sell way more beer than 2,400 litres a week, so our two-year plan turned into a four or five month plan. We added three more 30-barrel fermenters, so now, we have four 30-barrel fermenters and as of today, we brew seven times a week, which is where we figured we’d be in four or five years. “Us, on the other hand, we let the beer speak for itself.” What was it that inspired your choice to adopt the American style in a sea, as it were, of Canadian style IPAs? Over the years, Dan and I travelled a lot. We went to Maine a lot, every other month for a while, because Maine is a craft beer haven for us. We’d stop at the Citgo in Bangor, they call it the Hogan Street Deli, and they always have a very wide range of American craft brew. And if you go as far as Portland, there are lots of world-class craft breweries and beer stores. That was how the research started for us years ago but now that we’re small business owners, it’s hard to get away on trips like that. But like I said, we have a lot of beer nerd friends. They’re bringing us new products every week from trips they take. We’re always willing to trade our beer with friends for something they’ve brought from Cal- ifornia or Connecticut or wherever they happened to be. That’s how we stay on top of what’s good, what’s trendy. We’re open to pretty much any style and there is such a
wide selection out there.
Like with anything, there’s some form of inspiration in what we do. I imagine you need a lot of inspiration to keep regular Trailway drinkers guessing with your weekly one-offs. We love the ability to brew what we want; we love exper- imentation. The idea of being stuck to just six recipes for the rest of your brewing life is awful. We’re planning six to eight weeks ahead for our weekly one-offs and that’s what we want – that’s what keeps it fun for us. It keeps it interest- ing for the customers, too. They know that from one Friday
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SEPTEMBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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