Cape Breton microbrewery in the works

A couple living just outside of Baddeck are growing organically certified hops and building a brew pub, giving Cape Breton its very own microbrewery.  

Jeremy White and his wife Melanie honeymooned in Cape Breton years ago. Eventually they decided to come back and buy a farm and now, build a brewery  overlooking the Bras D'or Lakes.   

The brewpub is called Big Spruce Brewing.  

"We're looking at our inaugural hopyard. This is where it all started for us. I wanted a crop of fresh hops to support my home brewing habits and it grew from there," said White.  

Melanie, a chef, will be looking after the second floor of the building, which will be a restaurant.  

"Wine and food dinners aren't so unusual to make the combination so we didn't feel as though it was such a leap to jump from beer to food," said Melanie.

White says the craft brewing industry grew 28 per cent in Nova Scotia from 2010 and 2011.

Their brewery is being built to produce about 800 litres of beer at a time. In addition to their own restaurant, they plan to sell kegs to bars around the province. 

White says they're confident their dream will become a reality.  

"It's a risk but we felt we had an ideal piece of land suited to growing the hops, we knew we had the kind of beer flavors people want to enjoy and really this is about a passion for better beer," he says.  

White says they plan to open for business in January.