Good brews on tap for Nunavut, investors say

Yukon Brewing’s Yukon Gold, an English Pale Ale with a name to reflect a prized local resource, has become that territory’s number one selling draught. The Nunavut Brewing Co. hopes to produce a similar brew. (IMAGE COURTESY OF YUKON BREWING)

In the community of Ilulissat, Greenland, Brewery Immiaq produces a black crowberry ale called Ullorissat. (IMAGE COURTESY OF BREWERY IMMIAQ)

Inuit Pale Ale, anyone?

It’s still at least a year and a half away from its first batch — but the news that Iqaluit has a new brewery in the works has Nunavut beer drinkers excited about quaffing their first local ale.

Last week, the Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board gave the go-ahead for the Nunavut Brewing Co. to start a commercial operation in Nunavut’s capital.

“It’s the first step in a long process,” said Sheldon Nimchuk, one of five Iqaluit-based investors behind the brewing company.

But that hasn’t stopped the group — and its future customers — from dreaming up what its product would look and taste like.

“We want to create a product that would be unique in the market,” Nimchuk said. “We’re very excited about the potential regarding what we have in our own backyard.”

That includes feedback from local beer drinkers; the group is working towards launching a website that will invite people to submit their ideas for potential names for future brews.

“We thought it would be neat to get the public’s input,” Nimchuk said. “Names would come up that we wouldn’t have thought of. It’s also a nice start to our marketing.”

Suggestions have already begun popping up on social media. The name “Polar Beer” has been thrown around, although Nimchuk prefers the sound of “Inuit Pale Ale.”

“It’s a nice derivative of IPA,” he said.

@_anubha Our IPA, Inuit Pale Ale

— Clare Kines (@NunavutBirder) July 17, 2015

It’s likely an IPA would be among the first brews produced at the new microbrewery. While beer drinkers can enjoy a wide variety of beer, most enjoy a light lager, or pale ale — the kind of brew Nunavut Brewing will likely look to make its flagship beer, Nimchuk said.

“We’ve got a good understanding of what’s typically consumed [in Nunavut],” he said.

“At the very least, we’d think of producing three different beers. We want to give the customers some choice.”

So look for an India Pale Ale, a crisp lager and an amber or a stout, he said.

That would be in addition to seasonal brews, for which the brewing company hopes to source local plants and berries to flavour specialty batches that would be available on a one-off basis.

It was a trip to Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse last year that solidified the idea of a microbrewery for the group, Nimchuk said, seeing a successful northern brewery whose flagship ale, Yukon Gold, has now become that territory’s number one selling draught.

“That’s a nice-tasting beer, from our perspective, and it’s doing very well,” Nimchuk said. “It’s one we hope to emulate as part of our core products.”

None of the Iqaluit investors — who, in addition to Nimchuk include Cody Dean, Ambrose Livingston, Stuart Kennedy and Harry Flaherty — are experienced brewers.

“We’ve had various conversations where we’ve talked about how it would be neat to have a brewery, especially given this craft beer trend we’re seeing,” Nimchuk said.

“None of us have the background, but we can all enjoy one at the end of the week.”

The group can draw inspiration from other northern brewers; in addition to Yukon Brew, that territory’s second microbrewery, Winterlong, opened earlier this year, offering, among other brews, a Spruce Tip Pale Ale.

The first microbrewery in the Northwest Territories, NWT Brewing Co., is scheduled to start serving suds this fall out of its new Yellowknife brewery.

In Nunavut’s neighbouring Inuit nation, Greenland opened its first microbrewery in 2004, pioneering “ice beer” brewed from melted icebergs.

The operation has since shut down but Greenland now has two other microbreweries, Godthaab Bryghus in Nuuk, and Brewery Immiaq in Ilulissat.

The latter brews 11 classic and specialty beers, all with Inuktitut names.

Nunavut’s brewers recognize they still have a ways to go before they’re putting labels on kegs or bottles.

The decision by the liquor licensing board does not give the all-clear for the brew-op to commence operations just yet. The company must now seek zoning permits from the city to begin construction on the brew facility, and figure out the legalities of tapping into the Sylvia Grinnell River as the brewery’s water source.

Working with legislation handed down from the NWT, Nunavut does not permit commercial breweries to sell directly to the customer — something Nimchuk hopes will evolve over time.

“We’d like the home consumer to have that option,” he said. “But we want to make sure we’re sensitive to the legislation.”