Profiles

Village Green Logo

The town of Cornwall, PEI, is 15 minutes outside of downtown Charlottetown, and offers a quiet area to stop and take a break while traveling the island. Now that stop can also include a visit to its own brewery, thanks to the launch of Modern Brewer’s Village Green. The Modern Brewer moniker is that of Bryan Carver, who has worked in beer and brewing on PEI for well over a decade, and is debuting his brand by opening the Village Green location at 30 Church Street. Over the years, Carver has worn many hats in the beer industry, including brewer, brewery consultant, equipment manufacturer representative, author, and everything in between. We caught up with Bryan in between brewing and pouring pints in the taproom.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Bryan Carver, I am the owner of Modern Brewer and the owner/brewer of Village Green in Cornwall, PE. I am a Certified Cicerone®, I write about beer on PEI for The Buzz here on the island and I have been working in the brewing industry here on PEI for close to 12 years, from keg cleaning to brewing, to design and consulting, hosting tastings and now running a taproom and nano system in Cornwall.

How did you get into the world of beer?
I have always been a beer lover. In 2000, I spent a month in Dublin ‘studying’ Irish Literature, definitely spent more time in pubs than studying. At that time Guinness was brewing a witbier called Breó, having my first pint of that was a real eye opening experience. I grew up in Ottawa, and we had a bit of exposure to the early craft beer movement, I would drink Big Rock ‘Traditional’ and ‘Grasshopper’ while also being exposed to Unibroue over in Hull, QC. I have always enjoyed trying different beers, and am often pretty grateful I have been able to make it into a living.

In 2008, I joined Gahan Brewery to help build the only operating production brewery on PEI. From there I went to Gahan House to brew for a couple years and was present for the initial growth of what would become PEI Brewing Company. I moved to the production Gahan Brewery in the year leading to the opening of the current PEI Brewing Company’s home on Kensington Road. We opened the larger brewery, perhaps one of the largest craft breweries in Atlantic Canada at the time, and I came to the realization that my perspective on brewing wasn’t aligned with the company’s anymore.

I left my position as Head Brewer from PEI Brewing when any opportunity to consult a start up brewery in New Delhi came up. I spent a little over a month in Northern India working with the team that became White Rhino Brewing. The founder Ishaan Puri had developed a thorough plan on launching the brand, and it was a great experience to work with him.

Coming back to PEI, I needed to find work close to home and landed working with DME Brewing Solutions. I spent a little time working on the shop floor, assembling pumps and working with the piping crew. Then I began to travel to install and commission breweries all over North America. During 2014, I travelled to roughly 25 different cities to work at breweries. It was a tremendous experience and gave me massive exposure to what was happening in craft beer across the continent. Eventually, my wife Amy and I were expecting our first child and I moved into an office position with DME, managing the after-sales and technical support. There I helped breweries across the globe resolve any issues they were experiencing.
I used my free time at home to study for the Certified Cicerone® exam in Halifax. I would like to write the Advanced Cicerone® exam, but that won’t really happen until we are through the pandemic.

VG Draught System

What made you decide to take the steps into opening a brewery?
When DME Brewing Solutions went into receivership and everyone lost their jobs, I decided to commit to opening a brewery. I had been working on business plans for a few years but that wasn’t gaining traction. Unfortunately, I had no money. While at DME, I had been thinking on how nano breweries operate, and what the function of a tasting room in a community was, drawing inspiration from micropubs in the UK. There was a suitable building in Cornwall that was soon to be available, and I developed a plan to squeeze a small brewery into a small building! That was the beginning of Village Green.

What is the ethos of the Modern Brewer and Village Green?
I started working in the initial business plan under the brand Modern Brewer, which is a brand of the beer we produce. Modern Brewer’s Village Green, or just Village Green, is the physical location in Cornwall. I hope to expand the Modern Brewer brand to another location or two in the coming years. We are developing a culture aimed at celebrating diversity. I feel that diversity in beer can be a great vehicle for celebrating the diversity in people.

Can you tell us about the beers you plan on offering initially?
The focus at Village Green is to create a community pub, with a diverse selection of beer. The initial plan was to brew a different beer every batch, but certain issues in the PEI Liquor Act made that cost prohibitive. We are launching with a Blonde ale and a Pale ale, to be joined soon enough by an IPA, with a few more coming in the next couple of months as well.
We’re keeping the naming of the beers simple, so you know what you’re getting! The Pale Ale comes in at 5.9%, with an estimated IBU in the high 40s. Brewed with West Coast water treatment, it features malt from Island Malt House, as well as some Vienna from away. It was fermented with Cali Ale yeast and modest dry hop of Cascade and Centennial. The 5.7% Blonde Ale features a similar grain bill, with Island Malt House Pilsner, along with some Maris Otter. It features a lower IBU, and was fermented with an English yeast strain, allowing some lovely fruity esters to shine through.

VG Stout Glass

Enough talk, how can folks enjoy your beer?
The best way is to come to the taproom, as our batches are very small at just 250 litres. The main focus will be at the taproom in Village Green, where folks can grab pints, samples, as well as growler fills (BYO clean growler). In addition to our Pale Ale and Blonde Ale, we have a handful of other Island beers pouring, always a PEI cider, as well as some wine for those looking for something different. Occasionally, a few kegs making their way to Charlottetown, mainly Hopyard, as I have a great relationship with them and have worked with them for years in different capacities. Co-owner Mike Ross was actually my boss for a year or two back in my Gahan days!

We know that a new brewery does not spring up in a vacuum. Care to give a shoutout to those who have helped you along the way?
Definitely, I have called on everyone for a favour at some point! Chris and Symond at PEI Brewing are old coworkers and always a great resource for help. Spencer Gallant at Lone Oak, Mike “Hogie” Hogan from Upstreet, Andrew “Esty” Estabrooks from Foghorn [ed note: the feeling must be mutual, as Foghorn has a Stout named Bryan in Carver’s honour!], Jeremy White at Big Spruce. All these people have been very supportive.

What can we expect from Modern Brewer in the next 2-3 years?
I want to see Village Green be established as a community hub in Cornwall. I want to be working on a production focused brewery in the next 2-3 years, with a larger packaging component and space to grow.

Let’s get nerdy! Please tell us about the brewery and unique brewhouse…
The system is designed to produce roughly 250 litres of finished beer per batch. I worked with East Arc Metalworks right on the Island, which was started by Ryan Court and Calvin Harris, two fabricators that worked at DME on the shop floor who opened their own fabrication shop. They approached me about a small system for my brewery; I was looking at other options on the larger scale home brew equipment market, but would rather give my money to East Arc, as I knew their work was excellent.
The system was basically drawn on a few pieces of notepad paper. Electric Hot Liquor Tank and Kettle, with a Mash Tun that was cladded in oak by Jordan Stetson who owns New World Foeders. Jordan is a good friend and also a former colleague from my DME days. He and his father John did most of the interior construction at Village Green as well. I can’t say enough good things about Jordan, he is a great guy and his work is exceptional.

The set up is the three vessel brew house, with six open-top fermenters, and nine serving tanks in a walk-in fridge. The serving tanks are really designed for the wine industry, but I designed a fitting using ball lock connections to convert them to work for beer. East Arc added a 4″ ferrule to each so I could clamp on my dispensing set up.

The gear at Village Green is truly one of a kind, and designed to minimize the necessity of kegs, making it more streamline for working in a taproom.

Do you have a favorite beer style, beer, or brewery you enjoy drinking?I love Saison DuPont, it’s probably my desert island beer. I love hoppy beers too, a massive fan of Firestone Walker in Paso Robles California, their Pivo Pils is another perspective changing beer for me. Also love Bell’s Beer in Michigan, if I am ever anywhere that sells Two Hearted you can bet I am picking it up.

How about favourite style or ingredient to brew with?
I always enjoy brewing a dark beer, stouts and porters just smell some incredible in the mash tun.

Congratulations to Bryan and the Village Green crew on their launch! You can pop by the taproom today to grab the first pints of their Blonde and Pale Ales. They are open Mon-Thurs 4 – 9 PM, Fri & Sat 12 – 9 PM, and Sun 1 – 6 PM. Keep up to date on the latest news on Facebook, Instagram (both Modern Brewer and Village Green have pages), and tag ’em on Twitter too! They will be announcing the details of their Beer Appreciation Society soon, so you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled so you don’t miss out!

serpent brewing logo

For the first time, the community of Spryfield has a brewery of their own. Serpent Brewing has moved into their space at the Spryfield Shopping Centre. While owner and brewer Glen O’Keefe and crew are putting the finishing touches on their retail and taproom space, the first of their Belgian-inspired beers are now available for pickup and local delivery. We caught up with Glen to learn more about his journey into brewing, Serpent Brewing’s history, and their plans for their location.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m from Port Saunders, Newfoundland, and spent my teen years in Corner Brook. I showed up in Halifax with the prog rock band Oceanic and stayed for the beer. [ed note: Listening to Trappist in the background while writing this up was pretty freaking rad, check it out]

How did you get into the world of beer?
Music was my first passion, homebrewing was something I took up in my attempt to have a hobby that didn’t completely consume my life. I don’t do hobbies anymore.

What made you decide to take the steps into opening a brewery?
After sharpening up my homebrew skills for a few years, I began serving some of my efforts at weddings and even our band’s album release. Seeing a large group of people enjoying my beer really did it for me in a similar way to performing in our band… I was looking for an out from construction as that was getting tired, and commercial brewing is easy right?

What is the culture or ethos of the brewery?
Our logo represents the beautiful harmony that’s found in harnessing of the chaotic nature of Belgian brewing: once you put that yeast in, you step away and go back to being a janitor – they are now in control. There’s something about that alchemical process that inspires all of us when it comes to brewing and that’s what the brewery is based around.

Serpent Bottles

Tell us about Serpent’s initial releases!
To start, we are offering up three of our flagship beers that we will be doing in our greatest volumes.

  • White Mountain is a 5.5% Witbier or wheat beer. It’s truly an explosion of orange peel flavor and aroma with the subtle hint of coriander at the back.
  • Patey’s Bier is our 4.6% Belgian single, my grandfather Theo Patey often home brewed as did many people from my hometown, so renaming the patersbier somehow had to be done. Our Belgian single is a pretty standard easy drinking ale, the Miller Lite of Belgium if you will. Brewed with yeast from the Westmalle trappist monastery, however brewed with a desire for drinkability on the Canadian side.
  • Eden is for our beer hop lovers, a beautiful 6.0% Belgian IPA brewed with half spicy hops from over there and citrusy hops from here. A Belgian tuxedo over an American dress. Although it’s got Belgian in the name, this beer drinks mostly like a regular NEIPA with a subtle spice hint on the back.

How can folks try your beer?
We will begin distribution to local bars/restaurants shortly, but in the meantime, 500 mL bottles are available now for curbside pickup and delivery at our space. Ordering details are on our website. Once our 60-seat taproom is open, we will operate under the standard hospitality license which allows us to serve our own product at our location (pints, flights, and growlers). We will also have a cider license and plan to do some mead.

Have you had any assistance from other breweries/people in Atlantic Canada (or elsewhere)?
Steve Crane from The Church Brewing has been like a brewing brother to me and acted officially as my mentor. Mike Gillespie from New Scotland seems to always there to answer an email, Keith Forbes from Ol’ Biddy’s Brewhouse has been very helpful. The Brewnosers homebrew club of course is where I’ve learned so much.

Where do you hope to see Serpent Brewing in the next few years?
If I can get beer flowing back to NL, establish Belgian beers as the drinkable and approachable beers that people are missing out on, and develop an extensive barrel program I would be pretty happy.

Serpent Brewhouse

Let’s get nerdy! Let’s talk about your brewery equipment.
The 3 vessel brewhouse is a 600 litre (5 BBL) capacity system from Tiantai. With it, I expect to be able to pump out 500 hl annually.

Care to share some info on your brewing history?
I started brewing in Spryfield 10 years ago, my first batch was a Leffe clone. I dabbled mostly in IPAs and malty German beers before getting back into trying to master Belgian styles. No commercial brewing experience up until opening my own place. I’ve placed in a competition here and there and won my category at the Stillwell Open.

Do you have a favorite beer style, beer, or brewery you enjoy drinking?
Belgians of course, but ultimately the customer will dictate where we head with beer styles. I love to brew everything and am very experimental by nature, so people should expect a wide variety of beers pretty continuously. Even a pumpkin spiced Tripel at some point.

How about favourite style or ingredient to brew with?
The Belgian Single has to be my favourite, it’s so simple but it’s such a fine line between a work of art and a terrible homebrew. It’s really a yeast derived beer which is where my heart is.

Serpent Delivery Orders

Thanks very much to Glen for the insight into Serpent Brewing! Keep an eye on their Facebook and Instagram pages for news of the next releases and taproom opening. In the meantime, you can pop by their spot to grab some beer Monday to Friday, 12 – 2 and 4 – 6 PM. Located behind Canadian Tire, the easiest way to access their location is off Sussex Street just below Herring Cove Road. Online ordering is also available, for either pickup (a notice will be sent once ready) or local delivery (Tuesday and Thursday). Congratulations on the launch!

Topside Logo

We are thrilled to help introduce our region’s latest brewery, Topside Brewing! Located in the community of Bedford, Nova Scotia, Topside is headed by the recently-married husband and wife team of Blair and Erin Tobin. Together with their kids and cute-as-heck brewery dogs Charlie and Lincoln, the Tobins have opened the brewery in their house on a smaller scale, ready to serve local drinkers through sales to bars, as well as their soon to launch “Grab a Growler” program. Let’s learn more, shall we?

Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
We are Topside Brewing Company. This husband and wife couple, Blair and Erin, started this company in August. It has always been a dream to own their own business, and with his background and education as a brewing tech from the Siebel Institute and her background and education in business, they have the perfect combination for Topside Brewing. While Erin & Blair are the owners and head brewer, this is an entire family operation with all 4 children (ages 6-21) being involved in various aspects including marketing, media, and swag!

How did you get into the world of beer?
We started drinking craft beer quite some time ago, and really enjoyed the robust flavours and variety. This got us interested in exploring the craft beer scene and really tasting and loving the offerings around NS and NB at the time, which was much less than now. We turned into beer geeks, doing brewery tours and exploring the craft beer scene in Ontario and BC. After that, it was an easy transition into homebrewing, which really helped us explore flavour profiles and more importantly, where everything comes from. It quickly became a passion which grew with each brew.

Topside Growler

What made you decide to take the steps into opening a brewery?
We both work full time but I am nearing the end of my military career as a RCN Clearance Diver. We knew it was time for a change and a plan to bring us into “retirement”. We always tell our children to find what you’re passionate about and then find a way to make money doing just that. So, we decided to take our own advice. With her degree in business, diploma in hospitality and my studies at Siebel Institute through the World Brewing Academy, I became the beer and she became the business.

What is the culture or ethos of the brewery?
We are a small, family owned and operated business. We truly believe in getting back to the craft. Working hard to hand craft our ales and lagers from recipe formulation (I still use pencil and paper) to the way we interact with our customers. We want to create the beer you love and make the beer you didn’t think you would like.

We raise our family on a basis of love, respect, honesty and consideration of our community and we want our business to reflect this. We want our customers to feel part of the Topside family. For anyone to be able to ask questions about brewing and beer and to know how and where their favourite brew comes from.

Topside Tap List

Speaking of favourite brews, can you tell us about yours?
Absolutely, we have a staple line up (dive roster) of ales:

  • 5 Bells is a Session IPA,  4.6% ABV
  • Joyce’s Boy is a Hefeweizen, 5.0 % ABV
  • On the Bottom is an East Coast IPA, 6.0% ABV
  • Lord’s Porter is a Porter, 6.0% ABV

We also plan to have some weird beers in the future for limited release and we have a great Boho Pils in small quantities and only in the fall as our spin on Festbier for October.

Sounds great! How can folks try your beer?
We debuted on the tap here in Bedford at the Birch and Anchor this weekend (and may still be available so you should head there to check it out!), and will hopefully be on tap shortly at some other local pubs in the area.

The first beer to debut was On the Bottom, named after the diving term, when diver will communicate with Topside (aka. the surface crew) when they reach bottom by stating “On the Bottom”. The beer is a hazy East Coast style IPA. Generously hopped with both early and late addition hops, and then dry-hopped with an abundance of Cascade. It has a bitter back end (it weighs in at 84 IBUs) and delightful hop aroma and smooth mouth feel for 6.0% ABV.

In addition to keg sales to licensees, we are debuting our “Grab a Growler” home delivery starting in the Bedford area this week, supporting our neighbours’ quest to quench their thirst. The intent is to soft open within the immediate area until we determine demand and we have our feet under us. Follow us on Instagram for the week’s offerings, and deliveries while be done in Bedford Thursday to Saturday afternoons. Order by noon for same-day delivery, sending us an email is the best way to submit your request, with your name, address, and phone number, and which beers you’d like! We’ll prepare the order and bring it right to your door, totally contact-free!

Have you had any assistance from other breweries/people in Atlantic Canada (or elsewhere)?
Absolutely. We have been very fortunate to have great assistance from both the small business community and the brewing industry here in Atlantic Canada. Peter Cole at Big Axe Brewery in Nackawic, NB has been a great help by answering questions whenever I ask. Small businesses like BeerTech, Jym Line Glassware, Don’s Refrigeration, Stanhope Simpson Insurance and our phenom Graphic Designer Kari Tiffin at Bright by Design have been instrumental in getting through the startup process, which is challenging at best.

Looking forward, where do you see Topside Brewing in the next few years?
We plan to work from our current location in year one and move to a commercial space in year two or three. We want to stay in the Bedford community because we love this area and the people here so much.

Topside Tanks and Hoses

Now for the beer nerds… tell us about your brewing system?
We are limited to a half barrel system we put together using Blichmann Engineering kettle and mash tun, and Spike Brewing fermenters. We will be kicking out about 500 litres per month initially, and plan to double that by month three.

Can you tell us about your homebrewing history and education?
Home brewing was always a passion. Making and crafting different beers was fun, and we enjoyed the fruit of our labours. I learned a lot from completing courses at Siebel and the depth of knowledge from the instructors both in the US and Munich Germany is second to none. These are truly Master Brewers/Brew Masters who have honed their craft with decades of experience and education. Learning from them has given me an insight into the complexities of the beer core ingredients, water, malt, hops and yeast. We really want to explore the many flavour profiles
from these core ingredients and use them in various ways to make great beer.

Do you have a favorite beer style, beer, or brewery you enjoy drinking?
Of course, we are beer geeks! I admire breweries like Dogfish Head because of how they started in the 90’s from humble beginnings. Also, Dieu de Ciel! and the phenomenal Péché Mortel is amazing. We enjoy tasting all beer from everyone and learning from their talents and techniques. There are some really great breweries in Atlantic Canada and we are truly fortunate to be able to taste their beers.

Topside Fermenters

How about your favourite style or ingredient to brew with?
I love the challenge of brewing pilsners. There is no place to hide flaws in this beer style and they have history to back them up. My favourite ingredient is yeast. Those great mothers and daughters can make or break the flavour of a beer. If used properly and given the right environment, they will produce some amazing flavour profiles. In my opinion they are often overlooked and live in the shadow of hops and grain but should really have the front row seat.

Congratulations to the Tobin family on the launch of Topside Brewing! Their full website just launched with more details on their growler delivery program available to their neighbours in Bedford, and be sure to check out their Social Media ( Fb / Ig / Tw ) to be in the know for when and where their next kegs will be available in town. And as always, we’ll keep you up to date with their going ons here on the blog.