Brewery and diner create family-friendly city hut
Eight-year old Gaia was asked to write a nightly journal entry for school.
During parent-teacher interviews, her teachers said she constantly wrote about a fun place, where she talked about feeling safe and welcome and where people were kind to her.
“The teacher said, ‘It’s so weird because it’s obviously some community centre where you’re going, but she keeps calling it the brewery,’ ” said Gaia’s mother Risa Payant.
But it wasn’t a community centre Payant’s daughter was talking about. It was, in fact, Malty National, an up-and-coming brewery located in the Heritage neighbourhood.
“It’s so much more than beer. It really is this hub of community action and a place for everyone to go to feel welcome,” said Payant, who often hangs out at the brewery with her two young daughters.
Payant has lived in the area for three years. She has frequented the brewery as a patron since its opening in the spring of 2016, but has also worked there since May of this year.
She said the emergence of Malty National — which now shares a space with 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters — as well as the Hunter Gatherer Vegetarian Diner down the street, has helped her meet neighbours and engage with the local community like she never has before.
She said they are also places her kids can run over to for help should anything happen to her, something she takes great comfort in.
“We’re family-run. We very much try to make it a friendly place for people to bring their children,” said Neil McDonald, owner and operator of Hunter Gatherer.
He said nearby businesses, including Malty National, have drawn a lot more people to the area, including neighbours who enjoy having places within walking distance to go and hang out with their families.
“I did live in this neighbourhood probably 10 years ago for a little while, and it was quite different then,” said Malty National regular and stay-at-home dad Shawn O’Dell.
He moved back to the area a couple of years ago and said he enjoys being able to hang out at the brewery with his daughter, where she often enjoys a crisp, carbonated water.
“It’s pretty great because a lot of other people go there too, so in the same way that a lot of people see pubs as being hubs for communities, that’s exactly what (Malty National) is doing,” said O’Dell.
Brewers Adam Smith and Kelsey Beach have both noticed an uptick in foot traffic since they opened up shop, which not only adds to the vibrancy of the community, but creates a greater sense of safety in the area, with more people walking around it and getting to know each other.
By leaving their lights on at night, Smith said the brewery also provides a little extra security for residents walking around the area after hours.
But Beach says they can’t take all the credit, acknowledging the other local businesses like Hunter Gatherer for livening up the area and creating comfortable, familyfriendly places for community to come together.
“Neighbours seem to know each other a little bit more, at least I know who lives in the neighbourhood a lot more,” said Beach.
It was important for Smith and Beach to create a place they, with young families themselves, would be comfortable in.
As a result, a lot of young families frequent the brewery where their kids are given juice boxes and have access to a vending machine with toys and treats inside. With 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters in the same building, a true hub has emerged that has a little bit for everyone.
And the hub is growing. The brewery doubled its beer-making capacity this summer and added an outdoor seating area. Smith says it gets residents connecting even more with each other, as people passing by stop to say hello to those they know enjoying a pint on the patio.
“I think it’s really integral to a neighbourhood having these spaces,” said Smith who has lived in the area for over eight years “Parks allow for that and playgrounds and ice skating rinks and all of that. I think business is totally integral to an interesting, walkable, enjoyable neighbourhood.”