The Heier family of Half Hitch Brewery announced through social media last week that they are ready to dig dirt and begin construction of Cochrane’s premier brewery.
Ground breaking officially began Aug. 6 and Chris Heier, president and brew master, said they are “excited” to finally move into the construction phase — addressing the delays as minor hiccups such as site servicing plans and communication.
“We’ll take our victories where we can,” laughed Heier, adding that the process has been a lot of work, considering they “designed the building from scratch.”
The site is located at the intersection of Griffin Road and Griffin Industrial Point and construction was originally slated to begin in the spring of 2014; the Heier family secured their site in early 2013.
The process has been a lengthy one, following a series of hurdles over development permits and ensuring their landscaping design met the town’s requirements through the Land Use Bylaw.
“We just received notice from the town that they are accepting our development site servicing plan and that they will be releasing our development permit,” explained Heier Aug. 5, who will be joined by his various family members in all aspects of the business — from marketing to customer relations.
Moving forward, Heier said they are aiming for timber framing by the end of October; the goal is to have the structure in place and to focus on exterior finishes and interior work throughout the winter and early spring.
Heier said delivery and installation of their brewing equipment would begin by February 2015, and that the goal is to have the brewery open by the summer of 2015.
The 140-seating capacity two-level restaurant side (complete with a patio) would follow at a later date yet to be determined.
Three craft brews would be included in their product launch, including ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ (pale ale), ‘Shotgun Wedding’ (brown ale) and ‘Fire ‘n Fury’ (red ale).
Heier’s recipes won four medals at the 2012 Cowtown Homebrew Roundup, held in February 2013 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’.
The family also plans to work with local establishments to carry their line of craft beer.
You can follow Half Hitch Brewery on Twitter at @HalfHitchBeer.
