Tour Our Brewery

Our brewery has several beautiful spaces to explore when you visit us. Guests can enjoy sipping a pint of one of our delicious RARE BIRD^® Craft Beers on tap at our Tasting Bar, at our high-top tables or in our fireplace lounge.

Visitors also love shopping in our retail space and hospitality area where one can find our portfolio of products and merchandise. The brewery reception area boasts a 30 ft. post-and-beam structure with lots of natural light, local artwork and a custom-made Atlantic Salmon chandelier. Our space is warm and welcoming to all who visit.

This is where your journey begins on the Authentic Seacoast. Learn about other experiences we offer including Glamping in the Vineyard in our Yurts, staying at Distillery House across the road, touring our apiary and hopyard, or renting bicycles or kayaks to explore Guysborough Harbour! Take a virtual tour of our brewery here, or better yet come visit us in-person! We look forward to meeting you!

Our Brewing Process

We’ve been making craft beer for more than 17 years. Our recipes and processes evolve as we continue to master the craft. It is highly satisfying creating a great brew from scratch to share with fans and friends.

Beer-making begins with good water. We’re fortunate to have our own naturally fed deep aquifer underneath our estate that provides exceptional water used in all our processes. No chlorine or other chemicals are used to make it potable.

We acquire a wide range of grains from around the world, including the Maritimes, as the primary ingredient for our beers. For example, for Sea Piper, our coffee stout, we use 7 different kinds, including various malted barleys. These are milled to produce grist, which is combined with hot water in our mash tun, where sweet wort is produced. Our later tun is used to separate the wort from spent grains. These grains are sent to a local farmer to feed his livestock. The wort is transferred to the kettle, where it is boiled, and various hops and other flavourings are added.

We use our own hops grown next to the brewery in several of our brews. This hot liquid is pumped to the whirlpool where, by centrifugal force, wort is separated from most of the solids. Wort is then cooled through a heat exchanger, which captures the energy which is used to heat the next batch. Cooled wort is transferred to the fermenter, where yeast is added. Yeast, in a sugar-rich environment, replicate and give off ethanol and CO2. After fermentation is complete, we have beer. Beer is then conditioned at low temperature for several weeks, then filtered, gassed, and further chilled for packaging. It is interesting to see how the taste profile changes as the beer goes through its 1-2-month journey before it is ready to be packaged for our fans.

We hope that all the hard work that goes into brewing our RARE BIRD^® Craft Beers, results in you enjoying the most refreshing, flavourful, and satisfying pint of beer possible! Cheers friends!

The Brewery

Our brewery/distillery is a working production facility. We enjoy sharing our knowledge with folks who visit. Tours conducted by our experienced staff can be arranged for groups of 6 people or more (reservations are required). Please find details on our Contact Us page.

Our Tasting Bar

Our Tasting Bar is a highlight of our hospitality area. We invite you to pull up a bar stool and let your taste buds explore our various RARE BIRD^® Craft Beers. One can also learn about our craft-distilled spirits such as FORTRESS^® Rum, GLYNNEVAN^® Whisky, SEA FEVER^® Rum, VIRGA^® Vodka, our refreshing VIRGA^®Vodka Sodas and more!

Tasting Paddles are available as either a flight of beers or spirits, or an assortment of both.

We also sell our own FULL STEAM^® Coffee at the Tasting Bar and have a freshly roasted pot brewing every day! In addition, our ACADIAN MAPLE^® products can be sampled at our tasting bar.

If you’re a small group (less than 6 people) or don’t have time for a tour, joining us at the Tasting Bar is a great option! Grab your pals for a weekend road trip or your significant other for a surprise date! We look forward to meeting you, friends!