We have seen so many breweries open in the Greater Vancouver area over the last few years. We saw pioneers like Brassneck push the concept of a brewery lounge license, which totally changed the landscape in the lower mainland for breweries that want to serve beer to their clients coming in. At this point, you would be hard-pressed to find a local brewery that doesn’t have a lounge license, or is not looking to get one in the near future. There are others however that are interested in a slightly different business model that doesn’t necessarily encourage people to sit and drink in the brewery itself. Click here to learn about how White Rock Brewing is doing something a little different.
Rob Fisher was born and raised in Langley, BC. He spent most his career in business and sales but always had a penchant for refreshments. Working in sales is something he always enjoyed and he was very successful in what he did. However, in 2008, you may remember that we had a bit of a market crash and a lot of economies and businesses were struggling to get back on their feet. It seems like the appropriate time for Rob to seriously consider changing fields.
Interview after interview, he finally found his way to The Brewing 
Experience, a relatively large YouBrew operation happening off of King George in Surrey. The owner of the business at the time was looking for a marketing manager and Rob being a guy that “likes to make things happen” decided to apply and see if he could make the cut. So Rob came in, checked out the facility, and was instantly confused. “Most YouBrews are small and intimate, but this was a production facility. I wasn’t totally sure if it was a true YouBrew, or a manufacturing operation,” recalls Fisher. He reconnected with the owner’s brother and eventually found out that the owner was actually looking for an investment partner. “It was a viable business, but why was there no growth? My previous job was fixing businesses, so I saw a challenge.” Rob tells me, “I cut him a cheque in May of 2012 and by July of 2012 I realized he had bankrupted the company.” The biggest problem was that the staff had become sedated. So Rob took over, started cleaning house and turned things around. “Overall it was a rough start, spent a lot of money fixing things up, talking to customers and finding out what they wanted.”
The biggest question Rob was faced with was why the YouBrew industry seemed to be on decline. Particularly as the younger demographic in the generation proceeding him was very into local, no preservatives, organic, etc. “Young people wanted their own experience in terms of alcohol. There was an influx of people going to wineries, young people buying their wine directly from wineries instead of liquor stores. The nice thing about beer is that Portland (showed us) that young people wanted something different.”
As Rob was asking himself these questions, he was approached by the liquor board who actually asked him if he was interested in changing his YouBrew license into a manufacturing one. I must say I have spoken to many brewery owners over the years, and many people that work with the government, and having them ask an owner to create a manufacturing business is something I’ve never heard of. It was very refreshing to hear Rob talk about his experience with the liquor board, because I have heard so many horror stories about how hard it can be to work with them. A manufacturing brewery, and visited other local breweries to see what went into it, he got a little skeptical. “I thought, I don’t know if I want to (do this.) For one, I wasn’t ready to give up the money. But more importantly, if I did go down that road, I would have to give up my employees and I didn’t want to do that, because my employees mean everything to me.” But as he thought of it more, he realized more and more that the law can be a bit grey at times, so why not work with the government to have one company called White Rock Brewing that operates a manufacturing brewery as well as is a community brewing experience (Called “The Brewing Experience.”) That is exactly what he did.
In August 2015 Rob officially launched the brewery right next door to his YouBrew. He opened a small tasting room, Focused almost exclusively on growler fills. Is brewery operates on a 10 gallon kettle system which is very different then that 30 hL systems we may see in other facilities in the area. The reason for this is pretty simple according to Rob, “I would rather have the labour costs of brewing more often and have fresh beer in the kegs more often.” Seems pretty straightforward to me. But he explained to me their model is not to bring people in and have a drink beer after beer after beer in the tasting room. Rob believes that the hospitality industry specializes in dispensing beer, and doing a good job of it. “There’s all these restaurants, and pubs all over the lower mainland. I think that I would rather see my beer at Town Hall (just down the street) who has the facility, who has everything in relation to the socialization of alcohol, and support them.” He added, “If I were to open up a lounge that offered food, and was trendy and whatnot, what would be my focus? What’s my business? Would I be focusing on beer? Or would I be focusing on entertainment? I would place myself in direct competition with the people I want to sell to.” I must say this is a completely different philosophy and very refreshing to hear someone who is challenging the state of breweries. He was quick to add “I’m torn on that one, I’m not saying ‘no we’re not going to do it’ or ‘yes we are.’ I want to see how this all pans out first.“
At this point in the interview, an elderly couple came in and
wanted to sample some beer. It was interesting, because I felt as though I got to see Rob’s business model in action. They had just been next door and were interested in doing a very small batch of beer and we’re curious to see what the brewery was producing. Rob discussed with them the ins and outs of how big a batch to make. Now, he could’ve just convinced them to do a full batch, but I loved watching him take into account their obvious elder years and explain to them that a full batch, even a half batch wouldn’t meet their drinking needs as it would probably go bad before they can drink it all. However, he did explain to them that they were doing growler fills in the brewery, and broke down 1 L and 2 L growlers on a “how many cans of beer is this” basis to allow them the option of maybe getting a few growlers and filling them every few weeks instead of investing in beer and it would just go bad.
Rob explained to me about something he has absolutely fallen in love with about this industry: Getting to know the people. “They want to tell you their story – they will tell you where they have been, where they are going. You get to know who is in your neighbourhood.”
I got the chance to check out the YouBrew and it was incredible to see people working side-by-side with Barb Borden, one of White Rock Brewing’s brewers. It’s a neat experience to have the brewer from a manufacturing operation working so closely with customers and helping them make their beer. Barb has been brewing for 20+ years, 16 of which with the Brewing Experience. When I asked her about how bringing the brewery in conjunction with the YouBrew has made a difference, she told me “It’s attracting younger people which is what we need – a lot of the customers that were coming to The Brewing Experience are quitting drinking as they get older. So it is good that the manufacturing side is there to draw-in the younger crew.”
Speaking to their 10-Gallon system – she told me it really isn’t too hard, in fact she seems to like it. “When you do an experiment, if it fails it isn’t a raving disaster; if it works I can replicate it. I can make the same beer on all 8 kettles at the same time and we would have about 90 dozen every 5 or 6 hours.” The other brewer Al Clements told me that they are encouraged by Rob to mess around and experiment with the kettles as much as possible. Without telling me too much, he did tell me that they are planning a coffee stout in partnership with Holy Smoke, a coffee shop just down King George. It’s always nice to see local businesses pairing together like that!
Rob told me his employees meant the world to him, and they really are great. I got to chat with a few of them, including Alyssa Bouchard, a transplant from Winnipeg. She’s been working at the Brewing Experience for the last 8 months. Having worked as a server, she wanted to learn more about beer “I wasn’t really a big fan of beer before I came here but really wanted to learn more about it. It’s been great, I love it, I’ve learned a lot and don’t plan on running away screaming anytime soon!”
Of course, I did suggest she check out some CAMRA education classes as well, since it is my job to promote things! But you should all head out to White Rock Brewing company and get a growler or two filled up! I had the chance to try the Ocean Lager, the Mountain ale and the Red IPA – all of which were pretty top notch. If you do come by, make sure you let Rob know that I sent you, he would love to hear it!
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