Attended enough beer events yet, folks? If not, there is more on tap in the next few days. Here is a quick run-down on things I have heard about going on in Edmonton and Calgary. (You Saskies and Winnipegers should email me if you want me to mention stuff going on in your burgs…)

Calgary

Calgary is playing host to Granville Island’s head brewer, Verne Lambourne, to celebrate GI’s return to the Alberta market and to launch their Lion’s Winter Ale. There are 2 events this week featuring Verne and both are free:

  • Thursday November 18: Limerick’s Pub Celebration Party with Verne, 5:00-7:00 pm. Meet Verne and sample some GI beer.
  • Friday November 19: Willow Park Liquor Store: Beer and food pairing with Verne. Five GI beer paired with local culinary creations. Please RSVP by Wednesday to mgunson [at] gib.ca.

Edmonton

The explosion of Edmonton beer events continues.It starts on Wednesday (Nov. 17) with my latest monthly informal beer tasting at Sugar Bowl. These tastings are casual and intended to offer some extra value for customers of the Bowl, so if you come, plan to have dinner or a couple of beer, and I will come around and chat with you about the free samples and beer in general. This time we are doing a few beer from our Calgary brethren Wild Rose.

Also know that the next Sugar Bowl tasting is tentatively set for December 8, when I will be doing a selection of Japanese microbrewed beer.

Thursday November 18 is, of course, the latest Alley Kat-Sugar Bowl cask event at 5 pm, where a coffee porter will be on offer. I will miss this one, unfortunately. Also, I planned on making the inaugural cask at the Next Act last week, but a last minute conflict prevented my attendance – so if someone went, please tell the rest of us how it was.

Sunday November 21, 7:00: Transcend Coffee on 109 Street is hosting their first ever beer tasting event (yes, a coffee place doing beer – cool, eh!). They are doing a winter beer theme, and will have 7 beer perfect for winter sipping, ranging from Tree’s Spice Reserve Ale to Raasted’s Kaffe Stout to Brooklyn’s Chocolate Stout. Tickets are $40 and available online (go to their website, which I linked above in case you weren’t paying attention).

That is all for now, but given how busy things have been I fully expect to do another one of these roundups in a couple weeks.