Downtown set to welcome micro-brewery

By Collin Gallant on February 24, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com
@CollinGallant

The micro-brewery craze arrived in Medicine Hat two years ago, and now the tide of suds is about to reach downtown.

Construction of the Travois Aleworks, a planned tasting room and micro-batch brewery, is well underway on the 600 block of Third Street SE in the heart of the city centre.

The public will be introduced to the enterprise at this weekend’s Alberta Food and Beverage Expo.

“We’re four guys at this point handing out merchandise hoping to let people know what’s going on,” said Travois partner Todd Weibe, who expects to be open and producing craft beer later this spring.

The idea began years ago as a well-in-the-future retirement project for one of the principles, but the idea sped up thanks to city redevelopment grants.

The redeveloped former tattoo parlor on Third Street is under construction to transform it into a tasting room with onsite micro-batch production.

As with most such sites, the business model is to promote quality over quantity at a location heavy in atmosphere.

The step into downtown, Weibe hopes, will make downtown a destination for Hatters looking for a night out.

“Doing the research for a city of our demographics and size can support four or five breweries,” said Weibe. “We wanted to be the right size and right in the downtown.”

“It has the je ne c’est quoi. It’s in the heart of the city, and what’s happened in other cities … where it becomes the place to be.”

The idea speaks to the modern revival of a localized brewing sector, which took hold in places such as Portland, Ore., where small shops would set up, and other businesses would follow the lead.

It’s been a hallmark of the industry, which has grown by leaps and bounds in Alberta in the past three years, to start up in older neighborhoods and spur redevelopment.

With that sort of investment already occurring in the core on Second Street, Weibe and partners Rob Hozack, Jory Marchand and Jacques LaBlanc, hope to take advantage and hopefully help spread reinvigoration southward.

Without any production to this point — equipment is en route to the renovated space from Eastern Canada — the quartet will be handing out merchandise and getting the word out about the tasting room.

The hole-in-the-wall location will see beer brewed on site in small batches, said Weibe. At first a tasting room will feature seating for 55, and then sales of take-away “growlers” and two-pint “bombers” will follow.

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