The rumours are true: After this Sunday, Ginger’s and The Granite Brewery will close for good.
After 34 years of running a bar downtown, Kevin Keefe is getting out of the entertainment and bar business in Halifax, but his brand of beer will live on. He’s moving his brewing operations to Stairs Street in the north end, where the Granite Brewery will become more of an industrial microbrewery, like Garrison or Propeller, with a beer store, but no bar.
It’s a major step for Keefe, who pioneered microbrew beer in Nova Scotia, but he feels it’s a necessary one if he was to get other bars to carry his beer. “I’ve never really gone out trying to sell to other bars,” Keefe says, “because they perceive me as competition, because I have a restaurant and bar downtown myself.”
His sense that Barrington Street has reached its nadir was a factor in Keefe’s decision as well. “I’ve owned this building for over 25 years and Barrington Street has been neglected for that entire time. It’s been treated as a bus highway. All those patios and that stuff, we can’t have that on Barrington street. That might slow a bus down. It’s been really neglected by the city. Nothing really changes down here, except they put in a new light bulb or something like that. I’m just tired of waiting. The only thing left downtown are bars and restaurants.”
So, he’s selling the building, perhaps ironically, to one of the developers who already owns most of the downtown. He wouldn’t say to whom.
“It’s not sold, yet, but it’s under agreement. It will be sold very, very soon.”
To one of the other developers downtown, I ask? “Yeah,” he replies, “yeah.”
He and his brother still run a successful Granite Brewery in Toronto. He told me that his Granite in Toronto makes 65% of its business from food. It’s more of a sit down pub than a straight up bar. He had thought of trying to do the same here. “I’ve actually been looking for the last 6 months for a decent space here in town where I could do just what I do, only have a pub also. A more food-oriented place, as opposed to entertainment or a bar business that we have here. Because it’s really getting hurt. But I haven’t really found anything decent. I would like to get out of downtown.”
He still has a plan for a Green Man pub in Windsor in the old Nova Scotia Textiles building, but the project slowed down because he “ran into some engineering problems. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing this. We planned on being up there sooner, and we had made arrangements to shut this place down.”
He’s going to use his existing equipment at the new site, where he will have the capacity to brew three times the amount he currently makes. Keefe assured me there wouldn’t be any disruption of service. When he gets beer production up and running on Stairs Street, he’ll be canning his Peculiar and his Organic Green Man ale. He plans to sell it at the NSLC and in Ontario as well; he’ll sell growlers at the brewery beer store.
“Today I am brewing the last brew here. I’ve been brewing like a banshee. I have about a six- to eight-week supply of beer. I’ll only be having to deal with the Henry House and the few other customers I have. I’ve got enough to last until we get everything up and running there. It shouldn’t be too long, I should be brewing up there in about three weeks.”
Sunday night is the last night for Gingers. It’s not just the beer: a new gap in live music and performance venues will be felt in the city as well. Keefe is sympathetic. “I would’ve closed last week, except for Picnicface. There’s an awful lot people who started off doing things here…Old Man Ludecke. The biggest problem with the entertainment end of it is that by losing Ginger’s we’ll be losing a venue for young people that are just getting going. It is a shame, but [Picnicface] will land on their feet. There should be a bunch of places tripping over themselves to get them.”
What if a horde of thirsty beer hounds descended on Gingers this weekend and drank up all his supply?
“They couldn’t possibly drink me dry from what I have in here. I have close to 100 kegs of beer in here. The days of selling 100 kegs of beer…I don’t know if anyone’s done that before.”
That’s not a challenge, he says. Still—kinda sounds like one to me.
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Granite Brewery Beer Store opens
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.
Sad times, indeed.
a sad loss to the local music scene
🙁
I heard a city councilor or somesuch on the radio yesterday talking about barrington st etc. His thinking was, “hey, its a vibrant downtown, you can tell because as soon as one places shuts down another opens”. Hee Haw.
Interesting point about Barrington basically being a bus highway, it’s true 😛
No offense to Andy, but has The Coast’s editor fallen asleep? There are many grammatical and spelling errors in this article. I find this is a common thing to happen in print media lately, seems no one cares to make sure they put out a decent product anymore.
Waaaay back years ago, Kevin was promised by Kate Carmichael that she was going to get that bus stop moved from right in front of his window/storefront where busses blast exhaust into his customers face as they leave. (I was there) It was supposed to be put where bus stops are meant to go, prior to the intersection, so they do not back traffic up into the intersection when a bus stops. Unfortunately she became ill, and we lost her common sense approach to the downtown when she passed away. No one has stepped forth to replace her, and I am surprised Kevin waited this long. No pub can live without a food menu.
…..and seeing as my DNA is comprised of approximately 32.49% Granite Brewery Best Bitter, I am going to miss it.
Loved the beer, but never really got into the pub. Maybe it was because a bus or noisy-ass car pounding bass went by every two seconds. We really do need to change what we consider a “vibrant” downtown though. Barrington (at least the stretch where Ginger’s/Dooley’s/Sam’s were) could be the beginnings of a business district. All we can do is move forward, people.
I never got into the place, partly because of the Potemkin-village facade that the govt paid for in 1995 for the G-7 conference which fronted an empty space for years and turned me off as a result. When he finally got around to finishing the interior, the resulting space was dark and dingy, and the food, such as it was, seemed an afterthought. When the govt did an about-face on the smoking laws and outlawed any type of smoking room he seemed to lose all interest. Peculiar is good beer, but that’s all I could say about the place that was positive.
I’ve only been there once and was too drunk to form an accurate opinion. Henry House down the street is good though. I go there a lot, despite my aversion for King’s students.
Thanks, Alex. Admittedly, I did rush this article a little so it could come out on Friday. It read like it, so I made some fixes. Good to have eagle eye grammarians out there keeping me honest!
The Granite was more than just a pub. It was a place with a distinct set of regulars who enjoyed every aspect of the place – from the decor, to the beer, to the company you could keep. You can’t find that kind of group of people at many places any more. It’s been almost 3 months now since that last wonderful night at The Granite, and it brings a smile to my face every time I pass by one of those common souls I shared the bar with – a head nod is all that is needed to acknowledge that bond & understanding.
I always hate to see a classic bar and brewery close. It’s a shame that old bars like this close down, to only be replaced by hipster bars. This really makes me sad. http://www.majesticmarbleimport.com/granite.html
I used to work as a short order cook at Gingers in the eighties it was a fast paced job especially the Saturday brunch of steak and eggs for the live bands that played