tion we went over to the BC Beer Awards and were awarded with a gold medal for our Blonde Ale as the best in British Columbia, a silver medal for our Sea Run Saison, and at the end of the night they also honoured us with the BC Brewery of the Year Award. So it was pretty phenomenal and it was certainly a lot of work to get to that point. We were blown away to be even recognized and amongst some of the best breweries in British Columbia. “It has been a bit of a whirlwind experience after that, having won that recognition and really getting put on the map. At that point, we hadn’t even thought of pushing our distribu- tion into Vancouver or the lower mainland. A lot of people hadn’t even heard of us at that point, and now I think our name is out there a little bit more and people are catching a bit of brand recognition. So after the awards, instead of having to go around and knock on doors, we are getting people coming to us, asking to stock our beer.” The price of early success? “I think looking forward we have set the bar pretty high, there’s no doubt about that, so we have to just keep doing what we’re doing. Putting a great beer and focusing on quality.” Like most craft breweries, community is a main focus for Mount Arrowsmith. Recognizing that the “neighborhood pub experience” is undergoing a true resurgence, Hill wants to ensure that his place becomes a community cor- nerstone — an old-time gathering place of sorts. Of course, a major part of being a community leader is realizing that it’s a two-way street. Hill explains that Mount Arrowsmith is on point in this regard. “Along the way, we have tried to give back in every way that we can. We fre- quently host events, host local live musicians, and many charitable events. In fact, we have one coming up soon where we will be re-releasing our Sea Run Saison beer with
profits going toward ALS research. In conjunction with that, we are going to be hosting events that will support our local ALS walk. So we are definitely trying to give back, and we want to be the spot the people in Parksville know they can go to and meet people and hopefully make a difference in the community.” So how does a brewery top an award-winning first year? How do they stave off the sophomore jinx? Simply by not looking back. “Basically, after the award recognition, we kicked into gear our second phase of expansion, which we just finished. We expanded our lounge tasting room facility, we are in the process of adding on the small kitchen right now, we are adding some outdoor seating and we have actually got four brand-new tanks which will allow us to add significantly to our production,” Hill points out. He adds, “in terms of the future, I’d love to see our product either in cans or in 355 mL bottles, so we’ll see what these new added fermenters will do toward allowing us to do more. We are definitely looking to push our packaged product into different distributing areas.” Hill is quick to emphasize that, at the end of the day, it’s the good feeling they get from working with family that is most satisfying. “We’re a family run business. Myself, my cousin, my uncle, my father and my brother have all been a huge part of starting this business. I love the idea of a family run business, and we are working hard to keep the family tradition alive. And all of the staff that we have brought on have definitely become part of our extended family. Our community is excited to know what’s happening here and we enjoy making a difference. We love coming to work. And that doesn’t happen with every job out there. It’s fun. We are very lucky.”
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