An Island business has “hopped” over to Halifax in hopes of becoming a mainland attraction.
Prince Edward Island craft beer and vinyl bar Hopyard opened its second Atlantic Canada location in Halifax on Aug. 9.
Co-owner Brett Hogan was in Halifax helping with the launch at the 2103 Gottingen St. location.
“We couldn’t have done this without support from everyone in P.E.I. who has come out the last two and a half years,” Hogan said.
He said Hopyard has built relationships with several Canadian breweries, which he hopes benefit the Halifax location like it has the one in Charlottetown.
“At our location in Charlottetown we brought beers in from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, even Quebec and Ontario,” he said. “We had those relationships to begin with and we carry pretty much all the same breweries over here (in Halifax) too.”
“We tried to make it as similar as possible. When you walk in, I think it has the same kind of vibe as Charlottetown. We tried to take what we had in Charlottetown and put it in Halifax.”
Brett Hogan, Hopyard co-owner
While it’s an opportunity to offer Hopyard to a larger audience, Hogan says there are some amazing locations in Halifax to compete with.
“We are just happy to be part of the street we are on. There are a lot of good businesses on this street already, we are just hoping to add to that and make this street a destination (where) people can go to three or four different spots.”
Like in Charlottetown, Hopyard Halifax will feature vinyl records customers can play while they eat and drink, as well as a rotating menu.
“We tried to make it as similar as possible. When you walk in, I think it has the same kind of vibe as Charlottetown. We tried to take what we had in Charlottetown and put it in Halifax.”
The menus at each location will change every second Monday.
On opening night, Hogan said there were a lot of Island breweries on tap.
“We are excited to be able to bring a lot of P.E.I. beer to Halifax that normally wouldn’t be able to make it. On opening night, we had Moth Lane, Barnone, Upstreet, P.E.I. Brewing, Copper Bottom. It was really cool for the people of Halifax to try some awesome P.E.I. beer.”
