Leave your mark on Nunavut beer
Territory's first brewing company seeks public's help through Name a NuBrew contest
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, May 15, 2017
IQALUIT
As it prepares to start operations, Nunavut's first-ever brewing company is turning to the public to name its products.
The Nunavut Brewing Co., which is planning to open its doors at the end of October, is located near the Sylvia Grinnell River, from which it will draw its water. The company is holding a contest to name made-in-Nunavut beer. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo |
Two years in the making, the Nunavut Brewing Co. - or NuBrew -launched their Name a NuBrew Contest May 4. The idea came to them after people spontaneously left name suggestions in the comments of a 2015 news story about the brewery getting the go-ahead.
"We thought what a wonderful opportunity to give the public a chance of participating in the naming of beers," said Brewing Co. partner Ambrose Livingstone.
Stuart Kennedy, Harry Flaherty, Cody Dean and Sheldon Nimchuk are the other four partners.
The brewery will create three mainstay beers, as well as a number of seasonal beers.
So far the search for names has yielded quite a bit of response, including such suggestions as: Iceberg, Headless Hare, Saanauugaq, Floe Edge Special, Nilallik, Tundra Love and BoreALE.
"(The three mainstay beers) will be put into a bottle with a label on it, the others will be in a draft format," said Livingstone.
At the beginning, bottles will only be available for Iqalungmiut at the Government of Nunavut's beer and wine outlet.
At least one person expressed on Facebook that he's looking forward to filling a "Growler," a jug that carries draft beer. However, that just won't be possible.
NuBrew only has permission to manufacture beer for sale to licensed establishments, to Nunavut consumers through the GN outlets, and to anyone outside of Nunavut. It does not have permission to sell to consumers directly from the brewery premises.
Will the partners be making beer?
"We're just tasters," said a laughing Livingstone.
NuBrew hasn't yet created its first cold one - that will happen later this year - and the partners are in the process of hiring a brewmaster.
For anyone interested in learning the skills of a brewmaster - the person responsible for crafting original recipes while supervising the brewing process - there are college programs in the south, including at Olds College in Alberta.
"Beer is 95 per cent water. You can make beer with malted grains or extract. We'll be making ours with malted grains," said Livingstone, adding other products can be added for flavour, such as local berries.
The water needed to make 450,000 litres of beer will come from the Sylvia Grinnell River.
The building near the river, which will house beer "with a taste above the rest in 'the coolest capital,'" is under construction. It will contain the brew space and a 55-person tasting lounge. The 12 brewing vessels, made in China and due to arrive on the August sealift, will be open to the public for viewing. The brewery has permission to run tours on Saturdays, or with two weeks notice to the liquor commission.
NuBrew's tasting lounge hours will be noon to 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays as the partners have no intention of competing with existing businesses.
"You can sit in there and sample the beers. It's open to where the big tanks are," said Livingstone.
