It’s little, and it’s a little out of the way. But the capital region will soon have its seventh brewery up and running when Sooke Oceanside Brewery opens its doors.
The brewery, tucked into about 1,200 square feet beside the Shell gas station just outside of Sooke, is expected to open in August as the first craft brewery in the Sooke area.
It’s the brainchild of Sooke residents and husband-and-wife team Ryan Orr and Karri Jensen. Along with brewer Garritt Lalonde, they intend to establish the brand and the beer as another reason for people to head to Sooke.
Orr, who has worked as a chef for the past 20 years, said he loves the area, believes its world-class coastline is underappreciated. He has grand plans to eventually establish the brewery and a restaurant that will be seen as a destination.
But the first step is getting the brewery operational.
“It’s actually terrifying. I’m terrified, but I believe in the quality of what we are doing and I believe in the brand,” Orr said. “It’s a great time for craft brewing, but it’s also getting harder to succeed. You can’t pull the wool over [craft beer lovers’] eyes. It’s got to be a quality product.”
The product has been a few years in the works.
Orr, who most recently was the executive chef at the high-end Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, has been brewing and experimenting for years. It was his desire to be at home in Sooke more often that pushed him and Jensen to jump in and start work on the project.
The brewery is still a construction zone as the brewhouse is laid out and a growler filling station is roughed-in at the entrance.
But Orr said the beer is ready, and he brought in Lalonde as the professional to help tweak recipes and techniques and set up the brew house.
Lalonde was a brewer at Vancouver Island Brewery and most recently at Central City Brewery.
“I realized I didn’t want to be the brewer, and I don’t dream I can just brew into this world,” Orr said of hiring Lalonde.
Orr believes trying to do it alone and succeed would be akin to having a home cook walk into his kitchen and expect to keep up.
And the craft beer scene demands quality, he said.
“You can’t just open and expect to be successful, craft beer drinkers are even more educated now,” he said.
Orr believes the passion and drive he brought to the kitchen and now has focused on the brewery, combined with quality ingredients, should allow them to make it.
When they open this summer, the intention is to “play the hits” and offer styles that tend to sell well. There will be an IPA, English-styled pale ale, Irish red ale and a blonde ale available right away.
“It’s a very big challenge, with small production size, to make a go of this,” he admitted, though he sees plenty of upside with the limited capacity. He expects to be able to brew 12 hectolitres each week.
Being small, he can quickly turn things around, and when things go badly it won’t hurt that much.
“If we brew one that’s no good or only a few people like we won’t go broke,” he said, noting he intends to be very creative with beer as they get more established.
And if it does go well, he can start looking at making the bigger dream — the oceanfront restaurant/brewery a reality. “I want to move it to its next level. I want it to be a destination and have people come out to Sooke and sit on the water because it’s world-class and it is not being utilized enough yet,” he said.
