Changes are on the horizon for New Brunswick’s first and only off-grid craft brewery, after a change in ownership.
Tallyia MacMullin, the new co-owner of Off Grid Ales, told Huddle she and Tim Byrne, her husband and co-owner, plan to move the brewery to a new berth in MacMullin’s hometown of Magaguadavic.
The move will transplant the brewery from the shore of Harvey Lake, near the community of Harvey Station, to a location that’s around 2,400-square-feet in Magaguadavic–about a 20-minute drive away.
MacMullin said they anticipate the move to be complete on the New Brunswick Day Long weekend in early August.
Off Grid runs on a 15-barrel system to brew its ales. As part of the move to a new facility, MacMullin said the brewery will upgrade to a 30-barrel system.
A rendering of the new home of Off Grid Ales. Image: Tallyia MacMullin
MacMullin and Byrne learned about plans to sell the brewery at a family function last summer and immediately contacted former owners Denise and Randy Rowe.
“I knew the family really well and was surprised that they put the brewery up for sale. I was right away intrigued and called them up and asked to know more. We kind of got started from there,” she said.
When asked about the cost of the brewery’s acquisition, MacMullin told Huddle that the past and present owners preferred to keep that to themselves.
“That’s something that would be shared in confidence over a nice cold Campfire Red, Sunny Day, Smooth Sailing, or Hightower,” she said.
MacMullin said the inspiration to purchase Off Grid Ales came from a love for the brand. She and her husband admired the family-owned local stylings of Off-Grid and its humble origins in northern New Brunswick.
“I appreciated what the brand’s values were and it was important to keep that going in our community–it’s nice to have that local sentiment,” said MacMullin.
“It’s so unique in that it runs off-grid, using solar power and producing quality ales.”
MacMullin said the purchase was a perfect fit for her and Byrne, who work in marketing and manufacturing, respectively, with Ganong.
“Our backgrounds merged to make it a perfect fit to be the owners of a craft brewery,” she said.
MacMullin and Byrne also plan to begin canning Off Grid’s ales, putting an end to the era of bottled Off Grid products. Those new canned Off Grid ales will be hitting shelves by mid-June.
“Everything about ales remains the same: they have the same formulas and things like that. The move to cans just seemed strategic, because we can increase distribution across the province and it doesn’t limit us to only getting into those smaller kind of agency stores,” she said.
Off Grid Ales’ new owners have planned to transition their product to cans with new artwork. Image: Tallyia MacMullin
MacMullin said the restyled cans will feature new artwork and a redesigned brewery logo. Some of the new can designs are nods to familiar sights in rural New Brunswick that influenced the company’s ales – images of owls, solar panels, and wind turbines.
Some will have a personal touch, like the label for Smooth Sailing Pale Ale, which features MacMullin and Byrne’s border collie, Jib – a reference to “Long may your big jib draw,” a Newfoundland saying that Byrne, who hails from the province, is fond of.
Off Grid was originally launched in 2016 by the Rowes, who were operators of a bean sprout farm in southwest New Brunswick. The brewery is entirely powered by an 18-panel solar system and wind turbine and brews with hops locally-sourced hops from Lakeview Hops Ltd.
Sam Macdonald is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
