Niagara’s Bench Brewing crafts good beer and a better environment

Bench Brewing Co. was built on a foundation of sustainability, minimizing its environmental footprint and preserving surrounding land as farmers have been doing for hundreds of years.

“That is a core belief that we really cherish,” says Matt Giffen, founder of the popular King Street brewery in Beamsville. “Adaptive reuse is really important to us.”

When he purchased the old Maple Grove Elementary School in 2014, his goal was to preserve as much of the 1940 structure as possible. With the collaboration of Merit Contractors Niagara, some walls were moved and mortar restored.

The former brick schoolhouse — it had been a much-loved structure in the Lincoln community — was seamlessly integrated into a dazzling glass-enclosed brewery that produces innovative lagers, sessions, ales and sours,