Authentic Seacoast Brewery and Distillery opens new facility in Guysborough

Nova Scotia's largestdistilleryofficially opened on Saturday in Guysborough, N.S.

Authentic Seacoast Brewery and Distillery at the Osprey Shores Golf Resortcelebrated its grand opening with live music, tours and free samples of the brewery's Rare Bird beer.

The multi-million dollar facility is owned by entrepreneurGlynn Williams, headof Toronto-based Reliance Aerotech. Williams has been pouring money into the community for the last 10 years about$20 million in total.

The former financier owns a collection of businesses thereunder the Authentic Seacoast brand. They includea soap-making operation, a coffee roaster, a craft brewery,the Rare Bird Pub and the Skipping Stone Cafe.

Last September, he said he hopedto at least double his workforce in the community from the two dozenfull-time jobs he had created by then. Over the last four decades Guysborough has lost two-thirds of its population to outmigration.

"We're doing this for lots of reasons, one of which is to create meaningful, sustainable, year-round jobs in this community of approximately 400 or 500 people where every job matters," he said then.

'A social investment'

"There are way easier ways to make money at less risk. This is more of a social investment than it is a financial investment. It's to see if we can reverse the tide of people leaving and we can continue to build and contribute to the community."

Williams couldn't be immediately reached by phone on Saturday.

The business's websiteclaimsthe distillery, which is home to GlynnevanWhisky,Sea FeverRumandFortressRum,is the firstat a golf course in the world.

A detachment of the Cannoniers/Bombardiers, accompanied by members of the field music corps,from the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site were scheduled totake part in the celebrations, in part to highlight centuries of brewing and distilling in Nova Scotia.

Truro's Juno-Award winningGarrett Mason was to play the Rare Bird Pub Saturdayevening.

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