Kincardine man bringing maple sap to the table with style

By: Liz Dadson December 23, 2014 1595

Kincardine man bringing maple sap to the table with style

Phillip Craig is helping to bring maple sap to the table with style.

Born and raised in Kincardine, the 26-year-old lived in Ottawa for seven years where he graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Arts in communications and a Bachelor of Education, and taught for a year at a private school.

While there, he and his former roommate, Tyler Steeves, and another friend, Mike Lalonde, both of Ottawa, worked together to create TreeWell, a sparkling maple sap non-alcoholic beverage.

“About two years ago, I was finished school and working at a few odd jobs, one of which was milking cows,” says Craig. “My buddies and I decided we wanted to try making maple syrup so we were tapping trees and they started drinking the sap out of the bucket, and we got this idea to create a drink from maple sap.”

They tapped 60 maple trees on the dairy farm where Craig was working and harvested their first batch of sap in the spring of 2012. They froze it all and began experimenting.

“We had a few false starts and some issues,” says Craig. “It took awhile to get the process nailed down. We wanted it to be an adult flavour in a non-alcoholic drink, and classy enough to put on the table.”

Last year, they bottled their new beverage, “TreeWell,” financed it through the Internet “kick-starter” program, began displaying it at beverage shows, and started selling it in stores throughout Ottawa.

“It made for some long days,” says Craig. “I'd work on this from 6 p.m. - 3 a.m., and then teach school all day.”

After being let go from the teaching job, Craig returned to Kincardine in the summer of 2014 and is now the youth pastor at Chalmers Community Church in Kincardine Township. He brought TreeWell with him and the product is now being manufactured at Hoity Toity Wines in Walkerton.

“The owners, Gary and Diane Fischer, have been really accommodating and helpful,” says Craig. The sparkling maple sap is now being sold in 20 stores in Ottawa, and is available in Kincardine at Sobeys and at Hive 'n' Hoe (Guy and Gail Anderson's honey and market garden store).

“It has sold really well this holiday season,” says Craig. “Kincardine has been very supportive. No local business can survive without that great support, as well as the help of family and friends.”

His parents, Kenneth and Nancy, live in Kincardine; and he has four sisters: Lindsay and Colleen who live in Kincardine Township, Morgan who lives in London, and Dana who is still at home.

His cousin, Luke McBride, brands the coasters that grace the neck of each bottle of TreeWell, and a lot of family members help get the product ready for sale. Meanwhile, his partners are still in Ottawa - Steeves is the chief executive officer and Lalonde is in charge of sales in Ottawa. Craig does most of the day-to-day operations and the sales in the Kincardine area.

Craig says from concept to reality, the product has changed about 1,000 times. “Initially, it wasn't going to be a carbonated drink,” he says. “We were just going to bottle the sap the way it was. The current process is a difficult one which we've just finally mastered.”

The TreeWell logo was a long time in the making, he says. “It's important to realize your strengths and weaknesses. Designing a logo was not one of our strengths, so we out-sourced it and got a great result.”

Becoming an entrepreneur and delving into the beverage industry has been a real learning experience, says Craig. “It's been a roller coaster of emotion. Our goal now is to be picked up by a distributor and have TreeWell available across Canada and the United States.

When asked about applying to go on the popular show, “Dragon's Den,” Craig is a bit reticent about losing the magic and the connection with people that the product has elicited.

“That's my favourite part,” he says. “When we do sampling, people taste TreeWell and it reminds them of the sugar bush – and everyone knows somebody who had a sugar bush. I've heard some remarkable stories, great maple syrup memories. Everywhere we go, it's the same reaction. That's how you know it's a special product.”

Craig likes to promote TreeWell as a healthy alternative to wine or champagne. “It's made from maple sap which is surprisingly good for you – it's a super food. It's relatively low in sugar and contains all the nutrients that make trees grow.”

Every time he sees a bottle of TreeWell in the store, Craig is proud of the product he helped create. “In a rural community like this, you can appreciate that – being involved in the whole process, from start to finish.”

The name “TreeWell,” was the one constant throughout this entire wild ride, says Craig. “You get water from a well, and you get the sap from the trees – it's the perfect name.”