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WEST KOOTENAY BREWERS
Craft For Community
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>> SARAH BEAUCHAMP
ou are sitting at your favourite bar in town watching the bartender pour that familiar winter ale that always signals the beginning of ski season. As you wait for them to slide that frosty mug of beer down your direction, you probably aren’t thinking about hop farmers, or the ways the brewery is trying to cut back on water consumption, or what happens to all the grain at the bottom of the fermentation tanks. For Hedin Nelson-Chorney, owner of Tailout Brewing in Castlegar, British Columbia, he knows all too well that beer and the environment go hand in hand. As a former employee of Parks Canada, with a Masters degree in Conservation Biology, Hedin has a deep understanding of the importance of treating the land well. “Hops are the lifeblood of beer,” he says. Land and beer are intertwined. Hedin does his best to buy hops from B.C farmers, however, Canadian hop farmers face so many obstacles. While western Canada is known as the grain belt of North America, British Columbia is just starting to obtain more proprietary rights over hops. Today, pricing and trademarks are the biggest challenges for farmers here in this region; it is difficult to compete with American growers who are able to offer such a wide range of trendy hop varieties. If there were more incentives to buy locally, such as tax breaks for brewers who use locally grown hops, people like Hedin who are just starting out in the brewing industry would be in a better position to support local industry. One of the core values for Tailout Brewing is community and Hedin tries to focus on how they can support local business. Hedin and his partner Mary Lusty, who is also Tailout’s head brewer, moved to Castlegar for its small town charm and its incredible landscapes. Hedin wants his brewery to be the hub of the com28 WHAT'S BREWING W I N T E R 2020
On tap at Tailout Brewing in Castlegar, BC. Photo: Louis Bockner. munity, a place for people to enjoy beer responsibly, while getting out there to experience some of the best outdoor living British Columbia has to offer. “We are so lucky to be living here in the Kootenays,'' he says. This is one of the reasons why he started the Mug Club, a membership program that gives participants special discounts on merchandise, growler fills, as well as special events and member parties. This year they hosted a Fly Fishing Film Festival in their tasting room. Each member even receives their own custom mug designed by a local potter. Hedin sees the brewery as a space to engage the community in meaningful ways. For Tailout Brewing the goal is simple: they just want to bring people together. The popularity of craft breweries has exploded over the past ten years. Each small community here in British Columbia seems to have their own microbrewery, and although you would think this would make the brewing industry competitive between towns, Hedin has experienced quite the opposite. “There are good relationships back and forth between all the brewers here,” he says.
