by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — The community-minded owners of Whitewater Brewing and Lakeside Brew Pub are doing what they can to honour those who are currently serving, or have served, in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Chris D. Thompson, and Chris M. Thompson, fondly referred to as Hightower and Lowtower respectively, will provide a free pint of one of their craft beers at their newest pub that recently opened in Cobden to any Canadian forces personnel or veteran participating in a Remembrance Day ceremony on Friday, Nov. 11.
The newly-opened Whitewater Brewing and Lakeside Brew Pub is located at 78 Pembroke Street West (Highway 17) in Cobden. The brewhouse and restaurant was built on the site of the former Century Milling Company.
But, this isn’t the first event at this pub that opened a week ago. There was the grand opening on Thursday, Oct. 27 followed by the Boowery Halloween party on Saturday, Oct. 29, both sold-out events.
“It’s been great since we’ve opened,” said Lowtower. “It’s been impressive to see our staff take something that was purely on paper and turn it into an actual food product and a service product as well, whether it was the food itself or our serving staff getting dishes from here and setting them there.”
He added that the Boowery party went well.
“There were amazing costumes,” he said. “I was actually blown away. The effort people put into these, some people really go all out. Someone came as a six-pack of our beers. That was really good. Someone came as batman, making his own suit.”
The facility is about 7,300 square feet and one-third is restaurant and retail with the brewery itself taking up two-thirds of the allotted space, Lowtower said.
Hightower noted the pub can seat 80 people inside and 30 people can be seated on the patio.
The food will be similar to that of the Riverside pub, which is located at the intersection of Fletcher and Grants Settlement roads and opened just over three years ago, Lowtower said.
“The food will be high-quality and as local as we can get it,” he said. “However, what’s different is the menu is about twice as big, which is about 24 items.”
Meals include steaks, fish, tacos, he said.
The brewery side is considerably larger than the Riverside location, Hightower said. The Riverside location was able to only make 50 litre batches, while the Lakeside location will be brewing 3,000 litre batches. He noted there will be two batches brewed twice a week for now, and bumping it up as the brew becomes even more popular. At the Riverside location, they were brewing five 50-litre batches a day seven days a week.
The brewery can be seen behind large, windows when in the restaurant, and to make it dramatic, there are changing coloured lights in the brewery section, which light up the shiny tanks, Hightower said.
Tours of the facility will be provided, once the brewing process begins early in December, when the pub isn’t busy, Hightower said.
However, brewing has started for the 12 Beers of Christmas at the Riverside location. Lowtower noted there is demand for this Christmas beer and more may be brewed this year. There are 12 varieties and with only two tanks available, it’s time to get started, he said.
Hightower noted the four core brands will eventually be brewed at the Lakeside location and the seasonal varieties at the Riverside location. He added while the Riverside restaurant will only be opened throughout the summer season, the brewing will continue throughout the year, and the retail store will be opened weekends.
Lowtower noted there is a different atmosphere between the Riverside and Lakeside locations, with pizza and burgers for the Riverside and a larger menu with more choices for the Lakeside location.
There are currently 40 employees, with Cory Smith as the head chef; Sean Goddard as the head brewer; and Steve Shortt is the pub manager.
Lakeside will only be serving its craft beers – Farmer’s Daughter, Whistling Paddler, Midnight Sout and Class V, as well as any special brews they will do throughout the year, said Hightower. But, he noted there is an educational process for the public regarding craft beers.
“A lot of people haven’t necessarily tried craft beer, and there are hundreds of craft beers in Ontario that are easy-drinking that you don’t have to just drink one and you can’t drink any more of it.”
The name craft beer is used because each of the beers are handcrafted, they are physically brewed, Hightower said.
“It’s not just a machine where you press go,” he said, explaining, “There’s actually a skill involved in the brewing process and the recipe formulation is very hands-on.
“It’s very much like cooking,” he said.
Lowtower explained it like making handcrafted chairs, each one will be slightly different because of the materials the person is working with.
He admits there are people who do not like craft beers, but along with an education process, there is also a mentality shift.
“Beer is not just an accessory to getting drunk,” Lowtower said, adding, “It’s actually like any part of the meal, whether it be a spice or utensil, it all comes together to make that particular moment better.
“It’s having the right music, it’s being with the right people, the right environment, it becomes more important as opposed to like just a chair you might sit on and not really think about, it’s actually just more in the forefront now, which is different for us in the Valley.”
Lowtower believes there has been a shift in the Valley to people being more open to the craft beer.
Hightower also believes people are more open to trying the craft beers because they realize they are supporting a local business.
“I don’t mean ourselves because we are a local brewery, but we also buy local hops to make our beer, so it’s like a long chain of local companies being supported,” he said.
Area businesses that were involved in the construction of the brewery included the Coulas Brothers, BEI (Bonnechere Excavating Inc.), Olmstead’s Home Hardware and Campbell’s Bay Cement
Many locals started coming in because the brewery does support the local economy, he said, and they keep coming back.
Lowtower noted that regular and special events will be held at the Lakeside location. Thursday night’s will be open mic nights and Friday and Saturday nights will have live music. There are plans to have games nights, Guy Fawkes night, and an astronomer is coming it.
“It’s month dependent and the time of year dependent,” he said.
While there were some concerns that area residents may not welcome the brewery in their neighbourhood, both owners say that’s not the case. The community, both neighbours and businesses, have been quite welcoming, with congratulations coming in daily since opening.
Hightower and Lowtower, along with a former partner, opened the first location of Whitewater Brewing Company in June, 2013 — which is known as the Riverside Brew Pub and Brewery.
For restaurant hours, what’s happening at the pubs and more information on the company, visit its website, whitewaterbeer.ca.
