Furnace Room Brewery started exactly where the name suggests – downstairs in the basement of a home in Georgetown, Ontario, right next to the furnace.
The story begins back in 2007 when long-time friends, Jeff Sandifer and Mike Glockner decided to brew a simple extract beer kit. Jeff cobbled together a simple boil kettle made from the heating elements of three electric water kettles and a five gallon bucket.
From that simple, but effective setup, the two gradually transformed their furnace rooms into their own nano-breweries, producing ten gallon all-grain batches of beer, using different recipes, and critiquing each batch; learning as they went along.
Word about their beer began to spread among friends and acquaintances. People began tasting and enjoying the beer and started asking “Where can I get more of this?”
In 2014, two of the beers were entered into a beer competition and they placed 1st and 2nd in their categories. With this encouragement, the idea of opening a brewery in their hometown made its way into their discussions around backyard fires and in the furnace room. However, they both realized that they lacked the finances and business expertise to make it a reality.
That expertise came when Mike Dykstra, Trent Chalecky and Steve Leggat who, in early 2016, joined the conversation and tasted the beer.
A partnership was formed bringing together the full range of technical, financial, real estate and construction expertise essential to the launch of a sizeable craft brewery with the initial capacity of 15 barrels (1760 litres) per batch.
A property was secured, financing was settled, equipment was ordered, and licensing was sought, so that in the Spring of 2017, the Furnace Room Brewery will move from the basement and open at 1 Elgin Street in Georgetown, Ontario.
It seems fairly obvious now, why the brewery adopted the tag line: “Humble beginnings, exceptional beer”.
Furnace Room Brewery started exactly where the name suggests – downstairs in the basement of a home in Georgetown, Ontario, right next to the furnace.
The story begins back in 2007 when long-time friends, Jeff Sandifer and Mike Glockner decided to brew a simple extract beer kit. Jeff cobbled together a simple boil kettle made from the heating elements of three electric water kettles and a five gallon bucket.
From that simple, but effective setup, the two gradually transformed their furnace rooms into their own nano-breweries, producing ten gallon all-grain batches of beer, using different recipes, and critiquing each batch; learning as they went along.
Word about their beer began to spread among friends and acquaintances. People began tasting and enjoying the beer and started asking “Where can I get more of this?”
In 2014, two of the beers were entered into a beer competition and they placed 1st and 2nd in their categories. With this encouragement, the idea of opening a brewery in their hometown made its way into their discussions around backyard fires and in the furnace room. However, they both realized that they lacked the finances and business expertise to make it a reality.
That expertise came when Mike Dykstra, Trent Chalecky and Steve Leggat who, in early 2016, joined the conversation and tasted the beer.
A partnership was formed bringing together the full range of technical, financial, real estate and construction expertise essential to the launch of a sizeable craft brewery with the initial capacity of 15 barrels (1760 litres) per batch.
A property was secured, financing was settled, equipment was ordered, and licensing was sought, so that in the Spring of 2017, the Furnace Room Brewery will move from the basement and open at 1 Elgin Street in Georgetown, Ontario.
It seems fairly obvious now, why the brewery adopted the tag line: “Humble beginnings, exceptional beer”.
