Well happy Halloween to everyone. I hope that folks are going to be scaring up some good beer this evening to go along with any candies they might munch. I know we will be patrolling a bit with our daughter and I promise to tweet out some photos of her in her costume when I take them. I’ve been promising my Killer Kvass review for a little while now, and I will post it tomorrow. The reason why not today is I’ve got some info on a new brewery I want to share with you first.

You may have noticed that former Half-Pints brewer, Miguel Cloutier, has started posting under the twitter handle Kilterbrewing. The reason is that he is opening a brewing and I’ve got the details on what we can expect. Be sure to follow them on twitter and on Instagram

Kilter Brewing Co. is the brain child of brothers, Miguel Cloutier, Julien Cloutier, and Jerik Cloutier who are in their mid-to-late 20s and are deeply engaged and captivated by the lifestyle of beer culture. They’ve had the opportunity to travel quite extensively (if you follow them on twitter you’d know) and have been exposed to a wide array of beer styles from old rustic farmhouse producers in small villages throughout Europe, to inventive modern breweries forging new trends in every corner of the world.

This trio of brothers began homebrewing and experimenting in 2008 and from there have each spent the 9+ years since the inception of Kilter to develop a wide range of skills that would help them finally get their dream off the ground.

The brothers are all in on this, and they are 100% in control of the brewery. This leaves them to realize their dream and do so independent of outside influence. In fact, they’ve put it all on the line personally along with hard-earned investment from immediate family, and also sought out bank financing to make this dream a reality.

The roles have been divvied up amongst the brothers, each using their skill sets to bring what is needed to the brewery. Miguel (Head Brewer) will be taking the lead on all beer production aspects, bringing years of commercial brewing and learning experiences both locally at Half Pints and previously on the West Coast in Vancouver, BC.

Julien (President) along with Jerik will be leading the business side of the operation. Altogether, bringing an assortment of backgrounds ranging from real estate, plumbing, and carpentry to accounting, web development, and graphic design. They do hope to welcome a few new key members to the Kilter family once they’re fully operational but have no expectations to grow much beyond a small close-knit crew.

Kilter Brewing Co. is finalizing a lease agreement for a space in West Broadway/Wolsley area in the hopes of brining a laid-back neighbourhood brewery vibe to that community. Given I live reasonably close to this neighbourhood, I’m psyched.

They’ve also just signed a purchase agreement for their brewhouse which is expected to arrive in April 2018. They are partnering with Newlands (NSI) British Columbia to build their custom designed 15 BBL-2 vessel manual brewhouse. They are planning to source their other equipment more economically, but for the brothers, it was important to invest and not compromise in this crucial part of the breweries operation.

So, what about the beer? Well, they plan to brew what they love to drink. Instead of trying to distribute their beers all over, they want to keep tight control and only have a few select accounts around Winnipeg so that they maintain quality and freshness. Their beginning focus will be on fresh, aggressively hopped New-England-inspired IPAs (you may have had some of Miguel’s at Half-Pints in recent past). They do plan to continuously experiment with inventive styles, having fun brewing lots of interesting one-offs and taking risks with their beers. They also hope to setup a small barrel aging program early on to produce big flavourful stouts for the Winnipeg winters as well as some wild sour ales.

They are all very excited to join the growing number of local breweries and, in true community fashion, are grateful for all the assistance, advice, and resources that they’ve received from the local craft community.

On a final note, Miguel did give me some exciting news that I wanted to share. Their first project is already underway. Miguel is in Halifax, Nova Scotia to brew a fun collaboration brew with Jeremy Taylor, head brewer at 2 Crows Brewing. They are working together with them and the MBLL to bring a good portion of this one-time batch to the Winnipeg market to be released in late November. I’ll update you as I hear more and be sure to follow them on twitter and on Instagram (they are a bit more active on Instagram).

That’s it for today folks. Thanks for following and be sure to follow me on twitter and WordPress for all the latest on the brew scene here in Winnipeg.

-Beer Winnipeg