Brewing success

Building community is a key element for Parsons

Beermaker Chris Parsons stands amid barrels used for aging beers in the cavernous new brewhouse at the brewery.

On an unusually warm and sunny January afternoon, a group of young children are burning off some afterschool energy on the new outdoor ice rink at Parsons Brewing Company, just outside Picton on County Road 49. Although the air temperature is a few degrees above freezing, the rink surface remains hard and fast thanks to a cooling system embedded in the underlying concrete pad. The system uses a surplus glycol chiller that was no longer needed after the brewery expanded its capacity late in 2019. The notion of an ice rink came to owner Chris Parsons after he offered to build the concrete pad in preparation for a Mini Cooper event at the brewery. “My wife [Samantha] would smack me, but these ideas do come to me,” he says with a smile. “I think they are very rational and logical, but they do come with a whole bunch of effort and energy.” He and his team laid down thousands of feet of tubing before the concrete pad was poured, and then built a shed for the glycol chiller and all its components. Early in January they built boards for the rink and installed a set of floodlights, and last Thursday marked the first day of skating. Chris looks over at the kids on the rink. “If this is what those kids are doing, then it’s good for them, their parents, their lifestyle, their mindset, and that makes me feel good,” he says.

In a way, the rink encapsulates the business ethos of Chris and Samantha. It is community-centric, it is of high quality and it makes efficient use of resources. The couple opened the brewery in 2016 after starting the process some two years earlier. The original building was a reconstructed barn that housed the retail shop, restaurant and bar. The brewing operation took place in what looked like a small garage. One of the notable things they did was to construct a children’s play area to make visiting the brewery a family affair. The business proved to be a success, and while they could generally meet the demand there were occasions when they would completely sell out some of their more popular brews. Last year, they started work on a larger brewhouse, again using a reconstructed barn that was originally located at Karlo Estates Winery. In fact, about 75 per cent of the new building is made from reclaimed materials or materials deemed surplus by the manufacturer. A great deal of effort was put into making the operation energy efficient and environmentally friendly. “It’s a pleasure to brew here compared to the garage,” says Chris. “We’re trying to do this as sustainably as possible. We have an on-demand hot water boiler and we recapture heat through a heat exchanger.” The new area is close to 6,000 square feet in total and houses the original brewing tanks as well as several massive new ones with a capacity of over 11,000 cans each. There’s a new bottling machine that can fill 200 litres per hour, and space for a mobile canner with a capacity of 900 litres per hour. “We’re trying to stay ahead and keep some of the favourite brands in stock at all times. With two or three varieties going we should have enough for the whole season,” says Chris. One unusual piece of equipment for a brewery is a wine fermenting tank. “We’re the only brewery in Canada that has a brewery and a vineyard on site. Our Sun Kissed Ale is a beer-wine hybrid that’s unique in all of Canada, and we’ve got beer aging on pinot noir skins to add complex flavours.”

(L-R): Ryker Wood, Matthew Parsons and Bennett Terpstra enjoy a game of shinny on the new rink.

Chris has no formal training in beer-making, and takes a very hands-on and exploratory approach. “I like to experiment, I like to learn, to try different styles. Every beer I make is something I’d like to drink, and hopefully will appeal to people, and it seems like it does,” says Chris. “I’m a voracious reader of beer history. I want to push the envelope and try each type of beer. Brewing is a perfect balance of the technical— details like temperature, how long, all the mechanical stuff—and it’s also very much a taste, almost like a chef, because you are tasting the grain and you’re smelling the hops and you’re imagining what the beer would taste like.” The brewery will be using more of its site-grown hops this coming season, as well as hops from Pleasant Valley Hops. About 65 per cent of the grain component is sourced from Ontario, with some of the malt coming from barley grown on Big Island.

The brewery has seen a tremendous growth in business since its beginning in 2016. Summer weekends are always busy, and the Mini Cooper event attracted 850 people—and 340 Minis. “We’re solidifying ourselves as a destination brewery,” says Chris.

“Our approach to business is that we want to service our local community, and we do that year-round, but the difference is we have three million tourists come here, so in the summertime it’s ‘make hay while the sun shines’. We will be looking at attracting corporate events too, relying on Samantha’s corporate expertise.” Another key factor in the brewery’s success has been the food. The new chef, Ian Chislett, is building on the success of Samantha Valdivia and Rizal Adam, who have since moved on to operate La Condesa in Wellington. “Ian is really knocking it out of the park with Argentinean-style grilled food, and asado and ramen,” says Chris. “We’re really developing the outdoor grill, even in wintertime. The outdoor cooking experience, I like to say it ignites the inner caveman. Everyone loves to see open-fire cooking.”

The skating rink opens at 11 a.m. with times set aside for shinny hockey or free skating. For more details please visit instagram.com/parsonsbrewing or parsonsbrewing.com.