Nova Scotia

Unfiltered Brewing joining ranks of North End craft breweries

There is a new craft brewery in north-end Halifax with a new approach to brewing.

'Soon enough you'll see Halifax starting to become promoted as a brewing destination'

Unfiltered Brewing's Greg Nash checks a batch of beer. Nash is a master brewer who has created beers at several craft breweries in the Maritimes. (Submitted by Andrew Murphy)

There is a new craft brewery in north-end Halifax with a new approach to brewing.  

Unfiltered Brewing is exactly that, unfiltered beer.

The brewery opened for business on Wednesday.

Andrew Murphy is one of the partners. He said not filtering the beer gives it a fuller flavour and it has more vitamin B complexes than some other beers. 

The brewery focused on West Coast American-style India pale ales, Murphy said. That means drinkers will taste more hop than malt. The beer also takes on the qualities from the hops like fruitiness and bitterness. Murphy and his wife grew the idea of opening a craft brewery 12 years ago with brewer Greg Nash.

A pint of Unfiltered Brewing's Exile on North Street India pale ale. Exile on North Street is just one of four beers from the craft brewery. (Submitted by Andrew Murphy)

But Murphy said there is another meaning behind the name.

"All three partners are unfiltered all the time. We'll tell you exactly what we're thinking," he said.

That unfiltered attitude is part of the company's marketing. It uses salty language on social media and its website.

This is the seventh craft brewery in Halifax. It might seem like overkill but Murphy said that is not the case.

"I would say craft brewing is far from reaching its saturation point. There's still a lot of growth. Everything I read indicates there is a lot of growth in the market everywhere. We see a lot of demand for our stuff," said Murphy.

He said their projections indicate they should think about expansion even though they just opened.

Not only are there a lot of craft breweries in Halifax, Unfiltered Brewing is the fifth to open in the North End.

"I think it's tremendous. The more breweries you can get in an area, the more character the place takes on. I've heard some people describe it as the brewery district," said Murphy.

"I think soon enough you'll see Halifax starting to become promoted as a brewing destination. I've traveled for years to go drink good beer in interesting places. I'd love to see that happen here."