Tyler Birch isn’t afraid of making a jump to do what you want. A few years ago he left university to join the family fencing business. He never looked back, and has been busy ever since. Along the way he stumbled across homebrewing and happily spent his off-hours crafting up new concoctions.

Then last April, maybe during a quiet week in the fence business, he started wondering about opening a brewery. Should he do it? Much like his decision a few years before, the jump was quick to happen. He started planning Barn Hammer Brewing Company immediately (no website yet but you can find them on the Facebook, whatever that is).

At first he thought about a brewpub, but an industry insider gave him some good advice. “He said, if you want to make beer, why not just make beer and forget the rest?” Birch took the advice to heart and shifted gears.

Things really sped up when he connected with Brian Westcott early in 2015, who at the time was the head brewer at Alley Kat in Edmonton but was needing to move to Winnipeg for personal reasons. They agreed to partner up and the brewery has been full speed ahead ever since.

They have a location line up (595 Wall Street) and will soon be in possession of their brewhouse, a 15-barrel system with four fermenters and 2 bright tanks. If all goes well they will be pumping out beer before Christmas.

The vision of the beer is two-armed. “One brand will be more approachable, and then a couple more for ‘beer people’,” says head brewer Westcott. Birch concurs, “I want to be as interesting and unique as possible. I am not going for mass appeal. I want to make beer I want drink”. He adds that he still wants to make sure there is something for everyone.

The beer is still in development but original plans include an oatmeal stout and a red IPA, amongst others. Westcott is clear about one beer. “There will be an IPA, for sure”.

As for the name, it comes from a family story. As Birch tells it, “our family owns farmland. On the land there was an old barn, rotten and falling down”. One day Birch’s father decided the barn had to go. He got an idea in his head. “He decided he was going to pull it down with his old Dodge Journey”. Birch describes how he chained the farm to the bumper of the Dodge and proceeded to hammer the pedal as hard as he could. “He didn’t take the farm down,” Birch notes. “He just made it askew. As a family joke we started calling the Dodge ‘the barn hammer’.”

Besides, Birch says, the name is both unique and generically approachable. The story, I have to say, makes it much more interesting.

Birch doesn’t envision his brewery becoming anything big or corporate. “I would like to stay fairly small. I don’t have any international brewing goals. I want to keep it as local as possible and interesting as possible.”

Birch doesn’t feel the need to demolish the barn. He is happy just making it a bit askew. Look for Barn Hammer later this year.