it. His craft-beer delivery service, Brew Donkey, is approaching its one-year anniversary. Since he launched, the number of breweries in the Ottawa-Gatineau region — including pending brewery openings — has essentially doubled. Campeau initially offered a monthly microbrewery tour as an afterthought. Three months in, overwhelmed by demand, he made his tour weekly, and plans to offer up to three tours a week beginning next spring.
“We are bringing people to the breweries not just to make money for ourselves, but to raise awareness of craft brewing in Ottawa,” he says, noting that many of his delivery customers started with a tour.
With increased competition comes the potential for market saturation. But Beau’s Beauchesne thinks the Ottawa market is nowhere near capacity.
“The entire (craft) industry — roughly five per cent in Ontario — could double and still be less than the import market,” he says. “Every brewery I’ve talked to does not have trouble selling everything they make in the Ottawa area.
“Every time someone opens, people kind of gather around and say, ‘Is this the one, are there too many?’ (Then they sell) out in the first day and they are scrambling to make more.”
Beauchesne says one hurdle facing newbies is fleeting novelty. “Beau’s had three years to be ‘the new brewery’ before Kich,” he says. “Now you get to be the new brewery for a day and then someone else is opening their doors. … Their honeymoon period is a lot shorter.”
But freshman microbrewers are toasting one another, citing a spirit of “collaboration,” according to the owners of Waller St. and Bicycle Craft. Increased awareness of one craft beer bolsters the profile of the general scene.
“Everyone’s in the spirit of ‘a rising tide floats all boats’ and there is a lot of room to grow,” McJannett says.
Craft-brew drinkers like their variety. It’s not like the old days where people stuck with their favourite beer. The way craft-beer lovers consume plays to diversity.
“With craft beer, you always want to try something new,” Fariborz says. “The way each brewer makes each style of beer is different.”
The current scale of growth is manageable, Faris says. “We are nowhere near saturation now … (but) there are only so many taps at the bars and restaurants, and they tend to be the focal point for selling craft beer.”
That’s why Campeau says the key to success is a neighbourhood retail location. Retail spaces are a necessity — thanks to the LCBO and The Beer Store’s regulated monopolies. Brewers that embrace their surrounding community will flourish.
As an example of that kind of outreach, Campeau points to an August film screening hosted by Beyond the Pale. People will support a local brewery in the same way local bakers have been supported for centuries, he explains.
The ever-expanding Beau’s has always “struggled to keep up with demand,” Beauchesne says.
But it has always prioritized Ottawa-area customers first if the beer supply ever runs short. Their business plan involves expanding only within one day’s drive of the brewery and “keeping the beer close to home.” The company’s beer is now available across Eastern Ontario and Toronto, and the company shipped its first order to New York this month. It plans to expand to Quebec in February.
The secret to Beau’s success? “The most important thing is that we were different — not just for Ottawa but for all of Ontario,” Beauchesne says. “We chose styles that were unique and hard to find. We decided to go organic.”
Beau’s also takes pride in sponsoring local events, and supporting the community, having contributed $600,000 to various charities, he explains. They expect to raise $80,000 for charity from this year’s annual Oktoberfest event alone.
“My advice to a new brewery is to focus their efforts on being different. There are so many unexplored style and innovative things you can do with beer. Don’t go out and try to re-create someone else’s beer. Go out and do things no one else has done before.”
Waller St., for example, is betting on two things to help it stand apart from the pack: its location in the densely-populated market area, and its “speakeasy” feel and Prohibition theme with beer names such as Moonlight Porter and Bootleg Blonde. They are a production facility and retail shop, but patrons will be able to sample four-ounce glasses of beer at the old wooden bar. The owner’s long-term goal is even more unique: adding a craft distillery to the mix.
The people at Bicycle Craft are also already unwittingly taking Beauchesne’s hyper-local, “be unique” message to heart. In December, they plan to host a chocolate and beer-pairing event, with other food pairings planned in the future. They plan to display and sell local artists’ work on the walls. When possible, they try to buy local ingredients, including local hops. Their tasting room, licensed to serve one pint per customer, comes with a comfy couch and long, eight-seat, wooden farmhouse table. It’s the kind of place you can enjoy a brew and make a new friend.
Even their namesake — an antique bike is proudly displayed — is a personal statement. “We always love to ride our bicycles whenever we go to a new place and just discover new locations and hidden spots,” Fariborz says.
“At the same time, we feel that the bicycle represents being simple, traditional and down to earth, and that is also the vision of our brewery.”
Hidden spots. New taste adventures. Something strong is brewing in Ottawa. The new crop of craft brewers are counting on locals to keep drinking it up.
A profile of select microbreweries opening before end of 2014, or recently opened, in the Ottawa area.
Waller St. Brewery
Opening: October
Location: 14 Waller St. (basement)
Beers: Red Rye (Belgian American Red Rye Session IPA), Moonlight Porter (Porter with an assertive American Hop profile), Bootleg Blonde (a balanced blonde ale made with local hops)
Availability: Onsite retail space.
Brewing philosophy: “All our beers are made with natural ingredients with a healthy serving of hard work and attention to details.”
Bicycle Craft Brewery
Opening: Sept. 20
Location: 850 Industrial Ave., Unit 12
Beers: Velocipede IPA, Belle River Blonde, Base Camp Oatmeal Porter, Abyss Chocolate Stout
Availability: Onsite retail space
Brewing philosophy: “We are a traditional, all-grain, small-batch brewery that is down to earth and makes great tasting craft beer.”
Dominion City Brewing Co.
Opening: Open
Location: #15-5510 Canotek Rd.
Beers: Town & Country Blonde Ale, Two Flags IPA, Earl Grey Marmalade Saison
Availability: Onsite retail space. Also on tap or in bottle at following bars/restaurants: Coconut Lagoon, BITE Burger House, Brother’s Beer Bistro, Town, The Lieutenant’s Pump, Union Local 613, Fauna: Food + Bar, Salt Dining + Lounge, Teatro Café, Wellington Gastropub, Bowman’s Bar & Grill
Brewing philosophy: “We brew our beer using heirloom organic specialty grains grown and milled right here in the Ottawa Valley. It’s our way of producing a unique product that celebrates the best of our region.”
Square Timber Brewing Company
Opening: Open
Location: 800 Woito Station Rd., Pembroke, Ont.
Beers: Timber Crib Pale Ale, Big Pine IPA, Camboose DIPA, Deacon Seat Hefeweizen (plus many seasonals)
Availability: In growlers at the brewery and at bars/restaurants in Renfrew County and Ottawa.
Brewing philosophy: “The people, history and culture of the Ottawa Valley are all rich and colourful and we want to pay respect to these with our company’s philosophy and our beers — hand-hewn ales and lagers from the heart of the Ottawa Valley.”
Whiprsnapr brewing co.
Opening: October
Location: 14 Bexley Place, Unit 106 — Bells Corners
Beers: Root of evil (pre-Prohibition lager), Inukshuk (Canadian IPA), Carol Anne (Irish Blonde Ale), Black Sunshine (Black Lager), F’n’L (British IPA), Unf… (sweet stout); seasonal beers will include The Mick (maple cream ale) and Blueberry Pancakes (made with real maple syrup, blueberries and wheat malts), and a yet to be named ginger beer.
Availability: Primarily on-site to start, with availability at one to two restaurant/bars.
Brewing philosophy: “A whiprsnapr is something an old man used to call an up-and-coming, overconfident punk-ass kid. We’re the whiprsnapr’s of the brewing industry! But whiprsnapr’s are more than that — we’re energetic, hard-working and fun-loving — we earn our beer.”
Cartwright Springs Brewery
Opening: Aiming for December
Location: 239 Deer Run Rd., Pakenham
Beers: A variety of ales (IPA, SMASH, ESB, Kolsh) and seasonal beers.
Availability: Available in select local bars and restaurants by end of 2014, with plans to open retail space in early 2015.
Brewing philosophy: “Our story is simple. We found spring water, which makes all the difference. I have been making beer for about 20 years. The quality has improved to a new level since using the spring water. We plan to make our operation as environment friendly and sustainable as possible. We care for the environment and our natural spring is our key resource so we strive to protect it.”
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