By John Allaire A ny creative person will tell you that their best ideas come at the strangest times. In this case, it was over a game of ping pong between Hill and his cousin. “We had been looking around and keeping our eyes open for different business opportunities,” Hill explains. “We come from a family of entrepreneurs and we wanted to try and branch off and do something ourselves. We were drinking some good craft beer at the time and we were big fans of the whole craft revolution. And we wondered ‘why doesn’t our area have a craft brewery?’ Why is it taking Spotlight on Business Magazine spoke with owner Matt Hill about the family-run brewery, its beginnings a mere year ago, and its almost immediate success. Calls started coming into the Parksville-based craft brewery, begging for their product in restaurants and pubs across the province. This kicked what was supposed to be a longer- term plan into high gear, all the while turning the Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Company into a hub of activity in the Parksville-Qualicum Beach district of beautiful Vancouver Island on Canada’s west coast. Starting a new business venture is difficult and can, at times, be nail-biting and hectic. The uncertainty, the economic pressure, the lack of recognition, finding a spot in the marketplace and holding on for dear life. Many businesses fail in their first year or two, caving in to these pressures. Then there’s the Mount Arrowsmith Brewery. They swung open their doors in April 2017, and by September of the same year, they were awarded Gold and Silver medals for two of their beers, and were named Brewery of the Year by the British Columbia Beer Awards. Boom!
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JUNE 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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