Brightwood To Open 64-Seat Beer Garden In Dartmouth
DARTMOUTH — Dartmouth’s Brightwood Brewery is days away from opening a new harbourside beer garden at Alderney Landing.
Brightwood owner Ian Lawson says the 64-seat beer garden will sit behind the main Alderney Landing building, overlooking the Halifax harbour.
Brightwood servers will sling pints out of a retrofitted shipping container Lawson is right now putting the finishing touches on.
The brewery’s full selection of beer will be available on tap (or for purchase in cans), and Lawson said partnerships with nearby restaurants like Port City Cafe will allow hungry patrons to snag a snack.
“The plan is on each table there’s going to be a placard directing people to the counter. [Port City Cafe] will even have an online link and you can go to their website through your phone and order,” he explained.
Lawson says Port City is creating a few special appetizers to sell to beer garden customers. Brightwood is also teaming up with the Chainyard Urban Cidery to create a brand new “Brightyard Cider” that will only be sold at the new location.
“Down on the waterfront we want to have a full selection for anyone who walks through,” Lawson said. “We’re not cider manufacturers by trade but we just wanted to have that option down there, so this was that option.”
Lawson explained that Brightwood managed to lock down a summer lease for the space because “nothing else was going to happen” there this summer.
“We’ve always kind of dreamed of doing this,” Lawson said. “We’ve heard of other, larger companies putting in proposals for this space before but there were things that we could never achieve so we did our own thing. So now we’re really excited to [open this new space].”
He said the “driving factor” pushing him to open the beer garden this summer was bringing his staff back to work.
Brightwood doesn’t have the space at its Portland Street location to operate at full capacity. A new location means more space for customers and Lawson says it will allow him to bring back all his staff and possibly hire a few new employees.
“That kind of played a huge role in it, where we knew we had to do something different this summer and provide people with a safe outdoor space. And we couldn’t’ do it where we were, so we had to get creative,” he said.
Lawson said the initial agreement with Alderney Landing allows Brightwood to set up its beer garden temporarily, from July to September this year.
He hopes to be able to do it again in 2021 but said he will likely have to compete with other businesses for the space.
“I think next year is going to be a whole other story. If it does do well, we’re going to need a whole different package,” he said. “But for now we’re happy that there are just more options for outdoor space on the waterfront [in] Dartmouth.”