Your browser does not support the video tag.This is the second piece in a three-part series about Saskatchewan’s craft beer industry, the creative people behind it, and its impact on communities.
Beer is big business. But for pretty much every craft brewer in Saskatchewan, it started as a hobby. Eventually, those home brewers found each other, and thanks to a little club that meets in the basement of a brewpub, it created a multimillion-dollar industry.When Heise started brewing beer in 2004, it wasn’t because of divine intervention. It wasn’t a lifelong dream. And he definitely had no idea his tinkering would turn into an award-winning, world-renowned brewery.
Bev Robertson, a University of Regina physics professor, was the visionary behind the Ale and Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan club. Grant Frew is a manager at Bushwakker Brewpub in Regina, the business Bev Robertson opened in 1991 when he wanted his passion for beer to go public. “She said she got sick and tired of all of these men traipsing around her house, going through her drawers looking for pieces of equipment to brew beer,” said Frew.After a decade of homebrewing, Bev was ready to go public. There was one problem: he had to convince the provincial government.
ALES fostered a new generation of craft brewers in Saskatchewan, including Josh Morrison at Pile O’ Bones Brewing in Regina. 9 Mile closed its taproom on 20th Street in Saskatoon in June to focus all of its efforts on beer production at its larger facility nearby. “I was on the doorstep of becoming a partner at one of the largest firms in the province,” Shawn Moen said. “People would ask me early on in 9 Mile, ‘What were you most afraid of at that point?’ Honestly, the thing I was most afraid of was becoming an old man and not taking a swing at something like this.