One of the great advantages of small craft brewers is that they can anchor themselves in community. They can sink deep roots into the life of the town/city where they reside. When it comes to roots, few can likely lay claim to deeper ones than Hans Doef. You see, Doef is part of the longstanding family-run Doef’s Greenhouse in Lacombe, just north of Red Deer. You need to know about roots to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and, oh, so gorgeous eggplants year-round in this climate.

Why am I praising Mr. Doef’s family eggplants on a beer blog? Doef, along with an impressive and eclectic array of partners, will soon be opening a new brewery in his hometown of Lacombe. Blindman Brewing is in the final stages of planning and will soon be in possession of their brewhouse, with a slated September opening.

Doef and his longtime friend Dave Vander Plaat dreamed up the idea of a local Lacombe brewery more than a year ago. Both are avid homebrewers and with Doef’s experience running a business and Vander Plaat’s background in mechanical engineering (always helpful in a brewery), they saw no real reason not to start up a brewery. “Local food is a passion of mine, anything local. People gather around craft beer, you can create more than a business,” says Doef. “We have a pretty good thread of connections in Lacombe and we thought the time was right.”

They started plotting on their own, but then through some good fortune came across a trio of Edmonton beer guys also looking for a start-up opportunity. Adam Campbell (a former brewer at Alley Kat, Grizzly Paw, and Propeller Brewing), Matt Willerton (current Alley Kat employee) and Kirk Zembal (beer aficionado and savvy business guy) joined the two original partners six months ago. The trio brought some professional brewing experience as well as a raft of Edmonton connections.

Then three months ago, Shane Groendahl, he of Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous fame (and electrical engineer who was also contemplating a dive into craft brewing), signed up, completing what is unquestionably a powerhouse ownership group. In fact, I wonder if they are the first Supergroup of Alberta craft brewing?

Blindman has procured a 4,000 sq. ft. space in the industrial part of Lacombe and a new 15-barrel brewhouse is on order and should arrive next month. They plant to start with two 15-bbl and one 30-bbl fermenters and a single conditioning tank. I wondered aloud if that might create a bottleneck, but Doef and Groendahl weren’t worried. “We will be fine for a while and get our mains styles in production,” Groendahl replied, adding that adding more brights as needed is part of the plan.

Blindman’s vision is simple. “We just want to make really good beer for people who like really good beer,” says Doef. Groendahl adds that they want to push the market as well. “We want to step up the game of the styles being produced locally and the quality of the beer being produced, to pose a challenge to others to get better as well”.

“We want to make the best beer in Alberta,” says Groendahl.

As for the beer, they have not finalized on names but are planning on launching with three beer initially with hopes of adding more down the road. The first beer is tentatively being called River Session Ale. “It is a 4.5% session ale. Big hopping with mosaic, it will be very aromatic and drinkable. We are calling it an ‘light pale ale’,” says Doef. Then there will be a stronger IPA using “a combo of simcoe and citra”.

The third beer will be a saison, which they plan to split the batch. “We will pull off some for souring, flavour additions, barrel-aging,” notes Groendahl. If all goes well they are considering adding a pilsner to the line up next year.

“The beer will be a balance between what we love and what will sell” observes Doef. “The session ale and IPA are good entrances for this kind of market for us”.

Doef says they will try to take advantage of their greenhouse connection as well.  “We have good access to year-round flavouring – we grow herbs in greenhouse, peppers, tomatoes. Lots of opportunity for funky beer for our seasonals”.

Following what is clearly a trend these days, their plan is to package their beer in cans, in addition to kegs and growlers. “We feel cans are right for the market. It preserves well, we want people to drink out of the glass, it is trendy and it is cheaper,” notes Doef. Groendahl adds  that cans are “lighter to transport, better for the beer and easier to package”.

What will soon be the Blindman brewery.

They plan local self-distribution in the Lacombe-Red Deer area, as well as some forays into Edmonton. “We can self-distribute in the central Alberta area. Red Deer for sure. There is a lot of little pubs around here. And one of the other benefits of our Edmonton connections is they can deliver fresh beer to their connections up there”.

Groendahl feels there is room for growth in Edmonton. “Edmonton is under-served right now in terms of local breweries”.

And what about being so close to Troubled Monk and Something Brewing? Doef feels the more the merrier. “We feel we will pat each other on the back and move market share. Demand is only increasing. The market share is going to increase”, suggesting there is room for everybody.

Blindman was an obvious name for the brewery, paying homage to the small river that flows through the area. “we picked that name because I value place,” says Doef.  “I love the way it meanders. It is beautiful.” He adds that the name has the benefit of being anchored in local but remains accessible to people who are unaware of the geography of the area.

As the partners forge ahead to create a brewery, they continue with their other pursuits. Doef still comes to Edmonton weekly to sell veggies at farmers’ markets and Groendahl keeps on with his day job. Groendahl also promises that he will continue leading the Beer Geeks for the foreseeable future, so people need not worry on that front.

For a Blindman, these guys sure seem to know where they are heading. And we will all be able to see for ourselves what they are up to in a couple of months.