A shot of CO2 in brown glass bottles called growlers purges them of oxygen that might taint The Armoury’s locally-produced beer. The sound is softer than the shots that rang in the gun range in the armoury’s basement years ago.
“Some say there wasn’t much for ear protection back in those days,” The Armoury’s Brennan Lampitt said.
The Armoury microbrewery opened in North Battleford in November. It’s named after the armoury that used to operate in the building. The Armoury looks to be a go-to North Battleford hole in the wall amid efforts to revitalize areas of the city and to preserve its historic infrastructure.
The Armoury, located at 702-102nd St., was built in 1913. An entry on historicplaces.ca says armouries “were planned not simply as storage places but as lecture halls and community centres for year-round military activity.”
Expanded militia training was a response to “the growing threat of European war and coincided with tremendous local and national growth.”
Before becoming a microbrewery, the armoury building was home to the Battlefords Trade and Education Centre. BTEC left the building in 2017 for a newly constructed centre in Railway Avenue.
The Armoury’s owners are Lampitt, Brad Taylor, Gregg Tady, Wade Voight and Jackson Tady. The group bought the building in March 2017.
When they initially announced their plans, the project was met with both enthusiasm and skepticism from residents.
The Armoury included “tavern” as part of its discretionary use application. Some Riverview residents were concerned such an establishment might be a “sleazy bar,” and bring crime, parking and safety issues, and reduced property values.
An open house took place in March at the Don Ross Centre to provide explanations to residents.
Lampitt said his roles in the business include acting as taproom manager and operations manager.
Tanks and brewing equipment take up most of the main floor space in The Armoury now. Patrons frequent the taproom, which resembles a small bar and offers the company’s beer.
Significant work so far has been done on the building, Lampitt said, including sandblasting the green colour off the brick to reveal the original brick beneath.
Lampitt said some work was hired out, but most of it “was in-house.”
Sandblasting revealed some hidden features, such as detail in the brick above windows.
At one point, the BTEC crew came in, “and there was lots of ‘wow!’” Lampitt said.
He said the crew tried to maintain the building’s original elements, and kept some original lighting, and old heaters continue to work.
Some benches in the building also feature notable history: they’re made of old beams from the now mostly-dismantled Battleford trestle train bridge.
Lampitt was born and raised in the Battlefords. His friend started a brewery in Vancouver and later went on to win a B.C. Brewery of the Year award.
“He had been grilling me for a little bit to get into it,” Lampitt said.
One time out west, Lampitt ordered a Pilsner.
His friend told the server “don’t bring him that,” and told Lampitt he’d educate him.
The pair indulged in some locally-made beers.
Back home, once a microbrewery was decided upon, Lampitt said, there was little collective brewing experience among the original group.
For research purposes, the boys “drank a bunch of beers.”
“We decided what we liked, decided what we didn’t like, and realized everybody’s palate is crazily different,” Lampitt said.
Another step in the process to establishing a microbrewery included hiring a brewer.
Logan Dommett is originally from Major. He went to school at Olds College in Alberta and took a program called Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management.
“Logan’s got an awesome job,” Lampitt said. “He wakes up in the morning [and goes] ‘what am I going to create today?’“
Lampitt said Dommett being from Saskatchewan went a long way toward his getting hired, because Dommett “understood the taste buds of Saskatchewan.”
Dommett previously worked at Town Square Brewing Co. in Edmonton and also worked in the wine industry.
Dommett said making beer or wine isn’t necessarily more challenging than the other.
“They’re both challenging in their own way,” Dommett said, adding making wine is more of an art, while brewing beer involves “more of the science side.”
Math and science are involved in every aspect of the beer-brewing process, Dommett said, and said he uses such skills daily.
Figuring out the various quantities and ingredients could be worked out on paper, but Dommett uses brewing software on a laptop to make the experience easier.
Dommett said one of The Armoury’s goals at the moment is to find four or five core beers, and said in time the microbrewery will have specialty beers.
Some current beers include the high-selling Blonde, and NB ale, which stands for nut brown ale.
Beer straight from a microbrewery, compared to the big beers, is produced at a smaller scale, assistant brewer Jackson Tady said. The taste is more unfiltered, raw and fresh.
“It’s hard to control some things, whereas Bud Light, it’s the same Bud Light every time,” Tady said. “[Our] Blonde has been different four times.”
Some recent NB ale converts, Dommett said, previously swore by Bud Light.
Occasionally, the boys make beers they won’t be able to ever make again, including test batches made of “whatever we have left.”
Dommett said The Armoury’s offerings are approachable, and hopes people experiment and expand their palates.
Despite being a beer artist, Dommett said, like any good Sasky, “I like beer you can drink lots of.”
Lampitt said bottles are the only way the company currently packages beer. A full growler costs $26, and refills cost $16 each. Growlers must be thoroughly rinsed before refills.
Some local liquor stores carry The Armoury’s product, including the Discovery Co-op and Sobey’s liquor stores.
Initial plans included having a restaurant in The Armoury, but Lampitt said making beer remains the group’s passion, and they intend to partner with local restaurants rather than compete against them.
The boys say the law hasn’t caught up to what they’re doing, and they found regulators erred on the side of caution in some circumstances as The Armoury went through the regulation process, resulting in what they describe as a lot of red tape.
Lampitt said he came across useful advice while preparing a business plan and was to some extent prepared.
“You’ll think ‘I should have went into the red tape business,’ you’ll pull your hair out, things will be going good, and you’ll eventually have beer,” Lampitt said.
Tady hypothesizes “they’re trying to throw the brewery book at us when they’re trying to write it, too.”
Lampitt said an enjoyable aspect of the job is hearing from people who used to frequent the building when the Armoury carried out military-related activities.
One 96-year-old gentleman “almost cries every time” he comes back to The Armoury, Dommett said.
Lampitt said he’s heard stories of people who used to serve in the military, of kids walking with their rifles through town, and of old-timers’ whiskey stories.
Stories nowadays are beer stories.
