WHITEWATER, BLOND ALE
Three young friends have come a long way since they came up with the notion of starting a brewery while rafting in the Grand Canyon, VITO PILIECI writes.
It began as a joke between three Valley rafting guides, but it’s become the region’s latest cult microbrewery.
It began as a laugh, on a Grand Canyon rafting trip in 2009. Around a campfire one night, James Innes and two friends, both named Christopher Thompson, sat drinking cans of Fat Tire Amber Ale, the product of a Colorado microbrewery called New Belgium Brewing.
“We were reading the label on the can thinking, ‘How cool would that be?’” said Thompson. “It was a bit of a joke at the time and that joke just escalated.”
While the three had experience drinking microbrews, they had none actually brewing them. Today, however, Innes, 33, and the unrelated Thompsons, 37 and 26, are behind one of the area’s newest breweries, Whitewater Brewing in Foresters Falls.
The three met more than eight years ago while rafting on the Ottawa River. Their shared love of whitewater then took them travelling together around the region, in Australia and throughout the United States.
While there are now nearly a dozen microbrewers making craft beer in Ottawa and the surrounding areas, at the time of the rafters’ campfire inspiration the local movement was just starting to gain momentum. Clocktower Brewing Co. and Beaus All Natural Brewing Co. had only begun to gain traction with local beer lovers.
Using the example set by New Belgium, which started as a basement brewery that sold to local residents until it could collect enough money to expand, the three set out to learn all they could about brewing. They took jobs at various breweries. Thompson found employment at a startup in the U.K. called Sambrook’s Brewery, while his partners gained experience in breweries as far away as Australia. After learning the ropes, the three reunited last yet to turn the fireside joke into a reality.
“Craft beer is really taking off and we wanted to be the first in this area,” said Thompson. “We love this area and we wanted to contribute (economically).
“What better life could you have than brewing good beer on the river you love?”
They found a space in an old unused cattle barn in Foresters Falls, about 125 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, and got to work formulating four recipes: a mellow blond ale they’ve named the Farmer’s Daughter, an English-style ale they call Whistling Paddler, a bitter India pale ale they’ve called Class V and an Oatmeal milk stout called Midnight Stout.
To their surprise, their first batch of beer sold out quickly: support from the community around Foresters Falls, Thomspon said, has been phenomenal. (The village is just a 10-minute drive from Wilderness Tours Rafting & Kayaking, in the heart of the Township of Whitewater Region.)
“We’ve been surprised about how popular we’ve been with the locals,” said Thompson. “We have a steady stream of customers through here during the week.”
While the business is already turning a profit, it isn’t big enough for the three founders to pay themselves any kind of a salary, so they brew five days a week, then work as rafting guides on weekends to make extra cash. Whatever profits Whitewater Brewing makes are poured back into the business.
The company’s story will resonate with the dozens of other brewers who have gathered at Ottawa City Hall until Sunday to show off their suds and kick off National Capital Beer Week. As orders pour in, the first priority for Innes and the Thompsons is to upgrade the brewery’s production equipment. A typical microbrewery will aim to make at least 2,500 litres of beer on a weekly basis. Whitewater currently makes around 750 litres per week.
The ultimate goal for the company, according to Thompson, is to turn the company’s empty former cattle barn into a full-fledged brew pub with live music, space for local vendors and locally sourced food. For now, the space remains relatively spare, with little more than an old piano as decoration.
But expect that to change soon. Whitewater is already on tap at Wilderness Tours, and at a few bars in Pembroke, and Thompson said he’s had inquiries from Ottawa bars and plans to start offering Whitewater’s beers in the city by the end of the year.