By Thomas Smith

Mathew Renda, co-owner of Boshkung Brewing is all too familiar with the need to access breakfast programs. Growing up, he utilized the breakfast program at his school in Pickering to get him through the day.

After one of his staff members told him that Archie Stouffer Elementary School lacked a breakfast program, Renda decided to take action.

The process to facilitate the breakfast program began in late February, after Renda reached out to principal Mike Gervais.

“These kids need a good meal in the morning,” said Renda.

 On Friday March 21, Renda and his wife Deborah Banks, staff member Courtney Ryckman and her son Deagan served breakfast to around 50 kids from Archie Stouffer Elementary school. Breakfast included scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, and fruit.

“It’s just to put food in their bellies,” said Renda.

Renda says that the food program is one way for him to pay it forward to the community. Owing to the success of the community to local residents, Renda says that supporting the community through food programs like the Food Centre and the kid’s breakfast program is dearly needed.

Renda says that the Minden Community Food Centre is seeing an unstopping increase in demand. While the community of Minden is both resilient and tough, in trying times, it does not hurt to lend a helping hand.

“They might work for me in the future,” said Renda with a laugh.

While the end of the school year is fast approaching, Renda hopes to continue the program next year and increase their capabilities of feeding more students.

Renda’s vision for Boshkung Brewery is to become a focal point in the community. A welcoming gathering space for people to come together, catch up with old friends, and make new ones.

For a long time, Renda has loved all aspects of brewing. With a background in design and sales, Renda felt that beer and brewing always captured his interest and even poured his creative endeavours writing on the sudsy stuff. 

Running Boshkung Brewing involves multiple industries to be successful including sales, manufacturing, logistics, design, and chemistry, says Renda.

“A lot of people consider wine the best pairing for foods,” said Renda. “There are thousands of malts and hops.” With a variety of different ingredients to craft flavour profiles, the options are nearly endless.

There is a fine art to the craft of brewing. With beers ranging from lagers to IPAs, to hefeweizen, and sours, every beer has a different brewing process.

Boshkung brewing’s Wildwood Sour, for example, uses 220 pounds of fresh blueberries and pomegranates during the brewing process. While traditionally sour beers took over three days with a special brewing process involving inoculation with lactobacillus bacteria and a drop in pH, a new yeast is available that cuts the brewing time down to one day.

Another beer that Boshkung prepared has been aging in a whiskey barrel since December of 2022.

One of Renda’s biggest heroes in the brewing industry is Jeff Talmey, from Town Brewery in Whitby. With a wide selection of beers and a reputation for fostering a community atmosphere, Renda looks at Talmey’s business model for inspiration.

Renda says that diversifying Boshkung Brewing with food options has allowed more people to come to the brewery and stay longer. With food as an additional source of income, it is easier to stay in business with declining beer sales.

Nationally, beer and alcohol sales have been on a continuous decline.

Boshkung Brewing has a single location in Minden, but Renda has said that they have aspirations to open an additional location towards the Durham region, with Bowmanville or Courtice being the strongest contenders. Renda says that the additional location would bring the experience of cottage country closer to the bigger cities, leading to further tourism opportunities in the Haliburton Highlands. Renda has no plans to move Boshkung Brewing from Minden.

All of Boshkung Breweries beer labels are designed entirely by Renda himself. With eye-catching labels and distinct colors, Renda makes every label unique and whimsical. While he keeps designing duties for himself, he foresees teaching a staff member of the design process once the business expands.

Currently, Boshkung Brewing is in their shoulder season, but Renda says that this March Break saw more sales than last year’s. Recently, their St. Patrick’s Day event was highly successful, with around 70 people showing up to enjoy the festivities on their patio and inside their taproom. Renda says that the beautiful, warm weather was a huge factor in getting people out for the occasion.

In retaliation to the U.S. tariffs, American spirits have been pulled from their bar.

“It is important,” said Renda. “We have no American spirits here. All of our well is Canadian made. We, as a company, try to keep as much Canadian as we can.”

Renda says that he hopes the imposed tariffs will encourage more manufacturing plants to open in Canada.

“Cans are getting hit the hardest, with a 25 per cent tariff,” said Renda. The tariff is said to increase to 50 percent in April.

Other breweries are capable of buying cans from other suppliers from China by the truckload. That is not economically feasible for a microbrewery like Boshkung.

Renda says that he is seeing increases in all aspects of the brewing process every day. The majority of hops are not grown in Canada and are seeing increased costs. Romaine lettuce, sourced from California, is something that is being hit disproportionately hard by the tariffs and is likely going to force Renda to make changes to the menu.

“It’s tough,” said Renda. “The grain we use is all Canadian. I am trying to hold back increasing prices for as long as I can.”

With the national push to purchase Canadian-owned products, Renda says that he has seen an uptick in LCBO and Beer Store sales, noting brands with Canadian identities such as Molson and Tim Hortons are American owned.

“The community is so giving and supportive of us and we feel it,” said Renda.