Buried in the mountains of paper of the federal budget the other day were two small announcements that will positively affect craft beer fans. First, the government announced that it would remove restrictions on inter-provincial transportation of beer and liquor. These changes parallel the recent removal on cross-border shopping for wine. This is a fairly minor change, since the rules haven’t really been enforced for years. But it is good to know my years as a scofflaw are over and that my online admissions to bringing beer home from Quebec, Ontario, B.C. or Nova Scotia won’t get me into any legal trouble.

A more important measure is to allow a greater range of allowable ingredients in beer. As the law currently stands if a brewery wants to add a non-traditional ingredient to their beer – say heather tips or fruit – they need to get permission from the federal government. A number of breweries across the country have faced the headache of getting approval for a new beer, including Edmonton’s Alley Kat years ago for its Aprikat. I suspect the consequences will be fairly minor, as it was more of a nuisance than an actual barrier to innovation. Still, less paperwork must make the breweries happy.

In other news, the Alberta Small Brewers’ Association has quietly gotten up and running with a website and a bit of media work in recent weeks. I had heard about the formation of this group before Xmas but was waiting for an official announcement from the association before discussing it. However, the press release has not been forthcoming, and since they are now being quoted in the media and have a modest website, I figured now is as good as anytime to bring them up.

The ASBA is a product of the recent AGLC policy review, where they contemplated changing the mark-up structure in Alberta (still no word on that, by the way). The review prompted Alberta-based breweries to make a joint submission and spend some collective energy on lobbying. Late in 2013, this cooperation was formalized to form the ASBA. Eleven of Alberta’s breweries are members, including Big Rock, Brewster’s, Alley Kat and Wild Rose. At the moment the Jasper/Banff/Wood Buffalo brewpub chain and the Norsemen Brewpub are not listed as members.

The ASBA’s mandate is to advocate for Alberta-based breweries with all levels of government and to promote Alberta craft brewing in the province. At this point it remains a modest organization, much smaller than the Ontario Craft Brewers, in part due to Alberta’s relatively small number of breweries. It does, though, have an Executive Director, Greg Zeschuk. Zeschuk is the former owner of software company Bioware and most recently owner and host of Beer Diaries, an online craft beer interview series.

It is a good sign that Alberta breweries now have a coherent voice in both political debates and to build consumer awareness around the importance of local beer. I will be curious to see where this initiative goes and if they are able to capture some momentum for Alberta-based craft breweries.