COUPLE EXCITED TO SHARE THEIR LOVE OF BEER WITH COMMUNITY

DANA KALUZNY AND MIKE NOONAN ARE OWNERS OF ENDSWELL BEER

Endswell Beer will be Mike Noonan's and Dana Kaluzny's love letter to Collingwood.

The couple have purchased a garage at 26 Elm St. and are in the process of turning it into a tap room they hope to open in 2023.

It's the culmination of a dream that started nearly a decade ago and is a celebration of their love of beer, community, family, and each other.

Kaluzny said Endswell was picked as a name, as "It would end up signifying this real resiliency, perseverance and passion, to keep taking the next step to make this dream a reality and really no matter the obstacles that came up, and there have been many, this journey will end well."

The couple met in 2010 while both working at Steam Whistle Brewery, fell in love and were eventually married at the same brewery.

Kaluzny was director of retail and events, focusing on the hospitality side of the business, while Noonan worked on quality assurance and draft maintenance, the technical side of the business.

The couple, as Noonan said, had a "shared joy housing people, parties and sharing beer."

However, it was a trip to California in the spring of 2014 that changed their lives. The couple travelled the Pacific Coast highway from San Francisco to San Diego, stopping at several breweries along the way.

"On the trip, I had this beer that just blew me away. It was not a beer I would normally drink. It was an eight or nine per cent black IPA," Noonan recalls.

He attempted to make the beer at home, and it gave them an idea.

"It set us up on this journey wanting to build something bigger than just making beer in our backyard," Noonan said.

Kaluzny spent time in Collingwood as a child and always wanted to live here. She wanted a place safe to raise their two sons — Calvin and Ellis — and where they could ride their bikes to work.

"There was only one place we wanted to have it (brewery) and that was Collingwood," she said.

They recently received an exemption under the interim control bylaw and are working on getting site plan approval.

Kaluzny said over the last three years, they've talked with many in the community to "ensure this vision we have is something that's going to meet the needs of the people that live here."

The beers are likely to hover around the four per cent alcohol range, part of their vision operating a business based on their shared beliefs.

"As parents ourselves, we want to give an experience for people where they can have a date night and go home and put their kids to bed," Kaluzny said. "We are a small batch brewery; we will have a rotating selection, which means the beer is always fresh."

They are hoping the tap room is open next summer and are excited to offer a "great place to gather, learn about and enjoy our beer, paired with food."

"It's coming together and it's very exciting," Kaluzny said.

For more information, visit endswell.ca.