Speaker 1: This episode was made possible by the BC Ale Trail.
Speaker 1: Arrive thirsty, Leave inspired at bcaletrail.ca
Speaker 1: Dreams can be big and can even happen in a
Speaker 1: small community.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cascadian beer podcast. My name's Aaron and
Speaker 1: I'm the Cascadian.
Speaker 1: In this podcast series, I profile the unique breweries of Cascadia,
Speaker 1: a region that has a strong presence in the international
Speaker 1: beer scene.
Speaker 1: Cascadia is a bio region in the Pacific Northwest on
Speaker 1: the North American continent to made up the U. S
Speaker 1: states of Washington, Oregon, as well as the Canadian province
Speaker 1: of British Columbia.
Speaker 1: If this is your first time listening to the podcast,
Speaker 1: welcome and I do hope you subscribe wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts.
Speaker 1: Last summer, I was lucky to explore the northern part
Speaker 1: of our province, along Highway 16. I started my journey
Speaker 1: in Prince George, British Columbia.
Speaker 1: Trench Brewing and Distilling opened their doors in spring of 2018.
Speaker 1: In a little bit, I'll be chatting with their brewer, Paul,
Speaker 1: but I started the conversation off with one of the co-
Speaker 1: owners
Speaker 2: My name is Craig Schwenning I'm one of the co
Speaker 2: owners of Trench Brewing and Distilli
Speaker 2: Here in Prince George.
Speaker 2: And how long ago did this project start?
Speaker 2: You it started back.
Speaker 2: It's hard to say we were in a business event
Speaker 2: in August of 2015 and that's when we kind of
Speaker 2: decided that we wanted to do something and my wife
Speaker 2: was there. One of her team members was there, and
Speaker 2: her name's Bailey hopefuls, and she's now part of the
Speaker 2: part ownership here. We're all equal partners. It's her and
Speaker 2: her husband, Jesse, on de ster night. And so we
Speaker 2: decided back then that we want to do something, and
Speaker 2: by the fall we had picked, we want to do
Speaker 2: a BRI. I wanted to kind of get into the
Speaker 2: distilling side, so that's why we've we're going to do
Speaker 2: a Berry in distillery story coming soon, but And what
Speaker 2: was there much going on in Prince George at the time?
Speaker 2: At the time, there was no craft, very, and it
Speaker 2: was March of 2016. We were All of us were
Speaker 2: down in Mexico and there was the weekend of the
Speaker 2: Yale fest.
Speaker 2: It was crazy that weekend because we're sitting there, were
Speaker 2: looking on our phones and were like Holy Smokes. The
Speaker 2: black clover just opened this Irish pub in Prince George
Speaker 2: Holi and the Holy Smokes Crossroads Brewery is opening also.
Speaker 2: And there another craft brewery and they're they're open, actually,
Speaker 2: while a year before, over a year before us. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just it's a great place and that those things
Speaker 2: happened while we were out of town and we were like,
Speaker 2: well, down the path of planning this already right from
Speaker 1: there. What were some of the other
Speaker 2: challenges that you faced opening in Prince George? I don't
Speaker 2: I don't think really in Prince George are geographically, there's
Speaker 2: going to be challenges no matter where you are, especially
Speaker 2: in this industry. So ah, you have to deal with.
Speaker 2: There's a ton of licence is like it's like 15
Speaker 2: or so licenses that you get in order to open
Speaker 2: up and then because we were doing this is still inside. Also,
Speaker 2: there's a big part of that. It was was involved
Speaker 2: in that the city was really good. The planning and
Speaker 2: development site is excellent, and then it. But a soon
Speaker 2: as you start getting into the different apartments that you
Speaker 2: have to deal with and different levels of government, like
Speaker 2: we're dealing with federal government next size tax, and we
Speaker 2: we deal with the provincial government and liquor control on DH.
Speaker 2: There's just processes for everything, and it just seems like
Speaker 2: just a gym with drag. And it would drag and
Speaker 2: it would drive. And there was always some little obstacle. So,
Speaker 2: you know, you just you get a big binder and
Speaker 2: you have all these sections in it, and you can't
Speaker 2: keep plugging away at it, All right? And that's
Speaker 2: I don't know what to say to the people out
Speaker 2: there who I plan on starting some like this. Just
Speaker 2: be patient. And, you know, everyone wants to see you
Speaker 2: succeed in everything, but they have to make sure it's
Speaker 2: all done right, and it just takes time, all
Speaker 1: right? And then So then why Prince George? I
Speaker 2: mean, did you grow up here that you'd moved here
Speaker 2: like Like, why was this the right place to open
Speaker 2: a brewery for us? That we were just I guess
Speaker 2: we were here and Prince Charge at the time. It
Speaker 2: didn't have anything. And I think back to the Buffalo
Speaker 2: Bree days, and that was like the glory days for
Speaker 2: me and Prince George's is before I moved off to
Speaker 2: Vancouver and it was actually operational while I was down
Speaker 2: living in Vancouver. And then it closed down. Yeah, it
Speaker 2: was It was a brewpub style, and it was the
Speaker 2: same as, like all those Mark James Group ones like
Speaker 2: Hell Town Buried Dix Pub, Avalon. Big Ridge. There is
Speaker 2: when those guys I hung out at those places on
Speaker 2: the Vancouver when I was living there, but I moved
Speaker 2: up to Prince George when I was pretty young on DH.
Speaker 2: I moved away in 1999 down to Vancouver,
Speaker 2: lived in North End and lived at the Avalon
Speaker 2: and then move back up in two thousand seven on DH. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then we just I came back for two. Follow
Speaker 2: my wife, actually, because she had an opportunity to do
Speaker 2: dental internship here. And so
Speaker 2: she's a den surest here in town
Speaker 2: again, and I had was part owners in a family business,
Speaker 2: locksmith thing and security firm.
Speaker 2: And so I had a job to come to you,
Speaker 2: and that's that's how we got back here. And we
Speaker 2: started doing home brewing with Esther's cousin
Speaker 2: on DH. We built this little shad and we had,
Speaker 2: like we did drainage and concrete floors and control panels
Speaker 2: and my security background. All the little voltage experience ah,
Speaker 2: allowed us to, like, you know, make do all this stuff.
Speaker 2: And so we we had, like, a cool room. We
Speaker 2: had contacted her mentors like wind we would do were
Speaker 2: doing home brew at a level like we're doing. We
Speaker 2: would get about almost 38 gallons of finished product in
Speaker 2: one brew, right? So we go there and an evening
Speaker 2: five hours later, we got, you know, 42 gallons in
Speaker 2: the fermenter, right? And we were doing all grains stuff,
Speaker 2: and that's that was really what
Speaker 2: where the I had a passion for beer anyways, but
Speaker 2: that's where we started getting into this. And just he
Speaker 2: was along for that, too, because he's he was a
Speaker 2: friend of our family and with Esther's cousins also. And
Speaker 2: that's not that's not how it started. I mean this
Speaker 2: this a great place to live. There's tons, outdoor stuff.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a smaller town.
Speaker 2: I sure don't miss those long commutes in Vancouver, you know,
Speaker 2: on DH and It's just it's It's a great place
Speaker 2: up here and two
Speaker 2: from me ableto have a craft very upin the Prince
Speaker 2: George and add that into the Prince George area. And
Speaker 2: now and, you know, with Crossroads also. And maybe we'll
Speaker 2: get some more here to pay my roots air really
Speaker 2: here and all my family's here. And you and Jessie.
Speaker 2: Now he's made a home for himself here, and he's
Speaker 2: got family. Here is well, so right. That's basically why
Speaker 2: were in Prince George and what? We're loving it though, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2: This is my first time here. And it's like, Man,
Speaker 2: this is you know, it's way we're not in the
Speaker 2: most picturesque into town and no, it absolutely it's not.
Speaker 2: But but my drive in was great. Yeah, yeah, but
Speaker 2: it's interesting as well, so yeah,
Speaker 1: And so then you mentioned like you're really passionate about
Speaker 1: the distilling side. So then when did you get into
Speaker 2: that? I started getting into my Curtis Stone products because,
Speaker 2: you know, when you're a coffee snob in a beer snob,
Speaker 2: what's next, right? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: I started. I started drinking that, and I started getting
Speaker 2: a little bit more
Speaker 2: knowledge around it are just interested in it. I guess
Speaker 2: at the same time that we were talking about it.
Speaker 2: My brother in law.
Speaker 2: Ah, he was also talking about it and human, his
Speaker 2: wife have started distillery down in. Duncan called Still had distillery.
Speaker 2: So that's that's as to his sister and husband. And
Speaker 2: we want to do the same thing, just he and I.
Speaker 2: We took a 60 course down in Kelowna with Mike
Speaker 2: Urban at Urban distilleries, and they they put on this
Speaker 2: these workshops.
Speaker 2: And so we did. We did that and we did
Speaker 2: it on extra day with to develop genera, speeds and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. And there's not a whole lot in
Speaker 2: Canada like for for schooling around around distilling right. So
Speaker 2: you have to go to England. Really, It is one
Speaker 2: of those things they say, you know, like, do this
Speaker 2: in your garage for a while and then, you know,
Speaker 2: before you get on the big equipment,
Speaker 2: the same goes for brewing. Yeah, like fear. Wait, we've
Speaker 2: done that. We've done that a bit on DH. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would. It's It's just one of these. I I
Speaker 2: just thought it was a a really cool business ideas well, and,
Speaker 2: you know, and I've just got a passion for my
Speaker 2: My liquor cabinet is full. It's if it's not fine.
Speaker 2: Scotch it. It's mostly micro distilled stuff, and I know
Speaker 2: he's trying things right
Speaker 1: and the still isn't quite operational yet. I mean, you
Speaker 1: still need to get a little more
Speaker 2: capacity going back there, right? So correct. Like, No, I
Speaker 2: mean
Speaker 2: when you're getting in, this there is absolute. There's so
Speaker 2: much to do just to start a brie, let alone
Speaker 2: a distillery, and that maybe that's our know for a fact.
Speaker 2: That's one of the reasons why we were delayed so
Speaker 2: long is because we were trying to do, but with
Speaker 2: we should maybe just picked one and then and then
Speaker 2: not said anything about the other for a while. But,
Speaker 2: you know,
Speaker 2: it just makes sense that we would start the berry
Speaker 2: because our brew house is where we're going toe make
Speaker 2: her to steal it. Great. So we have to get
Speaker 2: the berry going first. But, you know, with the beer,
Speaker 2: we we need a couple of pieces of equipment with
Speaker 2: outside on DH. We still need a couple of pieces
Speaker 2: of equipment on the distilling side, so that will come.
Speaker 2: The nice thing about I think it's the nice thing
Speaker 2: on the distilling side is we're not in a huge
Speaker 2: panic like I want to get it done. Let's face it,
Speaker 2: but and that there's a beautiful still sitting back there.
Speaker 2: Two already in the warehouse? Yeah, know, exactly. And
Speaker 2: but I'm not We're not gonna panic to, like, say
Speaker 2: I get product out, you know, like, we're not We're
Speaker 2: not really rushed around, so you know, we're going, We're
Speaker 2: going to take our time to make sure approx really
Speaker 2: good and up to our standard, a much bigger deal
Speaker 2: with HBO. But yeah, that's that's our plan has is
Speaker 2: take it easy and do what we do well, not
Speaker 2: jump into something and try and put something out there.
Speaker 2: That's maybe not quite up to the standard that we
Speaker 2: would we would like.
Speaker 1: What was it like
Speaker 2: when you open the door like, how were you received
Speaker 2: by the key community? I think there was. There was
Speaker 2: quite a few people who are interested to see us
Speaker 2: open right on. The word was getting out, and I
Speaker 2: think way had, like, 100
Speaker 2: instagram followers or something like that already, and we hadn't
Speaker 2: even open the doors. Right? But
Speaker 2: s so the the community
Speaker 2: received us really well, and and that's great. It was
Speaker 2: It was really great. Did you
Speaker 1: run out of beer at all?
Speaker 1: No, we we've got a
Speaker 2: pretty big capacity. Like write that 25 100 leader brewhouse.
Speaker 2: You know, we will get, you know, once it's all
Speaker 2: said and done and out of the break tank, you know,
Speaker 2: we get
Speaker 2: between 21 119 100 leaders of finished product like we
Speaker 2: you know. So we we've got enough beer, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean right now you go back there.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've only got a couple kegs of amber ale,
Speaker 2: but there's some in the break tank that's going to
Speaker 2: be ready. So wait. So we haven't experienced that too
Speaker 2: much yet, So yeah, it was Ah, man, it was
Speaker 2: just I don't know what to say. A whirlwind of activity.
Speaker 2: I would say, You know, we were just flying to
Speaker 2: get open and, you know, right down to the last day,
Speaker 2: we had some plumbing issue. Of course. Right course. And then,
Speaker 2: of course, our plumber who did most of the work.
Speaker 2: He's out of town on a project to a local
Speaker 2: community and other local communities so weak we called in
Speaker 2: a favor from a body and
Speaker 2: he actually pulled one of his guys off of a
Speaker 2: project and fittest sin
Speaker 2: on DH. So we opened that day at, like, 4
Speaker 2: 15 We had our occupancy and we were ready to
Speaker 2: open the doors and we were like, Holy crap like,
Speaker 2: now what? Like so we just were like, Why don't
Speaker 2: we
Speaker 1: deal is gonna work?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Let's just open the door. We text a bunch
Speaker 2: of friends. We had about 70 people down here, and
Speaker 2: we had some people like that. We had a couple
Speaker 2: from lower mainland. We call him our number ones because
Speaker 2: they walked through the door first. But they were just
Speaker 2: driving by to see, you know what if this place
Speaker 2: is open yet, right? And then they come in and
Speaker 2: re quickly realized that it was They figured it was
Speaker 2: friends and family night, but it was actually just, you know,
Speaker 2: we were open for business, so yeah, and then we
Speaker 2: had we had another couple of groups coming. Also, either
Speaker 2: that it was it was kind of friendly family. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it was like 60 70 people in here. And it
Speaker 2: was it was a great night. Like it was we
Speaker 2: were super excited, and it was like a highlight right?
Speaker 2: From here. Expansion mean is ah, there's packaging, comrade. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: So right now we do have, Ah, we have a
Speaker 2: canning line from Cask one of your typical Mike O'Berry
Speaker 2: canning lines. And we've just got some labeling stuff to
Speaker 2: get approved,
Speaker 2: but
Speaker 2: we don't want to see the one. A Russian is
Speaker 2: certain things, right? And so we have to make sure
Speaker 2: a production level is a certain size before we could
Speaker 2: do that. So that's one of the things we're doing
Speaker 2: is where we needed another from enter. Once we get that,
Speaker 2: then we can. Then it was little sit that
Speaker 2: you. Soon as you get cans, you open up another market,
Speaker 2: and I know people are anxious to get the product
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, but
Speaker 2: or even just sell cans out of the tasting room.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you just it's going to make a demand
Speaker 2: that maybe we can't meet, so we want to be
Speaker 2: careful that we don't disappoint people.
Speaker 1: And then are you going to
Speaker 2: packaging
Speaker 2: your distilling as well? Once once that still early. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we've got some, I guess that's a podcast. So I
Speaker 2: could show you a picture of her label if you
Speaker 2: want to know what's going on and on and
Speaker 1: on and paint me a word picture. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well, we've We've kind of got this
Speaker 2: European MT
Speaker 2: kind of thing where we started going down. So we've
Speaker 2: got the moose head over there and we got two
Speaker 2: big new European metal mousse in the back. All of
Speaker 2: our bottles have some sort of European Mount's skull on him,
Speaker 2: so it's got this little side dark side to it,
Speaker 2: but it it really does fit
Speaker 2: something that you would see in a craft. Like it's,
Speaker 2: I think, the labels air done really well. They were
Speaker 2: kind of on a like a
Speaker 2: typographical mac,
Speaker 2: you know, a background, right. And then there's the laddering
Speaker 2: in our logo and stuff. Our trench logo that you
Speaker 2: see on our beer. It's other than on the top
Speaker 2: of the cap. You don't see it on the distilled
Speaker 2: stuff was kind of really marketed a little. It's like differently. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's definitely more further to still side, which I think
Speaker 2: comes across a little more classy.
Speaker 1: So Prince George's really been, ah, big part of your life.
Speaker 1: He was to
Speaker 2: come here. What are some things that they can experience
Speaker 2: in Prince George? Apart from your place? Accord Smart for
Speaker 2: my place. Well, you gotta check across Rosa's well, and
Speaker 2: they've got up, like also a phenomenal decking, a phenomenal
Speaker 2: restaurant in there, and they're doing a great job the
Speaker 2: Northern Lights Winery there across the river. And it's a
Speaker 2: really
Speaker 2: class ofit and and they also have a little bistro
Speaker 2: out there, and it's a It's a fruit wine, me
Speaker 2: and his brilliant. It's always a great experience going out there,
Speaker 2: but we've got just in the downtown core. We've got
Speaker 2: some really awesome restaurants, stuff you don't see anywhere else.
Speaker 2: We've got copper pig, which is a barbecue.
Speaker 2: We've got the tool. A burning Nancy goes to a burning,
Speaker 2: has a foreign 11 pizza place like there's restaurants that
Speaker 2: air here in Prince George, and they're a great place
Speaker 2: to go in experience so all right.
Speaker 1: And if somebody was to come here and visit you guys,
Speaker 1: what would be the thing that you'd want
Speaker 2: them to walk away with as a great experience at
Speaker 2: the brewery?
Speaker 2: I mean, just just the experience just to come in.
Speaker 2: Like I think when I walk in the station, I'm
Speaker 2: super relaxed. I can sit here and have a beer. Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're sitting on a couch right now with
Speaker 2: this beautiful coffee table. It's kind of satiny ish, fit, Say, Yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah, we we kind of made it this way so
Speaker 2: that it's It's like your own deck. Almost. And so,
Speaker 2: you know, I think as a business owner, if you
Speaker 2: can walk in your own establishment cause you're East tuned
Speaker 2: into how the customer experience is going and stuff like
Speaker 2: that and I can sit back and like, have a
Speaker 2: beer and join myself, you know, that's what I want
Speaker 2: is two people who come here. Um, usually we know
Speaker 2: we got some music on, and, you know, we've got
Speaker 2: some live events and stuff like that. Come and enjoy
Speaker 2: yourself and enjoy the bureau, like, you know, taste the
Speaker 2: different ones for for what they are because they vastly
Speaker 2: are different in their own ways, right? I'm
Speaker 1: trying right now. And they are, Yes, but they're all
Speaker 1: really good. So and in terms of their styles, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: but they're very
Speaker 2: unique. And there is nothing bland between them, so yeah,
Speaker 2: I know you guys are doing a great job here.
Speaker 2: That's great. Thanks.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then we always, like, have a guest. Hop on.
Speaker 2: We were just out of Gas spear for the last
Speaker 2: few days, but we got some stuff from Smithers bearing
Speaker 2: nubrilliance millions in their brilliant and so that's going on today.
Speaker 2: And so try. That was because we really like to
Speaker 2: support an industry. And we're friends with all the people
Speaker 2: from all the other micro Berries. I mean, it's it's ah,
Speaker 2: it's a really cool kind of brotherhood that now I've
Speaker 2: never experienced in other industries. I mean, I'm slightly confused
Speaker 2: cause you're wearing a shirt from Bridge today in North.
Speaker 2: You know, normally I'm wearing a different Yeah, kinda advertised
Speaker 2: here from all around.
Speaker 2: And even though,
Speaker 2: you know, I really enjoy all that Oregon and Washington
Speaker 2: State stuff like I've put, we've got a bunch of
Speaker 2: growlers up here. We do have a you come bring,
Speaker 2: which is really cool. But does their own personal growl
Speaker 2: a collection right on DH? It's all. It's all bc
Speaker 2: beers and stuff like that. We really like Tio, you know,
Speaker 2: support the BC beers. Right, Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Big thank you to Craig for his time. Really appreciate
Speaker 1: it
Speaker 1: now. This episode is made possible by the BC Ale Trail,
Speaker 1: and I was very excited to visit Northern British Columbia.
Speaker 1: It was my first time up north, and I was
Speaker 1: just wondering where to begin, So I followed the BC
Speaker 1: Ale Trail. FBC ALE Trail dossier You'll find the ale
Speaker 1: trail for northern BC, where you will not only get
Speaker 1: great suggestions on what breweries he should visit, but also pubs,
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Speaker 1: of every craft brewery, NBC There's also a calendar with
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Speaker 1: adventure Arrive thirsty. Leave inspired at bcl trail dot c a.
Speaker 1: All right, Part two of this episode Now where I
Speaker 1: sat down with the brewer of Trench Brewing into stealing.
Speaker 1: My name is Paul Gonzalves and my title is Head Brewer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And where you Bruin?
Speaker 1: Transferring in distilling in Prince George, British Columbia. All right,
Speaker 1: And
Speaker 2: how long have you been open
Speaker 1: here? We've been open since April this year. Right? April 2,018. Yeah, man.
Speaker 1: Still brand new, very new. Still working out. All the
Speaker 1: kinks
Speaker 1: are opening hours on the sign way had a little
Speaker 1: discovery this morning that the wrong times or if they're
Speaker 1: on the sign. So
Speaker 1: So you say, brewing into stealing. And we did a
Speaker 1: little walk to the brew house there, but you're still
Speaker 1: isn't up and running yet, so that's that's soon to be. Yes. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Way wanted to focus on the brewing first and foremost
Speaker 1: and get that up and running and then the distilling
Speaker 1: sze to come
Speaker 1: in the next few months. We still have a few
Speaker 1: few piece of equipment to acquire for, and then we'll
Speaker 1: get her started up, all right? And, Ah, my favorite
Speaker 1: question is, how did beer find you? Um, I was
Speaker 1: a baker for, like, 10 or 12 years. And, ah,
Speaker 1: one of my one of my sisters who went to
Speaker 1: college in Florida,
Speaker 1: moved to Portland after she graduated. And we went and
Speaker 1: visited them a couple times and just got introduced to
Speaker 1: a handful of, like, great craft breweries and really fell
Speaker 1: in love with it. And then three months later, I
Speaker 1: found myself crying like a little manual brew system for
Speaker 1: my garage, and
Speaker 1: it's all kind of took off from there,
Speaker 2: right? So how long ago was that?
Speaker 1: That would have been in 2,000 and
Speaker 1: eight, I think. Right. Yeah. And do you remember that
Speaker 1: first batch of beer? Absolutely has. Terrible. Right. But what
Speaker 1: were you trying to make is that the recipe was
Speaker 1: called beak A ve ry i p a right? Yeah.
Speaker 1: And tasted like paint thinner, right?
Speaker 1: In your reflection of making that where do you think
Speaker 1: he went wrong?
Speaker 1: Ah, we definitely rushed into it like,
Speaker 1: didn't do it on a research, actually.
Speaker 1: Just found the posting on Craigslist for a guy who's
Speaker 1: making little Nano Bruce Systems out of his garage. And
Speaker 1: Abbotsford went down and checked it out and he offered Teo,
Speaker 1: teach me how to brew on it.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to buy one movie and that that's good.
Speaker 1: So maker, the system showing you how to use it.
Speaker 1: And it was a pretty bumpy road, like the whole
Speaker 1: training day with him. It was me and my two
Speaker 1: brother in laws. And I remember picking like fruit flies
Speaker 1: out of the east before we pitched it. Which was
Speaker 1: kind of a sign that things weren't going so high,
Speaker 1: but yeah, After that, we started doing a lot more
Speaker 1: research and like holding things in. And we ended up
Speaker 1: starting making some pretty decent beer. They're OK in the garage.
Speaker 1: So what? What What was that window than that timeframe
Speaker 1: toe actual good beer. How's about for five months, right? Yeah.
Speaker 1: At least 1st 3 batches weren't that hot. And then
Speaker 1: after that, we started really finding my groove. Yeah, cool.
Speaker 1: And and then how did you end up here in
Speaker 1: in Prince George? My wife was going to school in
Speaker 1: Washington State. Well, I was working at another Marine Squamish
Speaker 1: on DA
Speaker 1: she when she graduated to start looking for jobs, and
Speaker 1: we really didn't want to move back to the city.
Speaker 1: And Squamish wasn't really a practical choice for us to
Speaker 1: stay long term. So we started looking up in Northern BC,
Speaker 1: and she found work up here. And then she ended
Speaker 1: up coming up here for her job. And, uh, I
Speaker 1: got introduced Teo, the owner's Jesse Bailey, Craig and Esther
Speaker 1: through another friend who was working at the
Speaker 1: that crossroads brewing because they spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: there kind of drinking beer and developing their business plans.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it just kind of got introduced to each other.
Speaker 1: And then we ended up going into business together. I guess,
Speaker 1: like this isn't like
Speaker 1: a great populous area of town. My first time Prince
Speaker 1: George's
Speaker 2: kind on the outside, It's a bit so, like, what?
Speaker 2: What had to happen to make this space work, which
Speaker 2: is beautiful, by the way.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, They say it was actually
Speaker 1: a dry out drywall warehouse before on DH. They've done
Speaker 1: Tana work here. They report all the floors and the
Speaker 1: dusting alone. I can imagine. Yeah, refinished the entire inside.
Speaker 1: So I think they're in here for a boat 18
Speaker 1: months before they act. You got it to where it
Speaker 1: is now. So it was a pretty pretty big job.
Speaker 1: Pretty big renovation. Yeah, they did a lot of the
Speaker 1: work themselves
Speaker 1: to break that friends and family. So
Speaker 1: and then there's a bit of an interesting story with
Speaker 1: the brew
Speaker 2: house at the back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was. It was the brewers that belonged
Speaker 1: to Lighthouse bearing in Victoria
Speaker 1: previously, and Thie bought. It's, I think, about a year
Speaker 1: and 1/2 ago. A CZ. Well, so it's been been
Speaker 1: living in one of the owners garage for quite sometimes.
Speaker 1: You must appreciate. Yeah, pretty nice. You're
Speaker 1: That's quite the size. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's an old It's an old system, but
Speaker 1: it serves our purposes well. But it's electric fired, though, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we have no boiler. It's all electric, but works
Speaker 1: pretty well. It's probably not Thea most economic. Wait a brew.
Speaker 1: But it's work stress right now. Okay on, then. You
Speaker 1: have three fermenters back there, right? Yeah, Yeah. 33 25 hut.
Speaker 1: For manners and for 25 conditioning tanks, right? And so
Speaker 1: what are the types of beers that you focus
Speaker 2: on here, like regularly? Is there like a flagship lineup,
Speaker 2: or do you just try and rotate everything through?
Speaker 1: We definitely have a flagship lineup. We tried, tio,
Speaker 1: get you a little bit of everything, really. Just Teo
Speaker 1: Get a feel for the market, The craft beer communities,
Speaker 1: Pretty young and Prince George. So we were doing the nice,
Speaker 1: like hoppy pale ale, a Northeast tile i p a
Speaker 1: R Amber ale, which is just like an American style amber, right?
Speaker 1: I'm rail
Speaker 1: pretty one dimensional hop more profile with, like, pretty good
Speaker 1: focus on, like Northwest hops.
Speaker 1: Just a good like stout that we're just, uh, ITT's
Speaker 1: More is more towards the end of, like an imperial stout,
Speaker 1: a lot more complexity that's a little bit like cheerier
Speaker 1: like little more body. And then our pills there. So
Speaker 1: Jesse and Craig, two of the owners, they went to
Speaker 1: the Czech Republic for like, four or five months to
Speaker 1: train in a Chek brewery. So they really, really love
Speaker 1: like a good, like bohemian style pilsner. So that was
Speaker 1: one of the beers that they he had to have. Great.
Speaker 1: So that's one of our one of our definite definitely
Speaker 1: one of our flagship years. And you have a nice
Speaker 1: little pilot system back there, too. Yeah, for sure. We
Speaker 1: actually when? When I started with them here, they had
Speaker 1: one of the SAB go brew magics.
Speaker 1: And I was pretty insistent that we sell it because
Speaker 1: I wasn't super happy with it was, Ah, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of work to brew a very, very little amount
Speaker 1: of beer.
Speaker 1: So, Jesse, one of the owners, actually ah, welder. So
Speaker 1: we built that whole little pilot system ourselves and ordered
Speaker 1: a bunch of parts online and got a pretty nice
Speaker 1: little pilot system. So it's got it's got 180 leader
Speaker 1: production capacity so we can do about it, you know,
Speaker 1: 33 kegs per batch on the test batch system, right?
Speaker 1: And then you're just chucking those right in the tay. Yeah,
Speaker 1: straight on the tasting room. And, yeah, just do whatever.
Speaker 1: Whatever catches my fancy that week. Yeah. I mean, here
Speaker 1: at the time of taping one on the list Here
Speaker 2: is your pilot one day and you have a pilot
Speaker 2: one on top of the moment.
Speaker 1: Uh, currently No, we don't Actually. The last vial, Abreu.
Speaker 1: We had just ran out last week and was Ah,
Speaker 1: black eye Papa, right? Yeah, on DH. Then you were
Speaker 1: saying like it was quite a lot of work
Speaker 2: for a little amount of beer, but I mean, like,
Speaker 2: even to make a regular battle beer. It's a bit
Speaker 2: of work cause it's Emmanuel Mash Tun back there, too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely. Good. Good shoulder. Where? Go. You can't think Sting
Speaker 1: was talking to my wife yesterday? Actually, we just
Speaker 1: I brewed our first batch of our fall seasonal, which
Speaker 1: is going to be a cold brew coffee ill. But
Speaker 1: I did it with a pretty high percentage of ah,
Speaker 1: flaked oats. And I was like, Oh, man, I was
Speaker 1: just like, man, I'm never Bruna Flaked Oats again.
Speaker 1: Arms and shoulders. You're sorry, Zell?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And then from here,
Speaker 2: I mean what? There's some expansion plans in the works
Speaker 2: of the immediate one. Obviously being get that still up
Speaker 2: and running?
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all that can it ties in with more fermentation space
Speaker 1: just goes with the fermentation space we do have right
Speaker 1: now in the the amount of brands we have on tap,
Speaker 1: it's pretty hard for us to produce a large quantity
Speaker 1: of anyone. Beer, eh? So we're going to actually hoping
Speaker 1: to get a few more fermentation vessels because we do
Speaker 1: need more fermentation space to actually produce the distilled product.
Speaker 1: And then, yeah, with those two new for manners and
Speaker 1: we can start producing more of our oppa and pale ale,
Speaker 1: which sort of the two brands were really gonna want
Speaker 1: to promote a lot in cans, So yeah, so that's
Speaker 1: hopefully you know, if everything goes well, we'll get those.
Speaker 1: Those new fermentation vessel is closer to the end of
Speaker 1: the year on DH. Then start caning because you have
Speaker 1: the space in the back to do it like there's
Speaker 1: a lot of space. That's the best thing about this building.
Speaker 1: There's tons of sea like tons of height, and we
Speaker 1: have a big, big
Speaker 1: footprints, so we can. We got a lot of room
Speaker 1: to grow for sure, right? And then how have you
Speaker 1: been received by the public since you been opened? Very well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's definitely like you said, it's off the beaten path
Speaker 1: a little bit. Eso there's ah,
Speaker 1: you know, they're They're definitely trying. Teo, bring the downtown
Speaker 1: core backto life in Prince George because it did have
Speaker 1: a bit of a bad reputation about 10 years ago.
Speaker 1: It wasn't really a place you'd want to be. But, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sometimes a bit of a chore getting people down
Speaker 1: here once you do, they definitely, very, very well received. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: is there, like
Speaker 2: an absolute favorite with the locals that you find that
Speaker 2: you just can't make enough of
Speaker 1: definitely the EPA? It's It's a little different than what
Speaker 1: anyone else is making in town because we're doing more
Speaker 1: like the Northeast style. So it's like a little more
Speaker 1: focused on, like hop, flavor and aroma than just like
Speaker 1: being very bitter and very, very, very drinkable and pretty
Speaker 1: well balanced. So it's a new style for people here
Speaker 1: for sure, and they're really, really digging it
Speaker 1: right. And if somebody was to come to Prince George,
Speaker 1: I
Speaker 2: mean, let me What kind of activities are there to do?
Speaker 1: Definitely lots of like outdoor activities, great hiking in the area.
Speaker 1: If you're in the hunting, your fishing, there's tons of that.
Speaker 1: That's actually what inspired their name. Right? Trench bring. We
Speaker 1: named it after the Rocky Mountain Trench, and they kind
Speaker 1: of named a lot of their beers after thie. Their
Speaker 1: favorite spots to go hang out like the Arctic River
Speaker 1: and Orcs are Arctic Lake. And the thing keep system
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So that's what inspired the names
Speaker 1: for a lot of the abuse.
Speaker 2: All right, great. Well, thank you so much for your time, Paul.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 1: It was so great chatting with Paul, and he gave
Speaker 1: me a great tour. The brewery really appreciate it, man.
Speaker 1: And also Craig, The first interview in this episode thanks
Speaker 1: again to him and big thanks to the rest of
Speaker 1: the team that trench brewing. It was a great way
Speaker 1: to start off my trip up north and can't wait
Speaker 1: to go back and visit again.
Speaker 1: Big thanks once again to the BCL trail for making
Speaker 1: this episode possible. You confined them at bcl trail dot
Speaker 1: c A.
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