This Saturday, Aug. 8 will mark a dream come true for Williams Lake brewmaster Dave Reedman when the lakecity’s first brewery, Fox Mountain Brewing Co. celebrates its official grand opening.
Open at 11:30 a.m. and closing at midnight, Reedman is inviting residents from throughout the region to come sample his locally-brewed and created pints and to enjoy some food from the brewery’s restaurant, along with kicking back to the stylings and sounds of local entertainers at its outdoor patio.
Live, musical entertainment will kickoff around 5 p.m. with Williams Lake artists Dena Baumann, Ben Lamb-Yorski, Connor Dolighan and Kurt Albrechtson following a welcome to the WLFN territory by Chief Willie Sellars.
Reedman said in celebration of the day there will be food specials, drink specials and lots of giveaways including Fox Mountain Brewing Co. beer, shirts, hats, stickers, growlers and other swag.
In addition, every Fox Mountain Brewing Co. beer guest’s purchase will enter them into a contest for a chance to work with the brewery to name one of its upcoming seasonal beer creations.
Fox Mountain Brewing Co. serves pints, flights and food in its taproom, and offers growler fills, bottles and kegs at its storefront, and regionally.
READ MORE: Construction continues for Williams Lake’s first brewery
The entirely renovated facility — which was constructed inside the old Greyhound station location on Donald Drive — is now fully up and running, and has been well-received by guests, Reedman said.
“We tried to do a soft opening — our first day was June 26 — but it was just crazy busy with people seeing cars parked here while they were driving by on the highway,” he said. “Things are going well now, we’ve worked out most of the kinks and we’re just getting into our rhythm.”
Reedman said he’s trying to be as community-minded as possible by purchasing local beef for the restaurant from Macilister’s MIC Meats just a short distance north of the city, and has brought in Margetts Meat Market pepperoni as snack food, while continually looking to expand on local products at the brewery.
Reedman’s foray into becoming a brewmaster began about seven or eight years ago after studying and training for four months at Sunderland, England’s Brewlab.
“I’ve been homebrewing for seven, eight years and at Brewlab I got the technical background and exposure to commercial systems and I came back and built a fairly sophisticated homebrew setup with quite a bit of temperature control,” he explained.
“I started making beer with the water in Williams Lake, figuring out our local ingredients, coming up with recipes and just experimenting, and in opening [Fox Mountain Brewing Co.] I just thought it was time. I found some investors and decided to just go for it.”
Previously working as a fisheries biologist, Reedman began searching for a suitable location to open his own brewery.
“I was looking for almost a year and I was having a hard time finding a spot,” he said. “When I heard Greyhound was closing a light bulb went off and I hunted down the owner and he’s been great to work with.”
Renovations started in August of 2019 and featured the help of local contractors including Lauren Brothers Construction Ltd. and RL7 Mechanical Ltd.
And, to date, feedback from the public has been encouraging.
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“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback on both the beer and the food, as well as from non beer drinkers about the lcider from Naramata, and we’ve started doing some cocktails, and iced tea plates for the kids,” he said.
Children are welcome at the tap room until 9 p.m. where Reedman said locally-brewed four sample iced tea paddles have been a hit.
Reedman’s line of beers available Saturday during the grand opening will include a Bluebird Saison, Jimmy’s Pale Ale, Godpseed North West IPA and Hillbilly Blonde Ale.
“Come on down and check the place out,” he said of the grand opening. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
greg.sabatino@wltribune.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
