Cheers to 10 years: Cape Breton craft brewery marks big birthday

Breton Brewing marks its 10-year anniversary with a new brew.

Ten years ago, two young men in Sydney - a consulting engineer, and a teacher - had a dream.

“Myself and Andrew (Morrow) were both home brewers at the time,” said Breton Brewing Co., co-owner Bryan MacDonald on Friday, of the pair’s fledgling business idea back in 2015.

MacDonald said he and Morrow, who were both starting their families as well, felt an entrepreneurial itch.

That’s why they left their jobs, and on the final weekend of June 2015 opened the first craft brewery in the Sydney area.

Cape Breton Island has two other microbreweries - Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza and Route 19 Brewing in Inverness.

“It was definitely a leap,” MacDonald said. “But we had a good business plan and a belief in our idea, so we decided to take that leap.”

“It seems like a whirlwind,” Morrow added. “The last ten years have been filled with a lot of highs, and a lot of support from the community that we live in.”

Breton Brewing’s beginnings were relatively humble.

The brewery started with just two kinds of beer - Black Angus IPA and Stirling Hefenweizen German wheat beer, growlers only -and a building the two men renovated along the way while selling their first several months’ worth of pints.

Now, their beers are among the best-sellers throughout Nova Scotia and the Maritimes.

“Because of that support, we’ve been able to increase our staff to about 30 and employ people here in Cape Breton,” Morrow said. “And that was our main goal, was to keep more people home here in Cape Breton.”

There are events happening at the brewery on Keltic Drive in Coxheath all weekend long to celebrate the ten-year anniversary, but the big day is Saturday.

The main day of festivities includes an outdoor concert headlined by Jordan Musyscyn, The Tom Fun Orchestra, and Rankin MacInnis & The Broken Reeds.

No decade in business is without its challenges, and the past one included the COVID-19 pandemic when Breton - and so many others in the industry - pivoted to make home deliveries.

As for what might be in store for the next ten years, the two men say something new could be ‘on tap’ by as soon as the fall.

“We’re working on a downtown location in Sydney,” MacDonald said. “We have a building that we have been working on retrofitting, so that’s kind of the next step for Breton Brewing.”

Heading into their big birthday weekend, there seemed to be only one thing left to say.

“Cheers to ten years,” Morrow said.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page