Once upon a time in British Columbia, as thousands of settlers arrived from the British Isles, beer was a big thing. Many towns had breweries, and brewing beer in the fall, winter and early spring was a great way for farmers to keep busy in those days before fridges were invented. Of course all the ingredients came from within a few miles, and that local sourcing is what some young brewery owners on Salt Spring Island are trying to recreate.
Becky Julseth and Neil Cooke-Dallin bought into Salt Spring Island Ales a couple of years ago when Neil’s ‘Uncle Bob’ Ellison was hinting at retirement from the business, and they are partnering with Salt Spring Island farmers wherever possible. At the end of May I found myself wandering across a field at Grandview Farms with Becky to look at some newly planted hop vines. Vines planted last year were already stretching three or four feet along their tepee-like trellis of strings, which will reach twenty feet into the sky this year. Hop rhizomes planted a couple of months ago were just breaking out of the soil, but by the end of the season there should be enough hops to help produce an entire season of brewmaster Murray Hunter’s Golden Ale. This beer won a Gold Award at the first annual BC Beer Awards in May, and while it was made with a mix of hops cobbled from various farms last year, Murray will enjoy a fresh supply of hops from known varieties.
Murray Hunter is continuing link of the brewery that he founded with Bob Ellison in 1997. “I owned a brew-on-premises place on Salt Spring and Bob was one of my regulars. One year we went to the Great Canadian Beer Festival, ended up drinking too much beer and deciding we should start a brewery. When we sobered up it still seemed like a good idea. I had the brewing background and Bob owned a property in the Fulford Valley with a very productive spring so we had a great water source and our beers are the result of that.”
Bob Ellison passed away a few months ago but no doubt he would be proud of what Neil and Becky have done with the business. Neil comes from a design background, Becky from the marketing world, two essential skills for the business end of things. On the manufacturing side, they just took delivery of a new bottling machine which allows them to exponentially increase the pace of bottling the beers. They’ve expanded the number of outlets carrying their brews, and have extended the reach beyond Salt Spring, home of their strongest customer base, and new labelling is in the works.
While Becky admits they still wonder why they got into the brewery business, given the complexity of BC liquor laws and other details that seem to be large in number for such a small business. On the other hand, she notes, “there are lots of days when we say, ‘this is so much fun’.” After spending an afternoon touring the brewery and the hop fields, and tasting a range of Salt Spring Island Ales, I think it’s pretty fun, too!
New! You can now listen to the latest editions of Island Artisans as they were heard on the CBC Victoria radio show All Points West, with Jo-Ann Roberts. Just click on this link to go to the page with the audio files and satisfy your hunger for Island Artisans.
Will the brewery be holding a shareholders meeting any time soon? We would like to meet the new owners and see recent changes.