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Brewing partners build business based on beer

Port Rexton Brewing has become a destination on the Bonavista Peninsula

ANDREW ROBINSON andrew.robinson @thetelegram.com @Cbnandrew

Six years ago, Alicia Macdonald and Sonja Mills ventured into relatively uncharted waters — or suds, more appropriately perhaps.

The business partners behind Port Rexton Brewing were bringing craft beer to rural Newfoundland. At that time, craft breweries in the province — they could be counted on one hand — were centred around St. John’s metro.

While interest in craft beers and varieties other than the more traditional lagers had blossomed in the years prior to opening their own brewery, it was still very much a new thing to set up a brewery in a community with a population below 500 that’s just under a three-hour car drive from St. John’s.

“We were into craft beer as a consumer, and I think as I was home brewing, we just tossed the idea around,” said Macdonald, the brewery’s brewmaster.

They started creating a business plan and at first envisioned setting up shop in Nova Scotia — Macdonald and Mills were living in Halifax. But they soon switched gears and started thinking about Mills’ home province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I think we saw all the explosion happening in Nova Scotia with craft breweries — this is in 2013 — and we were surprised that it hadn’t happened to Newfoundland,” said Mills, a trained lawyer who handles the business side of the brewery. “I’d always wanted to start a business, be an entrepreneur. Alicia definitely has that blood as well. We were super gung ho with the idea of it.”

That decision to follow through and start a brewery paid off. Craft beer has since exploded in Newfoundland and Labrador, with 20 breweries now operating across the province. The newest one, Banished Brewing in Paradise, distributed its first batch of cans to stores in St. John’s metro earlier this month.

“I think it’s pretty heartwarming,” said Mills. “We knew it would come, like what’s happening everywhere else. You’re proud of your province, you’re proud of your industry and seeing it to the point where it is today — the market has evolved tremendously. People’s palates have evolved.”

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2022-07-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

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