Alberta will finally have a Craft Beer Week. The Alberta Small Brewers’ Association announced yesterday the launch of the province’s first official Beer Week from September 25 to October 3. It will be bookended by the Alberta Beer Festival’s Calgary and Edmonton Oktoberfests. You can see the Beer Week website here.
A couple of events have been announced already for the week, including Big Rock’s 30th Anniversary party on September 26 and a second installment of the Edmonton Beer History Tour on October 3 (more on that another day – but, yes, I will be hosting it again). We also know that both Beer Revolutions will commit all of their taps that week to Alberta beer only.
The rest of the events are still TBD, but I do know there are plans in the works for some beer dinners, beer tastings, some free events, and, hopefully some creative stuff. The ASBA also hopes to use the week to draw attention to Alberta craft beer – a politically useful time to do so given the new government.
I suspect most of the events will be in Edmonton and Calgary, but I believe we will see some interesting stuff in Red Deer, Camrose and hopefully other places.
I note they are officially calling it “Alberta Beer Week”, which I suspect is to allow for some of the province’s less-than-crafty breweries. However, I don’t think it is necessary. Every brewery involved in the ASBA (and a couple of others who are not yet members) are small, independent and h0nest, which is most the way there to craft. So, they are being overly safe in my opinion.
I am quite excited about this, not only because I suspect it will be a busy social week for me, but because I really like the concept of craft beer weeks. They draw attention to local craft beer, give a critical mass to promotion and marketing that individual breweries simply can’t do on their own, and encourage newbies to try craft beer. For example, imagine having Beer Revolution (and hopefully other pubs) offer ONLY Alberta beer for a week. Hundreds upon hundreds of people will come away with a new Alberta beer experience.
This is the next step in the maturation of Alberta’s craft beer scene. I promise to do a preview post closer to the week, when events are more settled. Plus I will try to offer some observations of the events I attend (but no promises on that front. I might be busy – there is beer to be consumed, after all).
I await the week with anticipation. Because it is the first attempt, I keep my expectations in check. All things take time to build. I am just glad Alberta is finally making the step.
Mark your calendars now, and await further updates.
August 15, 2015 at 1:24 PM
Thanks for story Jason. I thought I’d mention the concept of “craft” in the context of your article. Your read is partially correct: we’re got local breweries that provide beer for all segments of the market so we want Alberta Beer Week to be inclusive rather than exclusive to our members. Beyond that however, I’ve seen a few breweries talking about the fact we’re now in a “post-craft” world where the craft designation is no longer needed. If it’s local, it’s good, and it doesn’t matter if it’s “craft”. I think that seems to be happening in more enlightened locations and Alberta still has a good distance to go before people really get the whole local beer scene.
greg