A brewery and taproom that has been lauded as the only refuge for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in the historically conservative town of Truro, N.S., has announced it’s closing its doors next month, adding to the growing number of shuttering craft breweries in the province.
Truro Brewing Company co-owner Jana Dellapinna said her and her partner Patricia Dellapinna did not come to the decision lightly.
“We have a loyal following and there’s a lot of sadness,” said Jana Dellapinna. “I’m told that there will be a big hole in the community once we’re gone.”
The business prided itself on being an overly safe space for the 2SLGBTQ+ community to gather, decorating its walls with rainbow flags and portraits of prominent queer figures.
Founded in 2019, Truro Brewing hosted events that celebrated the community, provided a venue for live music and offered information about social issues, such as the residential tenancy act.
“A lot of people — mostly queer people, but also others — have just expressed how big of a loss this will be for Truro,” said Dellapinna.
“Just having a safe space for them to kind of blossom and just a space where they can just be themselves.”
WATCH | CBC visited Truro Brewing Company in June 2024:
Beer drinkers and patrons of the taproom have taken to social media to express their disappointment with the closure, one of roughly 10 craft breweries that have shuttered over the past 18 months in Nova Scotia.
Dellapinna said a number of factors made it “impossible for us to succeed.”
“We have had struggles with our wholesale mostly. It’s a very saturated market here in Nova Scotia and a lot of the bigger breweries are already established with bars and restaurants. It’s hard to weasel in there,” said Dellapinna.
She also said NSLC makes it hard for smaller craft breweries to flourish.
“They certainly make it difficult to get a general listing with them, which would allow us to move a lot of beer and have a steady income,” she said of the Crown corporation.
“They tend to favour the larger breweries and they also take a cut of our sales every month whether we’re listed with them or not, which certainly adds to the strain.”
Every year, NSLC completes a category review process to determine which local beers will be sold on its shelves, according to the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia.
But association president Andrew Tanner said the process NSLC uses to determine which beers are selected is not entirely transparent. He said the organization has asked several times for a policy document on the process.
Generally, the corporation is focused on volume of sales, which can be unfair to smaller producers, he said.
As well, those in smaller communities are at a disadvantage to those located in Halifax Regional Municipality, where sales are greater given its larger population.
Truro Brewing Company was brewing an array of beers with names like Hub Town Honey Brown and Lil Dyke Pilsner. (Aly Thomson/CBC)
Tanner, founder of Saltbox Brewing, said the association has been meeting with government officials regularly to discuss its concerns and recently sent a letter to NSLC’s corporate affairs office urging swift action to open the market up to more local producers.
“We’re focused on reducing taxation to brewers. We’re focused on opening up more retail channels,” said Tanner.
“[NSLC] has done a nice job of promoting craft beer in Nova Scotia, there’s no question about it. But we just want more shelf space, and our argument is that all of these people are employing people in Nova Scotia and … they’re supporting their local community through all kinds of different avenues.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for NSLC said it works closely with local industry, associations and individual producers to provide coaching and support on how to do business with the NSLC and get products to market.
“For many of the local craft beer producers that the NSLC works with, it starts with what the brewery can supply. For some, that starts with a listing in the community and continues to work to scale as the business grows,” wrote Terah McKinnon.
“Over the past few years, the number of local beer producers carried in stores has continued to increase, as well as the number of listings and amount of shelf space dedicated to these products.”
McKinnon also noted the corporation’s first-quarter sales showed that Nova Scotia beer sales have been outperforming beer sales overall.
The wood-clad bar at Truro Brewing Company’s taproom features an array of 2SLGBTQ+-inspired artwork. (Aly Thomson/CBC)
There are still a number of events planned at Truro Brewing Company over the next month, with a “one last hurrah” party planned for Dec. 20.
Asked if she had any message for her patrons, Dellapinna had this to say: “Just keep being who you are and the right people will come along and help you celebrate that.”
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