Family brew

Jonas Newman and Mark Andrewsky amid the bones of what will become the County’s newest brewery, set to begin production this summer.

Entrepreneurs seek to expand the County craft beer market

More than a century ago, Prince Edward County had developed an international reputation for growing the best barley for brewing beer. The crop drove the County’s economy for decades. But heavy tariffs on importing barley to the United States forced farmers to look to different crops. All that’s left of the barley days is the brewery that adopted the moniker of the era. Suddenly, however, the beermaking business is hot again. Hops growers like Edgar Ramirez, of Pleasant Valley Hops can’t produce enough to keep up with demand. Brewer Ryan Kreutzwiser is attracting wide acclaim for his craft beer offered only at Lake of the Mountain Resort.

This spring, the County will see another brewery open in Hillier and a brewpub in Picton. Soon after that, another brewery will open in Demorestville. There are plans, too, for yet another brewery at North Beach in the next few years.

With a flourishing wine industry already grabbing Ontario’s attention, barley is suddenly making a strong comeback in the County.

BREWERY
For Jonas Newman, this makes sense. Jonas owns Hinterland Wine Company with his wife, Vicki Samaras. He’s also one of the minds behind County Road Beer Company. The brewery is being built beside the winery and should be open for business by July. He says beer culture is an important part of the County’s history for good reason.

“I really like the idea that it rejuvenates the history of the kind of thing that the County was doing a long, long time ago,” says Jonas. “Grains are a little easier to grow, the fields are set up for grains, the farmers are set up for grains, and hops have been growing here for a number of years and they’re really attuned to the environment. For beer, it’s just a little bit easier to get the ingredients you need off the farm to make a beer special. The inherent risk of making beer is a lot less than it is for wine.”

Jonas and Vicki built Hinterland Wine Company together. It is a family business. They are also partners in creating County Road Beer Company, along with Chris Dinadis.

“Vicki and I were faced with the decision as to whether or not we wanted to expand Hinterland as it is or do we want to do something completely different. Hinterland is comfortable where it is. We have three people working here. We sell pretty much everything we make,” says Jonas. “Rather than mess with a good thing, we decided that we’d rather expand into something else, and so we approached Chris with the idea of putting in a brewery.”

Chris is a builder. Jonas has known him as long as he’s known Vicki, and Chris is godfather to their son. Chris is heading the construction of the building that will be home to the brewery. Work has progressed through the winter, despite the heavy snow, winds and the bitter cold. They are attempting to meet an ambitious goal of having the brewery ready to open by the third week of May.

Jonas’s goal is to get as local as possible.

“I think the ultimate would be to do a whole-farm beer, all the grains from your own farm, all the hops from your own farm,” says Jonas. “That’s more of a wine concept, but if you can add to the conversation of terroir, from a beer perspective, that would be cool.”

CANTEEN
County newcomers Natalie and Drew Wollenburg have been dreaming of opening a brewpub in the County for years. Drew, originally from Ontario, spent summers with his grandparents in the County. He moved to Australia, where he met Nat. Over 15 years, they started a band, got married, had kids. Drew ran a successful business. Nat became a nurse.

But Drew’s passion was beer. Perth, Australia is like the County 20 years on, says Drew, with a sophisticated wine culture and agro-tourism driving the economy. It has something the County’s doesn’t—yet.

“It was known for its wineries,” says Drew. “And as soon as the vines started coming of age, and as soon as they started actually really producing world-renown stuff, all of a sudden all of these little breweries started popping up everywhere, and it was all over the place, so it was something for everyone. Not just the wine drinkers, not just the craft brewery enthusiasts.”

“Basically [the brewpubs] would offer a really good selection of their own beers, and they really concentrate on pairing them with food and offering that kind of experience, as well as being a bit of a family environment with playgrounds for the kids—sanity centres, as I call them,” says Nat. The couple have two young children.

They planned their business before they left Australia—they even designed a logo. They visited the County and followed its business development. By the time they moved, to welcoming in-laws, Nat felt perfectly at home.

“People are really welcoming,” says Nat. “Sometimes in Australia there can be a really simple way of thinking, especially in smaller towns, but here, everyone has been nothing but welcoming, and every time we’ve talked to people about what we’re doing, they are offering to help us.”

Still, with a nursing job and two young children, starting a business seemed out of reach. That’s until she met Dawn Stafrace, a County girl who recently returned with her husband, Jay Middleton, and their daughter. The moms met at a HUB playgroup and bonded over a love of the County and their kids. Soon, the friendship became a partnership.

“Dawn’s a fantastic artist, Drew operated a fairly successful business in Australia before we came here,” says Nat. “Jay is a great artist, but also he’s in design and he’s a landscape architect at Scott Wentworth, so he’s a wealth of knowledge.”

“We all have different strengths, which I think is the key. When we first met, we decided our paths were meant to come together. That we would all focus on our individual strengths and bring those to the table,” says Dawn. “We’re all educated in different things, we all have done different stuff, but we’re all passionate about the County.”

The two couples bought the building at 279 Picton Main Street, and will be opening County Roads Canteen where AV Video is today. They will keep Magpie as their tenant and neighbour.

They’re working to restore the nearly 150-year-old building to its original state. They’re currently restoring the upper level to convert it into four apartments. Down the road, Dawn hopes to open an arts centre in the back. They are aiming to open County Roads Canteen on the Victoria Day long weekend.

“It’s a really nice artisan movement. It’s a lot of people just taking pride in what they’re doing. It’s not a business. I mean, man, if I just wanted to retire tomorrow, we’d probably turn the building into a parking lot. But no, we’re passionate about this,” says Drew. “I’m passionate about brewing.”