RE: New Local Brewery Owners Bring More than just a New Name
Quinte West (Trenton), ON: Wild Card Brewing Company is the new name for the former Gateway Brewery which has been operating in Trenton for about 4 years. It is owned and operated by Nate Card, who has lots of help from his brother Zach and his parents Jan & Gary Card. “Wild Card Brewing Company began as a dinner table idea between my parents and my brother and I in April 2015,” said Nate Card, who just finalized the purchase of the brewery in September after managing the operations since May. “I was just finishing my exams when Gateway Brewery went up for sale. I initially took an interest in brewing when I first started there about 2 years ago and started home brewing much to my Mum’s chagrin! Her stove was never the same once I started! Now that I have free access I love brewing different and unique blends.”
The new name for the brewery has really helped them to expand their customer base and has allowed them to brand and market their product in a whole new way. “I changed the name to Wild Card as our family name is Card and when we were young, my family had this great boat and it was named ‘Wild Card’,” said the new owner. “We have many great memories of family trips on the boat and thought we would integrate that into the business name.” There new logo is very recognizable and their tasting room is full of card memorabilia, much of it made by their loyal customers.
Nate his helped out with the day to day operation of the brewery by his family members and he has also hired Chris Greasley who had been with the former owners for several years before being laid off while the brewery was up for sale. Chris comes with many years of brewing experience and a vast amount of knowledge and is a great asset to the brewery. His brother Zach has taken over the large part of the daily brewing operations, while Chris looks after the beer in process and filtering.
The taproom opens 7 days a week and is located at 33 Ontario Street. It features 8 different beers on tap which allows Wild Card to get creative with the beer they brew. Since May they have been brewing a large variety of beer trying out very different flavors such as Blonde Barista (an espresso infused beer), Queen of Hearts (a stout using local raspberries and cocoa nibs), Peaches and Cream (using fresh Niagara peaches). Many of these have been popular in restaurant, bars and night clubs stretching from Kingston to Port Hope and Peterborough to Prince Edward County. They started in May with 2 licensees and have grown to almost 20. In Trenton you can get their beer in The Port, Tomasso’s, L’Auberge de France, and The Celtic. “We hope to be in even more local establishments in the near future,” said Nate, “some of these locations, such as The Port, have a ‘special’ brew that is only available at their location and not anywhere else including our tap room.”
“It is great to see so many of our local bars and restaurants support our very own craft brewery,” said Suzanne Andrews, Manager at the Quinte West Chamber of Commerce. “Having a local food and drink sector is good for tourism and makes the menus in our local restaurants much more interesting when they feature products from the region. I was very pleased to see Wild Card Brewery featured widely in the restaurant menus for the Quintelicious event both in the dishes and on tap.”
The company is quickly growing and increasing their business both in the tap room, the licensee’s and the Brew on Premises business which is now called Gateway Brewing Company. As the business grows they have now shifted to 500mL glass bottles, which they will be sending to bars and restaurants in the coming weeks. Their future goals will be getting into the LCBO in the next year and to be sold and even more licensees in the Quinte Region. To contact Wild Card Brewing you can call 613-394-1010 or check them out online at www.wildcardbrewco.com and on Facebook.
