New home for Saltbox Brewery - photo, Google street view
Saltbox Brewery of Lunenburg County announced that it has acquired the property formerly known as the “Eclectic Garage” on Main Street in Mahone Bay.
The site will be the new home for the firm's head office, retail space, tap room and brewhouse.
In a news release Friday, the Company also confirmed that it will enter into a Development Agreement for the site with the Town of Mahone Bay.
“These are exciting times for us and for the Town” says Patrick Jardine, founding partner and director of operations for the brewery. “There is a lot of work to do before we open officially for business but we are already creating jobs and beginning to significantly improve the look of the site, although in the early days it may look a bit chaotic” he said. Jardine noted that the site is well-suited to a brewing operation and for retail sales because it is directly across the street from the NSLC outlet.
Andrew Tanner, also a founding partner and director of sales and marketing, says, “One of the big challenges right now is not to get ahead of ourselves when it comes to setting an actual date for beer production. Once we start selling to the public we want to make sure we can sustain production without interruption. That may take us into late June or even July before we start brewing in large batches”
The 10 barrel brewing system is currently being built by DME Industries in PEI and is scheduled for arrival on site in a few weeks. In the meantime, Tanner noted that smaller batches of beer brewed on a system acquired from a small brewery in New Brunswick may be released earlier than July. “I know there are great expectations of us out there in the community and we are working hard to get to the start line just as soon as we can”
Those wanting to track Salt Box progress to opening day, the company will be blogging construction news on its website, www.saltboxbrewingcompany.ca, on the “News” tab.