by Peter Bailey
“Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?” Paul Newman was talking about infidelity, but it might be applicable to eating—and drinking—locally.
The locavores have won. Local food is now a full-fledged “thing”. Sometime in the past few years local food clicked for people. We realized that local food—the pork from Irvings Farm, the spuds from The Little Potato Company, the gouda from Sylvan Star Cheese—was just as good, or better,
than the stuff from far away. And with local sourcing noted proudly on some chain restaurant menus, it seems the battle to have people pay attention to their food is won,
if not the war. But what about local beer? Alas, the battle for the hearts and minds—and palates—of Edmonton beer drinkers rages on. Recently I dined at 12 Acres, a great new farm-to-table restaurant in St. Albert. The waiter’s enthusiastic description of how the restaurant sources its beef from its own cattle from a farm nearby had me thinking of Portlandia: “Is the chicken local? Yes, and his name was Colin.” 12 Acres has a lovely, large craft beer menu, including four on tap—but none of the four were local beer.
The local food aha moment has yet to arrive for local beer. But we’re getting there. Indeed, until recently 12 Acres could have found some local beer right in St. Albert, but 2015 saw the closure of Hog’s Head Brewing (and with it the Amber’s brand as well). In 12 Acres’ defence, only Yellowhead and Alley Kat remain as viable local craft brewers. Happily, Alley Kat continues to go from strength to strength, celebrating 20 years of brewing great craft beer in 2015.
Alley Kat’s excellence was recognized in 2015 when its Scona Gold Kölsch was awarded the overall Beer of the Year award at the Canadian Brewing Awards. And yet many Edmontonians don’t realize that in Alley Kat they have steak at home.
Down the QE2 in Calgary, Big Rock Brewery turned 30 years old, and yet was acting like a teenager, experimenting and trying new things. Brewmaster
Paul Gautreau kept a dizzying pace, producing new beers like the Wai-Iti Wheat Ale made from exotic New Zealand hops or the Smoked Roggenbier, made from smoked rye malt. And in a fun nod to its 30th birthday, Big Rock brewed its three original beers, Traditional, Porter and Bitter from the old 1985 recipes and released them at 1985 prices.
In addition to new beers, Albertans tried on a new government in 2015. The previous government gave us private liquor retailing and the open borders that give local beer drinkers the best selection in Canada. But the system also makes it more difficult for small Alberta- based brewers, competing against hundreds of competitors. On the other hand, in 2013 the government lowered the minimum brewing capacity required for a new brewery start-up. This decision began bearing fruit in 2015 with new breweries starting up: Two Sergeants in Fort Saskatchewan, Troubled Monk in Red Deer, Six Corners in Okotoks, Dandy in Calgary and Coulee Brew in Lethbridge. And 2016 holds the promise of a bevy of new breweries, including the Ritchie Market project and Situation Brewing in Edmonton, Brauerei Fahr in Turner Valley and Bench Creek Brewing in Edson, and rumours of many more to come. Local beer is on the march.
2015 faves six-pack
Drink local, sure, but sometimes it is good to drink someone else’s local! I enjoyed trying local beer in my travels in 2015 and it is great to enjoy them again back home in Edmonton. Some favourites:
 Maui CoCoNut Porter, Maui |
 Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA, San Diego |
 Driftwood Fat Tug IPA, Victoria |
 Ribstone Great White Combine White IPA, Edgerton |
 Village Gardener, Calgary |
 Alley Kat Alberta Dragon Double IPA, Edmonton |
Peter Bailey knows “the skyline of Toronto is somethin’ you’ll get onto”, but he’s always glad to be Alberta Bound. He tweets as @Libarbarian.