Your globetrotting liquor reporter had to make a business trip to Deadmonton last week, home of our provincial capital, and the recently repatriated Wayne Gretzky.
Needing a little something to spice up a few days in Ed-monotone, I decided to stop in the small city of Lacombe, just a few clicks north of Red Deer.
The idyllic hamlet of Lacombe is home to 12 000 souls, as well as one of Alberta’s newest craft breweries.
Blindman Brewing opened its doors in the fall of 2015, and can be found on tap and in cans wherever beer is available in our fair province.
Named after the Blindman River that lazily meanders through town, Blindman Brewing was spearheaded by Hans Doef, longtime resident and proprietor of family-run Doef’s Greenhouse, so he brings deep experience to the agricultural side of the beer business.
Joined by a handful of partners, including a mechanical engineer for the operations side of the brewery, and a few professional brewers with long experience in the Alberta craft beer industry, Blindman Brewing went from an idea to a working brewery in a remarkably short time, and have been winning adherents and loyal customers ever since.
Located just a few clicks off the QE2 highway, stopping at Blindman Brewing while travelling to or from Edmonton is a welcome respite, although it can be entirely too tempting to stay in the tasting room sampling the wares, instead of just grabbing a freshly poured growler to go.
Your humble narrator had enough time for only the tiniest sip from the brass teats, but was able to get back on the road with a full growler of the River Session Ale, just waiting to be enjoyed once I reached my hotel in Edmonton.
The River Session Ale is their flagship brew, an easy-drinking Pale Ale that weighs in at 4.5% ABV, made with highly aromatic mosaic hops that do not introduce excessive bitterness to the brew.
This makes the River Session Ale an approachable gateway beer for the macrobrew drinkers, while still being interesting enough for the beer snobs of the world.
For the beer cognoscienti, Blindman Brewing also offers the Longshadows IPA, a hefty brew at 7.1% ABV, has plenty of citrus and pine aromas on the nose, balanced by a sturdy malt backbone that makes the beer seem less bitter than it really is.
In addition to these flagship brews, Blindman Brewing is constantly experimenting with one-off recipes, the most popular of which may be added to the regular rotation. There was a Saison being poured when I visited the taproom, a Belgian farmhouse style that has been gaining popularity in North America.
With plenty of earthy spices and notes of buttery oak char from barrel aging, the Saison style can be an acquired taste, but one that your intrepid liquor reporter quite enjoys.
As an added bonus, a one-off Robust Porter recipe had just finished conditioning in the bright beer tanks that very morning, so I was the first customer to sample it. Faithful readers may recall that your humble narrator is a longtime fan of Stouts and Porters, so I was all twitterpated about sampling the dark nectar at its freshest.
With notes of coffee and licorice, followed by a toasty vanilla finish, this porter was just bitter enough to balance the intense malt flavours, making me enjoy every ebony drop, topped by a creamy tan head.
While I didn’t bring any north with me to Edmonton, I stopped at the brewery again a few days later while I was southbound on the QE2, and returned home with a six-pack of 650mL bottles that were quickly consumed over an evening with a handful of beer-loving companions.
We are indeed living in a renaissance of craft beer in our fair province, with 18 of Alberta’s 37 craft breweries opening in the past 12 months, and many more on the way.
With such a cornucopia of craft beer, we are like cavemen discovering fire, or Nikolai Tesla inventing alternating current, or Michelangelo first gazing on the completed statue of David.
Yes, gentle reader, such is the wonder of living in a time where the number of Alberta crafter brewers has doubled in the past year, and is likely to double again in 2017. We are truly living in the golden age of beer, so get out there and try something local!
