You gotta hand it to Sherbrooke Liquor store in Edmonton. They have what is likely the biggest beer selection in Canada. Great. They regularly partner with local breweries to produce beer available exclusively in the store – usually with playful and humorous names and labels. Impressive. But is that enough for them? No sirree!

This week they have released the first in a 12-part series of beer honouring the beer gods of yore. Yes, a Beer God series! What more can you ask from a liquor store? A new beer will be released every equinox and solstice for the next three years.Didn’t know that there 12 different beer gods? You are not alone. It appears many cultures valued their fermented grain enough to ensure there was a deity looking over it. I got a sneak peak at the early sketchings of the labels, and many of the ,ods were completely foreign to me. I did notice the trend in the sketches that them male gods were intimidating and forceful while the female gods were, well, goddess-like (for example see the label for the first one).

The first beer is Ragutiene, a god from the Slavic cultures in Eastern Europe. The beer itself is a Baltic Porter (naturally enough). It was brewed (as will all the others) by Saskatoon’s Paddock Wood. It is on shelves at Sherbrooke, and likely Paddock Wood, now. It was supposed to be released on the summer solstice, but was a bit delayed. I guess we can trust the second in the series will be out September 23.