Tired of corporate life — with its dress code policies, mundane desk work and long commutes — Mark Murphy, co-founder of Left Field Brewery, said goodbye accounting in 2010 and hello brewing. The first step was to return to school.
“I was working at Sears as an internal auditor,” Mark recalls. “While I was on an audit in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, I stumbled upon a brand new brewmaster program at Niagara College. I applied the next day without telling my wife Mandie and I was fortunate enough to be accepted in the first intake of students. I wanted to work with my hands, get dirty, and brewing seemed like a good idea.”
At the time, Mandie was working at Rogers in a marketing/communications role; she was also starting to get bored when fate intervened. Just as Mark started the brewmaster program, a brand manager position at Vincor, Canada’s leading domestic wine producer, came along for Mandie. After graduating from Niagara College, Mark joined Molson briefly to gain some hands-on experience before launching his own brewery.
Left Field Brewery sold its first keg in March 2013. Mark was the only full-time employee for the first year; he contracted production to Grand River Brewing in Cambridge, Ontario. Mandie is now on the payroll helping with sales and marketing, and their beer is available at more than 70 Toronto establishments. The couple, who met at Brock University, is now building a home for Left Field Brewery in Leslieville.
