Brave Brewing and Twin Sails, two of the six craft breweries on Port Moody’s Brewers Row, are merging.
Port Moody’s Brewers Row is getting smaller.
But the number of individual craft breweries will stay the same.
Brave Brewing and Twin Sails are merging.
The Site B community space and The Fountainhead Network co-working space will also operate under the same umbrella.
Tech entrepreneur Chris Peacock, who owns Brave and Site B, said the consolidation will allow him to further his efforts to build community.
“Our reason for being has always been about community and community thrives when the desire to buy, support and say local is paramount,” he said.
Twin Sails’ Clay Allmin said joining forces with Brave is better than the alternative, as the craft brewing industry in British Columbia faces challenges like higher costs and changing consumer tastes. Several breweries have closed in recent years, such as Studio in Burnaby and Broadway in Port Coquitlam, while others like PoCo’s Taylight and Train Wreck on St. Johns Street have changed ownership.
“This consolidation allows us to push forward and scale our ability to offer high quality, locally crafted places and products to our community,” Allmin said.
He added Twin Sails will use Brave’s excess brewing capacity to launch new products while its sales team will be able to help promote and improve distribution of its new sister brewery’s beers.
“This opportunity allows both breweries to get back to their roots of creativity and providing customers a unique experience every time they come to our tasting rooms,” Allmin said.
Mike Arboit, co-founder of The Fountainhead Network, said tightening his alliance with the breweries and the Site B event space with which he shares a warehouse on Murray Street, strengthens the collaborative eco-system he’s been trying to build where work, play and community engagement co-exist and help boost each other.
“This merger will create the time, resources and confidence to grow,” said Arboit, who’s also promoted professional wrestling events at Site B.
The event space was recently granted a three-year extension of its temporary use permit by the City of Port Moody and several members of council said the concept has been such a success hosting gatherings like holiday sales, weightlifting competitions, long-table dinners, wedding receptions and even roller derby, they’d like to see the arrangement made permanent.
Peacock, who co-founded tech start-up Traction Demand that grew to more than 1,000 employees before it was acquired by Salesforce Professional Services, said he’d like to bring the concept to other communities.
—This story originally appeared on Tri-City News
