As reported here, Boiling Oar Brewing Company opened its doors in Calgary in early April. I finally got a chance to have a chat with founder Mark Zemlak a few days ago to find out just what propels the brewery and where they plan on taking Alberta beer drinkers.

Zemlak comes to beer the way many of us did. He started homebrewing. However, Zemlak got an earlier start than most of us. “When I was 16 we got to make mead in the house, got to carry on with experimenting with brewing”, he admits. “It becomes a hobby that sucks you in. It did that for 10 years”. In the meantime he went to work at his family’s electrical servicing company. But that beer passion kept distracting him.

Then one day, through the family company, Zemlak met Dave Neilly, a well-known professional brewer in the area who at the time was lending a hand at constructing the Minhas’ Calgary brewery. He decided to help Dave build the brewhouse. It was a crucial learning experience for Zemlak that served him well when he eventually turned his attention to Boiling Oar. “Lots of people can work in a brewery, but building one is a whole other thing”.

Still at that time opening a brewery was little more than a pipe dream for Zemlak, as he had little capital and even less desire to go into debt to pursue his dream. Then December 6, 2013 happened – the day the Alberta government changed beer rules scrapping the 5,000 HL minimum capacity requirement. Suddenly a small, self-financed operation was possible. “There would be no Boiling Oar if they hadn’t changed that policy”, says Zemlak. “I have been working on it ever since”.

Zemlak persuaded a bunch of friends to invest money and become partners in the brewery. They started planning and building, all the while holding on to their day jobs. His friends aren’t beer geeks, but contribute to the brewery in other ways. “I am beer guy and I have a bunch of investors who are passionate beer drinkers who help with marketing, website and other stuff. We are all part-timers on this. We still have full-time jobs,” Zemlak notes. “Much like Dandy Brewing we all have jobs and are plugging away at brewing.”

There is more than one comparison to Dandy, who were Alberta’s first nanobrewery. Boiling Oar isn’t much bigger. They have a 7-hectolitre brewhouse with two 14-hectolitre fermenters and a bright tank. That is pretty small brewing. And Zemlak likes it that way. “I have brewed on a 60 hec system. Large scale brewing takes the romance out of it. Small brings it back to the fun. I want to just do up a recipe and go for the gusto and hope it works out”.

When I ask him about his plans down the road, the answer is similar. He talks about  “maxing out” the current brewhouse, adding more and bigger fermenters. No talk of expanding the capacity significantly. While he doesn’t rule out one day installing a bigger brewhouse it is not on his priority list. “We didn’t want a 20-hl system right out of the gate. We would be brewing for the wrong reasons, to pay bank loans. If it ever stopped being fun we would have to re-evaluate the project”.

We don’t have to look at it as a business – it is our passion. We can keep it as a hobby,” he says. “We are always after organic growth. Make good beer and promote it as best as you can. We don’t need gimmicky marketing, just aiming to get a foothold in market”.

Zemlak’s vision is simple, clean and focused. “We want to do everything the right way. My vision is doing things the right way and focusing on making beer, not so much building a brand. I never had a vision for a brewpub or offsales. So many good retail places these days”. The beer, he hopes will be high quality but honest. “I don’t ever want to be the trendy hipster beer. We want to be super approachable, where the average guy can say ‘damn that is pretty good’. I want to show people how awesome craft beer is”.

The oar that didn’t inspire the brewery name. (Photo courtesy of dailybeer.ca)

His current line up speaks to that vision, to a certain extent. They have started with a Pale Ale, a Kolsch and an Imperial IPA, but haven’t finalized their permanent line-up. “We don’t know what the market will want. We will brew and if people like it we will keep brewing it”. The mix is to offer a bit to everyone. “The gateway beer is Kolsch, super drinkable, and then we show the beer geeks we can make something awesome in the DIPA”. He quickly adds that the even the DIPA “there is a lot of balance in that beer”.

They are planning a Peach Wheat Ale for the summer and an American Brown Ale in the fall and then will go from there. Early signs suggest the Pale Ale is already a winner. “Pale Ale is flying off the shelves. We will keep brewing that one”. More experimental offerings, however, on not really on his radar. “We will never produce a single-hop IPA or things like that. We are always aiming for balance”.

Boiling Oar is available only on tap for now (no growler fills). Zemlak does see cans in their future, however. “My hope is one of the mobile canning systems comes to Alberta and we will use that. Then we can save money for something better rather than slap it together with a half-assed canning system”. Can is definitely his choice. “I like hiking so I like canned beer for hiking. That has always been my thing. I like cans better”.

What about the name, Boiling Oar? Here is the first time I fail to get a simple answer from Zemlak. “I have two answers,” he admits, asking which one I want. I opt for both. “The romantic answer is that we have such a small system, we have mash paddle. We love the imagery of it boiling, the oar in a boiling pot”.

But then after a beat he admits there is another story. “The real answer is we were at Elk and Oarsmen  in Banff and we had way too many beer. It was just after the rule changes”. They spitballed random ideas and landed on Boiling Oar. “We came up with name there. I have to admit I wouldn’t have remembered the name the next day if we hadn’t put it in the phone”.

The real story might not be as romantic, but it sure sounds like how real beer guys would come up with their name.