Here at The Second Wedge Brewing Co., our tagline is All Trails Lead Here. This reflects our location in the historic downtown of Uxbridge, the Trail Capital of Canada. However, it also speaks to people converging from all over to enjoy our exceptional beer, beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces, live music, local art and community spirit. Our parking lot plays host to the Uxbridge Farmers’ Market every Sunday, Foundry Pi operates a seasonal pizza kitchen in our beer garden. We were Voted Best Outdoor Patio in Durham Region for 2020 in the Durham Region Readers’ Choice Awards. We were also awarded Ontario by Bike’s 2021 Best Bicycle Friendly Business for York Durham Headwaters.
Like every small business, we faced difficult times during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but nothing prepared us for May 21, 2022, when an EF2 tornado tore through Uxbridge. The strom caused massive damage to many homes, a church and our brewery. Our roof was torn off, our interior was water damaged and we lost the beer in our tanks. Trees around our beer garden and a great deal of our contents were also gone. Co-owner Rob was upstairs in our office with Echo the black lab when the roof came off. Maggie and Luke were downstairs serving about 15 customers when the debris came crashing down. We’re flabbergasted, and so grateful, that no one was seriously hurt – either at the brewery or anywhere in town.
The building is now closed for a rebuild, which will take many months. We’re brewing our beloved beers offsite at a large contract brewery . This allows us to keep them available to grocery stores, LCBO stores and restaurants. We’ve been holding pop-ups at places like Uxbridge Farmers’ Market’s temporary location, our own outdoor space, and local cideries. We likely won’t be able to reopen our space and brew “back home” before 2023.
But this setback has shown us how incredible our community is, and how much love people have for our brewery, our staff and our beer. The brewing community across Ontario has been so generous too. We can’t count the number of emails and messages we’ve received from individuals and companies (including Vince’s!) offering help, meals, temporary jobs for our staff, cash donations, storage space, production space, pop-up events – you name it. Those messages are what keep us moving forward and feeling positive about rebuilding and getting back on our feet. We know that this generosity has been extended throughout our town. With so many people pitching in to help others badly affected by this storm. Uxbridge Strong!
We hope, when you enjoy one of our beers! Whether it’s 3 Rocks IPA, Elgin Blonde blonde ale, Monday Night Piper Scottish-style ale, High Grass lemongrass ginger saison or Rain Maker porter – that you’ll think about the power of community that made it happen, here in our small town. And about the big way in which The Second Wedge Brewing Co. will come back from disaster.
