Working a routine 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day job never much appealed to Ryan Prentice, the recently installed brewmaster at Boshkung Brewing.
Arriving at the Social, Boshkung’s home on Water Street in downtown Minden, most mornings around 6 a.m., Prentice said he has a litany of tasks and duties he must complete at set times every day to ensure whatever is brewing on-site meets the high standards regulars have come to expect.
“I used to be one of them,” Prentice said with a laugh, noting how he was a frequent visitor after discovering the pub in 2020. For years, he and his friends made it an annual tradition to celebrate the end of their fantasy hockey season with a few pints at Boshkung. “We fell in love with the environment that Boshkung has to offer, it became our usual hangout spot.”
Back then, Prentice was training to become a carpenter. He went to school in the city. Wanting to earn a few extra bucks, he looked to pick up a bartending gig but he couldn’t find anywhere in Toronto willing to take a chance on someone with no experience.
He vented to Boshkung owner, Mathew Renda, on one trip back home in 2023, Renda offered to take Prentice on as a server and bartender. He jumped at the chance.
For about a year, Prentice juggled his full-time gig as a carpenter and weekend shifts at Boshkung. In February 2024,
Renda approached him about becoming head brewer. There was training involved, but that didn’t deter Prentice – who was eager to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Aaron Carter, who was Boshkung’s beer maker in 2016 and 2017, when its HQ was in Carnarvon.
Prentice started an online program through the Skilled Trades College of Canada last October, wrapping in May. He completed his internship at Lake of Bays Brewing Co. in July.
He’s been brewing at Boshkung since July 28 – his first batch was a tropical pale ale, which didn’t see the light of day. “It’s quite normal for your first brew to end up going down the drain,” Prentice said.
“It’s a very fine line, quality control wise, of what should be sold and what shouldn’t. As far as tastes go, you don’t want to put something out there that’s going to turn people off.”
Since then, he’s finished a special brew for Boshkung’s upcoming Oktoberfest festivities and is working on a pumpkin ale that will be released in the fall. In total, the craft brewery boasts over a dozen locally-made recipes.
Prentice said Boshkung has switched up the hops in its beers this year, going with a “more citrusy flavour.” Batches are brewed in a 10-hectolitre tank capable of producing 1,000 litres of liquid gold.
After debuting crème brule and tiramisu flavoured “dessert” beverages over the past two festive seasons, Prentice said he and Renda are “tossing ideas around” for this year’s Christmas feature, with a flavour to be announced shortly.
A self-described homebody with no plans to leave Minden, Prentice hopes to be with Boshkung for the long haul. His training will continue, with a beer-dinner pairing course on the radar.
“This is a dream position – as long as Matt’s willing to have more, I’d probably enjoy working here. It’s a nice feeling, at the end of the day, being able to sip on a cold one with your buddies knowing you’re the one who made it,” he said. “It’s nice too, with the family connection, my uncle having worked here – it feels like I got to pick up where he left off.”
