As the Canadians chose to vacation closer to home and enjoyed lower costs to use the Confederation bridge and the Northumberland ferries, the breweries of Prince Eduardo’s island have been enjoying a banner summer.
Artisanal breweries have seen such a leap in sales that some have been fighting to keep enough beer on the shelf.
The owner-operator Alex Clark says he has been “different from any previous summer” in Evermoore Brewing Co. of Summerside Brewing Co.
“We saw it since the beginning of June, it hit hard and fast,” said Clark. “Every day we talked to different tourists. It was a wide demographic group this year … American, Canadians, everywhere, young and old.”
Some days, he said that the brewery was so busy that he had to reject people.
“We have not been excellent to keep up with demand this summer,” he said. “You always assume that you could grow with a good summer, but we would never have expected this.”
Evermoore Brewing Co. was not the only local producer fighting in satisfying a higher demand.
According to Jared Murphy, president of the Pei Craft Brewers’ Alliance, some craft breweries made sales show a two -digit increase this summer.
Murphy is also the CEO of Lone Oak Brewing Company, one of several local producers who ran out of beer as a result.
“It’s a problem, but a good problem,” he said in an interview in the new Lone Oak Brewing Company location, previously Upstreet Craft Brewing’s home.
“People choose Canada. And if Canadians look for a place to vacation, what better place than Pei?”
Clark was surprised to hear several American tourists come to Evermoore say they had sought a Canadian destination due to commercial tensions.
“We listen a lot, you know, ‘Canadians don’t visit us, so let’s visit you,” he said. “[It] It was a very good feeling to share. ”
Meanwhile, he said that reduced bridges and ferry costs in August also brought more hikers from the continent to the brewery.
The Pei Tourism Industry Association says it has been an employed summer. With tolls down, visits to the province seem to be awake. But could the lowest tolls also have a negative impact where the premises spend their money? Sheehan Desjardins de CBC asked CEO Corryn Clemence (in the photo) about that.
‘A very good year’
Kevin Murphy, president of Murphy Hospitality Group and founding partner of Pei Brewing Company, has also seen more people opt for a local pint.
“Much played to make this year a very good year for tourism,” he said. “Everyone will refer to the entire Trump factor, and how the Canadians decided to stay at home, maybe traveling nationwide … interest rates fall, you know, the bridge rate was reduced to $ 20”.
Kevin Murphy speculated that the warm and dry summer climate also probably promoted tourism.
Now that September has arrived, he believes that there is still time to return to the shelves to capitalize on the race for local beer.
Our spring was busy, the past fall was busy. We have not really seen the falls we have experienced in the past.– Alex Clark, Evermoore Brewing Co.
“There is no reason to think that the season will not continue,” he said. “We have autumn flavors, we have a seafood festival, we have the Sommo Festival. PEI has many things.”
As for Clark, he said that Evermoore’s slow periods have not yet materialized this year.
“Our spring was busy, the past fall was busy. We have not really seen the falls we have experienced in the past,” he said.
“We have to stop saying: ‘Oh, depression will be this week.’ We have to start adapting a little faster.”
