BLOOMFIELD, P.E.I. — The past year has been an adjustment for Chris Trail.
After more than eight years in western Canada’s oilfields, the 31-year-old Cascumpec resident moved back home to P.E.I. last summer. He took a seasonal job and then spent the winter making preparations to fill what he saw as a void.
In early May, he opened West Prince’s only home brew shop, selling wine, beer and cider-making kits.
The new business, The Cork & Barrel Homebrew Shop, has grown out of a hobby, Trail said.
“I instantly noticed the flavour of a crafted beer was better than any of the commercial brands,” he said of his discovery when he started drinking craft beer - around the same time he moved west.
“It kind of got me thinking: I’m paying more for the beer. Why not try to make it myself?”
So, he did, using what he describes as “relic-looking” equipment at the time.
He started making his own wine around the same time. It has since evolved into a business.
He’d discuss wine-making with his father, Eddie.
“We kind of just started shooting the idea around: West Prince, P.E.I., doesn’t have a shop of this kind, so everybody has to go to Summerside for this kind of service.
“We planned it over the phone, for the most part, over two to three years.”
The shop is in the Bloomfield Mall, a location purposely chosen for its central location in West Prince.
Bloomfield resident Paul Muise jokes that he is almost close enough to run a hose to The Cork and Barrel. Muise says he appreciates the new shop.
Previously, he’d brew his own wine once or twice a year at home after purchasing the kits. Now, with a shop so close, he has already taken advantage of the opportunity of having Trail make his wine.
“I had all the tools and what else, but (this way) there is no lugging, no lifting, no cleaning, no sterilizing. He gives you a date and you go back and bottle the thing,” said Muise.
To comply with the liquor laws, there are a couple of steps in the process that the customer must do, Trail said.
Trail can start the kit and add the water, but it is up to the customer to add the yeast.
“The minute the yeast goes in, it’s making alcohol,” he said.
The customer, or the customer’s designate, returns on the agreed-upon date to bottle the finished product.
Cider kits can also be started at The Cork & Barrel, but Trail said the beer kits need to be taken home. Beer kits can legally be made on-premises, but he has chosen not to do so.
“Yeast from beer and yeast from wine: they do get in the air. If you do both, they can cross-contaminate and create off-flavours,” he said. “I choose not to take the chance.”
That in-store policy might help explain why wine kits dramatically outsell the beer-making kits at Trail’s store. He said cider kits are starting to gain some traction too.
While he was already familiar with the beer, cider and wine-making kits, Trail admits doing it as a business is still very new to him. He spent two days business-shadowing at a New Brunswick shop and said it was very beneficial to him.
His father helped with the business plan and his fiancé, Jenna Laviolette, has helped with accounting.
With tons of extra space in the shop - which he renovated himself - Trail is reaching out to local hobbyists with an offer to provide space for them to sell their products.
Official opening Saturday
Though the shop has been open since May 6, Trail hels a grand opening celebration over the weekend.
Trail decided to take advatage of the gathering to raise some funds for the Bloomfield School playground. His daughter attends the school and Trail remembers playing there as a youngster Playground structures were recently removed to make way for new equipment.
At the end of Saturday's events, The Cork & Barrel Homebrew Shop donated $372.50 to the playground efforts.
