TIRE SHACK OWNERS JERRICA KENNEDY AND ALAN NORMAN, WITH HEAD BREWER HENRIQUE SOARES. IMAGE: TIRE SHACK BREWING

Alan Norman and Jerrica Kennedy are on a roll, collecting awards as the walls are about to go up on an expansion to their Moncton-based brewery.

The husband-wife duo, who co-founded Tire Shack Brewery, are preparing to expand into other markets buoyed by national recognition for the brewery they built in the once-neglected home of a former garage.

Norman and Kennedy earned a second national-level award this year: The Brewer’s Journal of Canada’s Canadian Brewery of the Year award, at the Canadian Brewer’s Choice Awards.

“It’s a pretty big one and it’s pretty crazy,” Norman says. “This is the biggest one we’ve ever won for sure. It’s great timing as well because we’re currently in the middle of an expansion.”

Norman and Kennedy announced plans for a 4,000-square-foot expansion at 190 John Street, including a rentable space, and a year-round rooftop patio, in late 2021. On Wednesday, they told Huddle they hope to be done with the expansion by mid-to-late summer 2023.

“This will increase our production capacity and [give us] more cold storage. It’s kind of great timing,” said Norman.

“The whole idea is an expansion for more brewing equipment. When the expansion is complete, right off the bat, we’re almost doubling our brewing capacity.”

Tire Shack currently brews with a 1,500-hectolitre system. The expansion will include room for more tanks, in case they want to further expand in the future, and whiskey and tequila barrels so brewers can get creative with aging techniques.

“We’re really excited to have a totally new program that we’ve never done before,” Kennedy said.

“Barrel-aging beer used to be done before modern refrigeration, so it’s a cool step back in time an experiment,” added Norman.

The pair are not resting on their laurels, either. On the heels of recently-released donut and apple pie ice cream beers, the Riverview natives have a Cosmopolitan-flavoured sour beer coming out in time for New Year celebrations. They also have plans to brew a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake stout in early 2023.

Norman and Kennedy told Huddle that the underground plumbing and flooring are complete in the new construction and that construction is at the halfway mark.

“It’s been a pretty crazy week this week – a lot has changed. You can actually see the whole framework of the building when you drive by,” Kennedy said.

Construction is being carried out by Rice Contracting Ltd., which is responsible for subcontracting out the various trade work needed.

“It’s finally starting to take shape because we were underground doing the foundation and everything forever. And it’s going up, which is nice. It gives us a bit of comfort knowing that we’re maybe on the right track,” said Norman.

That expansion is more than just a physical renovation in Moncton.

Kennedy told Huddle that bringing Tire Shack brews to the shelves of other provinces’ liquor stores is definitely part of her and her husband’s plans going forward.

“It makes the most sense for us to grow as locally as possible in the beginning,” Kennedy said. “So, we’d love to see ourselves grow into Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and in the future, who knows, there are a lot of craft beer enthusiasts in Quebec and Ontario.”

Norman noted that it’s still too early to say where they’ll go next, adding that they hope to maximize Tire Shack’s presence in New Brunswick first.

Norman and Kennedy’s latest award comes barely two months after they clinched gold for their powerfully bitter ‘Killed By Death IPA’ in the Canadian Craft Brewers Association’s Canada Beer Cup awards.

While the Canada Beer Cup win was only for one beer, Norman noted the most recent award was for their performances as a brewery.

“This takes marketing, branding and future plans into consideration, knowledge, experience, community collaboration and community engagement,” Norman said. “This is measuring everything.”

Kennedy noted that the most recent award factored in the reputation Tire Shack has already cultivated through previous recognition.

“It’s been overwhelming because we don’t do this to win awards and stuff. We don’t even really think we’re ever going to win,” Norman said.

In addition to its two recent national-level awards, Tire Shack also was an innovation-category finalist in the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton Business Excellence Awards.

Sam Macdonald is a Reporter with Huddle Today, a content-sharing partner of Acadia Broadcasting Corporation.