His wife Miranda was, herself, interested in the hospitality industry, but more from the culinary side. Her dream was to run a small café and create unique entrées out of the kitchen. Combining a great kitchen with a top-notch brewhouse seemed to be the logical answer. But Fletcher still needed to pass a more vigorous acid test before taking the plunge out of his financially secure position in the automotive industry. His beer was getting rave reviews from his friends and family, but he needed a little more objectivity before diving in head first. Canada-wide home-brew competitions were the answer. So, in late 2012, he began bringing his beers to Calgary, Winnipeg and other surround- ing urban centres and entering into their home- brew competitions. Stacking his beers up against other obsessive amateur brewmasters was the only way to see where he stood as a brewer. He walked away from his first competition with some advice, useful critiques on his beer, and a little knowledge on how to categorize his brews… but no hardware. “The Territorial Government is very protective about its liquor legislation.” Not to be discouraged, he applied the knowledge he gained from his first competition and won medals in all of the following competitions for the recipes he uses in his brew pub today. The last time a brew pub opened in Yellowknife was some 20 years earlier, but had failed to really establish itself in the community. Fletcher and Miranda saw their new-found talents as an oppor- tunity to take advantage of a gap in the market- place and fulfill dreams of owning their own brew pub. It was time to take the leap with both feet. In January 2014, Fletcher quit his full-time job in the auto industry and became a brewmaster. The first roadblock was quick to rear its head. Amidst building the brew pub, they realized that Territorial Government legislation was creating administrative road blocks and hurdles. “The liquor laws up here are sensitive areas to deal with. There are lots of social issues surrounding liquor and dry communities in the areas around the bar. So, the Territorial Government is very protective
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2019
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