Canada, NL: Scudrunner Brewing could be in production by June

Holding a sample glass in front of him, Sam Newman notes that to get the full flavor of the beer its best to smell it first, and upon tasting it hold the beverage in your mouth for a second or two. After swallowing exhale through your mouth.

“It might make me seem like a beer snob,” he said with a laugh, while demonstrating, “but in doing this you get the entire flavor.

“You can taste the beer in the front of your mouth, the back, on your tongue and even feel it on your cheeks.”

The brew, a filtered Belgian double of moderate amber colour, comes with an alcohol content of 5.7 to 5.8 per cent, which could be brewed stronger if need be.

It’s a mid-range beer, between the light to dark that Newman and his friend and business partner Dave Jerrett have been developing.

The way the two carry the conversation surrounding beer and brewing techniques, it’s easy to tell they have a passion for the craft, and as a result Gander will soon have a brewery and a beer to call its own, The Gander Beacon reported on February 10.

Four years ago the Gander aviators started developing Scudrunner craft beer.

And much like a Scud running — the art of skilfully navigating an aircraft around many small clouds – they used their knowledge, skill and the tools at hand to develop their line of beer, playing around with different styles and flavors.

And in offering their product at different functions they quickly found out that their product had multi-range appeal.

“We’ve done broad spectrum events from 12 people sitting around the table to fine dining with a local chef,” said Newman, a long-time brewer. “When people tried our beers they really liked it, and noticing that there’s a pent up demand for craft beer, it was enough motivation to move forward.”

So a year-and-a-half ago the Scudrunner founders started working towards brewing consistent batches, fine tuning their brews and striving for repeatability.

“Once we start making beer with a label on it, every batch needs to be the same,” said Newman.

They’ve narrowed down a few staples to begin with.

“We plan on having three year round beers to start with,” said Newman. “Then branching out, producing a range from lighter bodied to heavier beer.”

There have been countless hours of research and planning put into the development of a brewery, from finding the best equipment to a suitable location.

Having faced issues with real estate, Scudrunner will be striking out with its own building and the two are hopeful ground can be broken by early spring.

If everything goes as planned they could be in production by June.

The concept surrounding the brewery will be to have an open design tap room, in which patrons can observe the brewing process.

When it comes to offering a dining menu, Jerrett said the idea of having a full restaurant isn’t something that’s being explored.

Scudrunner is looking to offer a small menu, however, the main dining concept is allowing patrons to bring in food from other restaurants while enjoying a fresh pint.

“We don’t want to take away from restaurants already in town,” said Jerrett. “Beer’s our business, so we aren’t going to be out to step on anyone else’s toes.”

It’s all a part of their support local initiative and making the brewery a community focal point.

“Community involvement is big for us, we’ve travelled to different countries, we’ve seen brewery’s are a focal point in the community and we want the same,” said Jerrett. “We want to support local as much as possible.”

This could be in the form of hosting community events, lining up local product for production, even developing community event based brews.

It was also noted that various tourism groups have already been in contact with Scudrunner as a tourism destination.

And as the conversation between Newman and Jerrett continued, new possibilities were being explored as they chatted, making one thing certain… the skies the limit for the Scudrunner crew.

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