Something new is brewing at Heeman's
After a lengthy process to receive building approval, Heeman’s has started construction on a one-of-a-kind cider and mead production facility in Thorndale.
“When most people are putting up buildings, oftentimes production and tasting bars and the retail experience go together, because the uniqueness of our facility and space in retail is always top priority. And so we wanted to make a facility that we could just produce it,” says Susan Judd from Heeman’s
Heeman’s started brewing cider in 2019, using existing space to produce small batches of the alcoholic beverage.
“Our first little batch was one tank of cider…and it was such an incredible experience for us. We ended up selling out of that batch in one day, which was phenomenal with the growth of the business. “
Now the construction of a new 7,000 square foot facility is underway, and it will mean year-round production of the drinks.
“It really gives us a permanent home for what we've been working towards for the last five years, and we focused a lot on innovation and and really providing some unique products,” says Tom Heeman.
“I’m not gonna lie, we've really put a lot of our backs into it, to get those out and it's really going to be great to have a comfortable place where we can, we can call it our own.”
Heeman says mead is the oldest alcoholic drink in history, dating back thousands of years to ancient Europe, Africa and Asia. It is made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with other additions.
There has been a resurgence in popularity for the drink, which Heeman says is a natural extension of what they do.
“I’ve found that if, if you make something fun and social, then it's a lot easier to maintain that connection. And I think that mead is a natural extension of that and it's something that we can do to share our love of bees and help continue a successful beekeeping industry in Ontario.”
Construction is expected to be completed by the end of January with production in the new facility beginning at roughly the same time.
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