And the start of something new in the old Twisters building
The vintage cars that sat atop the Twisters restaurant in Winkler came down last week as part of preparations to transform the property into something new.
The vehicles—a ‘57 Chevy and a Model A replica—had been a fixture at the Memorial Dr. eatery since it opened in the late ‘80s right through to its closure a few months ago. They’ve found a new home with a collector in Cooks Creek who plans to display them atop his garage.
Meanwhile, inside, work is well underway on transforming the building into the new home of Heritage Farms Brewing Company and Dos Banderas restaurant.
Dos Banderas, a Belizan/Mexican restaurant currently operating in Rosenort, is leasing the old Twisters space upstairs, while the brewing company has plans to open a taproom in the basement and to build an on-site production facility.
Heritage Farms Brewing Company was founded last fall by the Trinke family and a number of local investors. They aim to pay tribute to the region’s rich agricultural history with this foray into the craft beer scene, says owner/operator Johnny Trinke.
“Our brand is based off of our family farm, which has been farming just two and a quarter miles north of Petro-Canada there since 1878,” he says. “We are really connected to the agricultural community here. That’s basically what’s founded Winkler and the Pembina Valley is the agricultural sector, so our brand pays homage to all of the family farms around here and just overall the agricultural scene that really built this community.”
“We really feel that rural Manitoba and southern Manitoba in particular doesn’t really have a voice in the craft beer scene,” Trinke says. “It’s a different lifestyle out here, and we really wanted to give people a brand that they can connect to, relate to, and just generally be proud of.”
Since launching last fall, the company has gotten its products—the Farmer’s Daughter Blonde, Harvest Pale Ale, and Hired Hand Pale Ale—onto the shelves of most of the Liquor Marts in Manitoba.
“The whole idea with our products is we want them to be approachable,” Trinke says. “When we’ve been developing recipes that’s kind of been at the forefront of our minds, while also keeping it cost effective, because we don’t want to be a craft brewery that is selling beers for $10. We want it to be affordable. We understand the economic climate we’re living in right now.”
They also plan to branch out into non-alcoholic beverages in the future, which will also be available in the taproom.
Currently they’re brewing up their wares at a Winnipeg production facility, but they’re eager to bring that work home.
“We will be building our production facility on the north side there, stretching as close as we can there to Memorial Drive facing Highway 14,” Trinke explains. “That’s where our production will be taking place—all of our brewing, packaging, etc. We’ll have everything based off of this property here.”
They’ll be sourcing local ingredients wherever possible.
“Unfortunately, things like hops, just because of our climate, it’s impossible to really source from here, but we have dedicated a few fields on our family farm which we will be using once we have our production facility,” Trinke says. “We’ll be incorporating our own malted barley and malted wheat into our product offerings.”
Trinke and his team have been hard at work gutting the interior of the old Twisters building to get it how they want it.
“There’s a ton of history in these walls,” he reflects, noting a lot of people have fond memories in this space stretching back decades, “so this has been a bit of an emotional process for not only us but a lot of people in the community.”
He hopes the new restaurant and taproom will provide the same kind of community gathering space as the old did.
“We want to be the main spot to watch sports in the area,” he says, noting the basement will have several big-screen TVs and they hope to put in a billiards table as well. “We want to have a family/community feel, where you come in and people greet you by name and everyone’s treated like a part of the family.”
The company has also already started giving back by way of sponsoring a recent Winkler Curling Club bonspiel, and they intend to continue to get involved.
“We want to be as ingrained in the community as possible,” Trinke says. “Too many times businesses will forget their roots and kind of not be aware of what’s happening in the community, what the needs are of the individuals they’re serving.
“That’s our goal—working with sports, the comedy scene, the artistic scene,” he says. “We’re really excited about being a part of the community.
“We want to be Winkler’s beer and Winkler’s brand.”
The plan is for Dos Banderas to open April 1 followed by the taproom a month or later.
