SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2017
There are more breweries per capita in Canada’s Ocean Playground than in any other province – 42 in total. That amounts to more than 3 million litres of beer per year being brewed from Cape Breton to Yarmouth. In late August, Spotlight on Business spoke with two of the three owners of one of the newest tributaries of Nova Scotia’s growing river of craft beer, husband and wife Mark and Kelly Huizink of 2 Crows Brewing– Jeremy Taylor, the Head Brewer and co-owner, was taking care of a batch of Pollyanna: Wild Northeast IPA at the time. What struck me most during my conversation with the Huizinks in the chic taproom of their brewery at 1932 Brunswick Street in Downtown Halifax was the lengths they’re willing to go to live up to their promise to craft beer enthusiasts.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2017
By David MacDonald O ur number one priority is the flavour and not what it’s going to cost,” Mark told me in an uncompromis- ing tone. “Our primary goal, our promise to anyone who purchases a 2 Crows Brewing beverage, is to create the highest quality beer that we possibly can. This will always be our number one priority, and everything else is secondary.” In August, just eight months after opening their doors with three core beers – the Pollyanna: Wild Northeast IPA, the Liesse: Table Beer, and the Pecadillo: Oat Pilsner – and a seasonal offering, Jeremy began overseeing a wood-ag- ing program. “We have obtained some rare foeders, which are giant wooden barrels, from the south of France,” Mark explained. “Two of these were used to make calvados for the past 65 years, give or take, and the other two were used to make cognac for roughly the same time period. These will allow us to bring a lot of new and exciting beers to Nova Scotia.” Mark, who is originally from Belgium, has an attitude toward beer that’s reminiscent of a matchmaker. “There are people who legitimately don’t like beer and I understand that. A few bad experiences can really stick with you. But I like to think that many of those people just haven’t been intro- duced to the right beer for them,” he said. That’s not lip service.
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SEPTEMBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Mark and Kelly’s shared love of beer, he joked, “was more on the consumption side when we first met.”
Like so many successful craft breweries out there, the story of 2 Crows Brewing began with a beer kit. “I had done a few of them,” Mark explained. “They were the kind where the work is already done for you; you just add the hops – nothing spectacular. So before I even started the business plan, I knew we had to find someone who could brew a beer of the highest possible quality, someone who could push the envelope as far as beer styles go.” Kelly explained that once Mark had the business plan together for what was to become 2 Crows Brewing, they both started looking for their Brew Master. “It just so happened that a friend of my family had recently finished school in Scotland with Jeremy where he did his Masters in Brewing and Distilling. We reached out to him and it was amazing how really well it all worked out. Jeremy’s wife is from Dartmouth and at the time we first reached out to him he was working for a big company in Vancouver and really wanted to relocate to the East Coast for his wife,” she said. Jeremy received his Masters of Brewing and Distilling from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, which included a bar- rel-aging program. “He was working for a brewery in Vancouver called Bridge Brewing for a few years before we even started talking, but like Kelly said, his wife, her heart was here in the Mar- itimes,” Mark explained. “So we got lucky in that respect; it was a timing thing “From the beginning, even before we first spoke to Jeremy, we knew that we didn’t want just anyone to brew for us; it wasn’t just about turnover. We wanted someone from the start who wanted to be part of a company. This really was a perfect fit for Jeremy. He was looking to be part of a business and not just an employee of the business. That’s why he makes such a great business partner for Kelly and I; he has the same vision. I know I keep saying that we got lucky when we found Jeremy, but it’s the truth. Not everyone can say that they always see eye-to- eye with their business partners, but we do. It’s an intimate
“One of Kelly’s cousins was at our place and we had a plum and Bailey’s kettle sour saison on tap,” Mark continued. “It’s not something you’d pick-up at the NSLC – at least not yet. It was one of our one-offs. I gave her cousin, who’s more of a wine drinker and really not a fan of beer, a sample and by the time she finished the sample, she was asking for a full glass. That kind of thing really puts a smile on my face “This will always be our number one priority, and everything else is secondary.” That’s how people initially become educated about craft beer: by considering the ingredients, the recipe, and taking a chance. There’s a craft beer out there for everyone.” Kelly sees Mark’s beer acumen as a cultural trait. “In Belgium, rather than drinking a wine with dinner, they drink different styles of beer with different meals. Beer there is something you put a lot of thought into in terms of pairings and taste palates. It’s very personalized that way. It was when we were dating and he took me to Belgium that I fell in love with different styles of beer,” she said.
Pouring Perfect Pints
Did you know that an estimated 10 million Canadians drink beer as their alcoholic beverage of choice? Draught beer is the freshest of these beers, as it does not go through the same distribution channels as canned or bottled beer. It is produced, kegged and delivered fresh to pubs and restaurants. As a draught system technologist, BeerTech’s number one goal is to ensure that draught beer be dispensed to consumers as the brewer intended. It all starts with system balance. Whether it is a short draw system (direct draw from a fridge below the towers) or a long draw (from a cooler located somewhere
in the building and driven to the tower and faucets at the bar), it is imperative that the system be balanced. Cooler temperature, beer temperature, gas pressure and calculations on the route the beer will travel (distance, any gravity or lift the lines will travel, restriction caused by hardware such as tubing size and hardware within the towers) must be correct. The result will be a perfectly poured pint; cold, properly carbonated and with a nice head on the beer. It is critical after a proper install that the BeerTech system is maintained regularly. Temperatures should be monitored and the lines, couplers and faucets should be kept clean. As well, the cooler in which the beer is stored should be kept clean.
Serving quality draught beer requires time and technique. Select the proper glassware for the style and brand of beer you are offering. When pouring draught, the glass should never contact with the faucet. Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle until reaching ¾ full, then straighten and lower slightly to allow for the head to form. Beer, much like wine, has a nose. The glass should be served with the logo or label facing the customer and, whenever possible, on a coaster from the respective brewery. Follow the steps above and you are ready to enjoy a fresh, perfectly poured pint every time! Please enjoy responsibly! Ken Greer Owner Technician BeerTech Draught Systems Technologies
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business partnership and it works.”
Their shared vision is motivated by their young families. Mark and Kelly are parents to a four-year- old and one- year- old; Jeremy and his wife had their first baby earlier this summer. “When Mark was a chartered accountant, he was working late – I mean super late hours,” Kelly explained. “We really weren’t seeing him nearly as much as we wanted, so the idea of owning our own business and getting to the point where we could more-or- less control our own hours was huge. We can now make decisions like taking an extra day or two when we go away on the weekend and Mark can work from his computer. We’re really proud of how far we’ve come with this business. It’s also really exciting for me that our kids are seeing us make something. They’ll see the brand; they’ll see the 2 Crows and know it’s their parents’ business.” “There’s a craft beer out there for everyone.” For Mark and Kelly, being part of the Halifax brewing com- munity was always part of the business plan. Mark explained that friends – and the bank – were concerned that 2 Crows Brewing could become a casualty of a city with the most bars and breweries per capita in Canada. “We looked at other cities, sure. But we knew, especially once we met Jeremy, that we didn’t have to worry about becoming just another brewery in a city famous for its beer,” he said. “It was also the right time. When we opened, there were already a number of craft breweries in the Halifax Regional Municipality which meant that there was a market for people wanting to try beers outside of the big brands.” It’s not just about going toe-to- toe with the big breweries for 2 Crows Brewing. “Every time someone comes into the taproom and compliments the beer or writes a good review of our beer, I really take it to heart,” Kelly explained. “We’re so passionate about it, we love it so much. When people are having a good time in our taproom, it’s like we’re enter- taining them in our home – you want them to have the best time possible. It’s not just for business; we love when people are drinking our beer and having a good time in Downtown Halifax. We love, for instance, when tourists come in and tell us how much they enjoyed our beer and the downtown scene.” In its first summer, 2 Crows Brewing became an instant landmark for American tourists, many of them coming from the constant parade of cruise ships coming into Halifax Harbour. “It’s because many of our beers are inspired by American craft brewers and craft beer enthusiasts, espe- cially from New England, recognize something more-or- less familiar in the descriptors on our website,” Kelly said. “We admire a lot of craft brewers from Florida to Maine and we make it our mission to visit as many as possible when we vacation in the US, so we have a lot of stories to share with
which is a 7.3% ABV beer, and even people who don’t like beer love the tropical notes of it. Wine drinkers really love our sours.” Since opening its doors in January, 2 Crows Brewing has been very well received. But being, in essence, a fami- ly-owned and operated brewery, the real litmus test for Mark was sending beer back to his family in Europe. “My father, who lives part of the year in the Netherlands, has actually found someone over there who’s interested in putting 2 Crows beer on-tap. We’re now in the process of logistics, figuring out the specifics of shipping kegs across the pond. They love it over there!”
the tourists as well.”
“Each one of our beers is very different and each one of them has an inspiration from somewhere for sure,” Mark con- tinued. “We take various styles of beer and we add our own twist. For example, we made a pilsner but we made it an oat pilsner where we added about 35% oat malt to the recipe to give it more of a grainy taste – a bigger mouthfeel, I suppose. Basically, we’re always trying to transcend the status quo.” For 2 Crows Brewing, each recipe is a chance to diverge more from their competitors. “We’re never going to brew solely on style,” Kelly said. “People have taken to the craft beer scene so well in Halifax – and we’re thrilled with that. People love to come to the taproom and chat about beer and learn about our process. We’re coming in on maybe the third wave of craft brewers in Halifax and when you look at how people’s beer pallets have evolved – it’s incredible. Just a few years ago, people were excited about trying a new IPA, now people are interested in sours and barrel-aging and that’s why we’re always pushing the envelope here at 2 Crows.” “So before I even started the business plan, I knew we had to find someone who could brew a beer of the highest possible quality, someone who could push the envelope as far as beer styles go.” And then there’s the other half, Kelly explained. “Like Mark said, people will come to the taproom and say things like, “I don’t like craft beer, or beer at all. Do you have anything that doesn’t taste like beer?” and they’ll fall in love with one of our lighter pilsner-style beers. Or they’ll be expecting something light and I’ll give them our Wild Northeast IPA,
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2 CROWS BREWING CO.
902.422.0222
1932 Brunswick Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2G7 HOURS SUN–WED: 12–10 THURS–SAT: 12–12
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as spotlighted in the SEPTEMBER 2017 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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