When The Mule nightclub went the way of the dodo last fall, not everyone was happy. It was the last of a breed, and its closure not only brought an end to an era, but critically impacted the city's live music scene.
In its place would be a craft brew pub called Hatchery Brewing. And anyone seriously watching the scene knew it would be a big deal, with a lot of equally big question marks.
How, for example, would a brew pub do in the same (monstrous) physical space as a dying nightclub? And why another pub anyway? Didn't we have enough of those?
But there was more to it than that. The new business was important to the downtown zone in general. It was gigantic, it was ambitious, it was shiny and new, and it would employ a lot of people. Failure would be a demoralizing strike against a downtown that needs good news.
If Hatchery was going to succeed, particularly through the winter months, it would need to be more than a cavernous hall that serves good beer. It would need to be versatile. It would need to become an accepted social gathering spot.
In short, it would have to do what other successful like-minded Penticton venues have done - only more so because it was so big and so new.
And that seems to be what's happened. But not without some realizations first. And a name change.
Three months before it opened, Hatchery Brewing became Slackwater Brewing. A naming dispute forced the alteration, and in hindsight it wasn't a bad deal at all. "Slackwater" had a certain ring to it.
Maybe it was a good omen. Because a lot of things have gone right for Slackwater since then.
We chatted with general manager Liam Peyton a few days ago to get a feel for his mindset as 2019 winds down and winter comes on. And while he admits to a few misjudgments in the early going, and a number of readjustments since, he seems genuinely pleased. Giddy, one might say.
As we spoke, the folks from Mile 37 Craft Canning were doing their thing in the brewery area, canning 90 cases of "Deepwater" Porter and another 150 of "West Coast" IPA. That's nearly 6,000 cans.
Peyton explained that permanent canning lines are generally too pricey for startup breweries, hence the monthly appearance of Mile 37 and its "canning line on wheels."
And packaged product is now a big part of the Slackwater formula. Currently, Peyton says, Slackwater beers such as "What The Fog" IPA and "Tight Lines" Lager are available at a bunch of locations across the Okanagan Valley, throughout the lower mainland, and in Whistler and Kamloops. Peyton makes the Okanagan deliveries in his own Nissan Xterra.
"People don’t always realize we have two businesses in the building," he says. "We sell beer across the province, and those revenues aren't much different from what we make inside the building."
When we ask him how it's going inside the building, Peyton begins by taking us back to the summer, when he said it was "crazy" busy. That's not an embellishment. The crowds were obvious to anyone who drove by the place.
But that craziness also brought up some issues.
"Looking back, a lot of it worked, but some of it we took a step back and listened to our guests. We couldn't make any knee jerk reactions in the summer, which was so wild for us, but we feel we've fully addressed them now."
Specifically, he refers to the food menu (too limited) and table service (not available). "We only had nine menu items in the summer. We originally wanted this to be great beers, a big space, and good snack food. But the market demanded more of a restaurant feel and more food."
Slackwater eventually moved to a table service model, and added additional menu items. And then it began a substantial winterization program that seems to be paying dividends in Penticton's distinctive off-season.
"Things are going really well right now," said Peyton. "We've obviously gone into the slower time of year, but we keep our eye on our four- to six-week averages, and our sales are actually going up on a week by week basis over the past couple months."
And much of that he attributes to the new fall/winter menu. "In July and August we started prepping for the menu plans we'd start rolling out in the fall. Our fan favourites stayed, but we wanted to have more offerings, which was a big comment that kept coming up in the summer."
Peyton say it's been a tough go considering so little of the enormous venue is dedicated to kitchen space - 350 square feet to be exact. "Unfortunately we are restricted to the decisions we made in the infrastructure stage," he says, "But with good planning and a smart kitchen crew, we're doing some good things."
"We now have a lunch menu, a happy hour menu, and our dinner menu has taken flight. Reservations are another thing we didn't entertain in the summer. But now we do."
According to Peyton, Slackwater's regular burger, with buns made locally at Wouda's Bakery, continues to be its best seller.
"And our six-ounce New York strip steak with rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, it’s an absolute steal for under 20 bucks," he says. "And we have a couple of pasta dishes now as well, and salads and bowls that you can adds protein to."
Peyton goes plumb loco for the Fisherman's Pie. "We use Arctic char (raised in Oliver by DelicaSea Fish Co), halibut and big fat juicy shrimp, in a tarragon dill cream sauce, in a phyllo pastry nest."
But the Slackwater evolution goes far beyond food, and it's the ramped up programming that has Peyton most excited. Programming such as the Saturday night live music slots that he feels at least partially recapture the buzz of The Mule.
"The live music program has grown so much," he says. "There wasn't a free seat downstairs last week. We're getting a good rapport with our locals. You'll see a dance floor on Saturdays with 19-year-olds to 70-year-olds absolutely tearing it up."
"There was a lot of good entertainment in this building in the last thirty years, and we'd like it to become a little synonymous with live music again."
Beyond Saturdays, the new programming includes a Monday "Game Night for Grown-Ups."
"We have fun, social games like 'Werewolves,'" said Peyton, "which is a really great role-playing game where players become werewolves or villagers. We have other games too, like Fishbowl and Pictionary, and we give away things like Vees tickets or tickets to shows at the SOEC."
Wednesdays, Slackwater holds a trivia contest, and Sunday is "Industry Night," where hospitality and service industry people are invited in to take a load off.
The venue has also opened itself in a major way to one-offs and seasonal happenings. In October it held a Penticton Creek restoration awareness session. Last week it became part of the Hello Santa! Artwalk by hosting a live painting display.
Every Sunday in December to the 22nd, it will run a "sip and shop" series in conjunction with the Downtown Penticton Association that Peyton says will "basically turn the downstairs into a mini market." And on the 21st of December, a trio of rock bands will take the stage for "Hail Santa III," a fundraiser for Monday Night Dinners.
"We're definitely open to new possibilities," says Peyton. "Like art classes. We already have a crafting class running every other Tuesday 'til Christmas. We have a lot of room to fill here."
But guests needn't come on a designated night to take advantage of the amenities. All the facility's board games are available anytime, at no charge. As are table games such as pool and foosball, and a new addition, bean bag toss.
And in another nod to the nightclub days gone by, Slackwater in September broke The Mule's DJ booth out of storage and set it up on the second floor. It looks sharp.
That Slackwater is also in a physically advantageous neighbourhood, where new food and beverage businesses have sprouted up like crazy in recent months, is not lost on Peyton.
"I think we're in the foundations of a real hub here. We're got Black Antler up the road, we've got Tratto Pizza, Neighbourhood (brewing, still under construction) Wayne and Freda, and of course Bad Tattoo. We're putting our heads together to find a name for this entertainment district."
Summer, and to a lesser extent, spring, is never a problem for the Penticton hospitality industry. But the businesses that make it need to push that momentum through the winter. And Slackwater Brewing, at 218 Martin, looks to have the recipe.
For more info on its events and winter programming, look here.
