The provincial capital proves craft beer runs through its veins in aftermath of brewery fire.
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by Joe Wiebe
n Wednesday, November 23, 2016, just after the lunch rush at 1:30pm, patrons sitting upstairs at Spinnakers Brewpub noticed smoke gathering in the room. The large, central fireplace had a blaze going, as usual, but this was different. Something had gone wrong. Customers and staff evacuated the building and the fire department was summoned. Fire and smoke began pouring out of the roof around the chimney. As the firefighters worked to fight the blaze, which had spread from the chimney through the roof, a plume of smoke rose into the sky, and could be seen across the Inner Harbour throughout the downtown area. City residents were transfixed, watching from a distance or on their screens, as firefighters climbed up on to the roof to pull apart the chimney to get at the source of the problem. The thought of Canada’s oldest brewpub – built in 1984 and considered the “cradle of the craft beer revolution” – going up in smoke was devastating.
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It took hours to douse the final flames, and then came the questions that filled the talk radio shows and TV news hours. How extensive was the damage? Would Spinnakers be able to re-open? Paul Hadfield, Spinnakers’ original architect and its owner since 1986, was in Hawaii with his wife Mary when the fire occurred. A text from their daughter Kala, who is part of the brewing team at Spinnakers, alerted them to “Call me ASAP!” Their first thoughts were that something had happened to their other daughter, Carly, who was in Mexico at the time, so when Kala told them the pub was on fire, Paul says he was actually relieved. Later, when they checked the story online, Paul says he was amazed by how much attention the fire got. “CHEK did a ridiculous amount of time, and then we switched to Global and CTV and CBC, and everybody was running the story.” Meanwhile, his cell phone was buzzing with calls