Edible Notables: Howl Brewing

Many of us use buy/sell/trade websites regularly to find unique items and get rid of things we no longer have use for. But not many of us can claim that placing an ad on Used Victoria changed our life forever.

Yet that’s what it did for one Victoria couple. After years of brewing beer from home, Daniel van Netten and his wife Alayna Briemon decided they wanted to get into the commercial brewing industry, and in 2016, they placed an ad on the site in the hopes of finding somewhere to open a nano brewery. From that ad came the discovery of their current location, and Howl Brewing was born.

Daniel has plenty of experience upon which he’s built the brewery, having worked as a bartender or liquor store clerk for 23 years—including 18 years working as a bartender at Spinnakers Brew Pub. Since opening Howl Brewing, he’s been able to infiltrate the craft beer scene in Victoria by supplying restaurants and pubs with kegs and liquor stores with cans and bottles. They also sell beer at farmers’ markets and provide home delivery service; plus, they sell flights and pints directly at the brewery as well as offer growler fills and bottle off sales. 

Of course, this success took a lot of work, which began with preparing the building to become a brewery. Daniel says he owes a lot of gratitude to the friends and family who showed up to contribute in various ways in order to get the brewery up and running. From the beginning, he’s learned to expect the unexpected. “There’s always something that can and will go wrong!” he explains. He has forged ahead through the challenges solely for the love of beer and community, despite it being “way more work with littler financial reward than imagined.” But the positivity surrounding the brewing community is something he’s proud to be a part of, and being able to share their beer with the community makes it all worth it.

The farmhouse/cottage style brewery creates their beer in small batches, providing them lots of room to experiment. “We research and recreate forgotten historic beer styles,” Daniel says. “We are not afraid to brew with ingredients that are not commonly found in beer—such as an heirloom tomato saison, carrot ginger ale, chaga mushroom and spruce tip lager.” They take full advantage of being in the South Island, with so many farms and microclimates providing a variety of ingredients for them to experiment with. “The idea is to provide an exciting and interesting experience with every visit.”

This also means that their menu is always changing, depending on what local ingredients are available seasonally, so every time you go you can enjoy a new style of beer. “Learn about beer from the staff and join us on the adventure!”

The Edible Notables series is proudly sponsored by Beacon Law Centre.