The Beginning

Stavros Karlos first brought the idea of building a brewpub to BBSpro back in early 2019. Based on the initial drawings and plans, Chris Keay (BBSpro) knew this would be a special project. They had worked together on multiple projects in the past, however they both knew this one would stand above. The plan included running draft beer lines that could be pulled from both kegs and serving tanks to bars at three different locations within the building.

3 Bears Restaurant and Brewery was our most complex build to date. As the building itself was constructed out of solid timber frame and the install was behind complex millwork we had to ensure our schedules were tight and coordinated as there was no room for errors. Chris and his team from BBSpro worked with us through every step of the process ensuring that we had a state of the art draft system to serve our delicious beer, fresh from the tank. If installing draft lines is an art then the BBS team just painted their pièce de résistance. Cheers!

Stavros Karlos – Owner/PM Banff Hospitality Collective

The Journey

As Stavros and the Three Bears Brewery team described their goals for the space, ideas started to develop and plans were taking place. Unique and specialized Infusion Towers were added to the plan and the customized 12-tap Draft Beer Tower for the Main bar was designed.

Working alongside the great team at Create Projects and Frank Architecture, the space began to take shape and BBSpro was hard at work behind the scenes to make sure the draft beer system was ready for install.

After months of construction and coordination challenges through the pandemic, the beautiful space came together and it was time for BBSpro to get the beer flowing. Brewmaster Stewart was hard at work brewing as the BBSpro team ran trunklines and installed the cooler equipment and taps. 12 lines went to the upstairs back bar wall, 6 more headed to the Private taproom, and 12 lines were run to the custom Main bar tower.

• Installation of 12 draught beer taps to 2 different bars on 2 different levels.
• We installed a 12-tap Kool-Rite insert behind a stone wall at the upstairs bar, and helped to design a custom copper hanging 12-tap tower on the main level.
• We installed another 6-tap Kool Rite insert behind a stainless wall to a 3rd bar.
• All trunklines run to a central keg cooler which also houses the brewery’s serving tanks.
• 6 of the lines run directly off the serving tanks, while the other lines run off kegs.
• Cooler equipment included secondary regulators for each line and FOB’s for each.
• Another trunkline was run to an infusion Tower where the customer can add ingredients into the tower to change the flavor profile of the beer.
• A second Infusion tower was installed at the Upstairs bar as it ran through the main tower’s trunkline.
• A large 1.75 HP Glycol unit was installed with 4 pumps/motors to run all trunklines and taps.
• The draught beer system is pressurized using a Nitrogen Generator which blends CO2 and Nitrogen to send 2 different gas blends to the keg cooler. The Brewery has the ability to use a 50% CO2 blend on some lines, as well as a 25% CO2 blend on their stouts/porters.