More competition is a good thing when it comes to Maritime’s burgeoning brewing industry.
That was the general consensus of many owners and employees of cideries, wineries and breweries from the Maritimes who attended during the 2018 P.E.I. Beer Festival on the weekend.
“In the brewery, winery, cidery scene in Nova Scotia it kind of seems every time I turn around there’s a new one opening but it’s totally welcome,” said Samantha Crichton, sales representative and event coordinator for Bulwark Ciders in New Ross, N.S.
Crichton said more competition means coming up with new and inventive ways to market your product.
“It’s an opportunity to step up your game,” she said. “When somebody new and creative steps onto the block it’s sort of a push for you to keep things interesting and fresh.”
Maritime craft producers tend to work together instead of against each other, said Crichton.
“Right now, there’s room for everybody so everybody’s sort of collaborative,” she said. “If we need filter pads we can call a winery down the road and borrow those.”
Adam Clawson felt the helpful hands of fellow producers when he started Red Rover Craft Cider in Fredericton, N.B. in 2012.
There were no other cideries in New Brunswick at the time.
“We’ve worked in the past with a lot of different micro-breweries because when we started there wasn’t any other cideries to work with,” he said.
Cider was a growing phenomenon in England, where Clawson is from, and he had a feeling it was just a matter of time before North America caught up.
He said he often notices new cideries popping up in the Maritimes.
“When we started there maybe was one or two started in the decade previously and now you’ve got one or two starting every year,” he said.
Alanah Barton, employee for Wayfarers’ Ale from Port Williams, N.S., said local businesses aren’t the big competition for microbreweries like Wayfarers’ Ale.
“Our biggest competition is the big guys, the conventional beers, the international beers,” said Barton. “It’s not the small microbreweries that we’re worried about, it’s people going out and buying the conventional stuff.”
Breweries and cideries from across the county set up tasting booths at the 2018 festival, which is also part of the annual Fall Flavours Festival.
This year’s beer festival had 37 beer and cider producers from across the country, as well as a handful of international producers.
The second half of the P.E.I. Convention Centre at the Delta Prince Edward was used for the first time this year to make room for all of the booths.
“There’s always high demand and as craft beer is continuously growing in popularity we definitely have a lot more craft brewers in the Maritimes so we want to make sure we can get everyone here that wants to come,” said Jill Campbell, senior marketing manager of P.E.I. Brewing Company, which is contracted by P.E.I liquor commission to put on the event.
