Sometimes beer experiences start in the most unexpected of ways.

Take a couple weekends ago for example. Somehow my family talked me into going to the Shady Acres Bluegrass Music Festival outside Nanton. You see, I hate bluegrass, being more of a punk, new wave kind of guy. But I love my family and they told a good story. I would spend the weekend in the camping area, hanging out with the dogs, reading, listening to podcasts and cooking meals for us all. I, somehow, agreed.

That is what I expected and, mostly, that is what happened. And I was okay with it. Except I checked my Alberta Beer Guide and realized there was a new brewery in High River, about 20 minutes away from the campsite.

I quickly did the math and realized I could drive over in the afternoon for a sample and still make it back to make dinner. I took the dogs on spec – expecting to find a shady place to leave them in the car.

I get to High River Brewing – which I will say is at the moment not well marked – and the first revelation is that dogs are welcome in the tap room. Already in my good books! I haul the dogs in and order a taster flight. (At first the dogs were not so sure the tap room was better than the car, but the water and cookie offered by the staffer won them over.)

On the day I was there they had their four core beer and one rotational on tap, plus some carbonated tea called Tisane (which I must admit I ignored). The core are a brown ale, a pale ale, a stout and an IPA. The one-off was an English Bitter.

My quick review is that beer were incredibly clean and flavourful. The brewer knows what they are doing technically. But the beer also spoke of small town Alberta. None of the beer were really to style and all were designed for an audience new to craft beer.

I don’t say that as a criticism. I really don’t. I get that if you are in High River farmhouse ales, sours and Brett IPAs are not a thing. You need to create beer that is more accessible. It is a fact of life.

So, first, I acknowledge just how clean and well brewed the beer are. They have a brewer who knows what he is doing.

Second, there were some interesting flavours. I quite liked the malt bill in the English Bitter and the Brown Ale, while not to style, had an attractive nuttiness.

I was a bit disconcerted that I could see through the stout, but it ended up being a decent porter – see my point above about rural breweries.

It was an unexpected trip for me, and I realize that meant I didn’t get a chance to talk to the owner/brewer about their story, which is an important part of what I do. And so I am aware that I am speaking of the beer without learning what the brewer was aiming for, leaving me on unsteady ground.

But I got to try the beer. And that is good enough for now.

If for no other reason than it gave me some time away from bluegrass and those damned banjos.