A VISIT TO HALF PINTS
By the ALES CLUB Thirsty Traveler Walter Martin
On Friday, the 16th of April I had the opportunity to visit the Half Pints Brewing Company in Winnipeg. The Half Pints Brewing Company is the company run by ALES Club and Bushwakker alumni Dave Rudge.
The exterior of the Half Pints Brewing Company
In one of the curious twists of fate of which we are all subject to, I had just seen Dave Wednesday night in Regina, where he was judging in the 17th Annual ALES Club Open Home Brew Beer Competition. This competition is the Canadian National Home Brew competition and qualifying round for entry to the AHA competition. Yes, Dave was there, and better still, he had brought samples with him, which he was kind enough to share, after judging had finished for the night. He had a delicious stout, and his 'Weizenheimer Hefe Weizen', which became an instant favourite of mine. I decided right then and there to abandon the ALES Club competition in favour of a trip to Winnipeg to check out his brewery first hand. I left for Winnipeg via commercial airline on Friday morning, the 16th of April 2010. Happily, this was coincident with a military training event so I didn't have to pay for the ticket.
On arrival in Winnipeg I went straight from the airport to the Half Pints brewery, duffel bag in hand. The Half Pints Brewing Company is located quite close to the Winnipeg airport, (and indeed, quite close to my favourite accommodations in Winnipeg), at 550 Roseberry St., so it was a short cab ride. Although I didn't have the foresight to call ahead to make an appointment, one of the brewers, Chris, was willing to drop what he was doing to give me an impromptu tour of the facilities.
Chris took me from the reception/showroom area to the mashtun and copper (boil pot). He explained that the Half Pints mashtun can take about 275 to 280 Kg per batch, and that 1000 L batches are fairly typical, although the boil pot could go to approx 1300 L in a pinch.
Mash Tun and Boil Pot
For a small brewery, Half Pints has a fairly significant tank farm, including fermenters and ageing vessels, some of which are pictured here.
Some of the Half Pints tanks
Half Pints also has a cool room for laagering and longer term storage at cool temperatures. Chris explained that the temperature of the Cool Room is normally kept at 1O C although the temperature might creep up a degree or two during the day if there is enough in and out traffic opening the Cool Room door.
The Half Pints Cool Room
I was also in luck to see the Half Pints bottling line, as that was in operation during my visit.
The Bottling Line
An Interior shot of the back utility area
After my short tour we ended up back in the reception/showroom area, where I was able to purchase a T-shirt for my wife, and some beer. Namely a six pack of 'Little Scrapper IPA' and four bottles of 'Weizenheimer Hefe Weizen.'
As luck would have it, on Saturday night my friends and I were not able to go out drinking, but instead had to work on a presentation for Sunday morning. Needless to say my beer supply came in handy. Unfortunately I had nothing to take home for my wife except the T-shirt. The good news is that Half Pints products, including Little Scrapper IPA and 'Stir Stick Stout' are available at several Saskatchewan Liquor Board outlets. Half Pints beers are also available at the Bushwakker and on tap at Beer Brothers.
I wish to thank Chris at Half Pints for taking the time to show me around.
For more information on the Half Pints Brewing Company see their website at www.halfpintsbrewing.com or talk to their representative, and ALES Club member, Jarrod Schoenau ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
