It was a romantic idea to establish a brewery in a tiny village in central Ontario. Romantic to brew beer that is special and different in the middle of an antique village, named Hockley after its one-time postmaster.

When Tom Smellie decided to establish a microbrewery in Hockley Village after the rebuilding of the general store, he was on to an idea that was so good it took him by surprise. He hired brew master, Andrew Kohnen and, together, they made beer that won prizes early on.

Andrew Kohnen was born in Canada of German parents. One day, he "had one of those moments" at a point in his life when he realised that what he was doing for a living, working as an operations manager, was not what he wanted to do. He was not exactly sure what that was but he knew he liked beer. His family had owned a pub in Germany until the 1950's. Andrew enjoyed the history and the science of brewing.

He found a course and a chance to go to the U.K. With no ties of marriage here, he jumped at the opportunity. There he lived like a student, on very little money and with lots to learn. He "absolutely loved it." He was talking about struggling some weeks during his students in the U.K. and told me whimsically, "It's amazing what you can do when you're broke." He spent much of his time in northern England, working as an apprentice.

"We went to deliver the beer," he reminisced, "to a tiny pub right in the middle of nowhere. The pub was just a house, with the front room converted as a pub. There was one old tap and the man who owned it was just there to 'serve the needs of the locals.'" And he laughed at the memory.

From England, Andrew travelled across northern and central Europe, learning about beer. He went to the pub that his family had owned, where his application to work was turned down. Not easily dismissed, Andrew returned to the pub where he offered to work for no pay before they could say no to him again.

All the time he was learning about brewing beer, but more than that, he was learning about the culture of beer.

"There is a glass for every kind of beer," was his comment. "There is no stigma to going into a pub in the morning in Europe because beer and wine are part of life. Here, if you're drinking a beer before noon, people remark on it."

While having a brewery in Hockley was successful and romantic, eventually the success influenced the romance to a more practical location on Centennial Road in Orangeville. They were able to double their output with the move, which gave them four times the space they had in Hockley.

They caught the opportunity to purchase equipment from Colorado and by doubling their production, they are just about able to keep up with demand.

When the brewery was still in Hockley, Andrew developed a dark beer. He and Tom were extremely pleased when it won two gold medals, one each from the Ontario Brewing Awards and the Canadian Brewing Awards.

"The style that I try to emulate doesn't exist elsewhere," Andrew explained. "It's a dark beer, a mix between northern English brown ale and a Midland mild. All the local beers, the interesting ones were nearly wiped out by the large consortiums until CAMRA took action."

(NB: CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale was a citizens group in the U.K. during the 1990's when there was a move afoot on the part of large breweries to buy up all the small or micro breweries. The British will put up with a great deal but not with messing with their beer. There was a nation wide coalition formed - CAMRA - to fight the take-overs. Not surprisingly CAMRA won and real ale was safe once more.)

The technical details were fascinating. The ingredients come from many sources. The hops come from the U.K. and the Pacific north west of the U.S.A., as there have been no hops grown in Canada since the 1920's.

There is a general hops shortage as a result of faulty thinking. First there was a surplus, which the big companies bought up and then there was bad weather, which damaged the next crop and so on.

The malt is Canadian grown some of it coming from Moncton. It costs a bit more, Andrew said, but it is worth it. Also, there is malt from the U.K. that they bring in as a specialty. Malt is partially germinated barley, for those of you, like me, who did not know.

For the dark beer, Andrew gets barley that is stopped just before germination and then roasted for colour and flavour.

They do purify the local water through charcoal to get rid of the chlorine but, otherwise, says Andrew, "the water in this region is ideal for any style of beer."

The convenience and practicality of the brewery's new location - "it's just three minutes from my house," outweighs other considerations. As long as they can satisfy their customers, they are happy where they are.

And Andrew is happy. Having come from a dull managerial job to employment creating new beers, working truly as an artist in his own field, for Andrew Kohnen, the location is less than the craft.