Great Western Brewing expansion could begin summer 2023

At the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 26th Street East in Saskatoon’s City Park neighbourhood is a 95-year-old brewery; the oldest and the last of its kind in Saskatchewan. Over the last century it’s been home to Western Canada Brewing, O’Keefe Brewing and Molson Brewery.

Great Western Brewing Company has occupied the space since 1990.

Recently, Saskatoon City Council gave the thumbs up to a bylaw change, that would allow for a $35 million to $45 million expansion.

Great Western Brewing Chief Financial Officer Brendan Halbgewachs said it will completely transform the entire block the old brewery now sits on.

The old administrative area parallel to 2nd Avenue North will be taken down, the courtyard behind it along 26th Street East will also be taken down, and a 70- foot tall building called “The New Cellars” building will also be demolished and the hospitality rooms will be renovated.

“The new brewery will go until 26th Street. There will be room for a sidewalk between the building and 2nd Avenue so it will take a fairly large footprint,” he said.

GWB canning and packing plant (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)

Brew Master Keith Armstrong added that the new building will house the new cold cellars and filtration.

“Basically, the liquid side of the brewhouse is separated from the packaging (side).”

The brewery was built in 1927, and Armstrong said it was important for the company to remain on the site, close to the downtown.

“After 100 years of a building that holds tanks that weigh many tonnes, we really need to look to the future and that’s why we’re aiming to renew both the building and the site. We want to remain part of Saskatoon,” he explained.

“We have a rich brewing history in Saskatoon,” added Halbgewachs. “One of the great attributes of the expansion is, is that it does continue to use the old building. So although bits and pieces come off and additions are brought on, some of the original building will actually be retained.”

The fermentation rooms will be some of the spaces that will undergo extensive changes. Currently there are 70 tanks that each hold 70-thousand litres of liquid.

“In order to keep the beer chilled here, we have to keep the entire room cold,” explained Halbgewachs. “That’s just a byproduct of the era in which this facility was built.”

Once the new brewhouse is built and new tanks are installed, only the tanks will need to be kept cold, which will mean a huge cost savings to the brewery and a lot less energy use.

The packing plant, which fills 500 cans per minute, and then pasteurizes the beer will remain the same.

Construction could begin in the summer of 2023, and should wrap up sometime in 2024. Right now, the brewery is capable of producing around 250,000 hectolitres of beer every year.

Once the new brewhouse is up and running, that will increase to around 400,000 hectolitres of beer – or – about 40 million litres.

“It’s a lot of beer,” said Armstrong.

Halbgewachs said most of it stays between Manitoba and B.C.

“We actually feel there’s a phenomenal amount of growth opportunity still for us here in western Canada.”