1. Half Pints
2. Barn Hammer
3. Fort Garry

 

When Half Pints’ head brewer Chris Young started out with the company, he didn’t know he was launching a 10-year career.

“I answered an ad in the paper back when people used to put want ads in papers,” Young says. “I wasn’t really working a job that I liked at the time, and I was a beer fan. So, as a 20-something-year-old, it sounded great to work at a brewery for a while.”

Young has seen a lot of change in the beer scene since Half Pints started up in 2006.

“Selection of beer was pretty limited at that point, which is kind of why Half Pints started,” he says. 

Canadians have had an increasing taste for craft beer since the mid-2000s and there are currently more small breweries in this country than ever before.

Young says he loves seeing what other brewers are putting out there.

“It used to be very boring to go to the LC and pick up beer. I would often end up just leaving with my own,” he says. “Now, I can go there every other week and there’ll be something new that I want to try.”

Young likes to be inspired by trends but also prides himself on having fun with traditional beer styles, naming Half Pints’ stout as an example.

“It’s a fairly standard Irish stout, but we also throw in a whole bunch of coffee in the end of it to give it that extra kick of coffee-roasted flavour,” he says.

As for future recipes, new changes to Manitoba’s liquor laws have allowed Half Pints to open their own tap room where customers can try test batches and give feedback on site.

Young says he is excited for the new level of interaction the tap room will create.

Published in Volume 71, Number 13 of The Uniter (December 1, 2016)