A Chatham-Kent brewery is getting recognized for its innovation during the pandemic.
Red Barn Brewing in Blenheim has been named as a finalist for the 2022 Ontario Tourism Resiliency Awards in the beverage category for both Innovation and Collaboration.
Owner Denny Vervaet said it's a great feeling to be recognized on a provincial level.
"It's pretty cool to be nominated for an Ontario award," he said. "We work hard at what we do and it's nice to be noticed."
Put on by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, the Tourism Resiliency Awards are meant to "recognize those that have shown resiliency, gained inspiration from others and look towards rebuilding."
According to Vervaet, Red Barn was nominated by Chatham-Kent Tourism for its Farm Fest grand opening event in September 2021, which featured live music, local vendors and food trucks.
The event collected donations for Chatham-Kent-based charity Rise House International. It also featured a pair of other local breweries- Bayside Brewing Company and Sons of Kent.
"A lot of people thought it was kind of interesting, they thought they were our competition," said Vervaet. "But, we love to collaborate with anyone local, especially our same industry friends."
Red Barn Brewing is a family affair, owned by Vervaet along with his wife Sandy and brother-in-law Daniel English. It's located in the field next to their family farm on Lagoon Road.
The trio partially opened the brewery in the summer of 2020, right in the thick of the pandemic and under the strict public health measure in place at the time.
"It made us really realize how to run a business," Vervaet explained. "We had to run it a little slower, being that we were kind of never fully opened. So that was neat for this Farm Fest, we had the community out and it was our grand opening but it was a year later because we couldn't hold it when we originally wanted to. "
After several difficult months during the pandemic, Red Barn Brewing is now fully reopened. Vervaet said the family looks forward to continuing to come up with innovate new events and offerings for the community including frequent concerts and in-house comedy nights.
The winners of the Ontario Tourism Resiliency Awards will be announced during the Ontario Tourism Summit in Muskoka on October 26. Last year, Chatham's TJ Stables and its Spirit Horse Encounter experience took home the Indigenous Tourism award for innovation.
