Tiny brewery, big dreams: Nanobrewery set to open in Pasadena

A trio of entrepreneurs are fitting their big dreams in a tiny format, as they prepare to open western Newfoundland's first nanobrewery.

That's right, nanobrewery, even smaller than the microbreweries that have made craft beer so famous.

"We can produce five kegs a day, which is really quite tiny, when you compare it to an average-sized microbrewery, which can brew 30 to 60 kegs a day," said Jim MacDonald, president of theWestern Newfoundland Brewing Company.

"So we're starting very very small, and we're just kindof trying to test the waters, test the market and build that market as we're moving forward in the first year."

MacDonald, along with Norm MacDonald and Jennifer Galliott, have been working behind the scenes on the brewery for years.

Recently they were awarded a combination grant and loan for about $74,000 from the Newfoundland and Labrador governmentto upgrade their equipment to production capacity, as well as work on marketing and gettingtheir brews to the public.

A tale of two brews

The brewery is setting up its manufacturing base in Pasadena, but its first brews will be available in Gros Morne National Park.

Killdevil PaleAle and Wild Cove CreamAle will be on tapat Galliott Studios in Woody Point and the Cat Stop in Norris Point.

"One is accentuating the malt characteristics a bit more, and the other a bit more on the hops. We're trying to start fairly accessible," Jim MacDonald told CBC Radio's Corner Brook Morning Show.

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"We're going tostart with something subtle, but moreflavourfulthan what you find in some of those everyday beers," added Galliott, the brewery's director of marketing and sales.

The brewers have spent a lot of time tinkering to get their beer ready to pour.

"We've been experimenting, and trying and retrying our recipes, for about two years now.Probably more than that," said Galliott.

Drinking local

The company is deliberately starting out small.

"We don't want to exceed demand," said Galliott, although she and her partners are sure the demand is there.

"When visitors come to western Newfoundlandit's one of the first questions out of their mouth, is what's the local beer," said MacDonald.

"It goes along with that locally-produced culture shift.It's something that people really really want."

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The Western Newfoundland Brewing Company could become the first craft brewery in Newfoundland and Labrador outside the Avalon Peninsula, although one other microbrewery is set to open this summer in Port Rexton.

With still some paperwork to sort out, the west coastteam hopes to have its beer debut in Gros Morne by mid-July.