In recent years, micro-breweries have started popping up seemingly everywhere.
One of the most recent additions to the North Shore is Black Kettle Brewing, which was started by a few close friends who had been fermenting beer in their kitchens for years as a pastime.
"I read a lot of books," says head brewer Phil Vandenborre about how he started brewing as a hobby. "I talked to a lot of brewers."
Vandenborre was a chef when he first started combining the rich ingredients and then fermenting them for weeks in his house as a hobby.
"It's two different worlds completely, for sure," he says, comparing being a chef to a brewer. "I was home-brewing while I was cooking. It seemed like another fun thing to get into."
His experience as a chef, especially exploring the right combinations of fresh ingredients, lent itself to brewing.
"It's about learning your system," he says, noting that all kitchens are different. "It's about learning the equipment and I think that was one of the big challenges for me."
Vandenborre says the rise in popularity of craft breweries is due to a combination of a supportive community of brewers, and people wanting to know more about what they consume.
"There's a lot more knowledge out there about food in general, health in general, flavours and trying new things. And I think we're seeing the same thing in the craft beer industry right now where (there are) amazing flavours out there."
He explains that the process begins with grains that are seeped in hot water to extract the sugars. Then the liquid gets transferred into a bowl kettle where all the flavours are added. The length of time it spends in there depends on the style of beer being brewed. Then yeast is added, which eats up the sugars and eventually creates the alcohol. This ferments for approximately a week. Finally, the brew gets transferred into a different tank where it's conditioned and then carbonated. "That's really what craft brewing is," says Vandenborre. "Your own hand, your own style, your own take on it. There's definitely a way of doing things but you can take that and you can have your take on different styles."
