E-Malt.com News article: Canada, ON: Ottawa welcomes Dominion City Brewing Co.

After years of planning and a massively successful Kickstarter campaign, Dominion City Brewing Co. finally opened its doors to the masses on August 9, and then watched as thirsty customers bought up everything that they had to offer, Ottawa Citizen reported.

“People kept commenting, ‘We’ve been waiting a long time for a brewery to open in the east end,” said Josh McJannett, one of the firm’s three co-founders. “It was an awesome first day. Everybody got a high five on the way in.”

The brewery is capable of producing 700-litre batches of beer. It sold more than 620 litres on August 9 in growlers, large glass jugs capable of transporting just shy of two litres of beer. It also prepared several kegs for four Ottawa area bars that specialize in craft beer offerings. The kegs were dropped off on August 8, and four have already been emptied and replaced.

It’s a good problem to have, admits McJannett and another co-founder Alex Monk, who both believe that if they take pride in their offerings and continue to brew with high quality and local ingredients “that hopefully the crowds will keep coming.”

“The community is so tight and the customers are dedicated. You have to show that you care,” said McJannett.

Dominion City will source as much of its ingredients locally as it can, he said. The Earl Grey tea it uses in its Earl Grey Marmalade Saison comes from local coffee/tea house Bridgehead. He describes the business as a “community” startup, thanks to a successful crowd funding campaign that raised C$19,000 for the fledgling brewery and support from family and friends along the way.

The trio have been planning the brewery for the past two years after growing a home-brew hobby into an obsession. The name Dominion City is a play on the country’s old status as the “Dominion of Canada”, and Ottawa’s role as the capital.

Seeing the business finally open its doors is something that seems a little surreal, they admit.

For the time being, the three will maintain their day jobs while expanding the brewery. Retail hours at the Canotek Road location will only be held on Saturdays.

The new brewery’s opening happened one week before the National Capital Beer Festival, which will see dozens of the city’s top microbreweries converge outside Ottawa City Hall to showcase their offerings. While McJannett would have loved to be part of the festival, the brewery needs to focus on increasing production to meet early demand. He said Dominion City will likely participate next year.

Ottawa is quickly becoming a mecca for craft beer lovers. The city and its surrounding area will feature as many as 24 different microbreweries by year’s end.

For the time being, Dominion City has three beers it will be offering on a regular basis. The beers have all been created by the brewery’s three founders after years of home brewing and playing with various recipes.


15 August, 2014