Custom Framing Local Artists Local Paintings International Art Limited Editions Originals Watercolors ‘Do-It-Yourself erainina Needlework Kits. ¢ Embroidery Kits THE MASTERS ARE LOCATED DOWNSTAIRS AT HELEN'S FLOWERS Columbia Brewing Profile of a business The following story and photo is courtesy of ‘The Creston Review. Columbia Brewing of Cres- ton is carrying on, in effect, a centuries-old tradition, Beer. is a very ancient beverage — the oldest made by man, An Assyrian tablet of 2,000 BC lists beer among the foods Noah used in provisioning the Ark, and archaeologists speculate as to whether our prehistoric ancestors discov- ered bread or beer first. Beer, it seems, has been a universal drink since pre- historic times, and the art of brewing this drink that is food also, has for centuries been .a highly respected profession. The Columbia Brewery was built in Creston in 1968 after a search of the Koot- enays determined that the water ‘supply. available here was ideally suited for the making of beer. Water is an extremely important ingred- ient in beer, impairing taste and determining to a degree the: activity ‘of..certain en- syncs essential to the pro- Columbia is. owned by . Labatt’s Brewing, a nation- FOREST FIRE SEASON BEGINS APRIL 15th wide company with brewer- ies in several cities, There are presently about 110 em- ployees working at the Cres- ton facility, with bottling and packaging sections operating on one shift, The actual process of ff making beer goeson24 hours # a day, requiring employees in that end of the process to be. on duty constantly, When demand for the beverage soars during summer month3 two or more shifts operate in the bottling section. Brewing is fundamentally a natural process, converting ,natural food materials into a pure, pleasing beverage. Al:- though modern science has’ x made great strides forward 2% in the techniques ‘used for ‘achieving production of a uniformly high quality, beer today is still a beverage brewed from products in the traditional way. Columbia brews in its plant six different brands of beer: Kokanee (an extremely pop-, ular local brand brewed nowhere else in the world), Labatt's (a national product), “Special Lite, John Labatt Extra Stock, Columbia Extra and Kootenay Pale Ale. Each brand has its own “recipe”, literally, a formula followed by a brewer, and therefore its own taste, Tom Schmidt, head brewer at Columbia, takes pride in his job, overseeing the pro- cess that results in the high- quality beer produced at the plant. Schmidt has been with Columbia six years after being recruited by Labatt’s from the University of Al- berta at Edmonton where he received a B.Sc. degree. Labatt’s recruits college ‘students into their technical training program ‘which is a three-year course of study and practical experience cov- ering all facets of brewery operation from the actual making of beer to marketing and packaging, management and quality control, Schmidt - chose to go into the brewing becat i xp process of making beer. Beer begins as malt (par- tially germinated barley which has been dried) which is then crushed (not ground) to a certain degree. Malt contains the enzymes that break down starches into sugars which are later con- verted into alcohol. -Corn is also a major ingredient and supplies the Sans = oh Tom Schmidt, head brewer for Columbia stands next to a lautering vess starch, although other types of grains can be used. Corn meal is. placed in’ a “corn cooker”, then added together with, the malt in a “mash mixer”. This step is called the “conversion phase”, dur- ing which a specific tims temperature relationship de- termines the activity of the alpha and beta enzymes in the malt, and therefore the type of beer that it will become. When mashing is completed the mash is trans- ferred to a straining or “lautering” vessel, usually a large cylindrical tank with a slotted false bottom which - strains the liquid out of the solids. Water is sprayed through the grains to wash as much of the liquid out as possible. ‘When this liquid enters the brew. kettle, it is called ort” and. wortig nd refally’’ controlfed™condi- tions for about two hours and during this phase hops are added. Hops are the flower of aclimbing plant and’added in processed, pellet form. They contribute flavor, aroma, and bitterness to beer, different varieties being used to achie- ve different tastes. . Columbia uses hops from as far away as Germany and. Yakima, Wash. The wort is FOREST PROTECTION then moved to a “hot wort tank” where it is cooled and unwanted, heat coagulated residues are removed, “It should be noted here ‘that brewing is probably one of the most careful, clean and quality-conscious of all food and beverage producers in Canada. From here the wort is moved into the. fermenting ‘vessels, and yeast is added ~ along the way. Yeast, a living single-cell fungi, takes the sugar in the wort and con- verts it into earbon dioxide and alcohol, as well as adding many vital beer-flavoring components. Lager-type “beers (such as Koknnee) use bottom-fermenting yeast while ales (Kootenay - Pale Ale) use top-fermssting yeasts. Fermentation lasts about a eek.and.at the end of this 16 is} called beer. The yeast is then centrifuged out.and reused. Columbia. replaces their yeast about every tenth generation or four times:a year. After fermenting, the beer is carbonated, cooled to 29 degrees F. and moved into primary ‘aging, which mel- lows’ the flavor. After one week in primary aging, the beer is filtered, carbonated _.and transferred to secondary aging, usually for another! week. Carbonating is used not only to put the “fiz” in ‘beer, but also as a purging agent, bringing impurities out as the bubbles rise to the surface. Finally, the beer is moved jnto bottling tanks after again being filtered, cooled and éarbonated. The entire process, from fermen- tation to final aging has tuken a minimum of 21 days. Columbia Brewery is a modern plant, incorporating ary. the most up-to-date methods and equipment together with a highly qualified and dedic- ated staff. But perhaps the. most fascinating part of the “entire operation is the bottl- "ing and canning pi rocess, In one section of the plant are stacked literally thous- ands of empty beer bottles. All brewers in Canada’ use a standard size and shape of bottle enabling them to. tse standard equipment, and since a deposit is charged to the consumer on tho bottles, empties are sold batk to the breweries. Any brewery can use any other brewery’s empty bot- tles. A potentially huge trash problem is thus eliminated. It is estimated, unbelievable as it may sound, that: some bottles have been in.use for 8-10 years, Cartons of empty bottles are placed on a conveyor and carton and enables the carton to be easily remoyed from the bottles. Proceeding along the con- veyor, the bottles enter a. huge and complicated mas ine that washes, rinses, ster- ilizes and removes the labels from the bottles. From there they. proceed to an “opt ecan”-device which electron- ically checks them for clean- liness. The bottles are then filled, capped, pasteurized, labeled and ecartoned for shipment. Cans, as well, are filled on the line. The entire process takes about one hour. The one shift that is operating now pro- duces some 15,00016,000 dozen bottles and cans and as many as 700 kegs of beer daily. -Columbia’s extensive qual- ity control program dictates that beer remains on the market only 90 days after bottling, not because it has become bad, but rather. be- cause Columbia's policy is thus. The rule seems to be “do it better. than is necess- argineo Columbia Brewing was first established in Cres- ton, if has contributed much to the community, econom- ically and socially, Being a very’ community- minded company, ‘they are held in high'.esteem by everyone in Creston. Mobile homes. with service: Northwest Mobile. Homes, was established in 1971 in Vancouver by its owner, Fritz Popp, and re-estab- lished in. Castlegar two years later. He began his association with the mobile home busi- ness in 1960 as a manufac- turer, and switched to retail sales in 1968. Northwest Mobile Homes sells new and used mobile homes to people throughout the West and East’ Koot- ensys. Quality homes from leading manufacturers are carried by the firm — Manco, Fleetwood and Moduline, As well, the business has its own trucks, pilot cars, and other equipment necessary to set up and take down mobile homes, including putting down double-wides on base- ments, After-salés servicing plays a large role in the success of, Northwest Mobile Homes: give his customers the ‘most: complete and” “professional service he can from moment: they walk’ in a : door to browse, to the moment they set up’ their. home, and it extends to an after-sales service policy..of one year and, in many cases, beyond. Fritz keeps up to date on the latest developments in financing and -. government grants which can help trem- endously in purchasing a home. Having a belief in his - Product helps make the own- er of Northwest - Mobile Homes a success in his field and. assures his customers complete satisfaction. Another View Of Waneta Plaza _ We're more than just a ‘place to shop. With over 185,000 square feet of shopping . area it’s not hard to become involved with the modern designs of 39 stores and services and the specials they offer, and miss some of the most unique features the mall has to offer. ; ' ‘The character of its. design and architecture coupled with the community oriented activities inthe corridors make it one of the best and most attractive shopping centers in the Rostenays.. eee aaa —/ aneta pl 8100 ROCK ISLAND HIGHWAY, TRAIL, B.C.