Square Timber Brewing Company
800 Woito Station Rd Pembroke, ON
(613) 732-2739
Ottawa is a big place, this great city holds a lot of breweries, but beyond the edges of town there are hidden gems that need discovering. As we wound our way through the Ottawa Valley we stumbled upon Pembroke, ON, where the Square Timber Brewing Co. resides.
Keep your eyes peeled for the wooden sign at the end of the driveway and follow it the whole way to the end. There you’ll find a his home and a little wooden cabin that houses Square Timber Brewing. The rustic-styled brewery is spearheaded by brewer Marc Bru, the sole owner and brewer, who greeted us with a smile as he welcomed us to the tap room.
Square Timber’s name pays homage to the surrounding land and industry, the Ottawa Valley was settled on the square timber logging industry where they would cut square logs to create cribs (rafts) to float down the Ottawa river. The stunning artwork on each beer fits perfectly with the history and tales behind the names of each beer, though you could argue that the beer is the true work of art here! As Marc talked us through the history of the area and the brewery, it felt almost as if we were being taken on a stroll through history.
Marc has a lengthy past working in the beer business, raised in Saskatchewan he was surrounded by beer at a young age, eventually working for his Dad in high school. He remembers first discovering craft beer around the age of 20 “like it was yesterday”, and even recalled the moment when stubbies were on their way out and various versions of longnecks were on their way in. In the early 2000’s, he started a band that did numerous tours across the US and, as they visited more and more craft breweries, his love of craft beer grew more and more. The in 2005/06, he started to homebrew and was a part of the ‘Members of Barleyment’ (homebrew club) which I was told has had over 11 breweries created in the Ottawa area by former or current members. Marc eventually did an internship in Michigan to learn more about the brewing business and how to scale up to run a brewery, eventually opening in 2014.
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