Just in time for patio season, Saint Andrews has its own craft brewery.
The Saint Andrews Brewing Company has produced its first batch of kegs – starting with the Herringbone Pub Ale, an English-style bitter and the Wharfbound Hazy Pale Ale – now available at the Red Herring pub.
Ian Covey, one of the brewery’s co-founders, says they plan to cycle through different styles as the seasons change.
Covey has been in the craft brewing industry for around seven years, and began working to open a brewery in Charlotte County back in 2017.
“The next evolution for people in the industry long enough is they want to be their own boss and start their own brewery,” he said.
It wasn’t until Covey met his eventual cofounders Dwayne and Jessica Doucette during the summer of 2018 that the Saint Andrews Brewing Company began to take off.
The owners’ goal is to eventually be able to grow enough to have a dedicated space that can become a part of the seaside community.
“Mostly we want to give people something that they can be proud of,” Covey said. “We want to create a community brewery that people are going to be able to come in and see as their own.”
In speaking with other New Brunswickers in the industry over the years, most agreed Saint Andrews provided an opportunity for someone to take the plunge and start a brewery.
Covey says he saw that first hand while delivering beer for Picaroons years ago.
“There hasn’t actually been (a craft brewery) there, though the market is pretty thirsty for craft beer as it seems,” he said. “A lot of restaurants and pubs down there sell a lot of craft beer and have for a long time.”
The plan now is to keep selling kegs locally, with an eye on expanding sometime after the summer.
Covey says the first weekend was so successful they may need to grow a little quicker than expected.
“If the first weekend was an indication of the rest of the summer it’s going to be pretty crazy actually,” he said. “We’ll probably have to expand our little off-site brewhouse pretty soon. We’re already looking at new tanks.”
While Covey says it would be premature to look at first week sales as a guarantee of sustained success, he is optimistic about the business moving forward.
“I’m confident that there’s going to be some thirsty people in Saint Andrews this summer.”
