GOLDEN B.C. — Craft-beer brewer Whitetooth Brewing Co. has opened its doors in Golden, B.C.
From the equipment to the beer names, Whitetooth Brewing Co. has embraced everything local. “After a three year process, it is very gratifying for Whitetooth Brewing Co. to open the doors to our tasting room just in time for the holiday season,” says Kent Donaldson, a Golden local and part owner of Whitetooth Brewing Co. “We are excited to be able to share our beer with the community and visitors.”
A home-brewer for years, Donaldson built a new garage and designed it around a top-of-the-line custom home-brewing system. He then decided to expand his passion for brewing by starting the commercial micro-brewery. Over the past year and a half Donaldson, Cronshaw and Nagao have used it as their laboratory to create and perfect the six beers they have launched.
Craft beers or microbrews now account for 20 per cent of beer sales in B.C. and according to the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch June 2015 report, craft-beer sales increased by 49.7 per cent from 2014 to 2015.
Along with his brew master Evan Cronshaw and business partner Mark Nagao, Donaldson has developed six distinct beers to launch the brewery — each named after a different attraction in Golden. Varieties include the west-coast inspired Blower Pow India Pale Ale (named after the dry deep snow on the local mountains), Whitetooth Session Ale (named for Golden’s original ski hill) and Speed Metal Foreign Extra Stout (named after Golden’s mountain biking trails). The Belgian-inspired beers are Icefields Pale Ale, Launch Pad Rye Ale and Thread the Needle Witbier, named after the white water sports on the Kicking Horse River.
The brewery purchased its equipment from Newlands Systems in Abbotsford B.C., which has been designing and creating brewing systems since 1990 and has distinguished itself as a premiere North American brewing equipment manufacture with over 500 breweries around the world running on its equipment.
