#albeerta

[rusty-pincers]

Tomorrow Eves will be a panel and launch (Part 2?) of the Alberta Comics Home Anthology from @renegadeartsent. I will be there with a gold sharpie to sign copies of any Home Anthologies that cross my path. A good opportunity to hear about comics publishing in #albeerta ! #yyccomics #yycarts #yycevents #shelflifeyyc #yyc https://www.instagram.com/p/ClAO4cQrcUB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[beerselfie]

#Repost @herhoppylife Just me lookin back when I was in Calgary and got to visit @estbrew . I believe I was drinking the Jam Rock Sour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #herhoppylife #theestablishmentbrewingcompany #estbrew #sourbeer #sour #summerpatio #breweryvisit #calgarycraftbeer #albertacraftbeer #albeerta #craftbeer #craftbeerlover https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgimdz7L07E/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[imthepaterfamilias]

You can have your Miller High Life. I know what I’m about.

[sailthem]

Cool "BABE"'s and Greece summer at Tinos island 🍻⛱😎 #albeerta #agiosromanos #agiosromanosbeach #kohilitinos #agrelia_seafront_residences (στην τοποθεσία Agios Romanos) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Z9CJwhdZH-G7pRkKekk1wBVOwF-Md3t_H2LA0/?igshid=4kjgtz7f6bo5

[djrikirocket]

Tornado Tuesday is coming to an end! This will be our second last one of the season. Join myself and @nicnemesis for some delicious house beats and the happiest of hours before 11pm. Free entry must be 18+ ✨🔊🍻 - - - - #myjapser #jaspernationalpark #jaspernightlife #party #dance #housemusic #techhouse #techno #nicnemesis #djrikirocket #canadiandjs #producerdj #pioneerdj #albeerta #jasperab #happyhour #jasper https://www.instagram.com/p/B1r4xdRhRAL/?igshid=18vkg9vaufawk

[thedurantrant]

Alberta brothers in Albeerta hats #LastBest #Albeerta #Durant #Brothers #CorporateChef #CookingJesus #SoProud #SoStuffed #DeliciousFood #Halifax #BrotherMeats #Pizza #TheHotRicky #LoftJon #BuildingALegacy #Downtown #YYC #EatLocal #eijtb (at Last Best Brewing & Distilling) https://www.instagram.com/jonathandurant/p/BvkVeFbJNkF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1or2p975368co

[chefjillianfae]

Last stop in the town of Banff before heading back to the lake for our last night. Tasty brews! 🍻 #banff #canada #albeerta #albertacanada #brews #brewery #beer #canadianbeer (at Banff Ave Brewing Co) https://www.instagram.com/chefjillianfae/p/BvX6AoJh0yq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xzjxcrcrphwy

[oneyearalbertabeer]

My 5 favourite memories of 1 Year of Alberta Beer

When I started last January on my year of Alberta beer, I could see how it might have looked like an experiment in restriction. My source was a single region, and relatively small. Alberta was a newcomer to craft brewing but for a few veterans among roughly 20 breweries at the time. One tweeter called the experiment masochistic.

Who knew how wrong we'd be?

Alberta is fast approaching 50 breweries, 41 of which I was able to try during this year (some were too small or new to send beer out of their communities and I was unable to get to them). I drank no less than 119 distinct beers made by Alberta-based brewers. I was never short on variety, and quality only rarely.

But the truth is, my year of Alberta beer was never about quantity. It was about exploring what a developing industry had to offer. That turned out to be much more than beer. Oh, the memories. Here are my favourite 5.

First cask

I mentioned this in my contribution to the Daily Beer's best of 2016, but it made such an impression on me that I need to put it here too. In January, I went to my first cask event. Blindman Brewing brought 20 litres of its Ichorous Imperial Stout to an Edmonton restaurant.

The beer was awesome, but what made it a great event was the enthusiasm. The brewers made their way from table to table and everyone was raving about the stout, making for a cozy sense of community. I could not have asked for a better introduction to Alberta beer.

Related: Tasting notes for Blindman Brewing’s Ichorous Imperial Stout     (January 2016)

Intro to homebrewing

Another indicator of the excellence of Alberta's craft brewing community arrived as a tweet. In May, @yegbeerjudge notified me that a year of Alberta beer wouldn't be complete without a lesson in all-grain brewing. So he and a couple of his friends and I sat in the backyard sampling beers, grinding malt and boiling wort.

It seemed both immensely complicated and the easiest thing ever, and felt like a glimpse of the big bang that spun out the industry we're seeing take shape today. I left with eyes wide open, even if my vision was a bit blurry.

Related: A recap of my first all-grain brewing lesson

Brewery tours

Of the breweries I toured, the Dandy Brewing Co. made the strongest impression. Ironically, it was because of its smallness - a single bay in a modest-sized building in a northeast Calgary business park. Sales director Matt Gaetz gave me a tour and told me the story of 4 guys who pooled less than 100 grand and gave it a shot.

You could see the spirit of the venture everywhere - the resourcefulness and the can-do attitude (we love that in Alberta, right?) - from the massive gas burner they'd shove under the kettle for a boil, to the milling area sequestered in a loft, to the tiny tasting room out front, packed on a Thursday afternoon. It was all elbow grease and passion, and somehow awesome beer came out of it. A true labour of love, and a privilege to get to see.

Related: 3 great beers from my Calgary beer road trip

2016 Real Ale Festival

Thank Selinus, Osirus, Tezcatzontecatl, or whatever beer god you pray to, for Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous. I raise a brimming glass to their tireless efforts to share the miracle of craft beer with the masses. These days, I never miss their marquee cask events.

This summer's Real Ale Festival featured 29 casks from 26 Alberta brewers (and a friends from the Yukon and B.C.) gathered in a south Edmonton outdoor hockey rink. Each one - excellent, good or a little weird - represented a once-in-a-lifetime experience of creative brewing. That could be said of any one-off cask, but you don't often get to celebrate that uniqueness with 400 other geeks united by love of Alberta craft beer.

Related: A preview of the 5th annual Real Ale Festival

Sharing Alberta beer

The thing I’ve enjoyed most about this year of Alberta beer has been sharing my discoveries - or, better still, making discoveries with others. My weekly jam night with a friends Guy (left) and Colin (we have a band called Hinterlands) doubled as an Alberta beer sampling session, with everyone taking turns bringing an untested beer.

"It was cool to try handcrafted beers made by people who really care about what they do," says Colin the guitarist, an enthusiastic convert.

My parents, however, surprised me most. Strictly speaking, retired baby boomers are not craft beer's primary demographic. They’re of a time when Trad was exotic. But mom became quite a skillful taster, picking out spices, fruit and eagerly refilling her dainty little “tasting glass” when uncertain. Dad got into it as well, even if his description of most varieties revolved around “hoppy.”

Still, Alberta beers made a real impression on him. “I've never spent so much time analyzing beer,” he says. “I used to just quaff it down.”

And that, I would say as I bring this illuminating and memorable journey to a close, is one of the most important things to come out of my fantastic year of Alberta beer.

Acknowledgements

This blog would not have been possible were it not for the help of several talented and supportive people. The first is my lovely wife, Leah, who worked the Facebook to get these posts read and also edited them so they were readable. When they weren’t it was because I foolishly ignored her advice.

Thanks also to Linda Hoang, who helped me set this whole thing up, provided invaluable contacts, and guided me through the wacky world of social media.

I could certainly stand to buy Rory Lee another Alberta beer for his great work on the graphics for this blog.

Mark Boulter of Ribstone Creek Brewery and Don MacDonald of Brewsters were among the most eager supporters of this project, and I am grateful for their encouragement and enthusiasm.

Thank you Tourism Calgary for making my Calgary brewery tour possible.

Were it not for the existence of Sherbrooke Liquor and Arcadia in Edmonton, I would never have been able to try so many of our province’s great beers. Alberta beer clearly has a friend in both these great businesses. Please support them.

Thank you to CBC Radio Edmonton AM and Metro Edmonton for helping to spread the word about this blog and therefore also about Alberta beer.

And thank you to all the breweries in Alberta for making the beer that made me stop and think about what I was drinking and if a difference might possibly be made in doing so. I look forward to quietly watching the industry grow into one of Canada’s - and North America’s - finest producers of craft beer.

A toast to our brewmasters.

[eideard]

Arctic temperatures warmest in over 10,000 years

Arctic temperatures warmest in over 10,000 years

Clement Sabourin/AFP

Arctic temperatures are the warmest in more than 10,000 years, speeding the thaw of permafrost in Canada’s North, shows climate research out of the University of Alberta.

“We’ve known that the last few decades have been very warm. But we’ve found that temperatures are on the order of two degrees Celsius warmer than any time in the last 10,000 years — that was a surprise,”…

[reanimatedpixel-blog]

When you have a 10 page essay due at midnight, but you want to hang with your family and need a beer from @cold_garden #craftbeer #yyc #yyccraftbeer #dogfriendly #albeerta #universitylife #essay #love #sunday #deadlines (at Cold Garden Beverage Company)

[hiredgunscreative]

Siding 14 Brewing Co. is a new brewery in Ponoka, Alberta, that wanted to pay tribute to the region’s rich Canadian railway heritage. Before the town of Ponoka was named, it was simply known as “Siding 14” of the Calgary-Edmonton Railway Company, a supply point for steam locomotives between the two major cities.

For the brewery brand, we decided to use the language of Art Deco design to evoke early 20th century steam locomotives, fusing old railway signs with a stylized train viewed head on, all rendered in a luxurious excess of linework and filigree.

The bandmark integrates with the detailed design container, its clean geometric lines framing and contrasting with each product’s more textural illustration, all rendered in stark black and silver, with a pop of colour to differentiate the products at a glance. Subtle use of white ink and varnish give the brandmark a touch more presence. A beautiful Art Deco shape gives the labels their elegant diecut edges, revealing a prominent area of naked-can silver, shining in conjunction with the label’s finely-detailed silver foil. And for the truly observant, each label contains a hidden hobo symbol.

[beerselfie]

#Repost • @herhoppylife Hi Cuties, Happy Monday! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend of sunshine. . I couldnt help but share the last two photos. Forever photobombed by the pups. 😅 . Got this delicious treat from a trade with a friend out in Calgary before my trip. Thanks again @craftbeer.aficionado . . Born Colorado Brewing • Hi Cutie • Wheat Ale w/ Raspberry and Mint, 5%. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #herhoppylife #albeerta #albertacraftbeer #calgarycraftbeer #torontocraftbeer #borncoloradobrewing #hicutie #wheatalebeer #wheatalewithraspberry #craftbeer #craftbeerlover #craftbeerselfie #womenincraftbeer #womenincraftbeerindustry #photobomb #puppyphotobomb #happymonday https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ9F4XMruE3/?utm_medium=tumblr

[bobwoolsey]

ALBERTA! YEAH! #albeerta #craftbeer (at The Den Pub and Carvery)

[endorfinley]

sweet home Albeerta

[djrikirocket]

Really great time with @freewheeljasper and @jasperbrewing last night! - - - - #myjasper #jasperab #freewheel #jasperbrewingco #albeerta #djrikirocket #goodtimes #greatpeople

[thedurantrant]

Alberta brothers in Albeerta hats #LastBest #Albeerta #Durant #Brothers #CorporateChef #CookingJesus #SoProud #SoStuffed #DeliciousFood #Halifax #BrotherMeats #Pizza… https://t.co/hImvNF0GeF

http://twitter.com/jonathandurant