It has become clear over the past 48 hours that Lethbridge’s Coulee Brewing has ceased production at its brewery. Details remain sketchy, but it is clear Coulee is ending its production brands.

I have been unable to communicate with anyone directly involved with Coulee, but four independent sources have confirmed the closure. The sources vary in terms of the details, but all agree that Coulee as a production brewery will cease to be.

There are some conflicting elements to the story, but I think we know two things for sure. First, the production end of the company is being shuttered. Second, the brewpub will continue operations for the time being.

Less clear is the future of the contract brewing arm and how the brewpub will procure its beer. Some say they will continue with contract brewing for other breweries, while others suggest that part of the business will close as well. It seems beer for the brewpub will be brewed at another facility, but I can’t fully confirm that.

I will offer a fuller analysis once all the dust settles, but for now allow me some initial thoughts.

First, a step back. Coulee Brewing started life back in 2014 as Wild Craft Brewing. They contract brewed while building their 21,000 sq ft. facility complete with a 200-seat restaurant. Before the building was done, Wild Craft had spun in due to trademark issues (does that name sound familiar to another Alberta brewery to you?) and poor product quality. When the brewery/restaurant was complete in 2016 they re-branded as Coulee Brewing with the goal of being a province-wide production brewery anchored by a full-service restaurant.

The brewhouse, at 30 hectolitres, was not enormous for Alberta standards but it may be the most decked out system I have seen in the province (other than Big Rock). It has all the bells and whistles. The facility was a multi-million dollar build – I have heard estimates ranging between $5 and $14 million. That fact is important.

They quickly pushed out across the province with a core line-up and regular seasonals. Fairly soon they moved into contract brewing to supplement their income and use excess capacity in the brewhouse. From many accounts the pub was busy but not quite meeting expectations.

In 2018, the original owners divested part of the company to a local property management company, the Epiphany Group. I am unclear whether they sold the whole production side of the company or just the property management/day-to-day management rights. The brewpub remained in the original owners’ hands.

And then came this week’s closure. On first consideration, I think three things were at play (I reserve the right to change my mind on this). First, they were victims of their own ambition. They spent millions on the space, bought a state-of-the-art brewhouse and had designs on quick provincial success. The original owners were successful restaurateurs who may have underestimated the challenges of operating a brewery in this neck of the woods. That much upfront debt was likely a 10-tonne (or 30-hl) weight around their necks.

Second, the contract brewing segment has shifted very quickly with the entry of specialized, lower cost competitors like Last Spike Brewing and Field & Forge Brewing. It was hard to compete and they likely saw reduced revenues on that end.

Third, nothing about the brand really stood out. The packaging was professional and the beer was generally of good quality, but there was never a compelling story behind Coulee. Their line-up was workman-like but had no particular stand-outs. The name and backstory were fairly generic. In the increasingly crowded market that is Alberta, I am not sure there was enough there to capture consumers’ attention on an ongoing basis.

Coulee is a perfect example that bad beer will kill you but good beer alone can’t save you. Their first iteration, Wild Craft, was killed by bad beer. The second chapter was done in not by the beer – their beer was generally well-regarded and won medals at the Alberta Beer Awards – but by other factors, including being over-leveraged.

This is a very sad development for the Alberta beer scene. Coulee is the most significant failure since the boom began.

I don’t know what happens with the brewhouse, the brewpub or the staff of the brewery. That will all shake out in the coming weeks. My thoughts go out to the staff who lost their jobs this week.

RIP Coulee. It was a short but interesting run.