Many times I have talked about how there is a craft brewery on every street corner. Recently, one opened on my own street in Oshawa, Ontario. Two things intrigued me about the Oshawa Brewing Company: first, it is literally right down my street (a huge bonus!) and second, it is the only brewery in the city of Oshawa. So what better way to get the story than to visit with Co-Owner/General Manager Kevin Gmitrowicz and have a beer.
While Oshawa Brewing Company has only been open for a couple of months, Gmitrowicz and his business partner Daryl Radovich have been at the location since 1989. What started out as a brew your own beer and wine outlet has evolved into a craft brewery. The two decided that since they had all of the equipment, it was time to alter the beer aspect of their business. “The way the industry in Ontario was going, with the craft brew explosion, we realized we needed to adapt to what people wanted. They don’t want six cases of the same thing so that’s what led to us change,” explained Gmitrowicz.
The change was not as easy as one might think. With licensing issues and their desire to keep the make you own wine aspect of the business, Gmitrowicz and Radovich needed to renovate their location. Now the space is divided with a wall and there are separate entrances to both. Each of the businesses have separate licenses and Oshawa Brewing has a taproom, manufacturing and retail license. The pair had to make a choice, as they were unable to keep the brew your own beer and use the same equipment for their craft brewery. “We just consider ourselves a business that is evolving with the times,” said Gmitrowicz.
Despite only being open for a short time, there is tremendous history to the beers at Oshawa Brewing Company. Gmitrowicz showed me his old recipe book that he has been using since opening in 1989. They have nine different beers on their tap, which include: a blonde ale, maple ale, copper ale, European IPA, Irish dark, radler, oatmeal stout, hop explosion and coffee porter. “We have been making beer since 1989, just evolving our recipes. We mainly make what we like and we really hope the consumers enjoy what we like,” added Gmitrowicz.
Their best seller so far has been the maple ale. It is a newer creation that Gmitrowicz came up with after finding inspiration in another Ontario craft brewery. A maple beer just seemed very Ontario to him. “In Ontario we make maple syrup, so it just made sense to make a maple beer.”
It is unique flavours like maple that Gmitrowicz believes defines their beers. “Our beers are full of flavour. We want something that is enjoyable and easy drinking. We are happy to make each beer something that people want to drink. All of our beer is filtered. Not enough to pull the body out of it but a lot of other craft brewers want it to be unfiltered and hazy, that’s not our style.”
One of the more interesting aspects of Oshawa Brewing Company is that they brew in small batches, something Gmitrowicz really enjoys. “All of our batches are single batch, a single keg. It is very easy for us to do quite a few different batches and test batches when we are just fermenting one keg at a time.”
Even though they brew in small batches, they are still able to produce a couple hundred batches at a time. So they haven’t had to worry about running out just yet. With a book full of recipes, they also have the ability to perfect all those batches. “All of the recipes are our own. We haven’t gone online to search for new ones. We may do a recipe five or six times, tweaking it along the way, so that it gets to what we think it should be,” added Gmitrowicz.
Even though they are up and running, Gmitrowicz notes that there are still things he and Radovich are working on. They still want to rebrand their wine making to have two separate identities. As for the beer, Gmitrowicz hopes to start creating individual labels and different names for their core beers. They are also in talks with a few local bars and restaurants as they hope to get their beers into the hands of more local consumers.
Judging by their early feedback, once their beer gets into more hands it will surely gain momentum. Oshawa Brewing Company recently was at the Bowmanville Rib Festival and went through two kegs of their maple ale in just three days.
“We have brewed a lot of beers over the years. We have hundreds of recipes and we will probably dig in to many of them as seasonals. When you hear big breweries say, ‘I found this in an old recipe book’ we can actually say that with our own recipes, which I think sets us apart,” said Gmitrowicz.
There is no doubt that Oshawa Brewing Company’s history and experience in brewing has helped make their beers what they are. But the fact that they have evolved the business and are now sharing that experience, and those recipes, with the public is great news for us beer drinkers.
Cheers!
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