There is a new empire in the province and it is one that I think most craft beer consumers will be happy to obey. Craft Beer Commonwealth (CBC) is a new and creative beer project that both shows the growing maturity of the Alberta beer scene and offers a fascinating spark of imagination.

I recently profiled CBC on my CBC radio column (oh my, that is confusing). You can listen to the piece here.

In short, CBC (the brewery) is a project of three Alberta beer-related companies: Blindman Brewing, Red Hart Brewing and Red Shed Malting. The three Red Deer and area companies have combined forces to create a brand new brewery operation with a very specific goal: promote and celebrate central Alberta’s contributions to beer.

There appear to be two aspects to the project. The anchor is the opening of a brewery and tap room in a new indoor farmers’ market in Red Deer. The Gasoline Alley Farmers’ Market opened its doors in the fall along (surprise!) Gasoline Alley, the strip on Highway 2 as it passes the south end of Red Deer known by most for its gas stations, fast food restaurants and the occasional RV dealer, although it has begun developing into a retail and commercial hub. The small 2-Barrel brewhouse (repurposed from Red Shed) will produce beer to be sold at the market tap room. The tap room will also serve beer made by the 12 breweries located on the Highway 2 corridor between Leduc and Airdrie. It will also produce collaboration beer among the region’s breweries.

Part two is a focus on educating consumers about central Alberta’s vibrant beer-related industry. It has launched with a collaboration beer, available province-wide, that included every brewery in the region. Landlock Ale is a tongue-in-cheek take on Pacific Ale originating in Australia using only Australian/New Zealander ingredients. It uses only ingredients grown and processed in central Alberta, including the hops.

The market brewery will only use central Alberta ingredients as much as possible (local hops can be a challenge still), including fruit and other items sold by producers at the market. It will regularly produce collaboration beer with other central Alberta breweries, along with serving beer from each of those breweries.

If this sounds like a central Alberta lovefest, you would be right. But it is more than that. It is a conscious effort to educate consumers not just on craft beer (a noble project on its own) but on how those consumers’ home is essential to craft beer. To this end it achieves two goals simultaneously. First, it creates more craft beer fans by introducing them to beer they might not seek out on their own. Buying a pint after purchasing the weekly vegetables is an easy and fun activity and having all of those beer come from local breweries increases the visibility of the breweries.

Second, it makes visible the economic contribution the beer industry makes to their home region. By explicitly linking beer to local farmers and other local producers, it demonstrates how the industry is a form of economic diversification and job creation.

Pretty clever if you ask me.