In helping prove that the era of a full working career with one employer is over, Brian Dunn is one of those who have changed careers several times.
An engineer, oil and gas guy and investment banker for the last 15 years, Dunn found himself casting about for a new challenge when he stepped away from banking in 2014.
A Calgarian who fell in love with the Bow Valley years ago and who has owned a Canmore residence for the past five, splitting his time between the two locales, Dunn was looking around for something with which to occupy his time and purchased a commercial pilot brewing system as a garage hobby.
That hobby, as often happens, created a serious desire to go further with it and get into the beer business and, after attracting a group of investors, Canmore Brewing Company is officially an entity in the local business scene.
After also hiring brewer Darren Steffler a few months ago, Canmore Brewing (1460 Railway Ave.) had a soft opening on Jan. 12 to showcase its first two test brew products – beer which will be known as Ten Peaks Pale Ale and Railway Avenue Rye IPA.
“We love it out here,” said Dunn. “I’m a runner, skier and bike racer and I love the ‘get out there’ feeling in Canmore. We love this town.
“It’s a town of 17,000, but it feeds thousands of tourists and millions of cars go by on the highway. This town behaves like a much bigger centre.”
Why Canmore and not Calgary for the brewing venture? Simple. Along with the above information, in Calgary, a new brewery would be just one of many …
The Canmore Brewing Company’s location on Railway Avenue is in a former Consolidated Gypsum building which was used for retail and drywall storage. Its 10,000 square feet is enough to accommodate all the necessary brewing equipment, a retail/tasting room and storage.
While the interior of the brewery looks very little like it did when Consolidated was in place, some unique architectural components remain, including leftover ceiling tiles once used as sales examples, and a large, wave-like overhead panel structure which makes an east coaster like Dunn feel right at home.
“When I bought the pilot brewing system, I thought the worst case is that I could make good beer here in the garage; the best case would be to make it into a business,” said Dunn.
In fall of 2014, he began creating beer on a small scale and by December had brewed a batch and started on a business plan. The former Consolidated space was found in December, 2015 and a lease signed in March.
The fall of 2016 saw renovations done, brewhouse equipment purchased from Specific Mechanical in Victoria, B.C., Steffler’s hiring and working moving toward the test beer. A canning line (beer in cans only) came from Cask Global in Calgary.
With two beers now available, more will be coming on line in the not too distant future.
“All the beer will be named after Canmore, the mountains and mountain locations (like the future Georgetown Brown Ale and Mineside Stout),” said Dunn. “We’ll also have seasonal beer like a lager or wheat ale in summer, a bock in spring and maybe a winter porter.”
Beer will be available for tastings in four ounce glasses, in 12 and 16-ounce pints, in cans, 32- and 64-ounce growlers, and a stainless steel growler “that can take a beating and is ideal for taking with you.”
In building Canmore Brewing Company, Dunn said he’s kept things local as much as possible. For example, Wild Rose Electric and Banff Plumbing were integral in getting the brewhouse running.
“We’ve used local trades and sourced local materials where we could,” said Dunn. “Peak Performance did our painting, Jean McAllister designed our logo and Fourge Marketing designed our website and set up social media.
“We want to support the town and push charitable events. You need to be a good citizen. We’re hoping to be a huge part of Canmore.”
In keeping things as local as possible, hops from B.C. will be used, as will rye from Canada Malting.
Within the company’s logo, two things to watch for are the carefully placed initials MPD, in honour of Dunn’s younger sister who passed away, and a nun in honour of Three Sisters.
With beer in the canning line and the taps now flowing, and with beer available in 20-, 30- and 50-litre kegs, Dunn’s plan for Canmore Brewing is to have it widely available in the Bow Valley.
“We’ve had a good response to the taste,” said Steffler, a native of Kitchener, Ont. who went to university in Quebec, met his wife, then moved west. He once worked at the Grizzly Paw, as well, “and I wanted to go to the next level of being the guy actually making the beer.
“The passion has always been there, Kitchener has a big Oktoberfest, and I’ve studied online with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in England.
“We’re using Brian’s recipes and moving them to a commercial scale. The feedback has been great.
“And this doesn’t feel like a job; I’d likely be doing the same thing at home, but with smaller batches, anyway.”
Steffler, in fact, was so interested in going into the beer business in a big way, that he tracked Dunn down prior to putting the call out for a brewer.
Currently, Canmore Brewing is open Thursday through Monday, from 2-7 p.m. The company’s full opening will take place in February.
