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 →
The list of small town Alberta breweries continues to grow. The latest is Dog Island Brewing (link is to their Facebook page – no website yet) in the northern town of Slave Lake (about 2 hours north of Edmonton; population… Continue Reading →
I think Winnipeg may be the site of Canada’s quietest beer explosion. A spate of breweries have just opened (including Barn Hammer and Peg Brewing) or are about to (such as Torque Brewing), but no one has been talking about… Continue Reading →
I have quickly gotten used to being surprised when I hear the location of a new brewery on the prairies. It seems it doesn’t matter how small or large the town, there is an opportunity to brew beer for the… Continue Reading →
As I feared/suspected, the Alberta government announced the details of its brewery grant program last week while I was being completely, joyously unproductive. But you wouldn’t know it from reading the media coverage last week, which was woefully short on… Continue Reading →