‘It Will Always Be Covid For Me’: Two Years Later, Serpent Brewing Owner Reflects On Pandemic
HALIFAX — “I will never know what normal is. I will never know what it’s like to run a normal business. It will always be Covid for me.”
Glen O’Keefe may well be speaking for the many businesses that took the risk of opening their doors in 2020. The owner and brewer of Serpent Brewing in Spryfield may have struggled in those early days, but is now being rewarded with loyal customers filling his taproom.
Nearly every night there is an event at Serpent, whether it’s their popular Wednesday trivia, live music, karaoke, or even pop ups from local food vendors.
Like most businesses that opened in 2020, Serpent began breaking ground a year earlier. It was pure bad luck that it opened during a once-in-a-century pandemic.
“Terrible. It was complicated,” recalls O’Keefe. “Starting a brewery is always going to be complex. You’re a manufacturing facility that makes a food with a drug mixed in with it.”
“While it was complicated and difficult, it became 10 times more than that.”
When it became clear that the pandemic was altering the bar scene, O’Keefe realized he would have to focus his efforts on just brewing the beer and distributing it. The taproom would have to wait.
“I had to shut down some of the build on the taproom. The goal was always to open a taproom and sell the majority of our beer through our taps,” recalled O’Keefe. “I got halfway through the build and we just didn’t know if we were going to be able to open, or when we did open what it was going to look like.”
But the Spryfield area had a pleasant surprise in store for Serpent Brewing. On its very first day, sales went through the roof.
“We literally opened our garage doors on the back of the building and we sold 800 bottles the first day,” said O’Keefe.
“The community really said ‘hey, we know what you guys are going through, we want to support you.’ At the end of the day, the community wanted a craft brewery here.”
In the spring of 2021, the much-awaited taproom finally opened. O’Keefe recalls how odd it was trying to run the business under health restrictions. It gave bars a vibe that was counterintuitive.
“People come to a brewery to get away from their troubles. They sit down here and we’re saying ‘put your mask on. You’re allowed to do this, but not allowed to do that.’”
“It’s not what we signed up for and it’s not what people wanted.”
Now, in 2022, with all the events happening at Serpent, things are as normal as normal can get these days. But there are still Covid customs that are here to stay.
During the sold-out trivia nights on Wednesdays, the teams have to book a reservation, with six people to a table. Even now, some teams cancel on short notice due to Covid.
“People aren’t afraid anymore. It does feel back to ‘normal’ aside from the costs of operating,” said O’Keefe.
O’Keefe has learned that trivia nights are a great way to get a regular crowd showing up every week. There are crowds of people in every city who will hop from bar to bar for different trivia nights. But once you start a trivia night, it’s not a good idea to mess with the patrons’ routine.
“You get a crowd that actually wants to come the same time every week. Don’t give them a trivia night on Monday when it’s held next week on a Wednesday.”
O’Keefe has also learned, through the vocal reactions of players, that you shouldn’t make trivia topics too specific or niche.
“We had some successes and failures with having certain themes. On one of the surprise nights, one of the rounds was Star Wars and you could hear the grumbling.”
Despite being a small craft brewer and taproom, the events have been so successful that Serpent has hired an events coordinator and social media person to keep on top of things. Best of all, Serpent Brewing has become one of those special meeting places every bar aims to be.
“People will say that it’s THEIR brewery,” O’Keefe says proudly.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].