Calgary is experiencing a surge in craft beer, much to the giddy delight of your intrepid liquor reporter.
With dedicated beer bars like The Bottle House, National Beer Hall, Beer Revolution, 1410 Bier Haus, Wurst, and Craft, there is a veritable smorgasbord of fine craft beers available.
Most of these fine establishments are only a few years old, which illustrates the increasing demand for fine craft beer, instead of the watery swill pushed on the unsuspecting public by the megabreweries.
It is not only new drinking establishments appearing on the scene, but new local breweries as well.
The mainstays of the local beer scene have long been Big Rock and Wild Rose, but there are a few niche players as well.
The Brewsters chain of brew pubs have long been popular in Alberta, but are only available for onsite consumption at their 6 Calgary locations, plus 5 more in Edmonton and 3 more in Regina.
Alley Kat in Edmonton rounds out the Alberta Advantage, giving beer fans a wide variety of choices.
However, there have been several new breweries pop up in Alberta over the past few years, including Jasper Brewing, Banff Brewing, Hogshead Brewing, Ribstone Creek, and Yellowhead Brewery.
In addition to the above, one brewery that has captured my interest is the year-old Village Brewery in Calgary.
There are some fine people behind the Calgary-based Village Brewery, and I don’t mean that they are dressed up like construction workers or Indian chiefs.
For those not in the know, the Village Brewery is one of the newest additions to the craft beer scene in Calgary, and its founders read like a who’s who of the Canadian beer industry.
While things like marketing and operations are certainly important in the beer business, the real rock stars of this industry are the Brewmasters, and the Village Brewery is fortunate indeed to have the pedigreed Larry Kerwin as their Brewmaster.
Attentive readers may recall that Larry Kerwin has been mentioned in this column before, from his humble beginnings at the now-defunct Calgary Brewery over 40 years ago, which was acquired by Carling O’Keefe, and then later acquired by Molson.
Already a respected Brewmaster at Molson, Kerwin jumped ship in 1994 to an upstart young brewery called Big Rock, where his skilful ministrations helped Big Rock’s popularity skyrocket in the Alberta market and beyond.
TV fans may also remember Kerwin from the local TV show Beer Basics, which ran from 2002-2005, where he served as the on-air beer expert, sampling and critiquing many different beer styles in front of a beer-loving television audience. Your humble narrator received many of his early teachings from this very show!
After a brief retirement from Big Rock, he took over as Brewmaster at Okanagan Springs, then had barely retired again when the lure of starting up the Village Brewery became irresistible.
Joining forces with a handful of other beer industry veterans, the Village Brewery started operations last year, and has been steadily increasing in popularity.
There are currently four beers available year-round, with the occasional one-off seasonal brew.
The Village Blonde is the most approachable beer of the lot, made in the style of a Golden Ale. Particularly easy-drinking, with a crisp aftertaste and slight hop bite, this is the quintessential patio beer for summer.
Being an unrepentant beer snob, your humble narrator prefers the more flavourful Village Blacksmith India Black Ale, made with dark roasted Alberta barley and plenty of bittering hops, this is a craft beer made for craft beer fans.
