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The Olands have been brewing beer in the Maritimes for 140 years - as long as the country of Canada has existed. This remarkable run will be continuing, now that the sixth generation, in the form of Andrew Oland, has taken over the president's job at family-owned Moosehead Breweries Ltd. of Saint John. A month into his new job, Mr. Oland, a 40-year-old Harvard MBA graduate, talks about being a relatively small brewer in an industry of giants.

What beer do you drink?

When I'm in Saint John, I drink Alpine Lager, which is our No. 1 brand in New Brunswick. It's a beer created by my grandfather Philip Oland back in 1937. When I'm outside New Brunswick, I drink Moosehead Lager.

How can you stay so skinny if you drink beer?

The average Moosehead Lager would have about 145 calories in it. So, it is not as calorie-intensive as people think. A lot of times it's the chicken wings and the nachos that people have with the beer.

On the other side, my father [Derek Oland] has been an advocate of a healthy lifestyle for many years, and has been a jogger and very active. My three brothers and I live by that lifestyle.

How will a company run by Andrew Oland look different?

As the market conditions evolve, the business has to respond. Right now, we've got a situation with high commodity costs - and we've got the energy costs everyone is dealing with. So the biggest changes for Moosehead will be to continue on this path of continuous improvement and process efficiency improvement. In addition, we will continue to grow our brands in Canada and the U.S.

How can you be a premium beer in a price-sensitive market?

What's happening is the discounted price segment is growing, although it's stabilized a bit in Ontario. But the premium and imported segment continues to grow, and that's where we are.

So if discount is growing and premium is growing, who's losing?

The mainstream traditional beers - that's who's losing. The brands where people would say, 'that's what my father drank and that's what I drink.' Many consumers who 20 to 30 years ago would have had the same beer all the time are now drinking different beers depending on occasion - where they are and what they are doing at the time.

So what's keeping you awake these days - the price of grain and hops?

That's keeping me awake. But I'm only a month into this job. One of the things that keeps me awake is 'what do I not know - and what am I going to find out tomorrow?' Commodities are a big issue because they are so far outside our control. In the past, when we had consumable price increases, supplier A might have increased its price a little more than expected, and we could go to supplier B. But you can't when supplier A is the Canadian Wheat Board or you can't when your prices are essentially dictated by global commodity markets. You can wake up in the morning and there could be some crisis somewhere that affects us all.

But your big advantage is you are in a low-cost labour market in Saint John.

It is and it isn't. The unemployment rate in Saint John is below 5 per cent. That's a big change from where it would have been four or five years ago. Saint John isn't as low cost as you might think, we're also in a unionized facility and we would pay comparable wage rates to our competitors in southern Ontario.

You've said your all-in costs are $40 an hour?

My understanding is that wage rates for brewery workers in Ontario at Molson and Labatt's would be in that range too, probably a little higher. That's the reality of the Canadian brewing industry. We're working with our employees so they can be as creative and ingenious as possible so we can get full value for that $40 an hour. Just to clarify, it's about $26.50 to $27 an hour plus the fringe benefit load of about 50 per cent.

How do you end up being the last of the great Canadian family brewers?

A little bit of luck and a lot of hard work. It's been a goal of my grandfather and my father that this business would go into the sixth generation and beyond. My grandfather ran a business that was financially disciplined and growing so that when my father took over, he was inheriting a business that was small but in a strong position. With any family business your goal is to pass it from one generation to the next in a strong position. That's what my father has done with me. For the right price, would the family sell?

No. We're not interested in selling at this point. I know this answer surprises some people but we really like what we do. There is a lot of pride in what we do. We have a very nice lifestyle. What more do we need? And this beer business, particularly a family business, gets in your blood. We think we've got enough access to capital through our bankers to do any type of significant addition or acquisition that we would need to increase our competitiveness. We don't have a desire to sell out and we don't see a need.

You must get suitors?

Regularly.

So what do you say to these would-be buyers?

It's usually, 'Look, we're not interested but maybe there's another way we can work together.' These global brewers have a lot of offers and we like to have a dialogue with them, whether it is about contract business representing their brands or them representing our brands. We're open to those kinds of discussions but we want to control our own destiny.

Is going public an option?

At this point we don't see any need. Companies go public for one or two reasons: The owners want to cash out, and that's something we're not interested in doing. The other is access to capital, and we're sufficiently set up that we have the capital for our needs.

I don't think you ever say 'never' to anything. There are many companies in the private sphere where the owners get older and are looking to cash out, but father has been able to grow the business and put it in such a condition so he can pass the business on to me.

Was it always going to be yours to run?

Definitely not. I received hints or indications in the past few years, but it was quite a surprise when last November, father indicated the time frame. I was not expecting the president Steve Poirier to resign at the time - it was for personal reasons - and it took me a bit by surprise.

Ten years out, will you still be independent?

That's certainly the goal - that's my prediction.

Moosehead is now at about $200-million in annual sales. Will you be a billion-dollar company in a decade?

Ideally, yes. We want to keep growing. A billion dollars in 10 years may be a bit aggressive, we'll have to see. I'm not going to make any commitment to that, but we want to keep growing.

Does that mean you have to take market share away from people?

Yes. The major brewers across North America. That's what we've been doing in Canada for the last 10 years and we plan to keep doing that.

So your message is: 'We're coming after you?'

Yes, but they know that. They're coming after us.

Andrew Oland

TITLE: President, Moosehead Breweries Ltd., Saint John.

BORN: Oct. 1, 1967 in Blacks Harbour, N.B.

EDUCATION: 1989, Business degree, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va.; 1997, MBA from Harvard Business School.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

1989: After graduation, worked in a Halifax shipyard.

1992: Joined Moosehead as a foreman in the company's bottle shop.

1992-2007: Held increasingly senior positions, including sales manager for Nova Scotia; sales director for New Brunswick; Alpine Lager marketing director, and president of Moosehead Quebec.

April 1, 2008: Appointed Moosehead president.