Calmar’s Roughneck Brewing has just announced the release of a new line of beer – Brewmaster’s Choice. Two new beer are available in Alberta under the new branding – a brown ale and an IPA. The brewery says the brown is a mildly hopped, drinkable brown ale with chocolate and coffee notes. The IPA is “the brewmaster’s favourite style” and will have a “good” hop flavouring and bittering.

Of particular note is that both beer will be available in bottles. Until now Roughneck has been a can-only brewery. Its two current beers, Driller’s Ale and Pipeline Lager, are canned, and in terms of market positioning have leaned toward accessibility. The switch to bottles marks a big shift for Roughneck. No word on whether the the Driller and Pipeline will also migrate into glass.

I speculate (and please note I haven’t asked Terry at Roughneck about it) that the Brewmaster’s Choice may be his entry into the more craft-oriented segment of the market. I haven’t had a chance to sample the beer yet, so am unable to reach any firm conclusions, but I am looking forward to giving them a try. I will report back once I have had a sample.