Newmarket’s Red Thread Brewing Company has advanced to the next round of the inaugural Ontario Made Awards.
After a round of consumer voting, the brewery was named as one of the finalists in the retailer spotlight category.
Carl Milroy, founder and managing partner of Red Thread, said it means a lot that the community is voting for them.
“It feels great. That’s one of the biggest things, the support of the community rallying and getting behind you, making it to the finals. That’s huge,” he said.
They have been operating for just over four years, selling their beer to restaurants and at the LCBO.
“You think half of that has been in the pandemic, that’s pretty devastating,” Milroy said about their experience so far.
He said the pandemic shut down the venues where they sold their product, both at events and restaurants, at various points.
They considered opening their own space but lack of inventory and high rent have made that tricky,
“We had looked at a couple of locations right before COVID but the world blew up and nothing’s really panned out,” Milroy said.
He said they are still hoping to have a retail spot in the future.
Until then, he said this award process has been “a ray of sunshine” in what has been a tough two years and that it “gives you hope.”
Red Thread had to submit a video to be reviewed for the next stage of the award. They are being considered among two other businesses in their category. In total 12 businesses are finalist across all four categories.
The winners will be announced in a virtual ceremony on Feb. 24.
The Ontario Made program is run by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and highlight businesses supporting local and featuring Ontario-made products.
