Times and Transcript:
It’s been 10 years since the Pump House Brewery poured its first glass from the taps on Orange Lane, but founder Shaun Fraser isn’t the kind of guy to let something like an anniversary slow down the progress of his business.
“We just bought a canning plant so we’ll be starting that next year, and with the lower weight of cans it opens up export possibilities in the U.S. and Europe,” Fraser said yesterday as he was running around making deals and preparing for tomorrow’s 10th anniversary celebrations. “And we just purchased some land and are looking at building a winery, but that will be in four or five years.”
Today, the Pump House has five different brands of its own bottled beer, eight on tap and several more that come and go with the seasons. The beer is available in every other province except Saskatchewan and Quebec.
“I always wanted to be Canada’s first national microbrewery and we’re just about there… just a few more provinces and we’ll have it.”
Over the last 10 years, the Pump House Brewery has become a pillar of Metro Moncton’s economic growth and tomorrow the storied sudsmaker will bring back its first customer to help celebrate a business anniversary.
The 10th anniversary celebration begins at the Pump House — located on Orange Lane, just off Main Street behind Moncton City Hall — tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. Ray Auffrey, who bought the first beer 10 years ago and has become affectionately known as customer number one, will get the honour of pouring the first glass of the anniversary brew at 4 p.m.