To say I was like a kid in Santa’s shop would be pretty accurate. To say I was like a kid on Christmas Eve would be quite spot-on, too. I remember, one year ago, taking notes and keeping an eye on my voice recorder. I remember Andy had the kind of handle on the interview questions I’d sent him the week before that I didn’t have to interject even once. But what I remember most was anticipating the tour. In an earlier email exchange, Andy promised me the complete tour experience at the Spindrift Brewery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and I knew that meant two things: big steel tanks and beer. I was sold. Last year when Andy Armstrong, the co-owner and managing partner of the Spindrift Brewing Company, led me up steep steel stairs and onto the platform where Brewmaster Kellye Robertson brews one of Nova Scotia’s premier craft beer lines, I’ll never forget looking through the open hatches of two newly cleaned 80-barell fermenters and thinking about all the Christmas cheer that all that freshly canned craft lager would be a part of. If you were on the giving or receiving end – or both –of any of that Christmas cheer last year and you’re looking to toss the same fuel on the old Yule log this holiday season, I’ve got good news for you, or rather, Andy does: “We’ve doubled the brewery; it’s really grown from a year ago. We brewed about 1900 hectolitres last year and we’re on pace to brew about 3400 hectolitres this year. We’re adding two more 80-barell fermenters and an 80-barrel brite tank to the brewery here and that’s part of our second expansion that we’ve gone through in as many years. There’s a huge investment going forward here in Burnside. We’ve invested in our people and we’ve invested in the brand. We’re aiming to continue to stay ahead of the beer and, most importantly, keep the NSLC [Nova Scotia Liquor Commission] in-stock. We’re also looking to get into New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and we’re hoping to further entrench ourselves in Newfoundland through this expansion.”
By David MacDonald F or a brewery whose laissez- faire motto is It quid quid est! (Whatever it is, it is!), they sure do love adding onto what it is. This most recent expansion is slated to wrap-up in January 2018; Andy is in the process of growing his full-time staff; and for all you thirsty readers in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland the widely popular summertime one-off beer Killick will soon officially join Spindrift’s lineup of core beers. “We’re afforded so many skews with the NSLC and we play around with them,” Andy said. “That brand [Killick] was born about a year ago and it’s only recently hit the shelves – and it’s quickly become our number one selling beer. It is a great beer.” Killick is a great beer. In fact, I can attest to everything in the profile at Spindriftbrewing.com. It is subtly hopped. It does showcase delicate citrus nuances. And it is sessionable. For you beer Cicerones out there, Killick is a light blonde German-style Munich Helles lager made from 100 percent German Heidelberg Malt and Herkules and Huell Melon hop varieties. “Killick is a brand anyone can enjoy quite confidently,” Andy explained. “It’s a session beer, meaning anyone can have more than one – and it’s meant to be enjoyed cold. You don’t get beered-out on Killick; your taste buds don’t get massacred.”
Like the brand itself – a spindrift occurs when a wave crashes
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NOVEMBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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