SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2016
Marten Brewing Co.
Those guys behind the glass are used to it. You can point and talk about them amongst yourselves. Laugh – they won’t take it personally. If you wave – and their hands are free – they’ll wave back. Head Brewer, Joe Strickland and Braumeister, Stefan Buhl have been making beer for Marten Brewing Co. on 30th Avenue in Vernon, British Columbia for over two years now and the fact that they perform their craft – please excuse the beer pun – in the centre of a brewpub while customers empty their mugs and plates is just part of the job. And it’s a welcome part. These guys love when they look out from their glassed-in brewery at the centre of the Marten Brewpub & Grill and see tables of co-workers and guests or toasting a fresh-from-the-tap pint of one of their very own creations while they’re putting together those very same recipes. Joe is partial to the Tick Tock Dunkel Bock, which goes great with the Bianca Prawn Linguine, while Stefan recommends the Autumn Spiced Hefe Weizen, a perfect compliment to the 12oz Striploin Steak.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • OCTOBER 2016
By David MacDonald I ’m sure there’s more than one cer- evisaphile – a neologism meaning “An aficionado of beers and ales or one who pursues the very finest in malted beverages” – who recognized the aforementioned German beers brewed by Strickland and Buhl. If you have more than a basic knowledge of the history of beer and brewing, ingredients, draught systems, and styles you know these aren’t the typical IPAs or lagers taken-on by brewers in brewpubs, especially in North America. Well, these two gen- tlemen are lucky. Well, they’re skilled first, lucky second. They brew for the husband and wife duo who own Marten Brewing Co., Stefan and Pearl Marten. The Martens have a passion for beer – particularly the craft side of it – and hospitality. Pearl told me that “Casual sophistication is our style.” Stefan explained that “We focus on quality and drinkability.” These moti- vations are the components of the formula that made Marten Brewpub & Grill. “Focusing on the product as the main attraction was our thinking from the start, so the brewery is built front and centre so guests can see where their beer is handcrafted while they drink it. We felt that what was missing from the craft beer scene is the pride in showcasing the process. We wanted to open our doors to beer lovers so they can feel like they are part of it all,” Stefan explained. “We pains- takingly hand-built, and designed every aspect of the entire brewery, convention area, pub, and the restau- rant, Naked Pig BBQ. Beer is casual by nature and we wanted to create a space that enhanced that. Our goal was to develop and build a space for the beer community and the com- munity as a whole, a place to bring friends or family when visiting – and it’s now considered a local hangout.” No, Stefan was not being hyperbolic. He and Pearl are hands-on people. When they found Marten Brew- pub’s home on the corner of Main Street and 30th Avenue in downtown Vernon in 2013, it had a reputation: It
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enough money for tables, light fixtures, that kind of stuff, so we just built it all. We got the restaurant open in about seven months but we still had to renovate the pub side and install the brewery. There were nights where we were basically putting the pipes together for the brewery, dusting ourselves off and heading back into the restau- rant for the dinner rush, serving, bartending, managing.” While a brewpub was something new to downtown Vernon – a thriving district that’s home to more than 550 business- es, 250 retail and service businesses, 52 restaurants and cafes, three art galleries, four parks, eight transit lines, 115 bike racks, and three public parking lots within 46 blocks, according to the Downtown Vernon Association – it was a culmination of every hat worn by the Martens. “Pearl and I both began our careers in hospitality,” Stefan explained. “We worked in a number of pubs, hotels, and restaurants over the years. I started when I was 18. I went to Germany back in 1993 to work in the beer gardens and one of the first things I noticed was the massive difference in beer flavours and styles compared to what we have here at home. Beer in Germany reminded me of milk: any age could buy it; it had an expiry date on the side; it was treated as a fresh product. I remember once I was back home in Canada, I found a can of beer from a fishing trip the year before, I cracked it open and it tasted exactly
was cursed. “For years nothing ever survived there. It was boarded-up, off-and-on, and people used to make jokes about it. Restaurants would come and go, and years before one side of it was a nightclub. One local bank even refused to grant us a loan because of the building’s reputation.”
“We focus on quality and drinkability.”
When it was theirs, the Martens went in with hardhats and sledgehammers first and hammers and measuring tapes second.
“We renovated the whole place ourselves – well we had a couple guys help us out here and there. We didn’t have
the same. I thought to myself, ‘What are they putting in this?’ and that really resonated in my mind. It also made my passion for beer and the craft side of it that much stronger. Not long after, I first heard of small breweries doing small-batch brewing with different flavour profiles. That meant that the same freshness I came to appreciate in Germany could be brought anywhere in Canada. That was a huge thing in my mind.” Stefan continued: “As funny as it is, at the time, I was actually more or less getting out of the hospitality world – I was building houses in the Okanagan. That’s when I got a phone call from a friend in my hometown of Williams Lake, B.C. about a start-up opportunity for a food and beverage location at a casino that was opening in town. It was a six month contract and it seemed like a great opportunity. He also told me that he thought I should meet Pearl, who was bartending at a local pub. She was well-known and liked and I’d actually heard of her several times before. Once we officially met there was no separating us. It turned out we grew up just 10 minutes from one another in the same valley, sharing childhood memories of walking the same train tracks and swimming in the river which passed both our places, but we had never met. We hit it off and when my six month contract was up, we headed back to the Okanagan together. We went right into building together – our first house. And when I say built, I mean every aspect from the ground-up. My father was a carpenter and he taught me a lot, but what we didn’t know, we learned. After that, we started buying-up properties and renovat- ing them as rental units. Pearl has an amazing ability to see potential where others don’t and she’s not afraid to do any part of the renovation including the “drywall”. We did it all on a very small budget but you’d never know because of how amazing she would make these projects
look. We started picking up more and more rentals and at one point ended up with 18 units. We were in full-swing rental mode – it was our full-time job. Then the housing crash hit and it really scared us. We realized we had all of our eggs in one basket. It was becoming difficult to rent some of the units and some of the one-bedroom units had up to five people living in them – things were getting as unpredictable as the economy itself. It made us really think about what we were doing.” “Our goal was to develop and build a space for the beer community and the community as a whole, a place to bring friends or family when visiting – and it’s now considered a local hangout.” “So we talked about opening a restaurant or bar. With our hospitality experience it only made sense to go that direction – it was a natural second choice for us. We started looking at properties available to lease or buy for a restaurant and as we shopped we talked about possibly starting a brewpub. I had brewed beer with roommates, but never anything on a large scale. I mentioned to Pearl a really good family friend from Germany, a Braumeister, who learned in Munich, who worked in Kelowna at one of the biggest breweries there – Stefan Buhl. He was our reliable contact in the industry. So after we found the vacant building on 30th Ave. we invited him to tour the space that was to become the brewery hoping that we could get some direction from him. We all got really excited as we discussed the visions and layout, and Stefan told us he had actually put in his notice at his job and
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OCTOBER 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
was moving into Sales and consult- ing for a well known Brewing Equip- ment provider Prospero, so it was the final part of the puzzle to make it all happen. Stefan discussed with us that a good beer is one that you want to have more than one of. We wanted a beer that wasn’t focused on the next new and experimental recipe. We wanted to develop a fol- lowing by creating beers you will love throughout all your stages of life and we’ve done that.” And what’s not to love? Marten Brewing Co. uses only four ingredients, adds no preservatives, and sources its hops – the flavour-kick in beer – from local farmers. “Our malt only have a 10 minute commute to work here, actually,” Stefan toldme with a chuckle. Not all patrons of Marten Brewpub & Grill will be able to sit on a corner bar stool where everybody knows their name, but they’ll always be able to ask just where the ingredients of any in-house beer comes from, including
the Jefe Hefe: “It’s cloudy with a golden hue. It has banana and clove-like flavours and it’s brewed with authentic German yeast,” Stefan told me.
When theanswers areas honest as thebrewingprocess, it’s not surprising that people want more. “We’ve given ourselves ample space to expand with the future in mind, starting with canning and bottling products – it’s what people want,” he said. “We’ve given ourselves ample space to expand with the future in mind, starting with canning and bottling products – it’s what people want.” “The Naked Pig BBQ is just under 4,000 square feet, the pub is approximately 5,000 square feet, the convention area is roughly 1,000 square feet, and the brewery is about 1,500 square feet with about 10,000 square feet below to expand. We have a whole garage down below and it’s the same foot length as the building. We store tanks and kegs of beer downstairs but we have more than enough space for canning and bottling our beer.” If it already seemed like the Marten Brewing Co. team was a powerhouse presence in downtown Vernon, there’s more: “When we started, the city of Vernon didn’t allow patios. We applied for the first ever permit, which was all new territory for councillors, and got it. We seat up to 30 people on the patio and it’s brought new energy to the whole area.”
‘Zum Wohl’ (‘To your health’), Marten Brewing Co.!
many thanks to our advertisers
www.gambrinusmalting.com
Marten Brewing Co.
2933a 30th Ave Vernon BC 778.475.5115 • Info.MartenBrewpub@gmail.com
www.prosperoequipment.com
www.martenbrewpub.com
as spotlighted in the OCTOBER 2016 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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