IF YOU OWN A BREWERY, YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE BREWING! D G ISLAND BREWING W hen the Alberta oil fields slowed down by Anita Flowers
in 2013, business partners Ben Fiddler and Chad Paulson put their trades experience to work in a different field – making beer in their hometown of Slave Lake, Alberta. Spotlight on Business sat down to chat with Ben Fiddler, co-owner of Dog Island Brewing in Slave Lake, Alberta, about life as a brewer and making great beer. For 18 years, Ben Fiddler worked as a dual ticketed tradesman doing instrumentation and electrical in the Alberta oil fields. It’s not the background you think of when you picture a craft brewer. But for Ben and his partner, Chad Paulson, it has worked. “When I was going to school, I went to a local brew pub and ended up meeting the head brewer there. I fixed up some equipment he had that wasn’t working. In return, he taught me how to brew.” Life was busy and Ben returned to the oil fields. When things slowed down in 2013, the two started to homebrew back home in Slave Lake. “You could see the writing on the wall that the oil field wasn’t going to pick up. So, it was time for us to do something. And that was all we really wanted to do, so it was a pretty easy choice for us.” “You could see the writing on the wall that the oil field wasn’t going to pick up. So, it was time for us to do something.”
“Slave Lake is a pretty small town of only about 7000 people in the winter and about 10,000 in summer. And really there was nothing - no pubs, no craft beers. The liquor stores didn’t carry craft beers. Every time we would hit up a city, we would go out and check out different craft breweries and pubs. We thought we’d bring that to Slave Lake.” Starting a brewery in a town where there were none was no easy feat. “Our biggest challenge was getting the town’s approval. Our town had nothing in the rulebook about craft brewery operations or distillery operations or anything to do with alcohol manufacturing.” “When we first approached the town, they were obviously excited because we’ve never had a brewery in the town before, but they had to do so much extra work to make the rules when we applied. So that took a few months. They were all for it, but they had to create the zoning and rules and stuff.” Zoning rules had to be passed, along with ordinances regarding patios and other restrictions. Deci- “The town really took to it from the first day. The taproom has been the hub of Slave Lake and for any tourists that come here, it is the first spot they want to come to and enjoy a pint. We’re on the biggest lake in Alberta”
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SEPTEMBER 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2020
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