Alberta Brewing Starts Getting Noticed

BY DAVID NUTTALL

If you wanted any proof that Alberta breweries are beginning to make an impact outside of their own province, you need look no further than the Canadian

Brewing Awards and Conference that was held in May in Calgary.

Simply staging the event in Alberta for the first time is a good indicator; in its twenty-year history, this annual industryonly gathering resided mainly in Ontario and Quebec, but in recent years has moved around Canada. The Canadian Brewing

Awards are presented to winners from "Canadian majority-owned breweries and beer brands of all sizes (who) compete in a

Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) sanctioned blind tasting determining the best beers in 58 style categories". They also tally up each brewery's total points to bestow the Brewery of the Year Award.

That two Alberta breweries won the award in 2020 (Common Crown) and 2021 (The Establishment), both of

Calgary, is another sign local producers are starting to be recognized (Squamish

BC's Howe Sound Brewing won this year).

In addition, Alberta took home 31 medals, including nine golds, out of a total of 194 awards. Winning 16% of the medals bodes well considering only 10% of Canada's breweries call Alberta home. Compare this to 2013, just before craft brewing started to take off in this province, when Alberta won two of the 114 medals available. Quantity and quality are rising in tandem.

While judging and awards are one matter, the conference itself helps gauge the zeitgeist of today’s beer market. Two days of seminars and traipsing through the exhibitor hall gives an indication where

Canadian brewing is headed. Whether it’s ingredients, packaging, brewing systems and other equipment, financial planning, or diversifying production, breweries continue to evolve and expand their role and output.

A glance at some of the exhibitors and a review of the speakers’ sessions can give an insight to upcoming trends.

It's no secret that beer variety now rules brewing. The days of breweries with two or three core beers and the odd seasonal are long gone. The fickle public now demands multiple beer styles covering the gamut of what ales and lagers can be. This requires a steady supply of different hops, malts, yeasts, and adjuncts. Numerous companies have emerged in the past decade to provide ingredients not just for breweries but also for other alcohol manufacturers.

Remember, much of what goes into beer comes from farms, many of which are just small family-run businesses. This is especially true in the case of hop farms, as their acreage is much less than grain farms. Hops are both expanding in varieties grown and how they are packaged and delivered to breweries. Farmers are almost required to plant new hop varietals to feed the diversity of beers being brewed.

The first purpose-bred hop varieties appeared just over a century ago, and even as recently as ten years ago, there were about 80 commercial varieties. Now there are closer to 200 different kinds, which provide a litany of different flavour profiles. These hops are also being packaged in different formats beyond just whole leaf and pellets; liquid concentrate and lupulin-enriched pellets (Cryo Hops ®) are now available that help enhance the flavour and aroma of the beer while increasing yield.

To a lesser extent, yeast falls in the same boat, except its development comes from labs. As a sadly ignored component of beer (how often have you ever seen the label name what variety of yeast was used in the beer?), it can be just as important as hops for flavour and aroma. Brewers are looking for more than variety, they require reliable, quality yeast which performs consistently from batch to batch. Also, while the distinct characteristics of yeast are a key component, breweries also order other products such as bacteria (for sours), nutrients, adjuncts, enzymes, and laboratory necessities like sensory kits. The importance of chemistry’s part in brewing cannot be overlooked.

As craft brewing expands its repertoire of beer styles, the demand for a greater variety of malt grows with it. As the largest component (next to water) in beer, the focus going forward seems to be on the locality of malt suppliers. More maltsters are appearing in grain growing areas to provide small batch specialty malts that formerly needed to be imported from continents away. In addition, larger suppliers are now adding more regional warehouses to shorten the distance from farm to brewery.

Almost every part of the brewing chain now has more branches than ever. With over 10,000 breweries opening in the past couple of decades in all areas of North America, it just makes sense for producers to be closer to buyers. Indeed, many suppliers are now built for one-stop shopping; you can get all your ingredients and other brewery essentials from one location, as opposed to using multiple sources.

There is much more going on in brewing world as it grows and progresses. Breweries will continue to churn out an amazing variety of beer, but will also explore other avenues. We will continue to examine more of these pursuits in upcoming articles as we see what direction many of the local brewers are headed as society slowly returns to some semblance of normality.

David has worked in liquor since the late 1980s. He is a freelance writer, beer judge, speaker, and since 2014, has run Brew Ed monthly beer education classes in Calgary. Follow @abfbrewed.