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 →
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 →
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 →
Who in heaven’s name would give up a successful career in film to open a brewery? Hanging out with the likes of Ang Lee, Anne Hathaway and (my favourite in the list) Allan Hawco of Republic of Doyle fame. Twin… Continue Reading →
A complaint under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) – a trade deal signed between provinces and the federal government in 1994 – against the Alberta government’s new mark-up policies has been forwarded to a formal hearing, according to a… Continue Reading →
When I started this website over 6 years ago (!!) it was with two explicit functions. First,it was an outlet for writing, observations and ramblings that couldn’t fit into my regular columns. Second, and most importantly, it was going to… Continue Reading →
It takes serious commitment to be a homebrewer in Moldova, a former Soviet Republic sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. But Vlad Covali was up to the challenge. “There was no brewery supplier,” he reflects. “We had to go to farmers… Continue Reading →