Demand high for new Shuswap home-based brewery
It was a busy weekend for Marc and Meaghan Zaichkowsky, who celebrated a grand opening of their new home-based brewery Ricochet Brewing after two years of preparation.
Marc is the fire chief of Tappen Sunnybrae Fire Department and also owns a construction business. When he fell from a ladder and suffered from a wrist injury, he decided to change his career trajectory.
“It’s been very well received this weekend,” he said. At this point, the brewery only houses the brewing equipment and acts as a pick-up location out of their own home property in Sunnybrae at 3865 Sunnybrae Canoe Point Rd. but he hopes to one day expand with seating and food.
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“I’ve been home brewing for a while and handing out my new creations to my firefighter and construction buddies and they were going over very well,” he said. “There were very few breweries in the Salmon Arm area… we’re the third brewery in the area now and we’re the only one with cans on the shelf at a liquor store."
Brewery hours are from Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. They brew during the week, he said.
It currently offers four different brews: a light, summery pilsner, a grapefruit IPA, with fruit from DeMille’s, a red ale, another smooth easy drinking beer and a coffee stout with coffee sourced from Reverend Coffee.
Marc recommends trying the grapefruit IPA.
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“With this heat, it’s a great one to sit back and relax with,” he said.
You can find them at the Tappen Co-Op, DeMille's Farm Market, Hideaway Liquor Store, Setters Liquor Store and soon-to-be the Salmon Arm Liquor Store in the Shuswap.
“The biggest challenge right now is keeping up with the demand,” Marc said. “We’ve got four beers going in the fermentors right now and we’ll have them in cans by the end of the week.”
“We’re very proud of what we’ve created here."
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