When the pandemic hit the industry, many people got creative on how to pivot and adapt to the challenge. That was no different for Scott Willard and his family who launched Schooner Street Brewing. The partners consist of three brothers and a cousin: Jody and Patrick Schnarr, Mike Brown and Willard.

The homebrewing began in Jody’s garage in Waterloo, Ontario where one night after brewing they named the brewery after their street.

“We talked about other names based on where our final home will be, but we decided to keep that name because it’s a story, and every brewery has a story,” Willard said. “Because everybody’s going to ask us why we have that name, so now we have a story to tell.”

The team started a small-scale hobby last June and is now becoming a full-fledged brewing operation, with hopes to have a retail space open to the public later this summer where they can pour pints for their customers.

The crew started homebrewing with small 20-litre batches, and they’ve since graduated to making 60-litre batches of their beers. Schooner Street has plans for even bigger tanks in the works, which should triple their brewing capacity.

For the full story, click here. 

Photo courtesy of Ian Hunter/Kitchener Today