The Business of Beer: Shed Brewing
Familiar face runs retail side of Shed Brewing (65 Hatt St., Dundas)
Dundas Star News By Craig Campbell Nov 12, 2015
A brewmaster with more than 20 years of craft brewing experience, and a familiar face from Dundas’ popular retail scene are both part of the team bringing Ed Madronich’s craft brewery vision to Dundas.
With brewhouse tanks ready to set up and connected by a technician coming from Italy in the next couple of weeks, Madronich and partner Shawn Till are as close as they’ve ever been to seeing Shed Brewing Company (Shawn and Ed Brewing) actually producing suds.
“It’s the first time it’s felt like it looks like a brewery,” Madronich said, last week. “It’s exciting.”
Former Domestique Café operator Krys Hines joins the brewery to oversee the retail and customer experience side.
Rob Creighton also joins Shed Brewing after more than eight years with the multi-award winning Grand River Brewing. Creighton previously worked for Algonquin Brewing and Upper Canada Brewing after first learning the trade as a student at Labatt’s.
Madronich said Creighton has already moved from Cambridge to Dundas.
He said both Hines and Creighton share the community-based, specialized environment he and Till plan to create at Shed.
“We are laser-focussed on not just doing it but doing it brilliantly well,” Madronich said. “It`s true of the equipment we have, it`s true of the location, and the people we hire.”
There’s still plenty of “finishing touches” – as Madronich likes to call them – yet to complete. But with the various tanks and brewing equipment finally inside the space, and structural construction completed, Madronich is looking forward to the next few weeks.
“We’re not days away, we’re weeks away,” he said. “I’ll be happy if we’ve got it all going for the New Year.”
Named for the co-owner’s, Shed Brewery’s first product will be a line of at least two lager-style beers – including a regular lager and a dark lager – under the name Lagershed.
In addition, a specialty barrel brewing program featuring beer aged in barrels that have previously stored other types of alcohol - under the name Barrelshed – will also be featured in the brewery’s early days.
“I think that’s where the brewmaster will have fun,” Madronich said. “He will experiment. That will be the real craft of craft beer.”
The customer’s experience inside the retail area – where beer sampling will take place and visitor’s will have opportunities to watch the brewmaster at work – is key to Madronich, and he’s happy to have Hines looking after that side of the brewery.
For Hines, there’s no questioning the commitment and dedication to community coming from Madronich and Till. He noted the fact their names are on the sign.
“That shows our confidence,” Madronich said. “We’re proud to put our names on it.”
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