Beer, military history on tap for Hops and Props

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This article was published 10/08/2022 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Beer and aviation have more in common than some might think, including a long history in Brandon.

The public is invited to learn more while sampling some Manitoba-made brews at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum later this month.

The museum is holding its first-ever Hops and Props Beer Tasting event on Aug. 20 to get more people to come out to the facility for a different kind of experience, but at the same time learn about how two usually unrelated things actually have a common bond.

No flying and drinking at the same time will happen during the event, joked Steven Hayter, executive director of the museum. What will be happening is a sampling of beers in the museum’s Second World War hangar including beverages from Brandon’s Black Wheat Brewing, Neepawa’s Farmery Estate Brewing and three Winnipeg-based companies, Barnhammer, Torque and Little Brown Jug.

Staff will be on hand to talk about the museum and the history of the flight school. There will also be a food truck loaded with snacks.

“This came about because Brandon is developing some breweries in the city, and it’s exciting to be able to get them involved with the museum,” Hayter said. “Certainly, having the backdrop of the aircraft would be a neat venue to do a beer tasting. This is also a way for the museum to connect with the surrounding area and trying something a little different.”

After COVID-19 pandemic restrictions curtailed many visitors and events, Hayter said he knows people are looking for things to do, and this is a way to raise funds and offer a different experience than the museum’s usual programming.

There are no direct connections between beer and aircraft, but when training was actively going on, there were what were called “wet” and “dry” canteens on the premises, explained Hayter. The wet canteen is where people could get a beer after they were done for the day.

Culturally, beer and the military have a long history. He has seen many pictures of servicemen crowded in the canteen, dancing to jazz bands with a mug of beer to deal with the stresses of serving in the military and fighting. Even the songbooks Hayter has seen from that time depicted servicepeople crowded around a piano with a mug of beer in their hands.

It’s not just the local military that has a long history with brewing. Brandon has seen many beer companies come and go over the years. Empire Brewing and Brandon Brewing are the most recognizable, Hayter said. He still has photos of the brewery building next to the First Street bridge. There’s a long brick building near the railway tracks that also used to be a brewery.

Preparing for the event has been a great way to connect with businesses in and around Brandon while doing some fundraising, he said.

Black Wheat was more than happy to help out the museum, but didn’t want to be the only beer featured, said Ted Birch, majority owner of Black Wheat Brewing. He had met one of the museum executives at the Props and Hops Beer Festival in Winnipeg earlier this year.

They talked about having a similar event at the museum and getting Black Wheat involved.

“We didn’t want to be the only ones in the spotlight, so we called more breweries around Manitoba to see who wanted to get involved,” Birch said. “The problem with August is it’s a super busy time, so it’s hard to get breweries to come to events like this. But this is a good number.”

Birch added he is happy to help the museum because of all the good work it does preserving the history of the Second World War. It’s also fitting that it represents a time when the world united to do good, so breweries are getting together to help them.

They are about to can a Hops and Props beer they are making in honour of the earlier festival. If it cannot be at the Hops and Props event, Birch said it will definitely be in the taproom in the near future.

The museum is the only one of its kind dedicated to preserving the history of those who trained and fought for the British Commonwealth during the Second World War, according to a news release.

This is an 18-plus only event, and tickets are $25 plus fees and GST. Tickets are available at bit.ly/3p55ATI.

The Sun contacted Farmery for comment but didn’t receive a response by press time.

» kmckinley@brandonsun.com

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