Focusing on Quality: NB Craft Brewers’ Market Sets Up Shop
ROTHESAY–To say that craft brewing has become a hit in New Brunswick would be a major understatement. With breweries popping up from one end of the province to the other and countless home brewers trying their hand at making their own beers.
Mike Hebert struggled with the lack of local accessibility to brewing supplies, and found that seeking out brewing supplies from Nova Scotia or Ontario took much longer than it should have. Hebert says that he had to plan well ahead of brewing to account for the time it took to get the supplies he needed.
“I knew there was a need,” he said. “There are a lot of craft brewers here in the province, here in Saint John Moncton, Bathurst, Fredericton … I figure if there’s a need, there should be a good supply so I wanted to supply people around with what they need for grains and hops and yeast and equipment for brewing.”
Hebert has taken things into his own hands and built the NB Craft Brewers’ Market, an e-commerce venture that he runs out of his home in Rothesay. Small brewers can order grains, hops and yeast through his website and either pick them up or have them shipped through FedEx.
“The target market for this is the home brewer and the craft brewer and medium sized to smaller breweries,” he explains. “The reason I came up with starting this myself is I’m a craft brewer and every time I wanted to brew my own beer, if you don’t plan right you’re always looking to source ingredients … I was always at the mercy of waiting for something to come in and there was nothing local I could pick up.”
“I love the craft brew industry and craft beer. My best friend taught me how to (do) all grain brew for myself and he runs a successful nano brewery.”
Though it’s only been up and running since May, Hebert says it’s been running smoothly so far and that the interest for this type of venture locally is there. Hebert hopes to eventually run the Brewers’ Market full-time and eventually establish a brick and mortar store.
“I see this as my retirement. I see this as being retired, getting up in the morning, going in and working in my own shop, working for myself and maybe have enough to have one or two staff members and take it from there.”
Luke MacGregor is a home brewer who has bought supplies from the NB Craft Brewers’ Market. While brewing from home for now, he hopes to open a small brewery in the near future. MacGregor said he got hooked on craft brewing and quickly moved from working with kits to all grain brewing.
MacGregor says that having the NB Craft Brewers’ Market near his home in Hampton makes the scheduling of his brews simpler so he can focus more on the brew itself and less on gathering the materials.
“Right now there’s no place close to Saint John that sells the products that Mike sells, specifically the grains and the hops,” MacGregor said. “You get some yeast at some of the wine stores and you get some hops at some of the wine stores but Mike’s a home brewer himself and he understands the importance of freshness and quality.”