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The ancient ways of making wine is somewhat in the past, since the introduction of updated regulations issued by the Alberta Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Commission, allowing wine and beer kit making businesses such as Wine Brew and You to make the kits instore for the customers.
People no longer have to take up space in their home for fermenting or brewing their wine, beer or cider kits, along with not having the stress of maintaining the ongoing and precise process. With Wine Brew and You, people are able to make their own custom wine, beer and cider locally, without all of the hard work.
“People can actually come in and do the wine making process through us, they don’t have to deal with the various stages of the process and take the time out of their day to do it,” says Shelly Doucette, Wine Brew and You concierge. “We have always supplied the kits and we have always been the people to go to if someone has a question or a problem, whether it is making beer, wine or cider, we are kind of the go to contact.”
With the busy world of balancing work, kids, and personal life, fitting in the time to make your own alcoholic beverages can be difficult. With smaller homes in urban communities, space can be difficult to find, and with the new updated regulations, people don’t have to worry about finding the space for all of the equipment.
“I have found that a lot of people are downsizing and going into smaller environments, especially in the urban areas, our rural community is too busy with agriculture to find the time to do a kit, and the urban people move into smaller living areas where they don’t have the space,” says Doucette. “We are able to say you can get 28 bottles of really great quality wine that is cost-effective and we will do the processing, we will do the most amount of work and you come in and do the fun stuff such as customizing your liquor kit, bottling, and labeling.”
Not only does the new updated regulations allow people to make their own in a regulated space, but it also allows people to use their kit wine at events such as weddings and public gatherings, as customers get an invoice proving it has been made under regulations.
For many people, committing to one large amount of wine can be too much, which prompted Doucette to encourage people who feel the same and split some of their batch with other people, to give more options for people to create.
“The stigma for anyone getting involved with kit making has always been that they are going to end up with 28 bottles of this wine I don’t like or they will get bored,” explains Doucette. “We have signup sheets for strangers or first time makers who don’t want to go home with a bunch of the same thing, then the group collective mixes and matches within the group so you are going home with two or three types of wine.”
Every kit within Wine Brew and You will make the kit to spec and will give you the best product of that kit, but everything is modifiable to suit any taste or flavours wanted. From the sweetness and the high-quality grape skins, to addition of oak, anyone can create a wine they will enjoy. People looking for sulfate free wine can find success in kit wines as a 23 litre volume kit wine only has four grams of sulfate in it, compared to a sulfate free wine which has the same amount in a 750 millilitre bottle.
Beer and cider connoisseurs are able to produce 60 bottles of quality craft beer in under 40 days for the full time of processing, and carbonation of the product.
“Beer makers are coming in looking for something that is affordable, and something that is a quality craft, which is great because we can do a liquid beer kit and get 60 bottles of quality craft beer, and we do the work,” she says. “Everything is modifiable, when you get into wines with a sweet pack, but we can adjust those so they aren’t so sweet, or add some more oak, so the modification process makes it so personalized that you can get exactly what you want, and the same goes for beer and cider.”
Whether you are wanting to start your own wine collection on your own or with a group, or you are wanting to custom make your own wine and labels for an event, Wine Brew and You can assist you with producing the right product that fits your taste, without the hassle of doing any hands on labour. To start your wine, beer or cider kit, call Wine Brew and You at 587-486-8797, or visit them at 913, 3 Ave. S. in Lethbridge.
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