North Vancouver’s Bridge Brewing Company started out with modest goals. As a “nano” brewery, it was established in 2012 with a 4 hectolitre brewing facility in a 930 sq-ft space — tiny by industry standards. Success came fast, however, and it wasn’t long until husband and wife co-owners Jason and Leigh Stratton had to start thinking about expansion.
In early 2015, Bridge opened a new 4,500 sq-ft facility not too far down the road from the original. The move coincided with the hiring of head brewer Jeremy Taylor, a North Shore native who’d just returned home after completing a Masters Degree in brewing and distilling from Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University. As one of most prestigious programs of its kind in the world, Heriot-Watt also boasts alumni locally at Dogwood Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers and Odd Society Spirits.
Jeremy’s brewing journey started when his wife bought him a basic home-brew kit. “She didn’t know what she was starting — how big a part of our lives it would become. Now we have to visit breweries every time we go on vacation,” he says with a smile. His timing couldn’t have been better, entering the professional ranks at a time that corresponded not only with Bridge's expansion, but also the proliferation of craft beer more generally. Which gives him optimism about the future: “Some people will tell you the craft beer market is saturated, but I’m convinced there’s room for all us. The number of people drinking craft beer is only going to go up."
