Even the target demographic for the brewery has changed. “It’s been quite funny. Prior to our reinvention of ourselves, I would say that our demographic was probably the 40 to 60-year-old male drinking our Angry Scotch ale or a Cream ale. It’s changed. I just took part in a in a festival at the University of British Columbia about a month ago with 19 to 21-year-old students who were super passionate – and super knowledge - able - about craft beer. Six or seven years ago, that wasn’t a thing. Those kids were drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and Molson and Budweiser. And, now the tastes have changed.” “For a long time, we thought craft beer was for people making $60 - 70,000 a year who had some disposable income to spend the extra money on craft beer. It’s actually not that. It’s just people with an appreciation for good quality beer with great ingredients.” “It’s more similar to a wine enthusiast now than it’s ever been. There are so many different vari - etals, or styles that that are being offered. The brewers are pushing the boundaries everyday with what they’re putting into the beers,” explained Darbyshire. The Craft Lager is the brewery’s top selling beer and has found its place as a house lager in a number of restaurants and pubs. Other core beers include a West Coast IPA, Pale Ale, and the El Dorado Blonde Ale. “For our new brands, we’re seeing a lot of success with our milkshake IPAs as part of our Vibe series, which we created around doing different styles of milkshake IPAs. Those have been our most popular and most sought-after beers.” Russell Brewing beers are available throughout British Columbia and can be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with plans to be selling in Ontario within the next month. “I would love to say we will be in Halifax by the end of this year. We’re definitely doing our best to get as far East as we can.” Currently without a taproom, the brewery plans to open one this year, hopefully by June 1.
Beer festivals are a priority for rebuilding the brand. “We attend the Alberta Beer festival, as well as the Mashing Calgary, the Edmonton Beer festival and the Whistler Beer Fest. I’m at most of the festivals myself.” “For us right now specifically, I feel like we’re building brand again. The more people we can get in front of the better. The festivals are a great opportunity to get the new and interesting beers into the public, into the market, in front of people trying them out and reviewing them. It’s great for the brewers to get feedback, often before the beers even launch. “It’s nice because we are a large enough brewery that we can afford to participate in all of these events. They are expensive. Unfortunately, a lot of the smaller breweries just don’t have a budget to be able to do that. We’re very fortunate that we can afford to and we really enjoy doing them,” said Darbyshire. The team at Russell Brewing enjoys the camaraderie and collaboration of the craft beer community. “There really isn’t anything like it. The craft beer community is truly a community like nothing I’ve ever experienced. And it really is friendly competi - tion. There’s a lot of sharing of ideas and collabora - tions that happen amongst all the breweries within the city and outside the city.”
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JUNE 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2020
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