This morning my plan was to publish the latest in my series of new brewery profiles (I am trying to catch up with the wave). But then I read Jason van Rassel’s thoughtful piece about the state of brewing in… Continue Reading →
It may only be a short drive, but Canmore is a long distance from the office towers of downtown Calgary. Just ask Brian Dunn, co-founder of the soon-to-open Canmore Brewing. A couple years ago Dunn had grown tired of working… Continue Reading →
2016 marks my 25th year of homebrewing. It is an odd admission mostly because it makes me admit that I am older, balder and fatter than I would like. But, still, I feel like it is an anniversary worth marking…. Continue Reading →
I will say this for Ryan Ferguson, Mark Ferguson (no relation) and Darren Kester. They are not idle dreamers. The three friends grew up together in the Three Hills area (about an hour northeast of Calgary) and today are the… Continue Reading →
Talking to all the new breweries opening up on the prairies, as I have been trying to do in recent weeks, I come across a lot of different start-up strategies and a variety of visions for the brewery. But when… Continue Reading →
The most-talked-about but least understood beer happening in Edmonton is the impending opening of Blind Enthusiasm. The soon-to-be brewery kind of defies categorization. It will be a brewpub. But it is more than that. It will also be Canada’s first… Continue Reading →
Welcome to the second installment of Random Acts of Beerness, my occasional effort to update people on beer happenings on the prairies in a rather random, haphazard way (read here for an explanation of its origins). Your Guide to the… Continue Reading →
This past Saturday was the fifth annual installment of the Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous Real Ale Festival, held in the skating rink of Ritchie Community Hall. As usual a few hundred thirsty folks attended to sample some of the best,… Continue Reading →
Yesterday the opposition Wildrose Party (not to be confused with Calgary’s Wild Rose Brewing) in Alberta released a policy plan (read here) around the beer industry. It is a response to the NDP government’s recent series of announcements (read here… Continue Reading →
With all the young, flirtatious upstarts popping up around Alberta, gathering the attentions of the wandering-eye beer consumer, one wonders what the established craft breweries need to do to re-capture some of the attention that used to go their way…. Continue Reading →