CAVOK Brewing Company has recently opened their brewery and taproom at 250 Dieppe Boulevard in Dieppe, NB, welcoming their fans to step inside their brewery and taste their wares. Owners Serge Basque and Serge Nadeau have actually had their beer available since January, but were brewing their Léger Corner Honey Ale at another brewery in Moncton. Now that they have a space to call their own, we wanted to catch up with them and share the news.
How did you get into the world of beer?
We are 2 Air traffic Controllers, this is where the brewery name comes from. (CAVOK which is pronounced “CAV-OH-KAY” is an aviation term, it means Ceiling and Visibility [are] OK.). We have been homebrewing together since before 2005. We started out with kits and evolved into brewing all grain. We have traveled to many different places in the world and have tried many different beer and visited a variety of breweries all over the world.
What made you decide to take the step into opening a brewery?
It as always been a dream of ours to own a brewery. For myself, I always get chills when I visit a brewery, I have made arrangements and even brewed with some brewers at breweries in the past. The lack of tap rooms and breweries in Moncton also played a factor in our decision. That being said, we know that a few other nano brewers will be making the step to open up something in Moncton in the near future. The people here in New Brunswick and Moncton are opening up more and more to trying new products, this also helped us taking the step.
What is the culture or ethos of the brewery?
We want to make beer that pleases us and hopefully others 🙂 We would like to use local products as much as we could. We want to make quality products and not just products to get more sales. We do not want to have to follow the trends. We want to make it a family business and hopefully when we do get employees, we would want them to be as passionate about beer as we are. We would like our employees to feel like they are part of something great. (We have 3 at this time)
Can you tell us about the beers you plan on offering initially? Any seasonals or one-offs in the works?
We have many different beer that we plan on offering initially, but we want to venture into more complex beer when we have our location and tap room open full time.
Our flagship is the Leger Corner Honey Ale, a 4.8% Blonde brewed with local honey. It is named after the original name for Dieppe.
We have been rotating through some pilot batches, including a Raspberry Sour, Rye IPA, Wet-hopped IPA, and a few more. You’ll have to drop by to see what we have on tap today!
Our flagship is the Leger Corner Honey Ale, a 4.8% Blonde brewed with local honey. It is named after the original name for Dieppe.
We have been rotating through some pilot batches, including a Raspberry Sour, Rye IPA, Wet-hopped IPA, and a few more. You’ll have to drop by to see what we have on tap today!
How can fans enjoy your beer?
The best place to grab a wide selection of our beer is at our recently opened taproom on Dieppe Boulevard, where we sell flights and pints of our beer, as well as a few guest taps of beer and cider from other NB producers. With the expanded capacity that our own brewhouse affords, we are now selling more kegs to licensees, and we’re able to keep up with demand of packaged product in the ANBL and other shops. We hope to be selling growlers very, very soon. [Ed. note: keep a close eye on their Social Media, as we understand it could be this weekend!]
How about bars and restaurants in the region?
Initially, we only had our beer at just a few limited establishments, since our original brewing system was small (1 BBL/120 litre) and we were not able to keep up. As we ramp up production on our large system, we’ll be able to extend beyond those places that have supported since the beginning (but of course keeping them happy first!)
As of now, we have beer on tap or in rotation at Tide and Boar Gastropub, Marky’s Laundromat, Classic Burger Restaurant, Rossano’s Restaurant, St James Gates in Moncton and Dieppe, The Joyce in Fredericton, Au Bootlegger in Bathurst just to name a few.
Have you had any assistance from other breweries/people in Atlantic Canada?
Yes. the brewing community is great for that, people are very willing to share their time and expertise. There are too many to name them all, but big thanks to Matt Kenny of Tatamagouche, the owners of the Pump House Brewery plus Plant Director Roland Arseneault, Shaun O’Hearn of Nine Locks, Sebastien Roy of Fils du Roy, Patrice Godin of Acadie-Broue, Michel Gauthier of CarMic Consultation, and John Way of Pollen Angels. Sorry for whoever I’m forgetting!
Where do you hope to see your brewery in the next 2-3 years?
With a tap room that is successful, sourcing out as many local products (ingredients) as possible to brew our beer. With hopefully, a barrel/foudre (foedre) aging program of some sort.
Do you have an approximate opening date?
The taproom is open now limited hours Thursday to Sunday at this time, for a progressive opening. Hopefully we will have our Grand Opening in the next couple of weeks. Thursdays, 6 – 10:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays 2 – 11:30 PM, and Sundays: 2 – 7 PM.
Let’s get nerdy with some brewery-specific details…
What type of system are you be brewing on?
We began with a 1 BBL (120 litre) system from Colorado Brewing Systems, which we continue to use as our pilot system.
We are now operating a 15 BBL (1800 litre) brewhouse from DME that we have been brewing on for about a month now.
Do you have a favorite beer style, beer, or brewery you enjoy drinking?
Too many great breweries out there to have a favorite one.
German, English, American… really anything that is well made.
A big thank you to Serge and Serge for answering our questions and getting us all up to speed with their operations at 250 Dieppe Blvd. Drop by this weekend to grab a flight or pint of their beers, and keep an eye on their social media pages for details on their Grand Opening, and when they will be able to sell growlers of their beer to go. Check them out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on their homepage.