Bottoms up: Glasstown Brewing Company almost ready to open

Wallaceburg brewery prepares to open Glasstown Brewery Co. nears its highly anticipated grand opening. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell has details.

A new craft brewery in Chatham-Kent is almost ready to open its doors after nearly two years of anticipation.

The Glasstown Brewing Company on James Street in Wallaceburg, On., has been under extensive construction, with it’s staff preparing for a Victoria Day weekend grand opening.

“You can boat right up to the back door,” said owner Todd Shepley. “Basically tie up and hook up to all the hydro and water or whatever. That's a huge advantage for the boaters as well as anybody coming out of town.”

The new craft brewery is situated in the downtown core along the Sydenham River and boasts up to 18 taps with 8 different beer vats on site.

“We want to be that mini-destination,” Shepley explained. “We're going to have five suites on the second level. There'll be a full wedding venue or a smaller 100 people and less type of thing up there. So we've got a lot of areas in this building that you can use for event spaces, weddings, and parties, and then be able to stay here on site as well.”

Shepley said the goal is to create a brewery district in Wallaceburg that will entice local support along with big city visitors.

“I think it's needed. We're between Chatham and Sarnia right in the middle and like I say, a lot of those larger cities like to get away for the day and come to something a little more quiet.”

He continued, “We have an Airbnb building on the end of the block. So there'll be a lot of areas to stay.”

Shepley noted crews have been working to save and salvage as much of the old building as possible, hoping to pay homage to Wallaceburg’s glass making history. “We had a lot of hurdles. It’s an old building, 1875 basically. So there was a lot of things that we ran into unexpectedly but there's a lot of character in this building.”

He continued, “We ended up having to remove the whole floor throughout the one main building because of rot, but we were able to save a lot of the lumber and timber and then reuse in other parts of the building.”

Operations Manager Christina McFadden told CTV News excitement has been brewing for sometime, pointing to a new wood stove pizza that will compliment a café and bistro, along with a large patio backing onto the river.

“Oh, it's gonna be fantastic!” McFadden exclaimed. “I've already been in talks with some people in the United States to help with bringing boaters over. There's a lot of potential to have a lot of people from out of town come and see our small little town in the great community that they are.”

McFadden added, “We've started taking reservations for the busy weekend and then the weeks to follow and then if anyone wants to go to our web page, we do have an events email, so if you have any bookings or questions about anything that we were able to accommodate, glad to help for sure.”

Doors open Saturday, May 20.

https://www.glasstownbrewingco.ca