“Bollocks!” That’s the retort of resident Phil Kemp, loudly espousing his opinion on whether craft beer is just for the young and trendy.
“Craft beer is for anyone who appreciates flavour,” said Kemp.
While the Englishman originally from the Isle of Wight may be a fan of the sudsy nectar now, he said he didn’t always like the taste of beer.
“At first I thought all beers were watery and tasteless,” he laughed, describing the many beers he tried in his journeys through the United Kingdom and Canada before moving to Powell River. “Then I found out about dark beer and how delicious it was.”
A retired civil servant, Kemp said he walks about 40 kilometres a week to keep fit, making a point of stopping in at Townsite Brewing every so often to refill growler containers with his favourite beers, Pow Town Porter and Tin Hat India Pale Ale.
According to Michelle Zutz, director of sales and co-owner of Townsite Brewing, Kemp is just one of many local residents who have taken to the taste of craft beer.
“Sometimes I am shocked at the customers who are such huge supporters,” said Zutz. “There is no defining who exactly drinks craft beer in a small town like this.”
From young professionals to seniors coming in on Friday night to enjoy a game of cribbage and a beer taster, Zutz said everyone has been really supportive of the brewery. She said that local loyalty means the brewery has had to rethink just how to market craft beer in a small, ferry-bound community.
As the first craft brewery on the Sunshine Coast, Zutz said Townsite Brewing thought it would mainly be marketing to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island: turns out it is exactly the opposite.
Since opening the brewery in 2012, Townsite staff members have turned their original marketing plan on its head, marketing mainly in Powell River and the Sunshine Coast, bringing home beer awards in BC and Canada.
“We grossly misjudged the loyalty and thirst here,” said Zutz. “Our original business plan was that Powell River would be only about 20 per cent of our market share, now it’s grown to so much more.”
The secret to marketing craft beer in a small town is “finding your niche,” said Zutz. “There are people who don’t drink beer and they still are so proud of this business; they know that we live here and are part of this community.”
As to the challenges of marketing craft beer in a small town, according to Zutz there are few. “I think it would be harder in an urban setting, because how are you going to stand out.”
Persephone Brewing Company, located in Gibsons on the lower Sunshine Coast, has been finding its footing in the craft beer market since it opened two years ago.
Only one ferry ride away from the Lower Mainland, this brewery is taking a slightly different marketing tactic than Townsite, according to Dion Whyte, their general manager.
“Lower Mainland is a huge market and growing and so it is naturally our focus as we grow,” said Whyte, estimating they sell about 75 per cent of their product in and around Vancouver.
According to Whyte, the secret is not to compete with other craft breweries, but to set sights on national beer brands by growing the market for those who want something other than neutral, light lagers.
“For us, the biggest challenge is that getting our product out of here to the Lower Mainland is more costly for us than for a brewery located in Vancouver,” he explained.
Darren Adam, who “sells the beer” at Cumberland Brewing Company on Vancouver Island, has solved the problem by ignoring outside markets altogether.
“If you want our beer, you’ve got to come here,” said Adam, who has been working at the brewery since it opened late last year. “From our perspective, distribution doesn’t make sense.”
Not distributing helps the brewery avoid problems associated with growing too rapidly and getting tied into expensive distribution networks, said Adam.
This model works for Cumberland Brewing because although there are only about 3,000 people living in the town, there is a population of about 75,000 to draw on from the wider area, according to Adam.
“Its all about sustainability and staying local,” he said. “We are enhancing Cumberland and we are also enhanced by Cumberland.”
Cumberland, like Powell River, was also once a predominantly working-class town, but that that has changed as life has switched from centring around a coal mine to one focused on telecommuting, according to Adam.
“It used to be bar fights rolling out into the streets, now it’s strollers and mountain bikes,” he laughed.
This type change is what Paddy Treavor is counting on to build the craft-beer industry on the Sunshine Coast. President of the Powell River branch of the Campaign for Real Ale BC (CAMRA BC), Treavor wants drinkers here to think about craft beer before they pick up their usual lager.
“There’s an old guard here that thinks change is bad,” explained Treavor. “I am hoping people like that would come out and try something new.”
According to Treavor, part of the challenge is to change hearts, minds and palates by holding fun events that educate people about the flavour profiles of different craft beers.
To that end, Treavor has organized the second annual CAMRA Powell River Craft Beer Festival this year, to bring together breweries and beer from all over BC for people in Powell River to enjoy.
“If people haven’t been exposed to different flavour profiles and tastes, they just don’t know what’s out there other than light, American-style lagers,” said Treavor.
Part of the problem in getting more people to try craft beer in small towns is overcoming the snob aspect some think is associated with the drink, but that is something Treavor said is changing as time goes on.
A variety of beers from 15 different breweries will be available at the October 3 event at the Beach Gardens Resort and Marina, including porters, bitters and cask ales.
“People drink for all sorts of reasons, the buzz or just to be social,” said Treavor. “Our goal is to get people to think of taste first.”
For more information on the beer festival, readers can go to camrapowellriver.ca.
