Photo: Contributed
Right now they may just be a small operation, tucked away in the corner of town, operating with a home-made setup and secondhand furniture, but Kettle River Brewing Co. has big, hoppy dreams.
As it stands the young craft brewery operates out of a former industrial building in Kelowna’s north end and brew using a small system handmade from used tea tree oil tins and dairy parts.
They tap their kegs in a tasting room they hand-built with lumber from a recently retired barn and decorations sourced almost exclusively from the Castanet classifieds.
Nevertheless, since they opened last July the four-person operation has brewed up more than 200 batches and built a small following of dedicated beer-lovers.
Now, they’re asking those fans to help them grow bigger.
As the company’s “seafoam enthusiast” Chris Dedinsky pointed out late last week, Kettle river is growing faster than its lovingly hand-built setup can accommodate, so they’ve turned to the crowdfunding website Indiegogo to try and pay for an expansion.
The hope is to install a shiny new brewing system that could eventually allow them to brew five times more beer, as well as change their licensing so they can serve food (and way more beer) and expand their tasting room with a patio.
To do that, they’re going to need to lock down $30,000, with $20,000 covering the cost of buying and installing the new, 5 bbl brewing system, and $10,000 to cover building upgrades and re-zoning for the patio.
Dedinsky says he doesn’t know if they’ll hit their goal, but admits all four of them at Kettle River have been blown away by the support they’ve received up to this point.
“It’s been amazing the reception we’ve gotten so far,” he said. “ Kelowna’s really hungry for craft beer so by default just being here, a lot of people come to get a beer.”
He said he likes the campaign because it allows Kettle River’s customers to help them grow, while still giving them some value.
“We have quite a strong following of regulars,” he says, and through Indiegogo those regulars can pre-buy vouchers for merch and beer, giving the brewery an influx of capital and the customers slight savings on any future imbibing.
“It’s not just giving us money, it’s kind of pre buying vouchers for beer or merchandise,” he says. “The idea being that if you like our business and are coming often and want to see us grow in your community invest in us now and you will see that return in a couple of months.”
With 21 days left in their campaign Kettle River have only reached 16 per cent of its fundraising goal, but Dedinsky says even if they don’t hit their target they will still expand, it might just be a little slower.
“Worst case is we’ll get there next year,” he says.
For more information on Kettle River’s expansion, and what you can get by donating, visit their Indiegogo page.
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