portrayed his homeland. We graciously allowed that to happen,” he laughed.
There’s something to be said for the freshness, the newness to the category – there’s always something to experience for the first time. It’s about association. If they’re liking the category, they’re going to experiment within the category. It’s about getting them there to the NSLC. Killick is a beer designed for that effort. We made that beer for all those people who want to support the local initiative but maybe are a little hesitant because they’ve heard all the talk about hops and they’re not familiar with them.” If you currently associate hoppiness with bitterness, you’re not alone. But you should know that they are not the same thing. Hops and malts, quite simply, are all about flavour. If you’re concerned with a beer’s bitterness, look to the IBUs (International Bitterness Units). Guinness – an Irish Stout beer – is 40 IBUs. Your typical English and Ameri- can-style India Pale Ales (IPAs) fall between 40 and 70 IBUs. An Imperial IPA can be as high as 120 IBUs. Forty IBUs is as bitter as it gets at Spindrift. The German-style Festbier Coastal Lager is 30 IBUs. The Bavarian-style Pilsner Knotty Buoy is 20 IBUs. The traditional German-style black lager Abyss is 25 IBUs. Spindrift’s only IPA, Riptide, is 40 IBUs on the buttons and Killick, a Munich Helles, is at the low-end of its category at just 16 IBUs. You could say that Kellye isn’t a bitter brewer.
“Andrew’s father operated a brewery for many years in Newfoundland, so he has lineage in the brewing world.”
Andy’s respect for the craft brewing world knows no bounds. In fact, to say that he’s a practicing pragmatist might be undercutting it. “The one thing about the craft brewing industry here in Nova Scotia is that it’s very much a comradery,” he explained. “While we all want to grow our businesses on our own, we’re always there to help and do whatever we can for our fellow craft brewers. For me, it’s a numbers game. The more people we can get into that Nova Scotia craft beer section of the NSLC, the better. I’m always telling people who haven’t tried craft beer to give it a go because there are so many advantages to it, whether it’s a Spindrift product, a Tatabrew product, or a Nine Locks product, just come to the category. The variety, the taste profiles in the craft beer category are just incredible. “We brewed about 1900 hectolitres last year and we’re on pace to brew about 3400 hectolitres this year.”
“We’ve also done some pretty interesting seasonal brews this year that speak to our attention to flavour and session-
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017
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