E-Malt.com News article: Canada, ON: Pakenham’s Cartwright Springs Brewery now in final stages of construction

Pakenham’s first and only brewery will soon be up and running, Inside Ottawa Valley reported on December 30.

The operation, called Cartwright Springs Brewery, is currently in its final stages of construction. Andre Rieux, the company’s founder, said he hopes to start full production of their craft beers by the beginning of 2015, and to have the doors open to the public in the spring.

“We’re very excited that this stage of the project is coming to a close so we can move on to the really fun part,” he said. “Making and distributing the beer is what this is all about.”

Cartwright Springs Brewery is located in the heart of Pakenham and will be Mississippi Mills’ first brewery. The company will feature a lineup of craft beers made using locally sourced products – including their beers’ main ingredient: natural spring water.

The idea to start Cartwright Springs Brewery came to Rieux just over two years ago, when he was out for a walk on his property one day. He had come across a small creek when he noticed it didn’t seem to have a source. After some searching and sifting through a few fallen leaves, Rieux discovered that the water was bubbling up from underground in what was a natural, fresh water spring.

“The spring really clicked something into me,” he said. “I realized I could use this superior water to make beer and I just wanted to share that beer with everyone.”

Rieux has been a lover of craft beers for considerably longer than it’s been on-trend. He’s been making it in small batches for more than 20 years, using his home kitchen as his own personal micro-brewery.

“Making beer has always been a hobby for me,” he said, “but after I discovered the spring and made beer using the water from it, I realized I had something special.”

At first, Rieux was making batches of his spring water beer for friends, but found it hard to keep up with demand. Since then, his dream of opening a brewery to showcase his beer has grown into a reality.

It’s been about a year since the first steps were taken in creating Cartwright Springs Brewery. Rieux has put everything into making Pakenham’s first brewery a success. He’s got his life savings invested into the project, and has even gotten his friend Eduardo Guerra to partner with him as a financial backer.

“Starting a brewery is not an easy process,” he said. “There are a lot of unexpected expenses that go along with it, but we keep pushing on.”

To create a brewery in rural Pakenham, Rieux has had to jump a number of unusual hurdles. In addition to actually constructing the brewery itself, digging a septic tank and ordering equipment, he has had to have additional hydro poles put up at the end of his road to handle the electricity needed to run the operation.

Though it’s been a long process that Rieux admits was tedious at times, he says it will all be worth it when the beer starts to flow.

“When we’re up and running and producing beers, we’ll be living the dream,” he said.

Rieux says Cartwright Springs Brewery plans to produce a number of different beers to appeal to almost every craft beer lover. There will be four standard creations that are available year-round, interspersed with a few seasonal beers for variety.

“A huge part of the craft beer movement is that beer drinkers are looking for more variety,” he said. “We’ll be able to give them that.”

It’s not just the spring water that Cartwright Springs Brewery will be known for, though. Their bright blue, 1 litre glass bottles will also be one of the beers’ trademarks – as well as their unique caps.

Rieux said the brewery thought about using many different sizes of bottles to sell their beer, but found that the 1-litre size was the best fit. A growler was too large to easily enjoy in one sitting, and the beer could go flat if recapped. It was decided that a smaller bottle would be a better way to enjoy the brews.

For now, Rieux says the plan is to sell beers from the brewery itself, but also hopes to get them into local restaurants for people to try.

Then, when the brewery opens to the public, locals and tourists alike will be able to visit the location for tours and tastings.

“We want this to bring people to Pakenham,” Rieux said. “We want tourists to come here for tours, and we want locals to be able to come out, too. Everyone is welcome.”

Right now, Pakenham is known to tourists for its small-town charm, its sugar bushes and the ski hill, but Rieux says he plans to add Cartwright Springs Brewery to that list.

“We want the brewery to be very warm and inviting,” said Hien Hoang, a member of the Cartwright Springs Brewery team who also looks after their marketing. “When people come here for tours, we want them to have a great experience.”

To do that, Rieux plans to build an upscale tasting room, complete with a bar and radiant-heat flooring to offer his tour guests samples of beer during their visits. However, building such a room requires funding, and so they’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to help boost their numbers.

“A big part of the Kickstarter campaign is that we had a lot of people approaching us to ask how they could help with the brewery,” Hoang said. “People think this is a really cool project, and they want to be a part of it. The Kickstarter campaign is a great way to do that.”

As of now, the brewery has raised more than C$10,000 of their C$12,000 goal, but they’re still looking for contributions.

“This is a community project as much as it is anything else,” Hoang said. “We want to make beer for the community, and if the community wants to be a part of that, we’re happy for the support.”

Rieux said he hopes to have the brewery itself up and running early in 2015, and will be making beer as soon as possible. Then, in the spring, he hopes to have the facility open to the public for tours and tastings.


02 January, 2015