After a number of undoubtedly frustrating delays, Edmonton brewpub/brewery Situation Brewing is finally opening its doors today. It is just the soft launch, with the Grand Opening coming next Wednesday (May 25), but the beer is flowing. Soft launches are designed to help work out the kinks in the kitchen and serving before the broader “public” knows. (You can read my initial profile of the brewery here).

So, basically, I am saying “Sshh!”.

I write this because I know the regular readers of this site will want to know right away that there is a new beer option in Edmonton. I also trust you to not swarm the place en masse and overwhelm the staff-in-training. The beer will still be there in a week or so.

I got a sneak peak yesterday and so because you can keep a secret, let me tell you a bit about our new beer location.

The decor is urban and relaxed, with lots of natural woods, metal and greys. The two walls  of windows open up the space, bringing in sunlight which warms up the atmosphere. The bar is toned down and sparse. When sitting at the bar you can look through a glass door down a row of fermenters. The pub does not yet have its external signs, but that will come.

I imagine, though, you are most interested in the beer. At opening they will have 7 house beer on tap, offering a range of flavours. Four are year-round: the wheat ale, red ale, stout and IPA. At the moment there are three rotationals: an American pale ale, a tea-infused saison and a kettle-soured raspberry beer (which is a bit delayed and not yet on tap). The beer do have names but I promised to not reveal them because they have social media plans for them over the coming week (really, I can be an accommodating guy if you ask nice and offer me a beer!). They also have two ongoing guest taps, currently filled by Two Sergeants IPA and Yellowhead’s new IPA.

In the future they may replace the guest taps with their own beer, but for now want to showcase other Edmonton breweries. While they see most of their sales initially coming from the pub, they have already lined up about 25 tap accounts around the city who will carry their beer. In addition to kegs, they will do growler fills on site, including 2-litre growlers, 1-liter howlers and what they call 500-ml meowlers. They have no plans – and frankly no space – for any other kind of packaging.

One of the coolest initiatives they are starting is to have a cask ale as a regular feature at the pub. Every day they will tap a new cask and serve it until it runs out. They are the first pub in Alberta to commit to an ongoing cask program. They are moving past the monthly cask event model and making it a permanent aspect of their offerings. I, as a longtime cask advocate, can unreservedly say I am a big fan of that. The casks will be in addition to their 9 taps.

For the beer geeks info, they have a 12-hectolitre brewhouse with 7 fermenters and bright tanks. This size offers an interesting middle ground between brewpub and brewery, reflecting their overall mission. While anchored in their location and with a goal of serving Old Strathcona, they hope to spread their beer across the Capital Region.

I tried five of the beer during my visit. I won’t go into detail at this time because these are first batches and in my mind every brewery gets a bit of time to dial in their recipes. I will say I found all of the beer well-brewed and flavourful, which is a very good sign. The Red Ale has a pleasant toasty quality that drew me into the beer. The IPA offers an attractive hop flavour and aroma which exhibit the best in American hops, in part because the beer was incredibly fresh, without the beer becoming too bitter. The tea-infused saison was fascinating. It is not particularly saison-like, but the tea – a mango oolong – created an intense fruity character mixed with light tannins that make me pretty certain it will be a big hit during the summer months.

Edmonton, we have a Situation. And in my mind that is a very, very good thing.