Microbrewer hopes to create a buzz this summer: Thunder Bay's source of high-end spirits.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: THUNDER BAY

Geoff Schmidt hopes his golden days are ahead.

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This spring, the Thunder Bay small brewer was anxiously awaiting word for permission to start stocking his premium suds on Ontario liquor store shelves.

It'll help kick-start the summer for Schmidt who launched the Great White North Craft Brewery last year and has endured the financial peaks and dives of a first-time entrepreneur.

He's counting on a hot, dry summer to turn more thirsty local drinkers onto his premium Port Arthur Pale Ale.

It's tight floor space inside the 2,000-square-foot former dry cleaning store on Red River Road in the city's Port Arthur business district.

Most of his equipment, the tanks, brew house, glycol chiller and boiler came from a brew pub in Mankato, Minnesota.

The bottling line machinery came from a brewery in Edmonton. For now, he sells about 105 to 110 cases of beer a month almost straight out of the vat, producing a 10-hectolitre batch (one hectolitre is 100 litres) every two weeks.

It's about a third of what he's capable of producing. He's hoping business picks up this summer and forces him to hire an extra hand to help with production.

But it's been a slow process to navigate the paper shuffle of first, getting licensed to sell in Ontario, then waiting to see if it is approved for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores.

"I would have to pay $3,000 to get into the Beer Store, and that's money I don't have."

Every February, the LCBO reviews submissions for new products among thousands of applications, both domestically and internationally Schmidt filed his application in January, but he's expected to wait in the processing queue for months.

Working as a contractor in Alberta doing engineering and instrumentation work, enabled him to save a nest-egg for start-up capital. Largely self taught, he was a home brewer and experimented on a small scale with different flavours. But it's been a huge jump from producing 20 litre-batches to more than 1,000 and spending thousands of dollars on grain, hops and packaging.

"I haven't worked in a brewery before, so the learning curve on a large system is huge."

Local support has been good, but market exposure is a big problem. "I'm not selling enough to make myself visible."

After an initial radio splash last summer and a booming month of August, Schmidt quickly ran out of advertising money. Sales dropped off after Labour Day and into the fall before picking up again around Christmas.

Much of his...