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MAY 25 - JUNE 3, 2018
Kevin Selch, owner of Little Brown Jug PHOTO BY DARCY FINLEY
Crafting Community Brewery is invested in vision for a vibrant downtown
They cite honesty, quality and community as core values, and they’re committed to investing in Winnipeg’s downtown — while treating customers from all walks of life with dignity and respect. So it’s no surprise that Little Brown Jug, one of the more recent additions to the city’s thriving craft brewery scene, has been so enthusiastically received since staff started pulling their first pints a year and a half ago. Nor is it a surprise LBJ’s owner, Kevin Selch was recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce, or that its William Avenue taproom will play host to the chamber’s Pride in Business networking reception on May 30. The networking event is one of an array of community and cultural gatherings that have unfolded in the LBJ space since its opening: everything from symphony performances to locally grown farm shares — all within easy reach of a freshly poured Belgian pale ale. The pop-up venue status goes hand-in-hand with LBJ’s mandate to foster community- building downtown, and with the collaborative approach he employs with his neighbours and fellow business owners. “We don’t ever try to monetize these
— and we keep a different kind of crowd — downtown after work.” Certainly Selch’s bureaucratic background proved handy while shepherding LBJ from civic-minded concept to reality, as did the years he spent studying the transformative quality of brewing communities in Ontario, Quebec and Vermont. “We used to study small businesses and what makes them succeed,” he says. “In government, you do policy work and you don’t really get to see the results of what you’re trying. In business, it’s the exact opposite.” But Selch says he’s equally inspired by the allure of the Exchange District, and a harder- to-pin-down sense of pride — not only in ownership, but also community — that’s shared by downtown denizens, and Winnipeg residents in general. “When you think of the revitalization of downtown, there’s the gentrification of buildings and condos, and there are new restaurants and bars, and that’s all exciting,” he says. “But to come downtown and be an urban manufacturer and create jobs here is a different piece of that mix. I think that’s our contribution to the fabric of downtown, and to the fabric of Winnipeg.”
mandate to “do one thing, and do it well,” Selch teamed with brewmaster Bernie Wieland to create signature quaff 1919, the name of which references not only Winnipeg’s historic general strike, but also key ingredient Brewer’s Gold, an heirloom hop first developed for industry use the same year. The strategy paid off. Little Brown Jug is now available in bars and restaurants throughout the city — from trendy hotspots like The Cornerstone Bar and Merchant Kitchen to more mainstream hangouts like Moxie’s and even Salisbury House — and by summer, fans will be able to find 1919 in local liquor stores. Selch says he’s delighted by the response to his product, and proud of his clientele base, noting more than half his customers are women — somewhat atypical in craft-beer circles. He’s also happy with the relationships he’s built with bars and restaurants downtown, referring again to the spirit of cooperation that creates spinoff benefits throughout the district. “We’re first and foremost a production brewery — we have a taproom, but we’re not a brewpub … so we’re not really in competition,” he says. “People come here, they have a beer, they go somewhere else to eat, and maybe they come back later. We bring a different kind of crowd
[events] — we just sell the beer,” says Selch, a former economist who spent a decade working for the federal government in Ottawa before returning home to Winnipeg in 2015. “If people want to come and use our space, they’re free to use the space.” The former site of the City Hall livery stables, the brewery itself is a testament to Selch’s commitment to grain-to-glass transparency — from the open-concept taproom (complete with LED nightlights that illuminate the tanks after hours) to the 64-foot expanse of street-facing windows. Discovered following a chance encounter with building owner Brian Scharfstein, who shares Selch’s vision for a vibrant and viable Exchange District, the space was soon gutted, remediated and restored to showcase a mix of original features — like the counter and benches made from 100-year-old Douglas Fir board, found hanging between the steel trusses — and unapologetically contemporary additions. Having also invested heavily in green building features — including energy recovery systems that capture and reuse heat from the brewing process — Selch can proudly promote LBJ as a leader in environmental stewardship, as well. And then there’s the beer. Guided by the
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