The Heier family is planning a good old fashioned barn-raising in Cochrane.
The best thing about the Heier’s barn is there will be lots of good beer there. Some tasty food, too, if you’re hungry.
A family owned and operated craft brewery and restaurant called Half Hitch Brewery is in development here. When built, it will stand on the corner of Griffin Road and Griffin Industrial Point.
“We’re trying to make it the same as if you went to the farm and saw a Monitor barn,” explained company president Chris Heier.
“We want to build it out of rough-cut wood as much as we can and really build that barn-like feeling, not just on the exterior but on the interior as well.”
The Heiers have the design finished and are about to get together with structural engineers to make sure it will work. The project hasn’t reached the permit application phase, yet. Chris said he’s hoping the barn will start to go up early in 2014, though he admits he may be a tad aggressive with his timeline.
Also involved are Chris’s father Mike Heier, his brother Kyle Heier and step-sister Brittney Kozloski, who will look after marketing and sales.
An avid beer maker, Chris says he has developed 55 different beer recipes, two of which will likely be available to start at the Half Hitch — a pale ale and an India black ale. The Heiers plan to distribute to other restaurants and bars in Cochrane.
Chris’ recipes won four medals at the 2012 Cowtown Homebrew Roundup last February at the Wild Rose Brewery. His imperial stout brought home a gold.
“We will essentially be brewing everything from scratch, bringing in the barley and hops and building the recipes that way,” he said.
“One of the things we are trying to incorporate in the brewery structure is the restaurant experience. We want to give people who are inside the restaurant the feeling that they are inside a brewery as opposed to a restaurant that is attached to a brewery.”
Outside there will be food and beverage for those who prefer hay and water.
“One of the things I want to have, since this is Cochrane and we are Half Hitch Brewery, is a hitching-post outside so we can have people park their horses outside,” Chris said.
“We’ll give the horse some barley and the rider a beer.”
You can follow their progress on Twitter at @HalfHitchBeer.
