Aaron: This episode of the Cascadian Beer Podcast has been made possible by
Aaron: the BC Ale trail. Arrive thirsty leave inspired at bcaletrail. ca.
Aaron: Welcome to the Cascadian Beer Podcast. My name's Aaron and
Aaron: I'm a Cascadian. In this podcast series, I profile the
Aaron: breweries of Cascadia, a region that has a strong presence
Aaron: in the international beer scene. If this is your first
Aaron: time here, welcome. I hope you enjoy this episode of
Aaron: the podcast and I sure hope you subscribe wherever you
Aaron: listen to podcasts. That way you'll never miss an episode.
Aaron: Cascadia is a bile region in the Pacific Northwest in
Aaron: the North American Continent. It's made up of the US
Aaron: States of Washington and Oregon, as well as the Canadian
Aaron: Province of British Columbia. In this podcast series, I highlight
Aaron: the breweries of Cascadia, a region that has a strong
Aaron: presence in the International Beer scene. Last summer I was
Aaron: enjoying and slightly melting in the heat of the Okanagan,
Aaron: while visiting Kelowna, BC. Kettle River Brewing Company is a small
Aaron: batch neighborhood brewery and it's seen great support from the
Aaron: community as well as the local industry. Opening their doors
Aaron: in 2016, they've since expanded and added to their location.
Aaron: I sat down with some of the team from Kettle
Aaron: River Brewing.
Chris Didinsky: My name is Chris Didinsky. I'm one of the partners
Chris Didinsky: at Kettle River and your General Manager around here. I
Chris Didinsky: float between the back and the front.
Wilson: I'm Wilson and I brew.
Russ: My name's Russ. I'm the other half of the partners
Russ: and I do a lot of the administrative stuff and
Russ: then anything else, maintenance wise. Whatever needs to be done
Russ: around here.
Aaron: Sweet. We're at Kettle River and beautiful Kelowna. Thank you so much.
Aaron: This is three panels. Yeah, I think I've only had
Aaron: one other episode here with three guests. So you know we're doing
Aaron: good here.
Chris Didinsky: Yes, we showed up in force.
Aaron: So the first question is how long have you been
Aaron: open here?
Chris Didinsky: Will be three years. July 16th I think.
Aaron: Cool. And a question for all of you. How did
Aaron: beer find you?
Russ: I guess my beer tastes kind of just evolved over
Russ: the past. Well before starting this over say half a
Russ: dozen years before starting this you just started with the
Russ: gateway beers and then you get into it. And of course like
Russ: fat tug was one of the big ones for me.
Russ: And then what really got me into the brewery scene
Russ: was going down to visit Chris in Vancouver. He lived
Russ: in East van and the breweries around there were just
Russ: great and walking distance and it came to the point
Russ: where it was like, why don't we have this in Kelowna?
Russ: And that's kind of where they start...
Aaron: Because it was just tree at that time right? When you
Aaron: were thinking about this?
Russ: Yeah, and then I think about probably eight months before
Russ: we opened, no, probably more than that, a year before
Russ: we opened BNA started.
Aaron: Cool. How about you Wilson, beer find you?
Wilson: Hieroglyphs.
Aaron: Right.
Wilson: Hieroglyphics.
Aaron: You're a man from the past?
Wilson: Nah, no, seriously. I was in Australia and there's a brewpub there and had that
Wilson: be a timeline and this is hieroglyphics on the wall.
Wilson: And I was like, Oh, I got so researched in
Wilson: the history of beer. I've always been in the industry,
Wilson: most doing a lot of hospitality in managing bars and
Wilson: the brew revolution happened during that period and it kind
Wilson: of swept me under its wing and here I am.
Aaron: All right, Chris, how about you?
Chris Didinsky: I came to it and I don't know a little bit of a roundabout way. I mean,
Chris Didinsky: being in Vancouver, there's lots of stuff like Phillip's around I
Chris Didinsky: was enjoying that. And my background previous was in advertising,
Chris Didinsky: so I was enjoying beers like say Granville Island or
Chris Didinsky: something, maybe a little bit bigger. And then like Russell was
Chris Didinsky: saying, Harold 49 opened up about a block from me
Chris Didinsky: and that kind of changed everything and...
Aaron: Slightly.
Chris Didinsky: Hooked ever since.
Aaron: Right. Cool. So just the idea of Kettle River, how
Aaron: did that start? How did the conversation start?
Chris Didinsky: Yeah, Russell fill this one.
Russ: I mean the idea for the brewery, it's itself just
Russ: starting a brewery. It was kind of Chris and I
Russ: siting on my back deck and we were talking about how great
Russ: the beer scene in Vancouver is and why we don't
Russ: have it here. And we were like, well you know I'm good at
Russ: fixing things and you're really good at the advertising side
Russ: of things or the marketing side of things. Maybe if
Russ: we find a brewer, we could start our own brewery.
Aaron: And then Chris, how did you find Wilson then?
Chris Didinsky: Wilson came serendipitously. Since opening we, we've moved through a
Chris Didinsky: few different brewers and it just so happened that Brad
Chris Didinsky: who has been here kind of since we opened, was
Chris Didinsky: leaving to start his own thing. And within a very
Chris Didinsky: short time span, Wilson had reached out and it felt
Chris Didinsky: like the right move as soon as we met him.
Chris Didinsky: So far so good.
Aaron: Perfect timing on your part.
Chris Didinsky: We haven't killed each other yet.
Aaron: Right. So what, what were you dealing with Wilson when
Aaron: you came here, like the styles changed much under your
Aaron: reign and what are you trying to tend to focus on?
Wilson: Lets say it has say change, you know that the core beers are
Wilson: here. We've, I've added a few little bits and pieces,
Wilson: but I think just the way that we do things
Wilson: a little bit different. There was a lot of stuff
Wilson: here that, you know is very good. The core brands,
Wilson: the Loose Canoe and the ABC, the Pal Ale and things like
Wilson: that. But just to add a little bit more variety,
Wilson: we have looked at some of the styles and we have just
Wilson: perfected them and we have added a few things that we think that
Wilson: will be a crowd pleasers.
Aaron: I am a big fan of your ESB,
Wilson: Thank you very much. And yeah, that was kind of a
Wilson: group effort, it was something we about and this is
Wilson: what we do. We figure these things out between us
Wilson: and then we just try and implement them and try and make them
Wilson: work for the people out there.
Aaron: Right. So how was opening day then Chris? Like, how
Aaron: were you received by the community?
Chris Didinsky: Oh, opening day was nuts. I mean there was and
Chris Didinsky: still is quite a demand for craft beer and people
Chris Didinsky: are really excited about it in town. Right from the
Chris Didinsky: opening there was a whole bunch of people that were
Chris Didinsky: lined up and ready to go and as a few
Chris Didinsky: other spots in town have opened. We've kind of seen
Chris Didinsky: the community grow and seen people get excited and learn
Chris Didinsky: more about (crosstalk)
Aaron: Diminish and participation just more awareness right?
Chris Didinsky: Totally. Yeah, it's been maintained since opening and we are
Chris Didinsky: doing our best to make changes now to, keep the
Chris Didinsky: excitement going along with all the new spots in town.
Aaron: And what would some of those changes be?
Chris Didinsky: Well, we're looking at, I guess the biggest one is
Chris Didinsky: a kitchen space. Since opening, we were working with the
Chris Didinsky: girls from the Croatian food truck who are good friends
Chris Didinsky: of ours and they're going to move in here and
Chris Didinsky: take over an awesome new kitchen under the title of
Chris Didinsky: Provisions. So we are super excited about that and that's going to be
Chris Didinsky: open, in the next couple of weeks here as soon
Chris Didinsky: as we can. And then along with that we're doing
Chris Didinsky: some changes with our, kind of tasting room area that'd
Chris Didinsky: be a bit more accommodating to food service as well
Chris Didinsky: as expanding our patio. We have a little strip outside
Chris Didinsky: right now that's about a car parking space, it's going
Chris Didinsky: to be the whole front and a little bit more
Chris Didinsky: comfortable to hang out and enjoy the sun.
Aaron: Exactly. So then do you guys package your products at all?
Russ: We have previously in kind of the off season when
Russ: it is a bit slower. Kelowna is a pretty good tourism town.
Russ: So we try and offset some of our sales through previously,
Russ: bomber bottles and moving them to a few select liquor
Russ: stores around town moving into this winter where we're looking
Russ: at maybe a few different options. We haven't quite settled
Russ: on it yet due to what's been keeping us busy
Russ: currently with the renovation and everything. But you can expect to
Russ: see a small amount of package product.
Aaron: Yep. But like with that package, product also comes volume
Aaron: demands, right? So like what's the size of your brewhouse
Aaron: and like what do you need to do to accommodate that?
Wilson: Work harder, brew faster, it's going to be something that we have to work out, work
Wilson: through. But at the moment we just about keeping up, we have
Wilson: had a few issues just because of volume. We just
Wilson: sending a lot more products out the front. So in the
Wilson: autumn hopefully we will be able to make a plan
Wilson: and see if we... I mean we are not going
Wilson: to talk about expansions yet, but we have got a lot of
Wilson: things going on but, [crosstalk 00:08: 27].
Aaron: What's the size that you're currently dealing with?
Wilson: Oh, it's five barrels. Yeah, we have got five fermenters.
Chris Didinsky: We operate like a brew pub. So we're really not
Chris Didinsky: interested in trying to take over the world with distribution.
Chris Didinsky: But we would really like to offer some takeaway product
Chris Didinsky: for our guests.
Aaron: So maybe like on the form crowler, something like that.
Chris Didinsky: You got it. That would be the most realistic in here for
Chris Didinsky: you to see, kind of rolling into fall and through
Chris Didinsky: this winter.
Aaron: I'm in conversation with Kettle River Brewing. Now Kelowna is
Aaron: a big booming craft beer region in the province and
Aaron: the best way to discover what else you can find is
Aaron: by visiting the BC Ale trail. ca, the BC Ale trail showcase
Aaron: as many parts of the province and on the website
Aaron: you'll find recommended itineraries for each region, a comprehensive list
Aaron: of every craft brewery in BC, a calendar of beer events,
Aaron: and a blog with lots of great stories. The regional
Aaron: ailed trails include local breweries, pubs and restaurants along with
Aaron: other activities the area has to offer. So whether you're
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Aaron: your next beer adventure arrived thirsty, leave inspired at bcaletrail. ca.
Aaron: All right, let's jump back in the conversation with Kettle River.
Aaron: In terms of the three years that you've been opened,
Aaron: how much of this change have you seen in Kelowna?
Aaron: Like is there quite a wide variety in terms of
Aaron: beer styles, in terms of what is on offer or
Aaron: is it kind of still kind of middle of the
Aaron: road in terms of what everybody's doing?
Chris Didinsky: I'd call it fairly general, but there's definitely some people
Chris Didinsky: that are pushing towards style specific production. Like if you
Chris Didinsky: look at our friends up at Wild Ambition, they're doing
Chris Didinsky: some really cool sour wild stuff that is really specific
Chris Didinsky: to them and worth going out there to check them
Chris Didinsky: out. And if you go to all eight Boundary Brewing,
Chris Didinsky: he's doing German specific styles and we are a bit
Chris Didinsky: more on the West coast end of things. So there
Chris Didinsky: are different range as far as consumers go, I think
Chris Didinsky: people are pretty open to whatever right now. You definitely
Chris Didinsky: still get some of the folks that walk in and
Chris Didinsky: ask for your lightest closest to Budweiser. But then you
Chris Didinsky: also get someone who's really excited about a barrel aged
Chris Didinsky: barley wines. So a little bit everything.
Aaron: All right, sweet. Just expansion plans. I mean that is
Aaron: pretty much where you're going. Is the kitchen at the
Aaron: moment... I'm looking at possible packaging things and you're just
Aaron: happy with the size you're not looking to build a
Aaron: second location or anything like that or?
Chris Didinsky: No, definitely no desire to make a second location. I
Chris Didinsky: think you can expect to see from us once these
Chris Didinsky: renovations are done and we've kind of work through the
Chris Didinsky: front of house changes to be looking at some, additional
Chris Didinsky: volume in the back so we can, be a bit
Chris Didinsky: more consistent on the different skews are producing as well
Chris Didinsky: as how we roll out that bit of package product.
Chris Didinsky: So it's available and not just here for a week
Chris Didinsky: and then gone for six weeks or something like that.
Chris Didinsky: So moving into our production schedule on the back this
Chris Didinsky: fall is going to be, a lot of our focus.
Aaron: So in terms of opening up a brewery, what would
Aaron: be some advice that you could give somebody who is looking
Aaron: to do that?
Chris Didinsky: Let Russ you this one?
Russ: I don't know. Find a bunch of money. That's the biggest thing.
Russ: When we started this, we kind of just asked our
Russ: moms and aunts and uncles for a little bit of
Russ: investment and had a little bit of our own cash
Russ: and it was the hard way to do it. We
Russ: started really small and we started on, what was it? Like one
Russ: barrel basically or last brew kit was one barrel. We had 16
Russ: one barrel fermentors and that's how we rolled into our
Russ: first, I guess one and a half years.
Aaron: It must've been a relief with the five barrels?
Russ: Five barrels was huge. But, it's just the way we
Russ: could do it with what we had. I mean obviously
Russ: the more resources you have, the better. I don't know.
Russ: I'm sure there're tons of things that we could tell you that we did wrong.
Chris Didinsky: The list is bottomless. I think some good advice that
Chris Didinsky: is to be as handy as you can or know
Chris Didinsky: folks that can help you fix things. Whether it's, your
Chris Didinsky: glycol unit or I don't know if your boiler's acting
Chris Didinsky: up or something. You can do a better, but if
Chris Didinsky: you've got a buddy that can come and have a
Chris Didinsky: look I that goes a long way. And we've been
Chris Didinsky: really lucky with a lot of, close friends that have
Chris Didinsky: been able to step in and help us out or
Chris Didinsky: neighboring breweries or what have you.
Aaron: And a Wilson, what could somebody do to make better beer?
Wilson: Make better beer? Just believe, be consistent, do research, think
Wilson: about all the variables, and dream there's a lot of dreaming. Just
Wilson: be exciting, trying to do things differently. There's a lot of good
Wilson: beers out there and there's a lot that aren't. So
Wilson: I think just practice what you know, try and do
Wilson: it well. Be consistent and just be interesting.
Aaron: Cool. Well thank you very much gentlemen for your time.
Aaron: Really appreciate it.
Wilson: Thank you.
Chris Didinsky: Yeah, thanks for coming by.
Russ: Thanks.
Aaron: Huge thank you to Chris, Wilson and Russ for their time,
Aaron: especially since construction was going on. So since this taping
Aaron: of this episode, they have since opened the provisions kitchen
Aaron: and expanded their patio outside. So lots has happened and
Aaron: you know what I saw on their Instagram the other day.
Aaron: There's some cans sneaking around, so everything that we're talking
Aaron: about they've done. So there we go. So be sure
Aaron: to check them out. They're in Kelowna can't wait to
Aaron: go and visit them again. I checked out the expanded patio
Aaron: a few months ago and you know want, I'm looking forward to just
Aaron: spending some more time there because really loved the guys
Aaron: at Kettle River. Thanks a lot again guys and thanks
Aaron: again to the BCL trail for making this episode possible.
Aaron: You can visit them at bcaletrail. ca. If you want to
Aaron: follow along with this podcast series, you can by going
Aaron: to the website cascadian. beer. What do you know? You can
Aaron: also follow us on social media by going to facebook. com/
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Aaron: and on Instagram at Cascadia and beer podcast. Thank you so
Aaron: much again for your time. I really hope you subscribe
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Aaron: won't miss the next episode and hope you share it
Aaron: with a friend too. I really appreciate your time and
Aaron: until next time, remember, support your local.