By Andrew Macdonald
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Garrison Brewery in Halifax.
In 1997, Brian Titus bravely left a dedicated paycheque as a diver in the Royal Canadian Navy, and launched Garrison on Lady Hammond Road.
Over the last quarter of a century, Garrison has expanded four times, and now has a beer-making plant at the Halifax Seaport District, where it also operates a retail store, and a pub for patrons to test out its products, which include 55 different beers, some seasonal.
Garrison also now operates a retail store at the Oxford Taproom, located in the former Oxford Theatre on Quinpool Road.
Garrison Brewery was founded in 1997 – that is 25-years of making fine beer. It has two retail stores, including a sales outlet at its main brewery in the Seaport District. (The Notebook photo).
Titus tells The Notebook he began producing a profit in the fourth year of the business and annual sales now reach $6 million.
There were originally 15 investors who help fund Titus’s ambition in 1997. Titus even asked his then father-in-law, admiralty lawyer Frank Metcalf QC, to invest, and he continues to hold his shares today.
A fun fact: national Tory leader Erin O’Toole, who in 1997 was flying Sea King choppers out of Shearwater, was among original investors.
O’Toole spoke to me in a 2020 conversation about his seed money for Titus: “It was $2,000. Back in 1997, Brian was raising pretty much anything he could get.”
Look closely and you can see federal Tory leader, Erin O’Toole, holding a Red Irish from Garrison Brewery. O’Toole was one of 15 original investors when Garrison launched in 1997. The national Tory leader is shown with Valley PC MLA, John Lohr. Lohr says: “The Notebook is NS’ political publication”.
At O’Toole’s Westin Nova Scotian hospitality suite two years ago, the beer brand on choice came from Garrison, naturally.
Although he was one of Titus’ 15 investors, his shares were later bought out over the years by the brewer, and now there are only three original shareholders in Garrison Brewery.
“They squeezed out the little shareholders like me many years ago. But I am a big fan of Garrison and Brian. I really like him, he is a hard-working individual,” said O’Toole.
Titus is president and CEO and the majority owner. Lawyer Frank Metcalf and Mark Overmars continue to hold minority shares.
Garrison Brewery, like many of the other 78 breweries in NS, often takes humour to branding its suds. (The Notebook photo).
This week for the craft beer deep dive on the industry, I began my 50-minute conversation with Titus by asking: “Brian, how is the beer business going.”
“Well, you know, Andrew, I am still pretty new at this, this is only my 25th year in business. Isn’t that crazy?”
There are now 70 craft brewers in Nova Scotia and many are employing folk in rural communities. Craft breweries tend to go with seasonal suds offerings and the marketing of the locally made beer can take on fun names.
For instance, Garrison retails a brand called Pucker Up, and each Christmas it makes an historic Spruce Beer from Christmas tree branches.
Its original beer brand was Irish Red, which it continues today to make in a six-pack bottle format. But, its top-selling brand is a 12-pack bottle format called Tall Ships.
To mark the 25th year in the fine beer-making business, Titus is working on graphics for a brand to honour its past successes.
“We’re going to do a couple of things this year. We are trying to have some fun and there will be a couple of special beers produced,” he says.
“The primary beer is a special pale ale, “it’s a slightly hoppier pale ale but it will have potentially a couple of surprise ingredients. The main thing is it will be a really long conditioned, tasty, crisp beer that we can really kind of hang our hat on,” he says.
Brian Titus was a former Royal Canadian Navy diver, who founded Garrison Brewery in 1997 – that’s 25-years of making fine craft beer in Halifax. (The Notebook photo).
“It’s a beer that anyone will be able to drink. It won’t be overly hoppy, it won’t be out there in terms of flavours, but it will be very premium — a nice beer for the summer, for sure.”
The summer period is when more beer is consumed than any other time of the calendar. The official beer-drinking summer begins with May’s Victoria Day Weekend.
That special beer will have a five per cent alcohol volume.
Garrison Brewery has a pub in its Seaport District beer-making plant. Shown on various products on tap. (The Notebook photo).
Garrison has a staff of 45 on its payroll.
For an archived 2019 article on beer giants approaching Titus to sell his operation, here is an encore presentation of that article:
Garrison Brewery’s Founder Brian Titus: ‘There Have Been Talks To Sell To A Global Brew Giant…But’
A week after his fourth expansion of Garrison Brewery, founder Brian Titus in a 2019 chat admitted there have been offers for him to sell the 25-year-old craft brewery — talks initiated by global beer giants.
But he has not executed a purchase and sales deal, because, as he tells The Notebook, “We are having too much fun.”
Brian Titus debuted a summertime beer in a recent year, called Wicked Good Pale. He founded craft brewer Garrison 25 years ago. The Notebook photo.
The talks with international breweries never entered a formal stage of discussion but were informal forays by the behemoth breweries.
“But, now you have Labatt, (owned by Brazilian global brewer ABInBev) with two operations in the city (Oland the smaller Keith Brewery).
“I am having fun right now. We have yet to get to that point (of a sale). I am not going to leave anytime soon,” he tells The Notebook.
The fact global giant ABInBev has a craft brewery at the historic Brewery Market on the Halifax Waterfront underscores how popular the craft beer movement in Nova Scotia has become in its 30 years of witnessing craft brew operations pop up. There are now 70 craft breweries in Nova Scotia.
Packing for Garrison Brewery’s original beer, Irish Red. (The Notebook photo).
Garrison has a 11,000-hectolitre plant. By comparison, Brazilian-owned Oland Brewery, on Agricola Street produces 800,000 hectolitres of beer, including its top seller the Bud brands, which are more popular than the original beer of Halifax, Alexander Keith.
Click here to read all about how Oland is entering the small batch brew market in Nova Scotia.
For more craft beer coverage, see stories published in Saturday’s Notebook, elsewhere in this edition.
