Sussex Ale Works is aiming to boost its brewing capacity with the construction of a second location in the southern New Brunswick community.
Rick Lockhart, brewery owner and alesmith, told Huddle the property at 165 Saint George St. is being revamped to scale up, since his plans for growth have outgrown the capacity of the brewery’s downtown Sussex location.
“My hope is that we’ll be able to brew our really popular beers on a consistent basis and always have them on tap,” Lockhart said of the new facility, which is about a kilometer away from the company’s brewpub and taproom at 597 Main St.
Lockhart hopes to use the freedom and increased capacity of a new dedicated brewing facility to experiment and create more novel and seasonal brews, testing what drinkers like with the smaller ale-making infrastructure at its brewpub.
“The plan is to keep operating as we have been for the past three years in the same location. We’ll have flexibility with our smaller system to be able to do the one-offs and to do the weird beers that you can’t do on a bigger system,” he said.
“If I brew on a small system, I can make six kegs while if I brew on the bigger system, I’ll make 30 kegs of it. It’s all about sales and how fast that beer moves and sells.”
Lockhart expects construction to finish, and the new facility to open, in about six months.
New Equipment
Lockhart plans to equip the production facility with a new, six-hectolitre, five-U.S.-barrel brewing system that has just arrived from China in Halifax.
The new equipment will augment Sussex Ale Works’ 1.2-hectolitre system, equipped with a hot liquor tank, boil kettle, and five one-barrel fermenters and carbonation tank located at its original location in downtown Sussex.
Although Lockhart was mum on costs of expansion, he said the new facility’s style is locally sourced. The external design features are informed by the expertise of Saint John-based designer Kim Jakobsen.
Lockhart hired several local contractors to carry out the construction work. A significant step in the work required to get the building up to snuff was to remove a floor to accommodate a higher ceiling for brewing equipment going in the new building – a step that required some rebuilding to strengthen the structure.
Construction is still in initial stages, with “a lot of steel, wood and concrete right now,” Lockhart noted.
“You wouldn’t walk in and say, Wow, this looks like a brewery yet,” he added.
Fun Brews
Sussex Ale Works, founded in 2018, specializes in ales and hasn’t produced any lager-style beers, which require storage for a certain period as part of their brewing.
“We do darker ales…and we have lighter ales for the summertime,” Lockhart said, alluding to brews dubbed with tongue-in-cheek sobriquets like Brown Switted Kneater Ale or an IPA named after the “Samsquanch” of Trailer Park Boys fame.
Sussex Ale Works uses a variety of hops and locally sourced ingredients, like lactose from milk, to come up with unique ales.
“We’ve got stories behind the name of many of our beers.”
Sussex Ale Works crafts flagship brews like its Picadilly Pale Ale, Beanhead Milk Stout, brewed with locally roasted Picaddilly Roasters Coffee, and Honourable Member Red Ale.
Sam Macdonald is a reporter for Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
