Canada, BC: Fox Mountain Brewing Co’s opening taking longer than anticipated

The owner of a new brewery in Williams Lake wishes he was ready to open, but said it’s taking longer than anticipated, the Williams Lake Tribune reported on February 8.

“There are a lot of moving parts — it’s pretty complex,” said Dave Reedman, who with help from several contractors, has been transforming the former Greyhound bus station into Fox Mountain Brewing Co.

Reedman’s application has gone through a rezoning process and a development permit public hearing with the City and a 30-day provincial government liquor licence referral.

Additionally, there was a break-in at the site in November resulting in theft of more than C$25,000 in tools and equipment, which Reedman said was a major setback.

“The welder lost more than C$20,000 of his stuff. I lost a few saws, compressors and hand tools, but actually got some of my stuff back so that was good.”

Overall, a dozen people have been working on the construction and when the brewery opens, it is anticipated there will be 15 to 20 full-time and part-time staff.

“I really don’t have a specific opening date, but can say we have been working hard,” Reedman said. “It’s an older building, built in 1986, and we’ve changed a lot.”

The entire exterior has been redone on the leased building.

Foundation Mechanical from Abbotsford has been installing the brewery.

“It was a challenge to find a company to do the brew installation and Steve Emery of the company is originally from 100 Mile House so that was cool,” Reedman said.

The logo features a fox inside the word ‘Fox’ and was designed by a company in the U.S.

“They have a whole bunch of designs that you can pick from and mine is actually a hybrid of two designs that I liked. I’m happy with how it turned out.”

He anticipates brewing six different types of beer, although he doesn’t know what he’ll name them just yet.

It takes anywhere from a week to three weeks for a beer to ferment.

In December, a crowd funding program was started for the business.

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