Meet the Stanley Park Brewing Team

As beer-crafters, it’s only fitting that our first blog post spotlighting the Stanley Park Brewing team is a cheer to our brewers! They are constantly working hard behind the scenes to deliver some of British Columbia’s best brews, and we wanted to shine a light on the team at our brewery that makes it happen, our brewers. Allow us to re-introduce ourselves and welcome a new face.

Many of you are already well acquainted with the familiar (masked) faces of our Brewmaster Thom Riley, and Assistant Brewer, Rachel Young. In December 2020, we were fortunate enough to expand that team with the talents of Bennie Dingemanse, as our Head Brewer at the Vancouver Brewpub. Bennie and Rachel will be the smiling masked brewers that greet you at the Brewpub and will continue to grow our portfolio of small-batch Brewpub brews, under the direction of Brewmaster Thom, who will continue to oversee our production facilities and brewpub innovations.

We sat down with Bennie at our Brewpub in Stanley Park to find more about the person behind the brews.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM & HOW DID YOU GET TO VANCOUVER?

I was born and raised in the Netherlands in a small town called Vlissingen. I came to Saskatoon as an exchange student in 2010 and decided to move there for a year in 2011. This turned into me staying in Canada permanently. I’ve lived in Saskatoon from 2011-2016, and after that, I worked in Calgary until late 2020 before moving to Vancouver to become the head brewer at the Stanley Park Brewpub in Vancouver.

WHY DID YOU GET INTO BREWING?

I never even thought about a career in the brewing industry and I kind of rolled into and stuck with it. I moved to Canada back in 2011 after finishing my Food Science degree. I had the intention of moving back after a year so I just wanted a job to help me get by. I applied at the local brewery, Stanley Park Brewing and got a job on the packaging line and worked my way up from there. Within a year I started brewing and loved it! I obviously ended up staying in the industry.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BREWING?

I love that there is such a big variety in the work you get to do. One day I can be on the brewpub deck brewing a new recipe, the next I can be in the cellar packaging a beer, other days are filled with cleaning duties (brewing is a lot of cleaning!). Each day and each week looks different, which makes it exciting. It never gets boring!

WHO INSPIRES YOU?

I’ve learned a lot from my old mentor Joel Manning. He’s definitely helped me become the brewer I am now. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2019 but every time I design a new recipe I think “What would Joel do?”.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BEER THAT YOU BREW & WHY?

I really like the Hibiscus Sour we have on draft at the brewpub right now. The hibiscus we added in the kettle and fermenter adds so much flavour and colour! I’m also working on a coffee passionfruit sour that will be great! It seems like a silly combination but it just works!