Canada, ON: Shawn & Ed Brewing Company finally starts production

Production at the Shawn & Ed Brewing Company in Dundas, Ontario kicked off this week with the first run of the company's LagerShed Original. The beer is now quietly aging in oaken barrels for a month before it's ready for the market. It takes four weeks for a lager to properly age and two weeks for an ale, The Hamilton Spectator reported on February 5.

For co-owner Ed Madronich the final start of production caps an eventful year of getting the business ready to launch.

"It has been exciting and stressful all at the same time," he said on February 5. "Now we're getting the product ready for sale."

The Shawn and Ed Brewing Company, named for partners Madronich and Shawn Till, has been fermenting for most of a year while the entrepreneurs oversaw renovations of the former curling club and warehouse and got their brewing equipment set up and running.

"We've done everything as well as we can and I've very proud of that," Madronich said. "We preserved this building and we've bought the best equipment to brew beer we could find anywhere.

"We did it all very well right from the beginning," he added.

The project was delayed by city issues including a holding provision on the zoning of the property, concerns about expansion of the site, and issues with the provincial Ministry of the Environment.

Those hurdles were all finally cleared and the business is in full swing. Half a dozen staff are working, with the promise of more jobs if sales volumes live up to Madronich's projections.

The plan is to open as many sales channels as they can, including the possibility of exports to the United States, where Till now lives.

"We don't know what the demand is going to be but to start, the main point of sales is going to be the brewery itself," Madronich said. "Over time we want to get into restaurants and bars, the Beer Store and the LCBO. We're going to look at all sales channels."

Shawn and Ed have been living off bank financing and whatever personal sources of money they could siphon, but with the start of production the company is inching toward finally generating some revenue.

"It's going to be good to have a revenue stream," Madronich said.

They are among about half a dozen craft brewers trying to tap into the tastes of local drinkers for something different than the traditional mass brews of Labatt, Molson and their global parents.

Warren Pyper, of The Hamilton Brewery, is already selling his potion Blue Collar Pale Ale at select bars around the area. He's also cold calling every potential customer he can reach on the single day a week he doesn't have to focus on his day job as grocery manager at the Goodness Me chain.

"We've just closed out our first year of business and I'm very, very pleased that we went way over all our targets," he said. "We're almost at the point of being ready to make the leap to a bricks-and-mortar facility."

The Hamilton Brewery's products are brewed in St. Thomas, near London, but Pyper wants to change that as soon as he can.

"We're looking at a property downtown but there are some zoning issues that might stop us," he said. "It's important for us to be in Hamilton because everything to do with our beer in done here, except the actual brewing."

In Brantford, Teddy Scholten is also making great strides with his Mash Paddle Brewing Co. — to the point where he has had to delay opening his own retail store because he can't make beer fast enough to supply the pubs selling it.

"Our licensees are selling beer so fast, we've had to delay opening our store because we had no beer to sell," he said. "I guess that's a good problem to have."

Scholten added the store should be open soon — the last few inspections are to be conducted soon and by then the extra tanks he has installed should solve the quantity problem.

At least four other craft brewers are also in business in Hamilton and area.

Collective Arts Brewing and Nickel Brook Brewery have taken over the former Lakeport location on Burlington Street. They share the facility and a staff of 40 to operate under the name Arts and Sciences Brewery. Retail sales in Hamilton are strictly Collective Arts, while Nickel Brook sells from a store in Burlington.

Also in Hamilton, Garden Brewers is the creation of husband-and-wife team Victor and Sonja North from their home in the Corktown neighbourhood. They're contract brewers now, but have their sights set on a bricks-and-mortar facility when the signs are right.

Down in Norfolk County, John Picard is building a reputation for his Ramblin' Road brewery, making beer from ingredients he grows on his farm. Sales are out of his own store.

10 February, 2016