Once again we teamed up with the good people over at Apt 613 for their Foodie Friday section. Here’s our interview with the soon-to-be Pakenham brewery, Cartwright Springs:
Just shy of an hour west of Ottawa is the small community of Mississippi Mills, home to about 12,000 residents and soon to be home to 1 brand new brewery. Cartwright Springs Brewery, opening in 2015, is named after the fresh water spring the brewery sources locally to brew its beer. The CSBeer team currently consists of André Rieux, Eduardo Guerra and Hien Hoang. Right now, the brewery is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds so they can build a tasteful tasting bar. BrewBrahs.com had the chance to chat with the fellas behind the brewery and get the details on this campaign.
Brew Brahs: Water is a crucial ingredient in beer, tell us about the fresh water springs you’ve named your brewery after.
Andre: Finding the springs was actually a big deal for me. I had shivers. It was many months later that I actually was able to make beer with it. Best beer I ever made and it’s not because I got better at making beer overnight. I’d love to take credit for the success but I was finally using the right main ingredient.
The type of water sourced by different breweries is often best suited to certain beer styles, is there a specific style that will be taken to the next level by your quality H2O?
Andre: Ottawa actually has good water for making beer and the breweries are able to make excellent beer with the city water. I believe that our spring water is a bit of a luxury for us though. We consider ourselves very lucky. All our beers will be made with our spring water exclusively, following the same successful model as some other very famous and successful breweries like Beaus and Creemore. Oh… actually, we will have one or two beers that will not use water at all. Our seasonal Maple Porter will be made exclusively with maple sap… Yah – We’re not kidding! Great results, obviously limited quantities since the process of doing this is very labour intensive.
Tell us about the Kickstarter campaign you guys have launched. How can people get involved and what’s the end goal?
Andre: Hien is the brains of this project. He saw that people wanted to help. It’s easy. Go to our kickstarter campaign site, pick a cool reward that suits you and enjoy the pride in being part of our project.
Paint us a picture of what you have envisioned for this tasting space?
Eduardo: We’ll love to have a relaxing and inviting space where one can chill out and taste the different beers we offer… we envision a few chairs and couches with a coffee table, etc., a la Lodge style!!!
Andre: Our tasting area will hopefully be able to blend in with the natural environment where the brewery is located. Spring, stream, forest… The brewery is industrial but we would like the place where we welcome our guests to be comfortable and natural.
After watching your excellent video on the construction of the building, we have to ask, was there a flying drone involved in the filming!?
Eduardo: Absolutely! Master-pilot Hien is responsible for the trick-flying of the drone for the video and a few of the nice fly-bys that didn’t make it to the final cut. But he’d probably release those in the director’s cut version later!
Historically, many communities had their own brewery to serve the local residents. Currently, there is certainly a movement in Ontario away from mass-produced beer and back to local. What kind of support have you received from the community?
Andre: Our community is very excited about having our brewery here. People are proud and they show it with overwhelming support!
Eduardo: The Mississippi Mills, Pakenham, Almonte, Arnprior, etc., have been great in supporting us from the get-go. This help has come from neighbours lending a hand, or lending tools, through the long process of building the brewery and it’s come from visitors just showing up to our doors and expressing how happy they are to have us there. It’s been great!
Can we get any details on this Chiflado beer?
Eduardo: Brew master Andre can tell you about this one 
Andre: Haha… Yah… It’s a funny story actually. I had communicated to Eduardo that we had enough of one thing in one text message. Then I sent him the shopping list in another text message. Well, it seems that the first text stuck and so he only bought what we already had plenty of. What do you do? Well… try something new. The Chiflado turned out better than we expected and it taught us something that we can use for other recipes. The name means Crazy in Spanish: The situation is the name.
What’s the team’s go-to brewing tune?
Eduardo: Any good beat with lots of bass to keep us going, we listen to Hot89.9 often.
Rapid fire! Pour a cold one and throw back the first answer that comes to mind. Annnnnnnd Go!
Favourite North American beer?
Eduardo: Pump House’s Cadian Cream Ale – I’m drinking one now!
Favourite local brew?
Eduardo: Right this moment, I am thoroughly enjoying our own Cartwright Springs Brewery (CSB) APA, but before that, I was enjoying Cassel Brewery’s Hopper Car IPA.
Spiderman or Batman?
Eduardo: I don’t think either would make great drinking buddies, so Cat Woman!
Andre: Whahaha… Eduardo… that’s so funny!
Food that pairs with any style of beer?
Eduardo: Tender, southern style BBQ ribs!
Perfect Winter beer?
Eduardo: Any Cream Ale or Stout.
Andre: Our last Stout turned out nice with roasted coffee aromas. The kind of aromas that will still be perceived over the smoke of a nice roaring fire. That’s my pick.
Who has the best fashion sense in the brewery?
Eduardo: Hien, very GQ-ish!
Andre: It’s easy for Hien to dress nicer than us at the moment because we spend most of our time in construction clothing! The award, in my opinion, goes to Thuy, Jen and Celia. They are the super fashionable ladies that helped us at the Almonte Food and Drink show. Our booth was super popular, not just because of our beer! :)
And finally, when will you be opening your doors to the thirsty masses? Are there any events coming up that you’ll be pouring and mingling at?
Andre: We will make sure everyone who follows us via Facebook or our website knows about our next event. We hope to have a fun grand opening party early in spring.
Cheers and thank you to the gentlemen at Cartwright Springs Brewery for taking the time to chat! Don’t forget you can support their efforts here.
