Over the past few years provincial governments across the country of various partisan stripes have happily gathered the local media to proclaim grand “loosening” of liquor laws. Most of the time these announcements end up being pretty thin gruel –… Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago we were on our way to a socially-distanced visit in a friend’s backyard and my spouse needed some wine. So I dropped into a strip mall mom-and-pop liquor store on the way to pick up whatever… Continue Reading →
Happy Canada Day! It may be one of the most half-baked and amateurishly implemented marketing campaigns in recent memory, but it got people talking, I guess. I am referring to the campaign launched a couple weeks ago by Molson Coors… Continue Reading →
Releasing a book during COVID-19 must be an author’s nightmare. No real opportunities to promote the book, no in-store sales. Only word of mouth to work with. Not ideal. Such is the case for Scott Messenger, an Edmonton-based writer and… Continue Reading →
This is one of those stories that is part-COVID-19 and part-longer term trend. We have all seen the shift craft breweries in this part of the world have been making to cans. That has been taking place for the past… Continue Reading →
News came last week that brewery taprooms and brewpubs (along with other licensees except nighclubs) will be included in the first phase of the Alberta government COVID-19 re-opening strategy, with restrictions. This news came as a bit of a surprise… Continue Reading →
A couple weeks ago I sat down (virtually) with Dalen Landis of Grain Bin Brewing in Grande Prairie. During the COVID crisis, he has been doing a series of informal conversations with various local personalities (including the Mayor!), people with… Continue Reading →
As will surprise no one, I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to fads and crazes in the beer world. I am old enough to have seen quite a few of them and so usually need to… Continue Reading →
Earlier this week (April 15, 2020), Beer Canada, the beer industry trade and lobby organization, released its annual Industry Trends 2019 report. The statistical report offers up a snapshot of where beer in Canada is sitting. Sort of. I normally… Continue Reading →
I have had a bit of time in the couple of days following the announcement of the 2020 Alberta Beer Award winners, which you can find here, to do something of an historical analysis of the first three years of… Continue Reading →