Aaron: This episode of the Cascadian Beer Podcast has been made possible by
Aaron: the BC Ale Trail. Arrive thirsty, leave inspired at thebcaletrail.
Aaron: ca. Welcome to the Cascadian Beer Podcast. My name's Aaron
Aaron: and I'm a Cascadian. In this podcast series, I profile
Aaron: unique breweries around Cascadia, a region that has a strong
Aaron: presence on the international beer scene. If this your first
Aaron: time here, welcome. I really hope you enjoy this episode
Aaron: and I hope you hit subscribe in your favorite podcast
Aaron: app. That way you'll never miss an episode. And if
Aaron: you do enjoy this episode, please share it with another
Aaron: beer loving friend. It really helps support this podcast. In
Aaron: the Okanagan Valley, there's a small British Columbia town of
Aaron: Penticton. In recent years, this town has seen a boom
Aaron: in local breweries opening their doors. So much so, that
Aaron: lonely planet named Penticton, Canada's craft beer capital for the year
Aaron: 2020. In this episode we're going to hear from two different breweries.
Aaron: In a little bit, we'll hear from Bad Tattoo, but
Aaron: up first I stopped in to visit the team at
Aaron: Cannery Brewing.
Ross Thompson: My name is Ross Thompson. I am the head brewer
Ross Thompson: and one of the partners of Cannery Brewing.
Aaron: Alright. Cannery Brewing, I'm in the Okanagan, it is so
Aaron: nice to be back in the Okanagan. We used to spend summers up here.
Ross Thompson: Okay, got you.
Aaron: So I'm familiar with the area.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: So how long have you been in operation for?
Ross Thompson: I moved to the Okanagan, I think it was in 2008. Joined
Ross Thompson: Cannery Brewing then. They'd already been in operation since 2001.
Ross Thompson: Yeah, they brewed their first batch on April Fool's Day
Ross Thompson: of 2001, which is awesome. We just had our 18th
Ross Thompson: birthday, whatever it was a week and a bit ago.
Aaron: We're taping this in April, so happy birthday.
Ross Thompson: Thank you very much.
Aaron: Yeah.
Ross Thompson: And yeah, they purchased the equipment from Wild Horse Brewing, which
Ross Thompson: ran, I'm not sure how many years here on main
Ross Thompson: street in Penticton. The idea with them was they were
Ross Thompson: just going to brew beer and sell it to their Ski
Ross Thompson: Hill restaurants that they owned. Not sure what happened, but
Ross Thompson: then Pat and Ron, who bought the equipment, they just
Ross Thompson: decided to open a brewery. I'm not really sure what
Ross Thompson: the reason was. They had a sous chef in the
Ross Thompson: restaurant that they owned in Naramata and he loved to home
Ross Thompson: brew, so they just decided to open a brewery. And
Ross Thompson: yeah, they ran a five star restaurant in Naramata for
Ross Thompson: 30 years and just decided to switch it up I guess.
Aaron: Sweet. So for the name of the brewery, I'm going to take a
Aaron: wild stab in the dark, slightly educated guess here saying
Aaron: that was this building a previous canning facility or something
Aaron: like that?
Ross Thompson: Yeah, the building that the brewery originally started in was
Ross Thompson: an old Al Meyer canning facility.
Aaron: Okay. So we've moved since then.
Ross Thompson: Yeah. So it's about five blocks across town from our
Ross Thompson: current location. We moved down here to Ellis Street almost
Ross Thompson: four years ago. So we've been sort of hitting our
Ross Thompson: rhythm here in the last couple of years. It's a
Ross Thompson: big challenge to get everything moved over and in operation again.
Aaron: I mean it's a big space and I mean I
Aaron: had a little peek back there and, but once you
Aaron: start getting those pallets of cans in that space disappears,
Aaron: doesn't it?
Ross Thompson: Yeah, we just knew we needed some space and that's
Ross Thompson: sort of a luxury that we have in the Okanagan
Ross Thompson: is we have a little more space than the lower mainland. So
Ross Thompson: we knew we wanted to go a little bit bigger and
Ross Thompson: have some room to grow. And yeah, it's been fantastic.
Aaron: All right, so how did beer find you?
Ross Thompson: I really have no idea. I came to the Okanagan,
Ross Thompson: I followed my wife here. She wanted to get into
Ross Thompson: wine and I just followed her down here. And I
Ross Thompson: had a Naramata Nut Brown sitting in the Naramata Pub
Ross Thompson: when I first moved here. And I was just like, this is phenomenal. I never
Ross Thompson: tasted anything like this before, needed a job. So I
Ross Thompson: just went and harassed Pat for nearly two months probably
Ross Thompson: to hire me and kindly she caved and hired me.
Ross Thompson: I knew nothing.
Aaron: Right.
Ross Thompson: I had started home brewing as soon as I moved
Ross Thompson: to the Okanagan, so I had a little bit of a
Ross Thompson: background there, but nothing to speak of.
Aaron: So you have that Nut Brown, did you immediately go
Aaron: out and buy home brew kit or did you apply
Aaron: for the job here first or try to get a
Aaron: job here first?
Ross Thompson: It all sort of happened at the same time. I was like, I
Ross Thompson: knew I wanted to get into beer at that point, and so I was like,
Ross Thompson: how do I do this? And found an ad in
Ross Thompson: the newspaper. Somebody was selling all their equipment and went
Ross Thompson: and bought it and just kind of jumped headfirst into it.
Aaron: Sweet.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: Do you remember your first batch?
Ross Thompson: I think it was a spruce tip winter.
Aaron: Wow. That's pretty ambitious.
Ross Thompson: Yeah. The crazy thing was is it was the best
Ross Thompson: batch that we brewed.
Aaron: Right.
Ross Thompson: Pretty much in that whole year.
Aaron: Right.
Ross Thompson: Was that first one.
Aaron: That was kind of like my first batch of home brew. I did
Aaron: a Munich lager and I was like, man, this is great.
Aaron: And then several failures after that.
Ross Thompson: And I don't know if it's just because we just sort
Ross Thompson: of get comfortable and we don't focus so much on it.
Aaron: I think that's it. You get a little overconfident because it turns out so
Aaron: good the first time, right?
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: So then how long did you have home brewing then
Aaron: until you actually started brewing here then? What was that window?
Ross Thompson: I was pretty much thrown right into the mix as
Ross Thompson: soon as I started working here. At that point there
Ross Thompson: was only one brewer that was working here and then
Ross Thompson: another guy in packaging. So I kind of just got
Ross Thompson: thrown into absolutely everything. And learning curve was pretty steep
Ross Thompson: but managed to hold it together.
Aaron: When did you take over the head brewing position then?
Ross Thompson: Ah, pretty much five years ago, I would say. So
Ross Thompson: right before our move over to here I sort of
Ross Thompson: was running the show, coming up with some new recipes and
Ross Thompson: beers and yeah, it was a lot of fun. Somewhat stressful.
Aaron: I bet.
Ross Thompson: In a company that had been running for so many
Ross Thompson: years and so successful and had really solid core beers
Ross Thompson: to be thrown into the position of trying to come
Ross Thompson: up with stuff that could hold its own with those
Ross Thompson: was definitely a challenge, right.
Aaron: It was such a reputation too.
Ross Thompson: Right.
Aaron: Then it's like, oh, now I'm the captain of the ship.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: Yeah, yeah.
Ross Thompson: Yeah. And I had the backing to it too, right?
Ross Thompson: We had the ingredients, we had the good quality hops,
Ross Thompson: we had all that stuff was already in line. So it
Ross Thompson: was very nice to be able to have all of
Ross Thompson: that. Had the experience of the other brewer that was there.
Ross Thompson: And Pat and Ron, her husband, obviously had all their
Ross Thompson: experience as well. And palate, running a restaurant for so
Ross Thompson: many years, they have the palate to be like, yeah,
Ross Thompson: this tastes, this is what we want, right. So that
Ross Thompson: was pretty nice.
Aaron: All right. So if somebody was to ask, what is
Aaron: a Cannery beer, how would you best describe it?
Ross Thompson: We like to say balance. For us, we don't really
Ross Thompson: make anything that is out there and strange and weird.
Ross Thompson: Not yet anyways. We try to keep it balanced. Being
Ross Thompson: in the interior, we still battle with the Budweiser and
Ross Thompson: the Old Milwaukee drinkers, right? So we try to pull
Ross Thompson: them in and we kind of figured out that if
Ross Thompson: we kept stuff balanced, not too bitter, not too dark,
Ross Thompson: not too we could draw them in and get them
Ross Thompson: hooked on craft beer.
Aaron: But still being seasonal at the same time though, right?
Ross Thompson: Right. Yeah, for sure.
Aaron: So what's the number one seller then in the summertime here?
Ross Thompson: I would have to say our Naramata Nut Brown, which
Ross Thompson: blows me away all the time. The volume of a
Ross Thompson: brown ale that we go through year- round, whether it's
Ross Thompson: summertime, wintertime, it doesn't matter. It is an absolute staple
Ross Thompson: for us. And I look at other breweries that are
Ross Thompson: starting and we've got delicious pilsners and IPAs and then our
Ross Thompson: number one seller core beer is a brown ale is kind
Ross Thompson: of an interesting phenomenon. Right. Especially being in the interior
Ross Thompson: too. Right?
Aaron: Yeah. Very unique. It stands out.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: So we have this lovely tasting room space here with the
Aaron: kitchen in the back. Is there a lot of collaboration
Aaron: between the beers you're doing and the kitchen? Do you
Aaron: do any pilot batches to test things out here?
Ross Thompson: The guys in the kitchen, they're pulling beer off the
Ross Thompson: top all the time to cook with and add to
Ross Thompson: the restaurant. And we do do pilot batches in the
Ross Thompson: back. We used to do them weekly but as we've
Ross Thompson: grown and as we've gotten more busy we just, we
Ross Thompson: don't have the time to do it. In the wintertime
Ross Thompson: we do a few and usually we try to run
Ross Thompson: anything new that we're brewing through that pilot system first
Ross Thompson: obviously, to just test it out and see if it's
Ross Thompson: something we want to do.
Aaron: So you've been in the Okanagan for a few years now. If somebody
Aaron: was to travel to the Okanagan, what are some things
Aaron: to do besides visiting you guys? Some nice attractions in
Aaron: the area that you enjoy?
Ross Thompson: I always push people towards beer. I mean, we're lucky
Ross Thompson: enough now by the end of this coming year, we'll
Ross Thompson: have seven breweries in Penticton, which is phenomenal.
Aaron: That's nuts.
Ross Thompson: I am so excited because drinking in your own establishment,
Ross Thompson: it's not the same as going and relaxing and having
Ross Thompson: a good beer somewhere else too. Right. So, we've had
Ross Thompson: Bad Tattoo in town I think for three years now
Ross Thompson: or so, and just a wonderful place to go and have
Ross Thompson: a pizza and have a beer. And yeah, it's going to
Ross Thompson: be a wonderful scene. And having the wine in the
Ross Thompson: region as well, you can't argue with that. Being able
Ross Thompson: to on a Sunday, go out and hit five wineries
Ross Thompson: within an hour, it's pretty great.
Aaron: And then tons of great food in general in the
Aaron: area too.
Ross Thompson: Yeah. The restaurant scene, all the wineries usually have really
Ross Thompson: good food. There's some good restaurants in town. Recreation is
Ross Thompson: also huge. You've got the two lakes on either side
Ross Thompson: of Penticton, so boating and fishing and hiking and biking
Ross Thompson: and all that kind of stuff. And then, yeah, like
Ross Thompson: I said, now to be able to finish the day
Ross Thompson: at one of the seven breweries in town is pretty
Ross Thompson: amazing too.
Aaron: Right. What is your favorite style of beer to brew and
Aaron: then consume on your own? Besides the Nut Brown, besides
Aaron: the Nut Brown.
Ross Thompson: I always tend to lean towards the lighter beer. So
Ross Thompson: pilsners lagers. Being a brewer, they are the most challenging
Ross Thompson: style to brew. Everything has to be literally perfect from
Ross Thompson: yeast health to ingredients to bitterness. They have to literally
Ross Thompson: be perfect in order for it to be above average.
Ross Thompson: Right? So it's a challenge and I guess that's what
Ross Thompson: we all sort of look for is to do something
Ross Thompson: that challenges what we do.
Aaron: Yeah. It's funny that the simplest of beers is the
Aaron: most complicated to make too.
Ross Thompson: Right.
Aaron: Yeah.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: In terms of growth, I mean you guys are in the
Aaron: space, you've been here for a few years now. Are
Aaron: you are kind of happy at this level or are
Aaron: there plans to expand and kind of keep going from here?
Ross Thompson: I mean we are lucky enough that we're seeing really
Ross Thompson: consistent growth over the last four years. Something that's really
Ross Thompson: manageable so that we're not just scrambling to keep our
Ross Thompson: heads above water, but we're always looking to grow. And
Ross Thompson: like we were talking before about how we play the
Ross Thompson: balance beer role sort of, right. The last little while
Ross Thompson: we've been trying to step outside of that. We're dabbling
Ross Thompson: in the sour realm.
Aaron: You have tons of great fruit in the region to try.
Ross Thompson: Yeah, so the fruited sour thing is sort of, we're going
Ross Thompson: towards that. We did our first barrel aged beer here
Ross Thompson: this year. And yeah, we just have it on the
Ross Thompson: books to try and do some more extreme but keep
Ross Thompson: it within what we still do. Right? We still want
Ross Thompson: to create a beer that is consumable. Right? We all
Ross Thompson: drink those beers that are just like, this is amazing,
Ross Thompson: but I can only drink four ounces of it because
Ross Thompson: it is so extreme.
Aaron: Yeah.
Ross Thompson: So yeah, we're definitely going to try to step, and having the
Ross Thompson: new breweries in town too. You have some very qualified,
Ross Thompson: very good brewers come into town. We're going to have
Ross Thompson: to step up our game too and join in on
Ross Thompson: everything they're doing too. Right?
Aaron: Well, I mean it's only good for the local community really.
Ross Thompson: Right? We look at that and it's just, it's going to push us and we're
Ross Thompson: going to push them and it's just going to be a, it's just going to
Ross Thompson: elevate Penticton in general as far as beer goes. So
Ross Thompson: it's going to be an interesting couple of years coming
Ross Thompson: through to Penticton. Yeah.
Aaron: So we, I mentioned the cans earlier. So you guys do
Aaron: package, you do ship it out. How far does that
Aaron: distribution net go?
Ross Thompson: We are pretty much Manitoba to the Yukon. We send
Ross Thompson: a little bit of product North, but most of our
Ross Thompson: product is consumed in BC and Alberta. We send a
Ross Thompson: fair amount to Alberta, but they sort of get the
Ross Thompson: short end of the stick when we get busy and
Ross Thompson: everything starts to get hyper local, everything gets, your distribution
Ross Thompson: pulls in.
Aaron: So yeah, just very regular on the lower mainland and out to
Aaron: the island too, right?
Ross Thompson: Yeah. And we're lucky we have great following, great support in
Ross Thompson: the Valley. I would say 80% of what we make
Ross Thompson: gets consumed in this Valley, which we're super blessed to
Ross Thompson: have that following.
Aaron: Right. So if somebody was wanting to get into brewing
Aaron: beer themselves, would be some advice that you can give them?
Ross Thompson: Like home brewing or professionally?
Aaron: Both sides.
Ross Thompson: Both sides. Yeah. I mean, the first start is you
Ross Thompson: have to have a palate, you have to, if you
Ross Thompson: love good food, if you love that sort of thing,
Ross Thompson: it'll be a natural fit to start brewing and following
Ross Thompson: beers that you like. And I think that's an important
Ross Thompson: thing is if you do get into brewing is to
Ross Thompson: brew the things that you like to drink. And we
Ross Thompson: try really hard to do that here where we, if
Ross Thompson: you start brewing things that you're just like, eh, I don't
Ross Thompson: regularly drink that, it will definitely show. So yeah. And
Ross Thompson: education, at Kwantlen College, there's some really cool things going
Ross Thompson: on in BC as far as education goes. And that's a
Ross Thompson: very good step. But when we hire people here at
Ross Thompson: Cannery, we look for people that are well rounded. They
Ross Thompson: have other life experiences, whether it is food or industry
Ross Thompson: or that sort of thing. I don't think to this
Ross Thompson: date we've ever hired anybody that has education, like formal
Ross Thompson: brewery education, but it's definitely on the list. We know
Ross Thompson: we need to look at those well qualified people as well.
Aaron: All right, cool. What are you brewing next?
Ross Thompson: We just did our seasonal saison that we do. It's called
Ross Thompson: Meadowlark. We're just trying to keep up. We just released
Ross Thompson: our apricot wheat. We have a sun blinked berry sour,
Ross Thompson: which has blown up on us. We just can't keep
Ross Thompson: it in tanks. So it's sort of hard to be looking
Ross Thompson: towards what's next when you can't even keep things in
Ross Thompson: inventory that you already are making. Right? We are just
Ross Thompson: a little bit of a sneak peek doing some work
Ross Thompson: on our brand and so there'll be some cool stuff
Ross Thompson: coming up here shortly in the next three or four months.
Aaron: Sweet.
Ross Thompson: They'll be a good change to some of our core
Ross Thompson: things. So can't wait to share that with everybody.
Aaron: Yeah. Looking forward to that.
Ross Thompson: Yeah.
Aaron: And who inspires you to brew beers? What sort of
Aaron: other breweries do you look up to?
Ross Thompson: The peers, whether it's somebody that's been in the game
Ross Thompson: for just a few years or when I first started
Ross Thompson: I was lucky enough to meet people like Paul Hatfield and
Ross Thompson: Gary Lowen and people like that who, they're there when
Ross Thompson: you talk about craft beer in BC and sort of where
Ross Thompson: it sort of took off. They're the ones that are
Ross Thompson: sort of responsible for that. So there's sort of the old
Ross Thompson: guard in the sense of BC craft beer. And they've
Ross Thompson: grown exponentially. Like central city has just, from where they
Ross Thompson: were in that little brewpub when I first went to the
Ross Thompson: first ever cast festival that they had and where they
Ross Thompson: are now, it's just amazing. So that stuff sort of,
Ross Thompson: yeah, definitely it's inspirational to see that kind of growth
Ross Thompson: in a province that is. It's going to continue to grow. We've
Ross Thompson: got a whole bunch starting in Colona and yeah, it's going
Ross Thompson: to be really cool to see where we go. We're
Ross Thompson: headed to the CBAs here in a couple of weeks,
Ross Thompson: Canadian Brewing Awards. And it's always just mind blowing when
Ross Thompson: you go out there. And even from year to year,
Ross Thompson: we sort of get focused on what's going on in BC and then
Ross Thompson: you see what's happening in Canada in general is amazing.
Ross Thompson: They're working on Canada wide Craft Brewers Guild now too,
Ross Thompson: right? So it's just going to make the industry just
Ross Thompson: that much more solid and have that much more influence. Right? It's going to be great.
Aaron: Well thanks Ross. I mean it's a busy day, but thank you so much
Aaron: for your time.
Ross Thompson: You bet.
Aaron: All right. Thank you so much to the team of Cannery Brewery. It
Aaron: was a great time when I was out there visiting.
Aaron: And yeah, guys, I'm looking forward to getting back to
Aaron: visiting you soon. Before we get into our next interview,
Aaron: I just want to take a moment and talk about
Aaron: the BC Ale Trail and thank them again for making
Aaron: this episode possible. Recently named Canada's craft beer capital by
Aaron: lonely planet, Penticton has a long history of craft brewing
Aaron: going back more than two decades. The best way to
Aaron: learn more about this gorgeous small town in the heart
Aaron: of the Okanagan Valley is by visiting bcaletrail. ca. And
Aaron: now you can also download the BC Ale Trail app.
Aaron: The BC Ale Trail showcases many parts of the province
Aaron: on their website. And you'll find recommended itineraries for each
Aaron: region, a comprehensive list of every craft brewery in BC,
Aaron: a calendar of beer events, and a blog with lots
Aaron: of great stories. The regional ale trails include local breweries,
Aaron: pubs, and restaurants along with other activities the area has
Aaron: to offer. The app gives the users the ability to
Aaron: collect rewards by visiting the breweries and related businesses or
Aaron: events, which can be redeemed for merchandise and other discounts
Aaron: at participating locations. So whether you're planning a weekend trip
Aaron: or just being a tourist in your own backyard, let
Aaron: the BC Ale Trail guide you to your next beer
Aaron: adventure. Arrive thirsty, leave inspired at thebcaletrail. ca. All right
Aaron: time now for my second brewery that I visited while
Aaron: in Penticton and it was none other than Bad Tattoo Brewing.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. My name is Liam Hutcheson. I'm the head brewer
Liam Hutcheson: at Bad Tattoo Brewing Company in Penticton.
Aaron: And so right off the bat I have to ask
Aaron: you, do you have a bad tattoo?
Liam Hutcheson: I can't really mix like show you it, but pain
Liam Hutcheson: is a word for sure. It's not the best tattoo.
Liam Hutcheson: I will tell you that.
Aaron: Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, that's all. That's all you got to know man. Yeah,
Liam Hutcheson: we'll leave it at that.
Aaron: Okay, I'll leave it at that. All right, so we're in
Aaron: Penticton and my favorite question to start with is how
Aaron: did beer find you?
Liam Hutcheson: Funny enough, beer found me through, I grew up in
Liam Hutcheson: Penticton here and we had this new brewery opening up.
Liam Hutcheson: I was actually 18 at the time and I just
Liam Hutcheson: thought that was the coolest thing ever. I just, for
Liam Hutcheson: some reason it just pulled me in. And then when
Liam Hutcheson: I was legal at 19, I finally had my first
Liam Hutcheson: beer and I decided this is something I could get
Liam Hutcheson: along with.
Aaron: And was it craft?
Liam Hutcheson: It was craft. Yeah. It was Bad Tattoo West Coast IPA.
Aaron: Bang.
Liam Hutcheson: That's really what sucked me in.
Aaron: Right. So did you go home and buy a home
Aaron: brew kit? What did you do?
Liam Hutcheson: Did do a little bit of home brewing but just the
Liam Hutcheson: malt kits. So I didn't necessarily do all grain brewing.
Aaron: But that's a good starter for anybody that's getting into
Aaron: it, right?
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, just getting to know what fermentation is, the whole,
Liam Hutcheson: just how you brew basically. Just the basic steps of
Liam Hutcheson: it. And after that it was just learning on the
Liam Hutcheson: job and reading books was pretty much how I got
Liam Hutcheson: to where I am now.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: Right. So you're the brewer here. How long was that
Aaron: window then of learning and coming up to where you
Aaron: are now?
Liam Hutcheson: So to start, I labeled bottles one at a time
Liam Hutcheson: in the fridge. Did that for about...
Aaron: Was that a roller or did you have to peel it off and put it on by hand?
Liam Hutcheson: It was a little roller.
Aaron: Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: One bottle at a time. So 720 bottles, that's two hours
Liam Hutcheson: worth of bottling or labeling. So did that for about
Liam Hutcheson: four months and after that began to learn how to
Liam Hutcheson: brew under the head brewer.
Aaron: Right. And who was that?
Liam Hutcheson: That was Robert Theroux, he's from Montreal. Great guy. Love him.
Aaron: Right. So Bad Tattoo, do you know where the name
Aaron: comes from?
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. And that I also can't speak about, that was
Liam Hutcheson: an owner's bad tattoo.
Aaron: Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: It must be really bad.
Liam Hutcheson: It's bad.
Aaron: Oh, okay. Have you seen the bad tattoo?
Liam Hutcheson: I have. I'm not going to...
Aaron: Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: I'm not going to say anything about it though.
Aaron: But it's bad.
Liam Hutcheson: It's bad.
Aaron: You can just confirm that it's bad.
Liam Hutcheson: We'll confirm that, yeah.
Aaron: Okay, so how long has this brewery been open then?
Liam Hutcheson: We've been open nearly five years as of July, 2019
Liam Hutcheson: and we started, the idea was just to have a
Liam Hutcheson: brewery with a little pizzeria tasting slice with your beer. On
Liam Hutcheson: day one, we realized that people really like pizza.
Aaron: I like pizza.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, pizza and beer is a pretty good combination.
Aaron: It's the best marriage around pizza and beer.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, it's pretty good. We hit the nail on the head.
Aaron: Right. And so then tell me about the pizza. Is there a
Aaron: custom oven back there, is it wood- fired, what's going
Aaron: on back there?
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. So we have an eight pizza, Italian forno oven,
Liam Hutcheson: cooking pizzas at 730 degrees.
Aaron: I haven't had a pizza yet.
Liam Hutcheson: Have you not?
Aaron: No, I'm going to go get a pizza next.
Liam Hutcheson: Oh yeah. Yeah. Get the mango chicken one.
Aaron: Mango chicken.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: That sounds good because I used to live in New
Aaron: Zealand and there was this nightclub that had a pizzeria that
Aaron: we did shows at every Thursday. They had a Thai
Aaron: chicken satay pizza.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, dude.
Aaron: Yeah.
Liam Hutcheson: I might tell the head cook about that. We're going
Liam Hutcheson: to do that next year.
Aaron: Okay. For sure. Or I can come up and collab, I do
Aaron: an IPA jerk chicken.
Liam Hutcheson: Dude.
Aaron: Yeah.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. You should come collab.
Aaron: Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: All right, we'll do that. I won't collab on a beer, just pizza.
Liam Hutcheson: Just pizzas, yeah.
Aaron: Just pizzas.
Liam Hutcheson: Fair.
Aaron: Right. So when you took over were you, I mean
Aaron: obviously you were making your core beers. First off, what
Aaron: are those?
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, so we have five main flagship beers. We have
Liam Hutcheson: our Los Muertos Cerveza Negra, which is a dark Mexican
Liam Hutcheson: lager basically. And it's super refreshing. A nice intro beer
Liam Hutcheson: to craft beer. We have our West Coast IPA, which
Liam Hutcheson: is a super nice hoppy, piney West Coast IPA.
Aaron: And what are those hops in there?
Liam Hutcheson: We have a nice six varieties in there. We have
Liam Hutcheson: Centennial, Nuggets, Cascade, Falconer's Flight, Ahtanum and Zythos. So just a
Liam Hutcheson: nice all around West Coast IPA. We also, our next
Liam Hutcheson: one up is the Tramp Stamp Pale Ale, which we
Liam Hutcheson: have a lot of fun with because it's, we call it
Liam Hutcheson: the Tramp Stamp because it's from down under. All the
Liam Hutcheson: hops are Australian.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: So that's kind of where we went with that one. Super
Liam Hutcheson: nice and fruity. That's kind of what we went for.
Aaron: And I do have to clarify because I lived in
Aaron: New Zealand for eight years. So you're not sneaking in
Aaron: any Nelson hops in there?
Liam Hutcheson: No man, no.
Aaron: They're totally Australian?
Liam Hutcheson: All Australian.
Aaron: Okay. All right. Okay.
Liam Hutcheson: The kicker is the galaxy.
Aaron: Yes.
Liam Hutcheson: That's a classic obviously.
Aaron: Yeah. Yeah.
Liam Hutcheson: We also have our Vagabond Pilsner. All checks as hops.
Liam Hutcheson: Super does style, nice and crisp. Can't ask for anything
Liam Hutcheson: better. We also have our Full Sleeve Stout, which is
Liam Hutcheson: nice and mild palate, not overly heavy, can drink five
Liam Hutcheson: or six of them if you really want to, which
Liam Hutcheson: I do. Yeah.
Aaron: If its been a long week.
Liam Hutcheson: If its been a long week.
Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. So what was the first beer that you got to experiment
Aaron: with and introduce?
Liam Hutcheson: Last year I was fortunate enough to go to Europe
Liam Hutcheson: and I toured around Europe and Belgium and decided I
Liam Hutcheson: wanted to make a Belgium Tripel. So when I got home,
Liam Hutcheson: that was the first beer that I ever was given the opportunity to make it the brewery.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: Is that kind of on the regular lineup as it
Aaron: were now?
Liam Hutcheson: It'll probably make a return next year.
Aaron: Because it's a bit of a commitment to brew.
Liam Hutcheson: It is a commitment. Yes, it's a lot of work
Liam Hutcheson: but I personally really enjoy Belgian style beer and I
Liam Hutcheson: don't think that's huge in BC beer.
Aaron: No.
Liam Hutcheson: Kind of want to keep that around. Yeah, we brew
Liam Hutcheson: saison this year, we're going to do, we might do a hefe, which is more
Liam Hutcheson: German but just kind of keeping that nice European classic
Liam Hutcheson: styles alive.
Aaron: Right. And so how the community's response to the brewery,
Aaron: are they kind of open for that experimentation? And obviously you've
Aaron: been here a while.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: So it seems like you've got a following.
Liam Hutcheson: I definitely think in Penticton it's been five years since
Liam Hutcheson: we've been open, but I think from then until now
Liam Hutcheson: people have opened their imaginations and minds with beer. I
Liam Hutcheson: think the coast was way ahead of us on that
Liam Hutcheson: and we're maybe a year or two behind what they
Liam Hutcheson: do. So sours in style down in the coast. The
Liam Hutcheson: next year is when that's our big boom for that
Liam Hutcheson: style beer.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: So it's very interesting just to see how that came about.
Aaron: Yeah. And you're about to have seven breweries here.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. Seven breweries in little Penticton is pretty insane to
Liam Hutcheson: me. I mean we were the fourth brewery to open up.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: We had a fifth three years ago and two opening
Liam Hutcheson: up this year. So we're more than excited. We get
Liam Hutcheson: to collab with people and we get to have a lot of fun.
Aaron: It's like you got a little brewery district going on here because it
Aaron: seems like it's like all kind of within this block.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. We're going for a district. Literally two doors down
Liam Hutcheson: from us is a new neighborhood brewing and we're having
Liam Hutcheson: a lot of fun already. We just collabed on a beer
Liam Hutcheson: and it's just nice to be able to work with
Liam Hutcheson: someone who is close by.
Aaron: They're literally at the end of the street.
Liam Hutcheson: Literally down the road. If we need hops, we'll go talk
Liam Hutcheson: to them. They need hops, they'll come talk to us.
Liam Hutcheson: Whatever we need, it's all friendly.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: It's very cool.
Aaron: So what do you like to drink? What's your go to style?
Liam Hutcheson: I would say IPA, but I'd been really getting out
Liam Hutcheson: there and just trying whatever beer comes to me. I
Liam Hutcheson: think the best way to learn about beer. So I'm
Liam Hutcheson: learning to enjoy everything that I can.
Aaron: Right. Yeah. My to go to Cali Common.
Liam Hutcheson: Cali Common.
Aaron: All the time.
Liam Hutcheson: Interesting.
Aaron: Yeah, yeah.
Liam Hutcheson: That's, it's a good style. I just haven't drank a lot of it.
Aaron: Yeah and it's hard to get right too. So it's like when
Aaron: you find a good one, you want to stick to
Aaron: it, right?
Liam Hutcheson: Cool. Yeah, we're doing one later this year, so I
Liam Hutcheson: got to keep working on that.
Aaron: All right, well keep drinking up and send me some.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, I will. I will for sure.
Aaron: So if anybody's getting into brewing themselves, what would be some
Aaron: advice that you can give them?
Liam Hutcheson: My best advice would be start reading books, pick up
Liam Hutcheson: the books from John Palmer, the Hops, Yeast, Water and
Liam Hutcheson: Malt book.
Aaron: Yep. Got to give a shout out to Papazian, the original home
Aaron: brew book there.
Liam Hutcheson: Okay. Yeah.
Aaron: The Joy of Homebrewing. Yeah.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. And I think reading is the best way to
Liam Hutcheson: learn. I didn't do any schooling, but I didn't know I'd
Liam Hutcheson: be here right now as the head brewer, but I read books and
Liam Hutcheson: that's what got me to where I'm at.
Aaron: And then plus you had the practical experience. You came off
Aaron: the labeling line.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. I was very fortunate to have the onward experience.
Liam Hutcheson: But I think if it's a passion you have, start
Liam Hutcheson: with home brewing and see where it takes you and
Liam Hutcheson: just keep learning.
Aaron: Right. Are there any expansion plans for the brewery at
Aaron: all? Or were you very comfortable at the size at
Aaron: the moment?
Liam Hutcheson: We are very comfortable at this size and I think that's often the
Liam Hutcheson: future. But right now we're super happy with where we're
Liam Hutcheson: at and we'll see where the industry goes. If it
Liam Hutcheson: keeps picking up and more breweries open up, then we're
Liam Hutcheson: exactly where we want to be. We don't need to, there's
Liam Hutcheson: so much beer now. So we have our nice slice
Liam Hutcheson: of the pie and where we're happy with that.
Aaron: Right. So if somebody was to come to Penticton and
Aaron: visit here, what's your favorite non- beer activity to do locally?
Liam Hutcheson: Personally, my favorite, which trying to get into more of
Liam Hutcheson: this year, I really want to try more, is rock climbing.
Aaron: Right.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah. We have some pretty killer rock climbing spots.
Aaron: Because we're kind of in a valley, right?
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah.
Aaron: You got some steep slopes on either side.
Liam Hutcheson: You can go anywhere you want to go climb a rock
Liam Hutcheson: or also just hanging out on the beaches. We got
Liam Hutcheson: two beach on either side of the city. So it's
Liam Hutcheson: a perfect summer destination.
Aaron: It gets hot here.
Liam Hutcheson: And it gets really, really hot. So yeah, just hanging
Liam Hutcheson: out, it's a good city for that.
Aaron: All right, cool. Well, sweet man. Thank you so much
Aaron: for your time.
Liam Hutcheson: Yeah, thank you.
Aaron: Huge thank you to Liam at Bad Tattoo first time
Aaron: and Ross at Cannery Brewery. That was our first interview
Aaron: in this episode. Thank you both guys. Really appreciate your
Aaron: time. It was a big weekend when I was in
Aaron: town and had lots of fun hanging out with all
Aaron: the Penticton crew. Can't wait to go back and visit
Aaron: again. I love the Okanagan Valley in the summertime. Also,
Aaron: big thanks again to the BC Ale Trail for making this episode
Aaron: possible. Be sure to check them out at thebcaletrail. ca.
Aaron: If you want to follow this podcast series along on
Aaron: social media, you can by going to Facebook at facebook. com/
Aaron: cascadianbeer or on Instagram at Cascadianbeerpodcast and on Twitter at Cascadian Beer.
Aaron: For more information, previous episodes, some photos of my travels,
Aaron: you can go to the website at cascadian. beer. And
Aaron: thank you so much for your time. I really do
Aaron: appreciate you listening to this episode and supporting this podcast.
Aaron: And until next time, remember, support your local.