{"id":16345,"date":"2020-10-07T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/?p=16345"},"modified":"2022-01-29T13:38:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T21:38:15","slug":"red-collar-brewing-david-beardsell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/red-collar-brewing-david-beardsell\/","title":{"rendered":"Hops Among Friends: David Beardsell of Red Collar Brewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the latest instalment in the Hops Among Friends series, which showcases people that make up the craft beer scene on the BC Ale Trail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>My most recent Hops Among Friends interview was with Erin Dale<\/a> from Barkerville Brewing<\/a> in Quesnel. At the end of the interview, Erin suggested that I interview David Beardsell of Red Collar Brewing<\/a>. Red Collar Brewing opened in 2014 in Kamloops on the Kamloops, Shuswap, Vernon and Merritt Ale Trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The patio at Red Collar Brewing in Kamloops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I interviewed David and his wife Annamarie while they were in their travel bus in Powell River at the start of a three-week adventure around BC. The answers to my questions below are often a compilation of responses from both of them.<\/p>\n

\"David
David and Annamarie’s Bus Adventures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David and Annamarie are the owners of Red Collar Brewing<\/a>. David describes himself as the grumpy old man, aka master brewer, aka owner at Red Collar Brewing. Annamarie describes herself as Chief Somebody. She is the “somebody that will get that done.”<\/p>\n

Over the years, I met David and Annamarie a few times at Okanagan Fest of Ale, while they were at the Noble Pig, dreaming of starting their new brewery, and once they opened Red Collar Brewing. It was great to catch up with them and hear about their latest adventures.<\/p>\n

KL: How did you get started in craft beer? <\/strong><\/h3>\n

DB: [Back in the 1980s] I was working at a Cancer Clinic in the radiation oncology department. I couldn\u2019t stand it. I didn\u2019t like all of the bureaucracy and I was looking for a change. I had a science background and so I started looking around for opportunities. Shaftebury Brewing had just opened up in Vancouver, so I looked into schools where I could get an education in brewing. There were only three schools in the world that you could go to at that time to get a brewing degree, so I went to Munich in 1989 for school. I was one of the odd ones back in the day in that I got a brewing education before I worked in brewing. Once school was finished, we moved to England where I worked as a research scientist with the Brewing Research Foundation. I also worked for a couple of bigger breweries in the UK, although I found it was also very bureaucratic working for large breweries.<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t a lot of smaller breweries in the UK at that time, but CAMRA was really growing in the UK and more smaller breweries were starting up there. Also back home, there were only a few small breweries, so we decided to head home. I got a job at Okanagan Spring Brewery in Vernon and stayed there for two years and began looking into starting our own brewery.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Beardsell of Red Collar Brewing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the help of some financial partners, we started the first microbrewery in Kamloops in 1994 called Bear Brewing. There were only about eight breweries in BC at that time. We packaged our beer and sold a lot of it on the coast and in Calgary. We sold Bear Brewing in 2003 to Big Rock. I signed a non-compete and couldn\u2019t work in the industry for five years. During this time, I worked with a non-profit organization in Kamloops, and we built homes for seniors. We also bought a 1959 vintage bus and lived in the bus with our kids and travelled around the continent including time in Mexico and Guatemala.<\/p>\n

After our travels, we started the Noble Pig Brewhouse<\/a> in 2010. We ran this food-focused brewpub for about four years. We got out of the Noble Pig because I didn’t want to split my focus anymore. We had a full kitchen. We had beer, wine, spirits, and TVs. Although the Noble Pig provides a great experience for anyone and everyone, we decided we wanted to run an establishment that was 100% beer-focused. We wanted people to come to the brewery and play a game or talk with each other. That’s what beer is for. In Europe, you’d go to beerhalls and there were no TVs. We wanted to go back to that Old World mentality where if you are going out for a beer, then you go out for a beer.<\/p>\n

So, we sold our shares of the Noble Pig in January 2014, leaving it in good hands with our former partners. We started the build and renovation of our new brewery on April 1, 2014, and then opened our doors to the public in October 2014.<\/p>\n

Our working brewery name was Black Dog after our black lab Goosey. We couldn\u2019t go with that name because of trademark restrictions. Goosey always had a red collar, and that\u2019s how we came up with the name for our brewery.<\/p>\n

KL: You\u2019ve spent the better part of three decades in the craft beer industry. How has it changed over the years?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

DB: For us old guys that are still around, things have changed dramatically.\u00a0We\u2019ve gone from a packaged, distribution-based industry, to one of front-of-house breweries. Every brewery that opens now will have a tasting room.<\/p>\n

\"Red
A growler fill at Red Collar Brewing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we had Bear Brewing, we had a 16-head filler, so we were pumping out lots of beer. We distributed our packaged beer to Winnipeg and all over Western Canada. That\u2019s what you did then.<\/p>\n

Today the emphasis is not to go big, but to run a brewery that is interesting and fun. Back in the day, it was all about business. But today, it\u2019s more about creating a business while also enjoying a good lifestyle.<\/p>\n

As the industry has changed, we\u2019ve also learned how expensive it is to distribute beer. The more you can sell out your front door in your taproom and to pubs and liquor stores in your area, the better chance you\u2019ll have to stay alive financially. It doesn\u2019t matter how good your beer is, you have to make money, or you won\u2019t stay in business. But then of course COVID comes along and impacts sales in taprooms. For us, we are fortunate because 50% to 60% of our beer is sold as a packaged product, so we were still able to sell our beer even with COVID restrictions.<\/p>\n

\"Red
A flight from Red Collar Brewing in Kamloops on the BC Ale Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A hundred years ago, every little town had a brewery. That\u2019s because distribution was so difficult back in the day. The whole industry is going back to that. We\u2019ve also seen a real focus on supporting local. We really saw this with the 100-mile diet. I see breweries succeeding because they figure out their own niche. I\u2019d really like to see more lager breweries. I\u2019d love to see a German-lager focused brewery one day.<\/p>\n

The other thing that has changed over the years is the beer itself. I remember that at Bear we had a beer called Black Bear. It was a Belgian-style dark beer with cassis and blackberries. Because it was such a different beer than what was available at the time, people asked us who would buy this beer? As people tried it, the demand for this beer grew until it became our bestselling product. Today, there is way more of an appetite for speciality and unique beers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

KL: How has your brewery been impacted by COVID-19?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

DB: We closed the taproom down for about nine weeks, but we had an e-store up and we were self-delivering within 48 hours. We laid off our serving staff during the shutdown, but we brought them all back again once we re-opened. We did not lose one employee as a result of COVID, so we had continuity of our team.<\/p>\n