Driving south past the intersection of Griffin Road and Griffin Industrial Point, passing by the ‘Half Hitch Brewery 2013’ sign still atop an empty gravel lot begs the question: when is this craft brewery ready to begin construction?
Despite a long permit and application process, it seems that everything is moving along and the ground breaking for the barn-like construct, which will largely be built out of rough-cut wood for an authentic feel, will likely begin by spring of 2014, for a soft opening of the brewery by early fall, with the restaurant portion to follow.
“The development application received approval on Oct. 24, with a requirement to meet certain standard conditions,” explained Stephen Utz, senior planner with the Town of Cochrane.
“From our conversations with them, I understand that the Half Hitch Brewery views the conditions as readily achievable and that they are now working to complete them.”
Hard at work, indeed.
The Half Hitch Brewery is all in the family. The Heier family, that is, with each member taking on various company roles including president Chris Heier, who is the family beer maker.
“We’re focusing on three recipes as our main brews – a pale ale, a red ale and a brown ale,” explained Heier.
“I find when people try something different outside of the mainstream beers, they start looking for beer with more flavour…but you don’t need to go darker to get that flavour.”
Heier’s recipes won four medals at the 2012 Cowtown Homebrew Roundup last February at the Wild Rose Brewery. He’s ventured everywhere from ‘bourbon barrel-aged mint chocolate porter’ to ‘honey-maple IPA’ to his ‘Belgian dark strong ale’.
Brewing passion aside, Heier said what he’s looking forward to the most is supporting the Cochrane community - especially sports teams, including kids teams, through the venue.
“The community aspect is one of the biggest things I’m looking forward to, but there’s still work to be done.”
One of the biggest hurdles the Heier family has had to overcome is making sure that their design matches the landscaping requirements laid out in the Land Use Bylaw, which applies to their site construction.
“Developments in industrial areas are required to provide 10 per cent of their lot for landscaping, with a tree required for every 35 square meters of the private landscaping area combined with the adjacent municipal boulevard areas,” explained Utz. “We very much believe that the approved landscaping plan will do an excellent job of making the site very attractive.”
The 48 by 72-foot, two-storey building will have an additional 12-foot width for an outdoor patio; combined with the requirements of the Land Use Bylaw, it leaves little extra space on the half-acre lot; the restaurant design includes 195 seats.
But Heier is confident in his family’s schematic design choices and looks forward to hopefully pouring the foundation by spring.
The family plans on working with local establishments to carry their line of craft brew.
You can follow Half Hitch Brewery on Twitter at @HalfHitchBeer.
