IQUALUIT, NU – CBC News North reports that the Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board has given its stamp of approval to the territory’s first brewery.
Nunavut Brewing Company had its business application approved by Iqaluit city council in July, and required this additional approval before it could proceed.
According to representative Sheldon Nimchuk, the company will now proceed with its financing, with a plan to raise $2 to $3 million for the project. Once started, construction on the brewery is expected to take 6 to 8 months, and the partners plan to be selling beer by July 2017.
Nimchuk also notes that the brewery hopes to get an exemption from the Nunavut-wide restriction on selling alcohol directly to consumers. Under the current licensing, the brewery would only be allowed to sell its beer to the Nunavut Liquor Commission for distribution in the territory, or export to other markets.
“If we get permission,” Nimchuk tells the CBC, “we would like to distribute our beer on site, in part for environmental reasons, and to offer the consumer the option of drinking their beer at home.”
For more details, see the full CBC News North article, as well as an additional report from Nunatsiaq Online.