![\"Patrick](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/wp-content\/uploads\/beer-photo2.jpg\")
\n Master brewer Patrick Fiori holds a bag of malt, a main grain ingredient in beer.<\/p>\n
\n Master brewer Patrick Fiori holds a bag of malt, a main grain ingredient in beer.<\/p>\n
The air in here is thick with the chalky smell of barley and wheat, and it is cold\u2014very cold. Welcome to a Saturday afternoon tour of Heritage and Scotch Irish Brewing Ltd., located in a small brick building just off Carling Avenue in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Owner Ron Moir steps around a few puddles on the warehouse floor and, stopping at a table beside large, cone-shaped, stainless steel storage tanks, takes a brown, stubby bottle of Stuart\u2019s Natural Session Ale and pours a gracious amount into a small cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis won\u2019t taste like your typical Alex Keith\u2019s pale,\u201d he says, laughing, and begins to pass samples around.<\/p>\n
The beer teases the taste buds, then lingers in the back of the mouth. It\u2019s light\u2014but nowhere near watery\u2014and bitterer than those common swigs of Budweiser or Coors. There\u2019s also this seductive dash of citrus crossed with smooth pine flavouring.<\/p>\n
Heritage and Scotch Irish Brewing is the only microbrewery in Ottawa\u2014\u201cmicro\u201d meaning it produces fewer than 17,600 hectolitres of beer per year, according to Roger Tottman\u2019s Traveller\u2019s Guide to Great Beer<\/em>. This arguably is what makes the company, and the 41 others in Ontario like it, special.<\/p>\n ‘It’s us against the big guys.’\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 brewer Patrick Fiori<\/p>\n \u201cWe produce our beer in smaller batches,\u201d explains Moir. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s called craft beer.\u201d He adds, \u201cEveryone defines craft beer differently but basically it\u2019s beer with lots of flavour: It\u2019s handcrafted. And the decisions around the brewing \u2013 bitterness, flavour, aroma \u2013 are all made directly in the brewery.\u201d<\/p>\n Craft beer isn\u2019t about making a huge profit, Moir explains; it\u2019s about good, local ingredients and quality.<\/p>\n Quality not quantity<\/p>\n Ontario\u2019s craft beer industry has grown steadily over the last few decades (writes international beer expert Stephen Beaumont in The Great Canadian Beer Guide<\/em>) and especially in recent years. Craft beer sales rose 46.5 per cent in 2008\u20132009 at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the government agency responsible for the sale and distribution of Ontario wine and spirits. Likewise, according to Ontario Craft Brewer (OCB), an organization representing over 25 small brewing operations, sales came to $170 million in 2009, while market share has more than doubled to roughly five per cent since 2002. Plus, OCB calculates new breweries are being created at the rate of about three per year, versus a loss of one per year.<\/p>\n Today 90 to 100 different brands of Ontario craft beer are offered by the LCBO, says Chris Layton, spokesperson for the agency. \u201cIt\u2019s been a craft beer phenomenon over the last five or so years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Others, like author Tottman, call it a renaissance, a growing rejection of the \u201ccorn syrupy\u201d commercial beers that all taste the same and have dominated the market for too long.<\/p>\n Yet Ottawa\u2019s citizens have been a bit slow to jump on this localized, artistic grain-train. While Heritage first opened in 2000 and the city boasts its own brew pub, Clocktower, it wasn\u2019t until Beau\u2019s All Natural Brewery started up in nearby Vankleek Hill in 2006 that micro-brewing got onto the Ottawa map. Now, within this past year, the capital region has become home to two new craft brews: HogsBack and Kichesippi.<\/p>\n In fact Kichesippi has done so well it is now in the process of taking over Heritage as the new operating corporation. However, it will retain all original staff and continue to produce the Heritage and Scotch Irish labels.<\/p>\n ‘It’s local art you can’t taste anywhere else.’ \u2013 Kichesippi co-owner Paul Meek<\/p>\n For Ottawa the \u201cbest thing that could have happened was Beau\u2019s,\u201d says Patrick Fiori, the brew master at Clocktower Brew Pub on Bank Street. \u201cThey\u2019ve stayed true to the \u2018go local, go organic\u2019 goal, but they knew how to market and reach people. They\u2019ve challenged people to try other local craft beer.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiori has been working for the past four years at the Bank Street Clocktower brewpub, where five of his brews are available. The same beer can also be found at the other Clocktower restaurants in Ottawa, as well as at the city\u2019s Cornerstone and Steak restaurants.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019d have asked me when I first started here if we\u2019d be where we are today\u2014with all this growth and demand\u2014I\u2019d have laughed at you,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n As for the threat of competition in the region over the craft beer market, Fiori says they don\u2019t look at it that way. \u201cThat\u2019d be pointless. We\u2019re collaborative. It\u2019s us against the big guys who still dominate the market,\u201d he says. \u201cBesides, we\u2019re all making different beer. No two taste the same.\u201d<\/p>\n Move over, wine and cheese<\/p>\n Across the city, on the edge of Chinatown, Zen Kitchen has had Beau\u2019s on tap since the day the restaurant opened in June 2009. They added Kichesippi to the menu as soon as it was available last spring and carry two other local craft beers as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all about buying local, and that extends into our alcohol service,\u201d says Dave Loan, Zen Kitchen\u2019s owner and manager. \u201cPersonally, when I travel, I always ask what they have locally on tap. That\u2019s part of experiencing that place.\u201d<\/p>\n Last fall, the restaurant offered Oktoberfest-style meals with beer pairings. \u201cPeople who tried it loved it, but it\u2019s still a bit tougher of a sell compared to wine,\u201d says Loan.<\/p>\n Yet beer\u2019s disadvantage to wine over food is changing, claims Colin Jack, a BC beer expert, educator and managing partner of the consulting company Just Here For the Beer, now in its ninth year. The company holds an annual Beer and Wine Festival in Vancouver to celebrate both beverages with food.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are just blown away when you show them that craft beer actually goes better with cheese or chocolate because of its different degrees of bitterness. It can also be very palate cleansing, which a lot of people don\u2019t know,\u201d says Jack.<\/p>\n For the face and brains behind Kichesippi, owner Paul Meek, craft brewing is simple: It\u2019s local art you can\u2019t taste anywhere else.<\/p>\n Kichesippi\u2019s name pays homage to the Algonquin language and means \u201cGreat River.\u201d It refers to the Ottawa River and tells a story of local history, explains Meek.<\/p>\n \u201cI want one day for people to say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m going to Ottawa, what should I do?\u2019 And the reply will be, \u2018Go to the canal; see the Parliament Buildings; have a beavertail and a Kichesippi beer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Related Links<\/p>\n Ontario Craft Brewers<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Glass](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/wp-content\/uploads\/beer-photo1.jpg\")
\n Steve Beauchesne of Beau’s All Natural Brewery with a glass of Night Marzen beer, Beau’s seasonal beer for fall.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Dave](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/wp-content\/uploads\/beer-photo3.jpg\")
\n Zen Kitchen’s Dave Loan pours a pint of Kichesippi, one of four local brews available at his restaurant.<\/p>\n