Something's brewing on the Bonavista Peninsula with proposed Port Rexton microbrewery

Two women are looking to bring craft beer to rural Newfoundland, filing paperwork with the province to move ahead with their venture — the Port Rexton Brewing Company.

Co-owners Alicia MacDonald and Sonja Mills have been involved in the craft brewery movement in Nova Scotia, but got the inspiration to set up in Port Rexton on a trip this summer, visiting family in Mills's hometown of Clarenville.

"When we came back, we said wait a minute — it's so gorgeous here, and there's so much opportunity," said Mills.

"We chose Port Rexton specifically because there's such a great tourism industry in this area, and we fell in love with Port Rexton ourselves."

The pair see a lot of room to grow craft brewing in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has no breweries outside the St. John's area.

Small brews, big dreams

The two have moved to Port Rexton and bought property in town that they`ll renovate into a small, four-barrel capacity microbrewery, with the capability to produce about 1,000 pints of beer at a time.

MacDonald has experience brewing commercially, and said the microbrewery will feature four main styles of beer along with some seasonal varieties, although the two are tightlipped about what exactly will be coming out of their taps at this point in time.

"We do have certain ones we want to stick with, but we're also open to experimentation and trying different things and different flavours, and getting people really excited about the creativity of beer," said MacDonald.

"There'll definitely be a mix of dark beers, hoppy beers, not hoppy beers, easy drinking beer," said Mills. 

Mills said the plan is for an open-concept brewing area, along with a tasting room and retail space. 

"We want a place where people can come in and really interact with us. So you'll be able to watch Alicia brewing the beer, if she's at any stage in the brewing process," said Mills.

"You get to meet the person making the product, and a lot of care and attention has gone into the quality of the product that we're making. So it's got that real local feel to it."

The pair said they've been working closely with the town and other businesses and have a lot of local support.

"We are proud to definitely call our brewery after the town of Port Rexton, they've been fantastic to us so far, and all their support and excitement for us opening. We're pretty stoked," said MacDonald.

The couple that brews together

MacDonald and Mills aren't only business partners — they actually got married in nearby English Harbour.

"This whole area has a special meaning to us. And to even buy a property here, and then start a business, it just completes that circle," said MacDonald.

"We definitely work well with each other, as well as work hard towards achieving our goals. I think we're both pretty excited to be able to support each other, in life and in business."

Mills added that testing out beer recipes has helped them through any hurdles of both their joint venture, and their relationship.

"We've got the advantage of, OK, let's figure this out tonight, over that beer we've got ready," laughed Mills.

Moving ahead

MacDonald and Mills have requested loans from both ACOA and the provincial government, and registered an environmental assessment with the province Oct. 26.

The province has until Dec. 10 to make a decision on that application.

But the pair feel confident that the assessment, along with a few other permits and approvals, will be granted.

"Things are looking really promising," said Mills.

The environmental assessment stated construction would take about six to seven months. Mills said they hope to have the brewery up and running for next summer's tourist season.