The three guys behind Calgary’s newest brewery, High Line Brewing, want to say that their story is nothing special.  “The story has been told many times, it is like everyone else,” says J.J. Mathison. “The law changed in 2013 [removing the minimum production capacity] and we thought maybe we could take our passion for homebrewing to see if could translate.” But their story isn’t the same.

High Line just received its production license earlier this month and hopes to have its first pours later in November. Despite how busy they are, the founders devoted a bit of time to sit down for a chat with me.

The three friends, Mathison, Kurt Wikel and Graham Dolce, had been homebrewing friends. Mathison had been brewing for the better part of a decade, while Wikel and Dolce had been at it for about 5 years. That said both men come from solid craft beer stock. Wikel was raised in Montana. “I grew up with craft beer, when it was just kicking off. Kettle House in Missoula [Montana] was the first craft brewery I visited. That is when I fell in love with craft beer.” He also spent some time living in Denver, just to drive the point home.

As for Dolce, he grew up in Vermont, which as most readers know is a central location for quality craft beer. So, in short, the three men have had years of experience in craft beer, even if just from a consumer perspective.

Life and careers brought all three men to Calgary. They love living in the city and see it as their home. But, as beer buffs, they were disappointed by the overall beer scene in the city. “For a long time when I moved here, I found the lack of a craft beer scene surprising,” says Wikel. “I come from a town of 50,000 with three or four micros. Calgary didn’t have that.” Dolce expresses a similar experience. “I love Calgary but it was always missing this one aspect,and seeing that starting to happen makes me feel better about being in Calgary.”

One of the aspects they most missed was the atmosphere of craft beer places in their hometowns. “I was looking for a gathering spot, not a bar. A place where people can come with their kids and the place naturally builds community around it,” says Wikel. That feature figured prominently in their plans for their brewery. They want a place that is inviting, relaxed and a part of the local neighbourhood.

“Finding the right location took six months from the day we decided to incorporate,” says Mathison. After an extensive search, including an aborted location elsewhere in the city, they settled on the close-knit and historic neighbourhood of Ingelwood, just east of downtown (also the location of recently opened Cold Garden – see their profile here). Two of the partners live in Inglewood and the trio thought it would be an ideal location for their kind of project.

However, available space is rare in that neighbourhood. “We forced ourselves on an unsuspecting landlord with empty automotive garage,” says Mathison. “The building was crumbling to crowd. We signed a lease on a building in pitiful condition, ceiling falling down, no electricity, no water.” But they set to work fixing it up, doing much of the work themselves. They also had to go to extraordinary lengths to persuade the City of Calgary to approve their zoning. “We had four months of going back and forth with the city,” says Wikel. “We got very adept at managing the zoning laws in Calgary.”

Despite all the work, in the end they think the location is perfect.

“We already get people knocking on door daily. You can see us from 9^th Avenue [the main drag through neighbourhood].” The space has two glassed overhead doors – one open to the street and the other to the brewery with the 35 seat tasting room in the middle. The call the atmosphere “al fresco”.

“We have worked hard to make this a safe and comfortable place for anyone who enjoys craft beer,” says Dolce. “It will be family friendly. Not open late. We are looking for it to be a comfortable, welcoming environment for people interested in new, local and, we hope, well-made beer.”

They have crammed a 5-Barrel brewhouse, bought from small craft from a Montana craft brewery, into the small (less than 1500 sq. ft.) space. At the moment they have four 15-barrel fermenters, which will double as conditioning tanks. They also have what they call “Swifty”, a 2-barrel electric, single vessel pilot brewhouse with three of its own 2-barrel fermenters. Swifty is designed to “help keep the taps stocked” and create an extra level of flexibility.

High Line’s “cozy” brewing space

Their plan is to have three to four year-round offerings supplemented by three to five seasonal or one-time beer (often brewed on Swifty). Wikel sums up their beer approach. “We want to make what our customers drink.” But when pressed further the vision is richer than that. It is a combination of openness and experimentation,

“We want to have something for everyone to try,” says Mathison. “We are big fans of IPAs but we are aware of a lingering demographic in Calgary that want a nice light, drinkable beer. We don’t want to shy away from that demographic just because doesn’t fit into craft beer ethos.” As result they will offer a “common, crisp ale” as part of their line-up as well as a gluten-free “alternative to beer”, says Wikel.

But quickly talk turns to the other beer they will offer. The plan an IPA and an Imperial IPA as regular offerings. Plus, “we are experimenting with sours, saisons and an attempt at a higher alcohol beer that is full-bodied and you can’t get in a liquor store,” says Wikel.

They want to move as much of their beer through the tasting room as possible, both as pints on-site and growler fills. “We want to keep this as close to the neighbourhood as possible,” says Dolce. They have purchased a canning line to provide a bit of flexibility. “Our hope with that is have canning days. Put on Twitter that we are canning something on Friday and will sell it on Saturday.”

They also, interestingly, are downplaying the keg market. While they will still do keg sales to interested locations, their strategy is to sell cans to bars and restaurants. “We are hearing about tap wars – getting taps is hard,” says Wikel. Mathison adds, “in the Calgary bar scene the general consensus is that it is easier to get fridge space than tap space.” Besides, Dolce notes, “cans give us the  flexibility to be in any restaurant in Calgary.” They say already all of the local Inglewood restaurants and liquor stores are interested in carrying their product.

They chose the name High Line for a couple of reasons. First, it is an homage to where Wikel grew up. “Havre, Montana is 50 miles from the Canadian border on Highway 2,” which runs east-west across the U.S. just south of the border. That particular part of Montana is commonly referred to as Hi-Line (for historical reasons). “Plus we just like the general feel of the name,” he adds.

When asked about their hopes for the brewery in the coming years, the trio are flexible. “We could go in one of two directions,” offers Mathison. “We would be happy to optimize this space and be running a profitable business. The other possible direction is if we find we have a couple popular flagships, we could see opening a second facility to just brew those.” Yet he quickly emphasizes the continued importance of the tasting room. “The tasting room is core to High Line. We see it more as being akin to Dieu Du Ciel [with the brewpub and a second production facility]. That is model we like, a way to up the volume without losing the soul of the project.”

That is the future. For now, they are solely focused on getting the first beer out the door and finally, after months of work, welcoming thirsty Calgarians into their tasting room.

[Edited 6:00pm to more accurately reflect their keg vs. can sales priorities.]