Canada, AB: Two Sergeants Brewing moving to Edmonton

Two Sergeants Brewing Inc. is marching into Edmonton, and it’s bringing its kegs with them, the Edmonton Journal reported on February 22.

The Fort Saskatchewan brewery first opened its doors back in 2015, but is unable to expand in its current space northeast of Edmonton, and has struggled with attracting more customers to its taproom.

Although the brewing business received a lot of support and developed some die-hard fans, Two Sergeants Brewing Inc. owner Kevin Moore told Postmedia it can no longer stay in the Fort and instead will be moving to the big city.

“It wasn’t an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.

“I guess the biggest reason for us moving is we need to grow. First and foremost, we are a brewery and a production brewery. To keep up with demand, we need more tanks and there’s just no room in this footprint.”

Moore said the plan is to move into the popular Whyte Avenue area where other craft brewers like himself are locating.

The new Edmonton location will feature more space for more tanks as well as a spot to open up a full kitchen, something that was impossible in Fort Saskatchewan, he added.

“We explored options within the complex that we are in to try and get more space but that didn’t materialize,” he said. “We explored basically every option in Fort Saskatchewan and there was basically nothing that would work for us (in terms of) size, economics.”

Another reason for the move was the taphouse wasn’t seeing enough patrons coming in. Moore said it was losing money on the taphouse because ultimately, there just wasn’t enough local support.

“If you look at any other brewery in Alberta, they have a thriving taproom,” he said. “For some reason that just hasn’t taken off in Fort Saskatchewan. We have some very loyal customers, just not a big enough base.”

Although Two Sergeants is available in all the major chains, Moore explained the taproom and the brewery both have to be successful for the business to survive.

Though there isn’t a firm timeline on the move to Edmonton, Moore said he expected the Fort Saskatchewan location to close by April 1.

22 February, 2018