Editor's note: The following is the another installment of a new series BarrieToday will be providing to our readers, examining local businesses and organizations, while also finding out what made them choose to open their doors here.
*************************
With beers named Sparkle Puff, Juicy Ass and Freakshow Crush, Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery in downtown Barrie is all about being “different."
“Normal is weird,” says operations manager Tim Gallinger, who runs the downtown Barrie tap room.
There are three very specific things that make Flying Monkeys stand out among the other great craft breweries around the province, Gallinger tells BarrieToday: The people, the beer, and the branding.
“The people are unique — you won’t find people like this in lots of places. The product is definitely unique. Our beer doesn’t speak to everyone and we know that. We’ve taken a specific direction in terms of our overall portfolio of beer, but it does speak to a lot of people and those people seem to really like it,” Gallinger says.
“We take a tremendous amount of care in our beers being dynamic, much like our rooms. They have a lot of character and are fairly intricate. We don’t do anything normal here and that philosophy runs through the room and it runs through our people," he says.
"We’ve got some weirdos who work here… and our beer is delicious, but I also like to think it’s innovative and it’s a little weird.”
Branding — both of the beer and of the taproom itself — is the third.
“There are a couple of signs on your way in here that sort of defines who is welcome here and who isn’t,” he says. “Our beer names are hard to forget, but not easy to remember.”
Originally opened as the Robert Simpson Brewery (named after Barrie’s first mayor and brewmaster) in 2004, Flying Monkeys was officially born in 2008, after founder Peter Chiodo — along with his wife Andrea and sister Patty Gardner — rebranded.
And the rest is history Gallinger says.
Initially running as just a brewery and slowly expanding into a retail bottle shop and now as a tap room, Flying Monkeys is currently operating at 115 per cent capacity, Gallinger says.
“We are now to the point where we’re brewing overnight, seven days a week. What most breweries do at that point is open a second location or move to a bigger spot. This is prime real estate. A lot of breweries require such a big footprint and don't generally open in a downtown area because it’s just not cost effective, he says.
Despite that, Flying Monkeys has stayed put and has no intention of moving, Gallinger adds.
“We love being in downtown Barrie, we like being on the strip and we like being right in the middle of the action. At risk of being self-aggrandizing, we think we are a destination and that people like to come here. We hope that we are a positive contributor to downtown and that we bring more people around.”
Chiodo and sister Gardner grew up in Barrie, and as is the case with most brewers, he started off as a garage brewer, having learned home brewing in his grandfather’s basement.
Chiodo honed his skills as a university student in Alabama and again as a grad student in Mississippi.
Since “casting off the comfortable and respectable cloak of the Robert Simpson Brewing Company” and officially becoming Flying Monkeys in late 2008, the brewery has brewed a variety of one-of-a-kind recipes, packaged more than 50 distinctive brews, won over 75 national and international awards, and “even sent a beer into space”.
The taproom has become the showcase for the brewery, says Gallinger, noting they only serve their own products.
“The tap room is a place where people can come and get to know us, the brand and experience our products, as opposed to a restaurant, which generally is a confluence of ideas and products from different people,” he says. “We are unique in that sense and are our own place. It’s a family business and we are the brainchild of the ideas of the ownership.
"If you look around you can see some of it … this is our crazy.”
Although Flying Monkeys has come a long way over the years, Gallinger admits it all started with the support from the community.
“I think everyone likes a little bit of homegrown pride. Barrie does a nice job of cheering for the home team in lots of ways, and we are one of them,” he says. “We don’t know if this is factually true, but I suppose we probably produce more beer per square foot of real estate than anywhere else anywhere. We’ve managed to cram an unbelievably large plant into an unbelievably small place and we are pretty proud of that.”
The craft beer industry has also come a long way, Gallinger says, which they are thrilled about, as it has allowed places like theirs — and others like them — to pop up all over the province and employ local people.
“There’s always going to be a desire for classic beer, which is great."
