The Recorder
GORE BAY—The Split Rail Brewing Company introduced two new products during this past Saturday’s hugely successful second annual Winter Warm Up.
The many attendees that packed the Split Rail Brewing Company facility had the opportunity to enjoy a limited-run new beer, Gore Bay IPA and in keeping with the ‘family’ theme of Family Day holiday weekend, a special sneak-peek sampling of a soon-to-launch new line of non-alcoholic beverages, all natural, refreshing craft sodas were available.
Both products received many glowing accolades from the lucky samplers. “This is fantastic,” stated one person on hand who was trying the Gore Bay IPA beer.
“This is lovely, it is extremely refreshing,” said Laurie Addison of the non-alcoholic Split Rail Hawberry Soda. “It is great to see that hawberries are used in it and that real Manitoulin Island maple syrup is also in this drink. I love it.” The Split Rail sodas feature natural local and regional flavours and a subtle sweetness from Manitoulin maple syrup that is not overpowering.
Manufacturing alcohol-free beverages in addition to Split Rail’s hugely successful beer brands, including Hawberry Ale, Copper Lager and Loon Song Oats Stout, fulfills the second tier of Split Rail’s business plan.
Limited run craft sodas will be on tap at Split Rail’s retail store starting this spring and will roll out in packaged ‘take-home’ format in the fall.
All Split Rail sodas, like all Split Rail beer, will be exclusively made and packaged on Manitoulin Island in Gore Bay.
The ever-growing Split Rail team is excited about offering a made-on-Manitoulin non-alcoholic, gluten-free, low (natural) sugar beverage and providing a healthier alternative to the excessively sugary or artificially sweetened commercial pops on the market.
Jamie-Lynn Kalmikov of Split Rail marketing said this past Saturday’s winter warm up celebration was a huge success. “The crowd has been very steady all day and we have a few new vendors on hand: HawgEaters, Rocky Raccoon Café with their Momo’s, Uncle B’s Chili and Lisabeth Flanagan of Ultimately Chocolate with her Bean to Bars chocolate.”
Lori Gordon provided the musical entertainment throughout the afternoon event.
Another new feature of the Split Rail Brewing Company showcased on Saturday was the new large walk-in fridge unit that is under construction. Split Rail production manager Brent Pottage explained that work is continuing and once the unit (24×20 foot in size) is complete, “it will allow us to produce more beer earlier to prepare for the summer onslaught, so we will be ahead of the curve in terms of production so all of our five beer products will be available and we won’t run out.”
“Manitoulin Transport, which owns this building, allowed us to expand,” said Mr. Pottage. “We will be able to put our compressor and evaporator as well as products in the walk in fridge unit.”
“Split Rail is a beverage company with a social responsibility foundation. We finally have a second brewer joining us this spring, so we can add this second category to the production schedule and we are building a new large walk-in cold room, so the combination of the footprint expansion and the growing production team means we can implement this long-anticipated product extension,” enthused Split Rail founders Andrea Smith and Eleanor Charlton, adding, “Split Rail offers something for all ages, and all tastes.”
