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The craft growth is having ripples through local economies.

Recently, Square Timber Brewing Co., just outside Pembroke, opened after almost a year of construction. The owner, Marc Bru, wouldn’t spell out exactly how much it all cost. However, he said he needed to call on people in the trades to get his business up and going.

“There were the guys from the excavating company and the concrete company. There were the guys from the heating and cooling companies,” he said, adding that even though he did much of the construction himself, he still employed about a dozen area workers over 12 months and continues to call people back for repair work or servicing.

“This isn’t just about the person who wants to come in and buy a growler, it’s about everything around it, too.”

Microbreweries across Ontario now directly employ more than 1,000 people. According to the Ontario government, that represents as many as one out of every three people in the province’s brewing industry.

A support industry is emerging as well. Some farmers are turning their attention to growing hops, the ingredient that makes beer bitter.

A bitter taste

As brewers such as McJannett increase production, they’re looking to move beyond selling solely from the single retail location they are allowed to operate. Along with more retail channels, they need distribution and warehousing.

Steve Beauchesne founded Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. with his father on Canada Day in 2006. He has taken the brewer from a small Vankleek Hill boutique operation to a large-scale brewery that employs 123 people and has distribution in New York State and now Quebec as well as throughout its home province of Ontario. To expand, Beauchesne had to work through Ontario’s existing alcohol sale laws, which included securing shelf space at the LCBO and, more recently, The Beer Store.