“We made everything by hand like a Frankenstein machine.”
are made of pressure tight wine tanks that we converted, for example. We only have a couple of standard brewery pieces, such as our bottling machine, our kegs, our plate chiller and pumps. We’ve pretty well done it all ourselves.” “There have been a few things we’ve had to hire out, to pay someone else to do. The welding is one. We went to a buddy of ours for that one – and we paid him in beer. He’s a buddy from work. We also needed a licensed electrician and that was another buddy from work. Other than that, everything here has been built by either me or Devin.” “The F-S on either side of the logo, I came up with that on Microsoft Paint. That was our original logo. I just found a script that I liked and I overlaid the F and the S and then sent it off to Devin. Then we sent it off to a local guy here, Ian MacRae with Spitfire Signs, and he upgraded our image so that it didn’t look like a bunch of rednecks did it,” Adam laughed. “But he eliminated the imperfections, the pixels and the uneven edges. My father has also been a huge help; Dad’s very hands-on with woodworking,” he said with a humble enthusiasm. “When we built our store in Bridge- water in the spring, he was over there every time I was. If I said I was heading over after work, he was already there when I arrived.” Devin explained that as hands-on as they were, the encour- agement and support that he and Adam have received from those in the craft beer industry in the province has been a major factor in FirkinStein’s success. “The craft beer industry here in Nova Scotia really is a big family. Before we officially got underway, we met with Schoolhouse Brewing out in Falmouth to see if we were getting in over our heads. When Adam says “everything” he really means it – every- thing right down to the logo.
Cam [Hartley] was awesome. He reassured us that we could do it – but he did tell us we weren’t going to get rich. He told us if we wanted to get paid for something we’re pas- sionate about that we were on the right track,” he said. “When it came to bottles, we just texted Marc Baillie at Hell Bay Brewing in Liverpool and he sent us the contact informa- tion for United Bottles,” Adam continued. “We bought our bottling machine off a place called Pro Brewer, which is mainly in the States, but it’s specifically for smaller breweries – it’s a little like a Kijiji for brewers. Marc also sent us the contact info
we needed to make a connection at Pro Brewer. Even when it came to our labels, we didn’t know who to contact and again, Marc helped us with that. It’s a family, the craft brewing world is.” also includes a lot of loyal FirkinStein custom- ers who have been buying up growlers of beers like Beet This, a beet-based beer as red as red wine, at the local farmers’ market from the beginning. “People are coming to our brew store on King Street and sure, they’re asking for a That family
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017
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