New microbrewery by summer
Trevor Nichols - Feb 07, 2018 - Biz Releases

Image: Kelowna City Council

Another microbrewery will join Kelowna’s burgeoning “brewery district” this summer when Vice and Virtue Brewing Company opens its doors on Richter Street.

The new brewery, owned by a group of six craft-beer-loving locals, will be the third to open in the area in the past two years (alongside Red Bird and Kettle River breweries), adding additional craft beer cred to an area cultivated by long-time tenants Tree Brewing.

Kelowna city council gave Vice and Virtue the official go-ahead last night, paving the way for a small brewery the owners says will be focused on beer and food.

“It will be a place where people can come for quality eats and drink while enjoying conversation in a fun and welcoming atmosphere,” Matthew Jewell, one of the brewery owners, wrote in a letter to council.

Although the council application is for a brewery called Omen Brewing Co., Jewell told Okanagan Edge the company reincorporated under the Vice and Virtue brand after discovering an Alberta brewery had beat them to the name by a few months.

Jewell said the owners are “looking to pull the trigger pretty quick” and, even though they haven’t started construction yet, hope to be open Vice and Virtue by the summer.

According to Jewell, the six partners who own the brewery are a group of homebrewers who love craft beer and last year decided to “take the next step” and jump into the market.

Jewell himself is a steel fabricator and says his partners include a red seal mechanic, a wine tour operator, a general manager at a winery and a wine shop manager.

He says the group had originally planned to brew all the beer themselves, but after getting advice from “people who were a little better versed in the commercial side” decided to bring in a pro.

They’ve now brought in a brewer from Ontario to brew their booze and hired chef Nelson Daniels, who will serve up a selection of breads, cheeses, and charcuterie.

Jewell says they plan to stake themselves out as a “Pacific-Northwest-style” brewery, and that they are still “playing” with their recipes.


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