Photos: A visit to Beau's All Natural Brewing

Last week, my buddy Hop Citizen (Kaiser) and I decided to do a day trip to Ottawa. My main goal of the trip was to visit Beau's All Natural Brewing in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. Beau's has only been available in Manitoba for ten months now and has become well raved after by local beer drinkers to the point that one of the restaurants in Brandon has their beer on tap (craft beer on tap is a rare sight still), and their seasonals sell out quite quickly whenever they make their way to LC or beer vendor shelves. Beau's Jen and Steve Beauschene, as well as Andrew and Patrick treated myself and Hop Citizen to a very VIP Beau's experience at the brewery. I was wanting to stay for lunch with the folks over at Beau's, but Kaiser had other plans for us for the rest of the day! This is the first time I played around with my new Canon EF-S24mm f/2.8 STM lens, it's a decent lens not as good at staying focused as my EF40mm f/2.8 STM. Here's photos from our trip to Beau's last week.

I originally planned this trip months ago to go with my buddy Ryan in Ottawa, but due to work, he was unable to meet up with us - he was the reason why I first tried Beau's back in 2013, and he's such a big Beau's fan that Beau's was the beer that they served at his wedding!

Lastly.. before we get to the photos: I appreciate breweries that put emphasis on rural life and agriculture. Beau's and their old tractor remind me of my childhood when I thought I was going to be a farmer. At least the beer aspect of agriculture I still get giddy about!

The moment you enter Beau's, you see their brewing equipment in action.

Andrew (left) and Patrick (right) being awesome hosts and making sure we get to try what's new at Beau's. Andrew has been working for Beau's for only a month now as Customer Engagement Co-ordinator and you can just tell he's having a blast - he's been a Beau's fan for a long time now and said that working at Beau's was his dream job. He was also featured on Beau's announcement video for their Farm Table Saison.

Kaiser needed to get a closeup of the tap labels

Surly! Founders!

Steve heard I was in town so he stopped by to say hi!

Eh, Steve?! He's less babyfaced now than when I saw him at Flatlander's Beer Festival in Winnipeg the week before

Just your typical every day Hop Citizen

Jen and Andrew!

Jen and the folks over at Beau's happen to be the biggest non-Manitoban fans of Winnipeg's Torque Brewing, so I just had to bring some samples with me! I was planning on bringing a few cans of Foundation Pale ale but unfortunately I couldn't find any until after I got back to Manitoba. One day Beau's and Torque will do a collaboration beer.. seeing that John K Samson & The Winter Wheat are performing at Beau's Oktoberfest this year, a John K Samson "Winter Wheat" themed beer only makes sense.

While I was at the brewery, I had the honour to meet Fina Uwineza, the entrepreneur who is starting up a women-owned craft brewery in Rwanda thanks to an awesome successful kickstarter campaign thanks to Beau's! She told me that municipal laws have been making it hard for her to find the right space to start up a brewery but she's confident she will be finding the right space soon! Here's Fina with Steve.

Myself with Fina and Steve

Steve with Kaiser

Thank you to the folks over at Beau's for taking time out of their schedule to meet with us! We didn't get time to visit Halcyon Barrel House, which is Beau's new startup brewery that's producing exclusively barrel aged beers, but I did briefly meet brewer Bryce while at the brewery, but next time I'll be checking the place out!


For Hop Citizen's take on our visit to Beau's, you can check it out on HopCitizen.com