Pioneering Yukon's First Tasting Room

If you've been by the brewery lately, you'll have noticed some changes going on in our store front. As mentioned in our last post, we've moved the brewing equipment to a more 'grown up' warehouse space in the back (much more fitting for a brewery if you ask us). And we're in the process of building the Yukon's first ever brewery tasting room, where you will soon be able to enjoy a pint or tasting flight (choose your own selection of 4oz tasters) of Winterlong beer right from the source.

If you're a well-travelled craft beer enthusiast you've likely encountered many a brewery tasting room in your days outside of the Yukon (Vancouver is littered with them). Not only are tasting rooms a great way for budding craft breweries to showcase their wares and experiment with new recipes, they also help to build up the community with a welcoming space for people to come together. We felt it was time to bring this concept to the Yukon, not to mention we've had countless customers come to our brewery in the past thinking that they can buy a pint like at so many other breweries across the country. We've even had some very responsible visitors who show up in a taxi, only to be sad to hear that all we can provide is a few small samples and some beer to go.

 

But that is all going to change soon, as we finish our preparations. So far we've torn up half the floor, grinding and polishing the concrete underneath, and you'll see the shell of a new bar counter along the back wall and some fresh paint on the walls, as of this weekend. We've sanded and stained some old wine barrels for tables and have bought Canadian Tire out of those industrial metal stools that you see at so many bars these days. We've busted through one of the walls to reach a second bathroom (a requirement under the licence application). We've built a bigger cold room behind the bar wall to house the kegs and will be installing 12 taps (that's twice as many taps as we currently have).

 

We are doing all these preparations in stages also so that we don't have to close our current retail space in order to keep your growlers happy and your beer fridges well stocked. In the meantime, thank you for putting up with the smell of fresh paint and floor sealant, we know it doesn't go well with tasting beer but it will all be worth it. Once one half of the room is ready, we'll move over to start pouring growlers from the new counter, while we decommission the old one and complete the floor and painting on the remaining half of the room.

 

 

If all goes well the tasting room will be ready by late September!  So by then, in addition to selling growlers and bombers to go, we will have the added benefit of selling pints and tasting flights. An assortment of tasty snacks will also be available, to compliment the beer of course.

 

We are really excited to be able to add additional value for our regular customers and neighbourhood as well as also making the brewery a must-stop-place for tourists on their visits to the Yukon. And just think you'll have another option for your après ski after Mount Sima this winter.

 

Cheers!