Three Ranges closes its doors

By Spencer Hall

After nearly 12 years of supplying Valemount residents and tourists with fresh, locally made craft beer, Three Ranges Brewing company officially closed its doors to the public on Wednesday, July 16th. The brewery then held a private party for its mug club members on Friday evening.

The decision to close the brewery was not one that owners Michael Lewis and Rundi Anderson took lightly. Anderson said many factors went into the pair’s decision to list the brewery for sale, including burnout, multiple delays to the brewery’s brewhouse expansion and financial pressures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and decreases to tourism due to lower snow levels and the Jasper wildfire last summer.

The pair listed the business for sale last October and initially anticipated it would close a month afterwards. However, after dozens of community members packed the brewery in November to attend a brainstorming meeting aimed at keeping the business going, Lewis and Anderson decided to push forward and see how long they could keep the business running.

Now, after eight months of operating with no additional staff, relying on volunteers and dealing with daily uncertainty about their future, the pair have decided to close.

“For us, we kind of have to set a course based on our capacity to deal with things and not sitting, waiting and kind of dragging it out further,” Lewis said.

While it may seem counterintuitive for the brewery to close in the middle of its busiest time of year, Lewis explained that in order to adequately prepare for the summer’s increase in beer consumption, the brewery has to start preparing months in advance.

“For us to be prepared for summer, to actually take advantage of the traffic flow and everybody that’s coming to town, we have to start in like April. Like you have to have all your tanks full of beer and the problem is we can’t afford the grain or the freight or the staff to do all of that,” he said. 

While the brewery has faced its share of hardships over its 12 year history, Anderson and Lewis also hold fond memories of launching the brewery while raising their two young children, Keslin and Isa.

“It’s funny when people come back after years and then they see our girls walking around, they’re like, oh, my God, that’s the baby,” Anderson said.

“There’s a picture… of Keslin at like two and a half years old working the canning line. Like, we took a bar towel and used little tiny binder clips. It fit all the way around the back. And I could clip the bar towel together with binder clips and clip one corner over her shirt,” Lewis recalled.

Over the years, their children have grown and Three Ranges found its way into the hearts of many Valemount residents, with many visiting regularly and joining the brewery’s Mug Club. Anderson said some tourists even go out of their way to visit the brewery during their annual vacations.

For many, including Valemount resident Mandy McMinn, the taproom feels like home and over the years, fellow patrons have become like family.

“The dream carries on because the family carries on,” McMinn said.

During the brewery’s final day of operation, residents gathered in the taproom and on the patio to raise one more pint to Lewis and Anderson. The evening concluded with a live performance of “Closing Time,” sung by Nick Beddington and Cat Crowley-Wied.

While the brewery’s closure marks the end of a chapter for Lewis and Anderson, the pair remain hopeful that a buyer will come along and inject new life — and extra capital — into the business.

View more photos of the brewery’s final night below.