It might just be the classic “boy meets girl, boy feeds girl beer, boy and girl open brewery” story. Cameron Ewen and Heather Williams are the faces (and arms and legs) behind Prairie Sun Brewery, Saskatoon’s second micro-brewery which just  opened its doors a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know how Cameron and Heather actually met (I didn’t ask; it’s not really any of my business after all), but I know that love of many sorts blossomed in the years that followed.

One of those loves is the love of beer. Cameron and Heather have been talking for a number of years about opening their own brewery. “We got bit by the beer bug pretty hard”, says Cameron in a recent telephone chat. Some initial efforts to draw in investors put Cameron off the idea of investor-focused start-ups. “I didn’t want to work that hard for someone else”. So they scaled back their plans, self-financed and are creating a small, local-oriented brewery. “We’ll be happy with 4000 litres a month at first”, says Cameron. Do the math and you quickly realized Cameron is talking about a 500 Hl yearly production, a tiny fraction of what our still very small prairie craft brewers put out.

At first the beer will all be kegs sold to Saskatoon bars and growler sales at the brewery. They are hoping to get into SLGA stores sometime in the next year or so. For the moment there is no packaging line, but when they do purchase one, they are opting for cans. “For our market cans are the way to go. All the rules – no glass on beach, no glass in parks, no glass here or there”, explains Cameron. Plus, Saskatchewan has the most can-oriented consumers in the country.

The brewhouse, as it turns out, is Roughneck Brewing’s old 10Hl system, via St. Albert’s Hog’s Head who quickly outgrew it and have purchased a newer, larger system. Roughneck, of course, ceased operations a couple of years back. They have supplemented the brewhouse with 4 fermenters and 5 bright tanks. Cameron has some experience with brewing on this scale, as he spent four-and-a-half years working at cross-town Paddock Wood, the last 18 months as head brewer. Since January he has been planning Prairie Sun full time. Heather, meanwhile, has been going to school to bone up on finances, business operations and administration.

And what of the beer? Cameron says their goal is “to make beer that are distinctly flavourful but at the same time hit on a wide audience of people, in choice of styles. Our goal is to help grow craft beer in Saskatchewan. We want to pick beer that most people can really enjoy but are very different than what is out there.” They are intentionally picking beer styles not common in the province currently.

Their three mainstay beer are 306 Bavarian Wheat, a hefeweizen made with locally grown, locally malted red wheat, which Cameron says adds an interesting character to the beer. They also have Prairie Lily Lager, a Munich Helles style pale lager, and Crazy Farm, a spicy saison. Seasonals will quickly make their appearance – a new one every two months or so – starting with a pumpkin beer in mid-October. There will be the occasional surprise, as well, including in the coming weeks a beer called Beer Bait which was brewed over a campfire at a music festival in northern Saskatchewan.

One quickly realizes Prairie Sun’s flagship beer differ in style significantly from Paddock Wood’s anchor beer. This, too, was intentional. Cameron says Paddock Wood does a great job and deserves the market share it has and he wanted to make something they aren’t doing.

Demonstrating their local emphasis, the brewery’s grand opening is a big Oktoberfest party on October 5. They have booked a half dozen local bands, will have local food trucks on site and are organizing a host of Munich-inspired games. And of course, copious pints of Prairie Sun beer.

If readers outside Saskatoon want to sample some of their wares, for the foreseeable future they will need to travel to the Toon, for Prairie Sun has no immediate plans to export.