brewbrothersThe big prairie news this week is the announced closure tomorrow (February 28) of Brew Brothers Brewery. The longtime Calgary operation opened its doors in 1994, making it the oldest of Alberta’s craft brewers. It had fallen on difficult times following the closure of its tap room a few years back, but they were still trying to sell beer at a few accounts in Calgary and elsewhere.

My biggest memory of Brew Brothers was years ago, when they were still selling large bottles in Edmonton. I espied their Black Pilsner and remember pondering “what the hell is that?”. It never really had the bittering level of a true pilsner, but I appreciated for its willingness to try something unusual (for the time).

lastbestThe good news is that next week Last Best Brewing and Distilling takes possession of the space. Last Best is the latest location of what is now called Bear Hill Brewing Company. Bear Hill is the new corporate umbrella for the Jasper, Banff Avenue and Wood Buffalo Brewpubs. Last Best Brewing will be the fourth brewpub location, meaning we legitimately have a second brewpub chain on the prairies. I wonder if an Edmonton location can’t be far behind?

As the name implies Last Best will also be dabbling in distilling. I have not yet had a chance to connect up with the Bear Hill people to get more details, but will share once I do.

In other news, which until yesterday would have been given bigger  billing:

  • wildrose logo goodWild Rose officially revved up its new, larger brewery in southeast Calgary yesterday (Feb 26). The brewery will quadruple Wild Rose’s capacity. The existing taproom location will be closed in the coming months. No word on the future of the older brewery.
  • In clearly related news, Wild Rose has launched an overhaul of its branding, including shifting away from industry standard twist-off bottles to designer embossed, pop-off bottles, and the addition of three new beer. Natural Born Keller has been promoted from seasonal to year-round. Also joining the regular line-up Electric Avenue is the brewery’s first crack at a pale lager. Clocking in at about 27 IBUs it has just enough hops to give it a crisp, drier finish. The third beer is a one-time partnership with Calgary radio station X92.9. Tuff Beer is an unassuming light alcohol (4.5%) blonde ale. All proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund.
  • And more news from Calgary (which is clearly the place to be this week), Village Brewing was just named Start-Up of the Year at the inaugural AIR MILES Small Business Achievement Award. Jim Button received the award on behalf of the ownership team. The award includes a mentorship from Steve Matyas, President of Staples Canada, 10,000 AIR MILES reward miles and a profile in the April issue of Canadian Business magazine.
  • NWTbrewing_logoAnd in some news that I haven’t decided whether it fits on a page devoted to the prairies is the announcement of the planned opening of NWT Brewing Company in Yellowknife. Owners Fletcher and Miranda Stevens hope to have it up and running by the summer. When I started this page I adopted Yukon Brewing as honourary prairie brewers, since they are kind of orphans north of 60. So I feel I should do the same for NWT breweries. I will keep a watch on them and make a final decision once they are open.

March is about to be upon us, and usually that month marks the shifting from winter to spring seasonals, so expect more prairie beer news shortly.