Drink Local
- Dev Team
- 06 Jul 2015
Tell us about the importance of location and space to beer and brewing.
In May 2014, Collective Arts Brewing and Nickel Brook Brewing partnered to begin building a brewery in Hamilton at the historic Lakeport building. The space and location of our brewery is particularly important to us. Firstly, the building was purpose-built by brewer Andrew Peller in 1947 and its last bottle of beer was shipped from the facility in 2010 by Lakeport. It only makes sense that the space go back to its brewing roots. The Hamilton Port Authority’s progressive attitude toward supporting local entrepreneurs and allowing brewing equipment to arrive through the Port of Hamilton was also essential to this endeavor coming to fruition.
The size of the space is also very significant — we will utilize the entirety of the 50,000 square-foot space. Forty thousand
square feet will be used for brewing to increase production for both Collective Arts Brewing and Nickel Brook Brewing. The remaining 10,000 square feet will be dedicated for hospitality and retail. Staying true to both brewers’ support of creativity, the hospitality section will also house a gallery and live music space.
Collective Arts Brewing was only founded in September 2013 and is quite like the Little Engine That Could in the face of brew giants. The fact that this small craft brewer is now occupying the former space of a onetime king player really speaks to the rise of the micro-brewer.
Why Hamilton?
Hamilton has gone through a number of changes in the past few years that have transformed the city into a cultural hub. From the increase of local businesses to the rise of James Street North’s Supercrawl that’s seen it-bands such as Passion Pit and Diamond Rings, Hamilton has gained international recognition as a centre of innovation and economic development for artisans and retailers alike. The evolution of the city aligns with Arts & Science Brewing Ltd.’s mandate of inspiring and attracting visionary individuals to enjoy fine beer and art in one space.
Explain your vision for your new facility and how that will interact with the community.
We recognize the current cultural renaissance happening in the city — much of it concentrated in the James Street North area — and we are confident Hamiltonians will embrace our commitment to excellence and creativity in our beer making and in our support of the arts.
Fully operational, the brewery expects to employ 20 people. As the volume grows, more individuals will be hired. The Port of Hamilton has attracted $40 million in agri-food sector investment in recent years, and agri-food has grown into a $1.3 billion industry in Hamilton as a whole. This new development continues the momentum.
What does the concept of shopping local mean to you?
Shopping local means freshness and quality. Our beer is being made in the vicinity it’s being offered, also lowering our carbon footprint. We will take this local approach as we move across Canada: We will partner with various like-minded breweries who believe in innovation and taking an ‘artistic’ approach to beer making. This ensures we are free to create new ‘works of beer’ by collaborating with amazing brewers and brewmasters. Just like the art that appears on the bottles’ labels, Collective Arts Brewing maintains that the beer inside is also a creative statement.
How do you feel the Hamilton community has welcomed you, if we have?
Hamilton has been the most welcoming! The brewery sits at the doorstep of Hamilton’s redeveloping west harbour, and will serve as a catalyst for future development and small businesses. The redeveloped brewery will offer brewery tours, and an indoor-outdoor event space, so it will serve as a destination for the community and visitors.
MORE ON COLLECTIVE ARTS ART + BREWING
We love beer and have a deep passion for the arts of all disciplines. Working with emerging musicians, visual artists, film makers, photographers and graphic designers to showcase their art, we’ve turned our beer labels into the world’s most refreshing pop-up gallery.
We curate a new series of beer labels every three months with over 75 artists in every series. Since our first limited-edition series was released last September, we have published the work of over 334 musicians, artists, photographers and filmmakers representing 19 different countries on our inter- active labels. We’ve had a chance to work with incredible artists and bands from the likes of Jamestown Revival, PUP, Metz, Said The Whale, July Talk, Ivan & The Parazol and London illustrator Barbara Ana Gomez to name a few.
We’re about to drop our Series Four with 80 brand new labels/artists. These include of Montreal, Boston artist Monika Grubizna and Gazelle Twin from Brighton. Needless to say, we are so excited for this series.
Also important to note: Our call to arts are open to anyone who has art or music to share and is of legal drinking age in their country of residence.
We also take it a step further and make the experience interactive: we’ve utilized the technology of an ‘augmented reality’ smartphone app called Blippar that allows the artist bios, music, links and works of art to come to life when our beer labels (not QR codes!) are scanned
.
THE BEER
Our focus on all things creative starts with our brew. We have five beers in our collection, but three are available at the LCBO and The Beer Store:
RHYME & REASON EXTRA PALE ALE 5.7 ABV 55 IBUs [Gold Medal Winner at Canadian Brewing Awards 2014]
At only 5.7% abv., it’s far more sessionable than your typical American IPA. We use specific hops from the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., which is rarely seen in Canadian IPAs. This one’s hoppy without the excessive bitterness.
SAINT OF CIRCUMSTANCE 4.7 ABV 19 IBUs
Saint of Circumstance is our go-to, easy-drinking, any-occasion brew. We started by creating a tasty blonde ale and then took it to a whole new level by adding the zest of seasonal citrus.
NEW STATE OF MIND SESSION ALE 4.4 ABV 38 IBUs This is a very hop-forward Session IPA. We’ve got notes of tropical fruit and orange with background hints of grapefruit and pine. While being full flavoured, this session IPA is amazingly light bodied. Big taste to satisfy the hop bomb lover but at a lower % alc./vol. than your typical IPA.
These recipes were developed by our brewmaster-in-residence Ryan Morrow, who has his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Guelph. He is one of Canada’s most innovative brewers.
Comments 0
There are no comments
Add comment