News
Yellowbelly Brewery Shaking Up The Beer Industry
With files from National Post, Report on Small Business Magazine
While beer is still, by far, the preferred alcoholic beverage of Canadians, its market share is in decline. In 2000, beer accounted for 52% of alcohol sales nationwide, whereas now it's only 46%. Atlantic Canada, however, seems to be going against the flow. Although beer sales here were down between 6% and 8% this summer, many craft and microbreweries are experiencing upward of 20% growth. Most are operating at full capacity and looking to expand production facilities.
If Atlantic Canada is behind the times - beer-wise - then Newfoundland must be the poster child for East Coast slackerdom. One of the first recorded beer deliveries in North America was to Newfoundland: In 1611, a ship carrying 14 pipes (over 7,000 litres) of beer from England arrived at Conception Bay. Today, although beer sales in Newfoundland are up nearly 15% in the last fiscal year, bucking both regional and national trends, the province has long had a reputation for producing second-rate beer. Microbrewers like Quidi Vidi Brewing Co., Storm Brewing and YellowBelly Brewery and Public House are helping the province make up for lost time.
"The craft beer revolution began in Western Canada," explains YellowBelly owner Craig Flynn, "and we're only developing it now in Atlantic Canada, as people's tastes slowly evolve." Although the YellowBelly brew pub has only been open three years, it has practically eclipsed the main section of George Street - which has the most bars and pubs per square foot of any street in North America - as the city's social centre. Visitors clamour to try some of brewmaster Liam McKenna's highly regarded stouts and experimental brews, like Bakeapple Wheat beer.
Like Newfoundlanders themselves, the 19th-century building in which YellowBelly is housed - lovingly renovated by Flynn over five years, three months and eleven days (but who's counting?) - is a survivor. It's a local landmark that dates to the 1840s and is one of the few buildings to have survived the Great Fire of 1892. Flynn must have enjoyed the restoration job, too, since he's planning another expansion - a subterranean one, this time, to build an extra brewing room - but he's no masochist. The addition is in response to the fact that he's operating at 100% capacity, producing 1,000 hectolitres per year.
"I can't market my beer to new customers, 'cause I can't produce enough to keep my current customers happy," says Flynn. "This is a very good problem to have."
