A former IT contractor and his geologist wife hope Revelstoke city council gives them the final thumbs-up on their venture to open a microbrewery in Mackenzie Village, which the community is already strongly supporting.
Revystoked Brewing Company, tentatively looking at opening late this summer on a five-year lease, would be Revelstoke's third microbrewery after Mt. Begbie Brewery and Rumpus Beer Company.
David Mills, a passionate home brewer for 10 years who completed a certificate through the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, moved from Calgary to Arrow Heights in 2020 with partner Samantha Etherington and recently proposed a small-scale brew operation in a 1,800-square-foot space.
"A lot of microbreweries do start with people who are like, 'Yeah, I'm doing this on my stove with a plastic kit,'" Mills joked, adding he used to rely on a furnace room and hot plate for his early concoctions.
For Revystoked, which would call 1701 Coursier Ave., home, "we're leaning toward a modern industrial vibe with a pinch of punk," he said, and while the property is a small and cozy space, "the large windows and high ceiling will help it feel airy."
Despite Revelstoke's tight market and challenge for startups, seeing Calgary relax its zoning back in 2016 to allow microbreweries to serve their product on site was "part of what made me think it was even possible," Mills said.
His plan is to operate six or seven days per week and run 10 to 14 taps, covering the usual suspects such as lager, pilsner, IPA and stout. Revystoked will also produce a hard seltzer, adding flavoured gluten-free beverages to the mix.
And, as avid partakers of dark beer, "we've been experimenting with low-alcohol beer down to one per cent," Mills shared. "Got a nice 3.5 per cent beer. It hits a lot of the body notes and chocolatey notes."
Revystoked is even looking to experiment with kombucha.
"Having non-alcoholic options that aren't pop are, I think, in our best interest and customers' best interest," he said.
Mills expects to hire a small staff, but noted it'll still very much be him and Etherington running the show full time.
"More often than not, if people see us in there, we'll be the ones mopping the floors and cleaning tables."
At city council's May 13 meeting, planning director Paul Simon spearheaded a zoning bylaw amendment for the Coursier Avenue property that would permit Revystoked to operate a tasting room with snacks, and sell retailed beer products. The property in question sits near Summit Market and several holiday rental apartment complexes.
Most of the nearly 20 letters submitted from the public (including one from Mills) strongly support the microbrewery proposal. This includes business owners and decades-long residents around Mackenzie Village, saying Revystoked would foster greater diversity of business, more jobs and stronger community while adding minimal noise in the evenings.
"There are people living above, so we can't have rackety noise going on all the time," Mills reasoned. "It's a quiet spot. We really want our neighbours to be happy."
Other than minor noise concerns, expressed strongly in one letter from the public, Coun. Tim Palmer raised one potential challenge at the May 13 meeting of welcoming a neighbourhood brewery: odour.
Having worked in Whistler earlier in his life, Palmer recalled Whistler Brewing Company sometimes having "odour issues" that became noticeable to the public. At Revystoked, Mills said the one notable odorous chemical compound would be dimethyl sulphide (DMS), which is boiled off in the brewing process and can smell like boiled cabbage.
However, "we will only need to brew, at best, twice a week," he reassured. "For an hour once to twice a week, we will be producing steam with DMS content."
Mills and Etherington also plan to use a condensation unit to contain and liquefy the DMS-dosed steam, which would then be treated on site with the rest of the brewery's effluent.
Furthermore, Mills said it's not accurate to liken the challenges of Whistler Brewing, which he estimates is 20 times as large an operation, to those of a microbrewery that fits inside 1,800 square feet. Operations of a similar scale to compare with, he suggested, are Revelstoke's Rumpus or Kelowna's Barn Owl Brewing.
Noise and odour qualms aside, Mills said part of why the Mackenzie Village community supports his proposal is because Revelstoke currently lacks anything like a microbrewery south of the Illecillewaet River.
"I think it can be a third space," he said, elaborating that Revystoked can foster conversation and connections between people from different walks of life. "It's not home and it's not work."
Especially in Revelstoke, where Mills sees a very real challenge of people dealing with isolation, his microbrewery would create a routine social atmosphere where locals can go to feel connected.
"We think that David and Sam's proposal will be a really good addition," David Evans, CEO of Mackenzie Village Developments, told council at a public hearing for Revystoked on Tuesday, June 10. "We've been looking for complementary businesses that will work together, serve the community, serve the expansion of Mackenzie Village, as well as the local neighbourhood."
Council will determine the fate of Revystoked at its next meeting Tuesday, June 24.
