SHEET HARBOUR, NS – A new craft brewery with humble beginnings but ambitious goals is getting set to launch next month in the Eastern Shore region of Nova Scotia.
Sober Island Brewing has been founded by Rebecca Atkinson, a young businesswoman who returned to her hometown of Sheet Harbour last spring after some time spent living in Wales, and has set out to increase tourism in the area.
For its initial entry into the market, Sober Island is brewing on a 56 litre SABCO Brew-Magic pilot system, producing small batch beers that will be available at local establishments this summer.
Atkinson has also acquired a horse trailer that is being remodelled by a local craftsman into a mobile beer bar, which will be used to debut Sober Island at the Saltscapes Expo on April 22nd-24th, and to serve beer at events and festivals throughout the summer.
By the fall of 2016, Sober Island plans to be brewing on a 7 barrel system to be installed at The Henley House Pub & Restaurant in Sheet Harbour. And in the longer term, Atkinson hopes to meet her ultimate goal of establishing a stand-alone destination brewery within the next 3 to 5 years on Sober Island itself, approximately 15 minutes from Sheet Harbour.
As Atkinson explains it:
Sober Island is surrounded by some of the “Wild Islands” of the Eastern Shore. You may have heard of Natures Trust 100 wild islands, and there are actually over 200 islands stretching from Musquodobit Harbour to Sherbrooke.
We want people to be able to boat up to Sober Island, grab some cold cans of beer and head off to an island to bbq and forage for the day. We would like to show outdoor movies, have people hike the rock beach, kayak from Taylors Head or just simply play horseshoes or enjoy a beer on the patio overlooking this beautiful place we are so fortunate to live in.
For more details, see the Sober Island Brewing Twitter feed and Instagram account.