Many beer people around Edmonton have heard that Calmar’s Roughneck Brewing (and as I reported here) has recently undergone a revamp, scrapping their canning line for a bottling and introducing a pair of “Brewmaster’s Choice” craft-oriented beer with completely remade packaging and artwork and new recipes. The “new” Roughneck is still in its early stages, and the new beer is slowly working its way into area liquor stores.

I am fascinated and encouraged by this this make-over. I have always thought that Roughneck’s beer was well-made, but worried about the business plan of creating canned beer for the more conservative beer drinker. With the switch, Roughneck is now fully embracing its “craft” identity. Since my original post I have had a chance to talk with brewmaster/owner Terry Cameron and to sample both the new beer – a brown ale and an IPA. He confirms that he is shifting his marketing strategy to angle toward craft beer drinkers, which is a more lucrative and open-minded segment of the market.

I thought the combination of new beer for us to try plus the interesting business story made it good fodder for my CBC column. So last Friday’s piece, posted online yesterday, looks at the new Roughneck. I discuss the business reasons for the switch – which is mostly my analysis of what happened, based upon conversations with Terry about his motivations for moving. We then try the IPA.

I will try to offer a more detailed review of the two beer in a post sometime soon.

Listen to the CBC column here