Category Archives: Peg Beer Co.

Interview, Peg Beer Co.

PEG – One Year In

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It’s been a great time to be a beer lover in Winnipeg and Manitoba once again. We’ve had Surly come out with their incredibly delicious Imperial stout, Darkness (write-up soon), Stone Angel is ramping up and releasing new beers including a smokey autumn ale called a Samhain. This past weekend saw the official opening of Trans Canada Brewing (regular hours Wed-Sunday 4-11pm) and the anniversary party for PEG Beer Co.

I had the chance to sit down and talk with Colin Enquist, Sales and Marketing Manager for PEG and one of the hosts for the podcast “Pub Chat”, about PEG’s first year. Colin describes it as being a really busy first year. I think this is an understatement given the amount of beer that PEG has produced. They’ve been relishing in the opportunity to introduce a lot of people to craft beer. Given their location, they’ve become a hotspot for theatre and concert goers. Located right in the midst of the Manitoba Theatre Company, the Orchestra and Ballet hall, and the Tom Hendry Warehouse, they’ve become a go to for pre- and post-event drinks.

There were some matters beyond their control that did provide for some annoyance. There was a significant amount of construction happening during PEG’s first year. This caused numerous disruptions, reduced foot and car traffic, and a loss of parking. The construction is complete and has provided a beautiful new field house for the Sport Manitoba building as well as a parkade which is accessible after 5pm.

PEG also opened their restaurant before having their brewery ready to brew. This allowed for them to get the food and kitchen staff trained on the restaurant side before introducing them to the beers. Overall this initial delay, while annoying, worked out for the best. It resulted in a better trained staff and gave the leadership team an opportunity to work on the floor with customers.

I also asked both Colin and owner Nicole Barry whether there is anything they would change looking back on their first year. Both had pretty much the same response. There are always things that could have been done differently in hindsight. That said, they both believe that things worked out the way they needed to. They could respond to the bumps in the road and they came out on the other side better for it. I guess, in a sense, they wouldn’t do anything differently.

As far as the future, PEG is looking to expand by adding more tanks to the brewery and working to make their beer more available. To do so they are looking at packaging options. There haven’t been any decisions made as to whether they package in Cans or in Bottles, however those discussions are happening. There will be new beers and old favorites (like Iron Horse Russian Imperial Stout) coming back and continuing to connect with community through hosting events such as Shakespeare in the Pub via Bravura theatre company, trivia nights, and a variety of other community events.

PEG continues to be a space in the exchange where you can go have a good beer, a good bite to eat, and enjoy. I am looking forward to what PEG has to offer moving forward.

If you want to learn more about who brews the beer at PEG, check out my write-up with head brewer Jeff Wiebe here.

Thanks for following along.

Beer Winnipeg

Barn Hammer, Brazen Hall, Fort Garry, Half Pints Brewing, International Collaborative Women's Brew Day, Little Brown Jug, One Great City, Peg Beer Co., Stone Angel, torque, Winnipeg

Community Brewing

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The summer has been busy for me thus far. I’m off work and spending time with my daughter and wife. This has kept me from posting as often as I’d like, but it’s well worth it. With the number of new breweries starting to increase at a steady rate and with places like Oxus, Trans Canada, and Stone Angel just around the corner, I wanted to write about something I’m seeing increasingly. Community Brewing.

Community brewing is the term I’ve been using to describe breweries engaging in the community through social outreach, fundraising, and other charitable actions. When I wrote about “defining craft beer” a while back, one of the things that was apparent in most peoples attempts to define that term is the community aspect of the brewery. Local breweries are just that, local, and while it’s not mandatory, supporting the local community is welcome and growing.

I had contacted all the breweries and asked for a quick rundown on some of the activities they’ve done. While I am aware of many of them, I wanted to know specifically any that were coming up. I did not hear back from all the breweries and so I’ve done my best. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but it is meant to highlight some of the ways the local breweries have been engaging in our community. If I get more details I will certainly update this post. 

Barn Hammer has been running a monthly “Barn Raising” event where they donate all the profits from the sale of beer in the taproom that night to a specific charity. This happens every third Wednesday. The next event is on July 19th and is in support of Klinic community health centre. In a similar vein, Peg Beer has done a community tap where all profits from the sale of a specific beer go towards a charity. The last one they did was for International women’s brew day and they donated profits to the Women’s health clinic. Torque has also collaborated with Habitat for Humanity and are donating $4 of proceeds from the sale of 12 packs and $1 of proceeds for each pint of Foundation (their APA). So far, they have raised over $5000 with a goal of reaching $10,000. Torque even went as far as to help build houses for Habitat. Really putting their sweet into supporting the charity. This “community tap” concept is one that works very well and creates a direct line of donations to charities. I love the idea and I am certain that we will see more of this community tap concept from other breweries in the future.

Breweries have also engaged the community through being hubs of community activity. This is done in a variety of ways that range from using local artwork or hosting other artistic endeavours, to social outing, and charitable functions. Little Brown Jug has made community a part of its values. They’ve really taken this upon themselves to become a community space. Kevin Selch explained that “it is about our investment in the heart of the city, about partnering with other business and groups, and creating a space for the community to meet.” Little Brown Jug have hosted a huge range of activities from Yoga in the brewery, moderated community discussions, WSO performances, and even a five-course meal. Currently they are doing Hearts & Roots Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). For 16 weeks out of summer, folks can pick up their fresh fruits and vegetables that they contract with directly with the farmer. This is an cool concept and addresses the issue of the Exchange not having a full-service grocery store.

Peg Beer Co. has had theatre performances, hosting groups like Bravura Theatre and their Shakespeare in the Pub, hosting after show theatre talks on important issues, hosting charitable events and fundraisers and being a fantastic place to eat during the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Barn Hammer has used their space to help sell local artist work by having it on display and for sale as well as engaging home brewers in the community to produce test-batches. Half Pints has been a consistent and constant support for community events through donations/creations of kegs and beer or merchandise, and has hosted numerous activities at the brewery and in their new taproom.  Fort Garry has also been a good go to for support through donations of kegs and beer or merchandise for events and they will be participating in the Brew at the Zoo and at the Winnipeg Beer Festival coming up later this summer along with others.

Outside of their own breweries, there has been community engagement with various groups. Whether it be sponsoring a hole for a charitable golf tournament like Brazen Hall, Torque and Stone Angel have done, or whether it be creating a special beer for events like Half-Pints’ Queer Beer and Bikey McBikeface for Pride and Bike Week Winnipeg. I’ve also noticed an increase in keg donations to help support charitable functions. For Art City’s Annual Fundraising Ball (this past May) – Barn Hammer donated a few kegs to them and they sold the beer at the event. All proceeds they received for the beer was a direct donation to them. Barn Hammer is also involved with the Rainbow Trout Music Festival as one of the sponsors for this year. One Great City, Barn Hammer, and PEG Beer Co have all collaborated with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation to release special lake-themed beers in support of our beautiful lake.

With the growing number of craft breweries, I am seeing a growing number of charitable and community activities. The support that has flowed from these breweries, even before opening, to the community in creative partnerships is awesome. So, there are a few events coming up that I want to highlight so that, fi you are inclined, you can get out and help support them

This write-up was about taking a break from talking beer and highlighting some of the good work the breweries in Winnipeg have been doing. I am sure that there is more that I could add, and a lot of things that I’ve missed but this gives you a sample of some of the actions taken to make our community a better place.

Thanks for reading. Beer Winnipeg.

 

International Collaborative Women's Brew Day, Peg Beer Co.

International Women’s Collaborative Brew Day

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The last time I was in to PEG Beer Co. I had a chance to chat with Dot, the events manager. They were talking about participating in International Women’s Collaboration Brew day. I had heard of this day in the past but never looked too much into it. So, I decided it’d be fun to chat with Dot and find out what this day is all about and what we can expect here in Winnipeg.

International Women’s Collaboration Brew day has been around for four years. It’s relates to International Women’s Day and is a global even involving women in the brewing industry from around the world. The day is meant to raise the profile of women working in the brewing industry and to encourage others who might interested in getting involved.

The day was founded by Sophie De Ronde who is the NPD Brewing Technologist at Muntons Malt in the UK.  Reaching out to members of the Pink Boots Society, a non-profit organization of women in the brewing industry, she sought to start a unified day to encourage women to get together and brew beer. Each year there is a theme to help guide those getting together to brew.

In the first year, a pale ale called Unite was brewed by over 60 women in in 5 different countries. The second year saw a red ale called Unite brewed by over 80 women in eleven different countries, while 2016 saw women from around the world get together to brew something new.

This year, the theme is Unite once again, but rather than have a specific style they are asking women to Unite with Local industry to come up with a beer and brew it. Dot and her team made of up women who are either involved in the brewing industry or passionate about brewing beer, have decided to brew a beer using local honey and local hops from Sandra Gowan’s Prairie Gem hop farm. The name of this wonderful collaborative beer? “Don’t Call Me Honey”.

Those participating in the collaborative brew day are encouraged to donate any profits they might make from the sale of the beer to a charity. While Dot has participated the past 2 years, this is the first time that Winnipeg will see a commercial brewery participate and can make profits. This coincides wonderfully with the concept of a “community tap” that Nicole Barry had for PEG even before opening. So, this beer will be the first community tap and profits will be donated to the Women’s Health Clinic.

The team is made up of: Nicole Barry, Dot Ball, Naomi Goertzen from PEG, Adrienne Johanson from Barn Hammer, Jodi Ruta, Hailey Breland from Half Pints, Sara Drysdale, Jody Twomey, Jenna Diubaldo and Laura Tait.

This will be the first time that Dot and her team have brewed a beer commercially. They’ve expanded the group to include some new faces this year as well. The goal is to include women in the industry and those who are interested in beer. The entire goal behind the day is to encourage more women to get involved in the industry which has been traditionally male dominated, and to give a space for women who are interested in learning more with mentors.

This event at PEG is officially linked with the International Women’s Collaborative Brew Day and they show up on the map along with a variety of other Canadian breweries including Rebellion in SK.

The beer itself is being brewed on March 8th and a release event will be held on April 2nd. For those women who are interested in beer and getting started on brewing, Dot has these words to share:

“Start home brewing, try new beer, and make sure it’s fun.”

I for one am excited to try the beer.

-Beer Winnipeg

 

Peg Beer Co., Winnipeg

PEG has beer

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For those who haven’t been following PEG Beer Co on twitter (what’s wrong with you!) the time has finally arrived. Yesterday, October 11, PEG Beer officially launched their beers and they are now ready for consumption.

It has been a long time coming. I’ve followed their progress since before their first soft opening. The delays have been numerous and some have anxiously wondered about this day. I can’t speak to the cause of those delays and I think it’s best we set them aside. While many, including the PEG team, had hoped for beer much sooner, let’s focus on celebrating: we can now finally enjoy a pint of PEG beer at the bar!

The beers that are now available include their Lifecoach ISA, Soundtrack IPA, Marlyn Red Rye Ale and the Countess Stout, (they have on their own blog, too) and now that I’ve had my first taste, I’ll be providing some notes in the near future. I hope that all of you will take the opportunity to get down and to give the beers a try.

Winnipeg has clamored for more craft beer and we’ve done a fantastic job of supporting the breweries who have opened so far. As another begins to produce beer, they also will require our support, feedback and comments. It’s through engagement that breweries thrive, grow and learn – and that requires the local beer community to come to the table if we truly want better beer in Winnipeg.

Congratulations once again to the patience, tenacity and effort of all those working at PEG Beer Co. Glad to have your beer.

 

Beer News, Peg Beer Co.

Bar at PEG Beer Co. Open

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PEG Complete 2

I had the opportunity to attend the soft opening of PEG Beer Co this past Thursday (March 31st, 2016). To be able to be in the completed space was pretty surreal. After my visits to the space and seeing it in progress, it has been quite a transformation. Given that the team at PEG had spent a year in the planning, a year in the building, and now the doors to the one of first of the new craft breweries in Winnipeg is on its way to being open.

Right now only half of PEG Beer Co has opened its doors to the public. I say half because the brewery is still not operational. Nicole said that they hope to be able to start brewing in the next 3 weeks. All of this is dependent on the permits and getting the official go ahead to start brewing. Once they do, they should have their first beers ready in 4-6 weeks. These I am looking forward to tasting and reviewing.

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There were certainly some hiccups at the soft opening. The servers are still getting a hang of everything going on, they were working incredibly hard, and there is no PEG beer to enjoy. Instead, the brew pub has a list of beers that it is getting from the Liquor Marts and selling. They are certainly choosing some great beers which is nice, but I am much more anxious to get into the space to enjoy the beer that they will be producing themselves. Their guest beer list is here. It seems to be changing as they get new product into the Liquor Marts.

The food menu is quite diverse and provides some interesting options for patrons. From charcuterie, house-made bread and jams and flatbreads all the way to whole chickens, stuffed trout and ham served family style, there is an eclectic selection of food.  For me, I think I’ll be mostly sticking to the smaller fare. You can, of course, check out their menu here and decide what you think you might most enjoy.

For now, PEG is open Tuesday-Saturday from 4pm-11pm. I’d encourage you to get out and support them. It isn’t easy to open a new restaurant, let alone a brew pub. For all of us Winnipeggers clamoring for new craft beer, we need to make sure that we put our money where out mouth is and support these new breweries as they open. I know PEG doesn’t have beer yet, but they will, and I for one will do my best to support all the new breweries.