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Proposed brewery and restaurant for Evraz Place to be discussed at City council

YQR Distillery will open at Evraz Place in the Spring of 2022. (Source: REAL, YQR Distillery) YQR Distillery will open at Evraz Place in the Spring of 2022. (Source: REAL, YQR Distillery)
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REGINA -

Plans for a new restaurant and pub at Evraz Place will be discussed at Regina City council on Aug. 11.

REAL (Regina Exhibition Association Limited) signed a 40-year lease with YQR Distillery Ltd., which would offer patrons a location to dine, drink, host events and learn about food and beverage.

“It just makes us a more attractive campus,” Tim Reid, president and CEO of REAL, said. “When you walk through and there’s restaurant opportunities and there’s bar opportunities and a little bit of retail, so yes it does make us a little bit more competitive.”

YQR Distillery is locally owned and operated by Sperling Silver Distillery Ltd., known formerly as Slow Food Brewpub. The new YQR Distillery will offer a variety of uses including a distillery, brewhouse, liquor store with a drive-thru, restaurant, banquet hall, indoor and outdoor patios and brewpub.

Source: REAL, YQR Distillery

Source: REAL, YQR Distillery

After the initial 40-year term, the option will be given to extend the lease for two 20-year periods.

According to the lease agreement, YQR Distillery will also be able to operate its Fermentation Lab, a culinary and brewing educational institute, on-site.

“Fermentation Lab includes a [teaching] kitchen for culinary education, a distillery bar, and a tap house which will function as a fermentation classroom giving an overview of the fermentation processes used in brewing, distilling, winemaking, and nonalcoholic fermentation such as kombucha,” Sperling said in a news release.

The lab will also offer lessons on cooking techniques involving fermentation and food pairing.

The distillery signed a 40-year lease with REAL (Regina Exhibition Association Limited) for use of the Agribition Building at Evraz Place. After the initial term, the option will be given to extend the lease for two 20-year periods.

“Even if we move all the Webber’s that we have, we increase beer prices and popcorn prices and charge more for hockey rentals, we just can’t be sustainable without doing this,” Reid said. “Being better at every aspect of our business and adding commercial development allows us to be sustainable, but ultimately there’s ancillary benefit in terms of what it produces economically, what it generates in tax opportunity for (the city), what it generates in employment in a part of the city that frankly could use some employment.”

YQR Distillery will operate on about 42,000 square feet, 10,000 square feet of which will be shared common area. Its expected the distillery will employ 100 top 150 people.

Construction on the new project is set to start this summer and YQR Distillery is expected to open in Spring of 2022.

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