Block Thee Brewing Co: A sneak peek behind the scenes

Block Thee Brewing Co: A sneak peek behind the scenes 

Nestled in the heart of Mennonite country is Ontario's latest Craft Brewery. Located in the tourist town of St. Jacobs is Block Three Brewing Co. I asked them if I could pay them a visit to see how they are getting on before opening and surprisingly they said 'Yes'.
 

The entrance to Block Three Brewing Co  

As I pulled up in the parking lot I was struck by how Mediterranean the exterior looked as most buildings in St. Jacobs have the traditional North American look. Once inside I was greeted by Bryan Maher the Brewer at Block Three.  Bryan gave me a tour of the facility, which is still some ways off being complete but coming along very nicely.  It became apparent talking to Bryan that Block Three is going to be focusing on keeping things local and as sustainable as possible. The Block Three sign was made entirely by one of the founders Father and one of the best features in the building is a skylight with Cedar slates that came from re-claimed timber, local and sustainable.

The (under construction) Interior of Block Three Brewing Co.

I asked Bryan why they decided to pick St. Jacobs to open a Brewery, his answers made a lot of sense. Firstly St. Jacobs is a tourist town so there are a lot of people visiting the area, specially during the summer. As someone that has been forced to walk around the various shops and Farmers market on a hot day, a decent place to grab a Craft beer would be an absolute god send. Secondly all of the other established brewers like Brick, Wellington & F&M are located a fair distance away so Brick Three would have the rule of the area to try to get their beers into the local Bars & Restaurants and gain a decent foothold before looking to expand.

Speaking of beer what can we expect Block Three to kick off with? Bryan tells me they are looking to start with three different brews. A Belgium Saison, A Brown Maple Syrup Ale & possibly a Kölsch. All the beers are going to be unfiltered and in keeping with local flavor as many ingredients as possible are going to be locally sourced.  In fact even the left over materials from the brewing process are going to be recycled as much as possible with spent Malts & Yeast being sent to local farms for cattle feed, there's certainly going to be some happy cows roaming about in Southern Ontario.

An August long weekend is anticipated for the grand opening but as usual with a new business this is subject to change. I asked Bryan what issues they had trying to get the place open. As side from the endless red tape of getting the correct permits from the correct city department, there were issues with getting the facility in order for brewing with some ungodly amount of lbs of concrete having to be dug out manually for the new drainage system. The most surprising for me was Bryan, a former brewer at Wellington, having to pick all the new brewing equipment himself which is no small feat for one man and a lot of responsibility.

However talking to Bryan you get a sense of a man that is really passionate about brewing and has the drive to succeed in this new adventure. I asked him what more we can expect from Block Three once they are up and running. His aim is to work up to seasonal beers and one off brews and hopefully join forces with some of the other breweries in the area for collaboration brews. Also to host brewery tours and beer evenings such as beer and cheese pairings. There's a lot to look forward to and not long to wait. I just hope Bryan invites me back for another sneak peek just before opening so I can see the transformation from my last visit and of course sample the regions newest beers.

Prost!

EyeBeerHolder

Also I want to say a big thanks to my official photographer for the day Amandah Wood, give her a follow on Twitter.

Block Three Brewing Co.
Unit 2
1430 King Street North
St. Jacobs
Ontario

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The Dark Side of Craft Beer

The Dark Side of Craft Beer

Last Friday I undertook an exploration to Waterloo to check out the Patio at the always fantastic Beertown, The Patio looks out on to a square along the main street and looks to be one of the better ones in the twin Cities of KW. Sadly the weather decided it wasn't going to cooperate and we had to locate indoors to avoid the ghastly showers, I'll get on that Patio one day soon. Beertown usually have four seasonal beers on tap, a great feature I like to check out as there's usually at least one I've never had the privilege to try. Luckily for me this time there were two on offer I had never sampled before the first one I opted for, also the inspiration for this blog, was Granville Island Robson Island Hefeweizan.

This guy knows about the Dark Side

Using my always unreliable Blackberry I tried to check into this Hefeweizan on Untappd and for what ever reason it kept crashing out, or so I thought. I ended up with this beer checked in about 5 times on my feed quite by accident. Then something happened that got me thinking, a comment was left on one of my unfortunate check ins that was along the lines of 'Molson own's Granville and Molson-Coors make Rikard's White so they are just Craft Washing'. Now I appreciate the comment was obviously tongue in cheek but it got me to thinking about Craft Brewers who are backed by a major Brewery. 

Probably the most well known Craft Brewer that is backed in Ontario is Creemore Springs. They were bought out in 2005 by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In turn Creemore bought out Granville Island in 2009. So that's two Craft Brewers now owned by a major corporation and it has left me somewhat conflicted. On the one hand I love to support the Ontario Craft Brewers because I think it's a great idea to keep the money generated in Ontario so the breweries can survive and are encouraged to come up with new and exciting brews for us to try. Another benefit is as craft beer becomes more popular it creates more jobs for people that want to break into craft beer as a living,

Another Dark Side

Now on the other hand I can't help but feel for people that own their own brewery. Creemore happens to make some of my favorite beers, so should I just stop drinking them now they are owned by Molson? If I owned a brewery and believed I made the best beer in the world I would want as many people as possible drinking it. Sadly for the small guys the only way to do this is to get the big players involved. They can provide the financial security and resources most craft brewers can only dream of and if I owned a business financial security would be a hard deal to turn down. Granville Island is located in Vancouver and I'm 100% positive I would not have discovered their beers without me having to travel out west to sample them. Then this made me think again, is that not part of the beauty of craft beer? Finding yourself somewhere new and trying all the new local beers you've never tried, are we going to be spoiled by the major players buying up the small guys and making them accessible?

This could turn into quite a big issue if Craft Beer carries on exploding the way it is. I can understand why a brewer would accept an offer to be bought out by a major brewery but would it be taking away from the soul of craft brewing? It's a thorny subject and one I'm going to keep an eye on, hopefully on the Patio at Beertown.

Prost!

EyeBeerHolder