FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Canada's microbreweries
Good things do come in small packages
By Geoff LastJust about everywhere you look these days there seems to be a new microbrewery popping up. And why not? Unlike wine, for example, good beer can be made virtually anywhere. And, unlike most homemade wine, the home brewer can get some decent results. The consumer's demand for variety and quality has not gone unnoticed, and the big players can no longer ignore the efforts of the small, quality-oriented brewers.
We have to look no further than our own Big Rock Brewery. While Big Rock has outgrown its microbrewery status, it serves as a shining example of what can be achieved if you offer a good product and stick to a commitment to quality. I have tasted most of the Canadian microbrewery beers currently available in Alberta and with the possible exception of Quebec's Unibroue beers, few can match the best Big Rock has to offer.
Michael Jackson, the undisputed world authority on beer (not to be confused with that other same named freak of nature), has singled out Big Rick's McNally's Extra as one of the finest Irish style ales available anywhere. Big Rock was fortunate to have the resources to acquire a top-notch German brew master with 14 years of experience, Beirnd Pieper, to start things off right. That's not to say the newer microbreweries are going about it wrong, only that there is no substitute for that kind of experience.
There are a number of very good microbrewed beers now available in Alberta, and some of the ones that have impressed me of late are the Bear Brewing Company based in Kamloops, Shaftebury Brewing Company out of Delta, BC, and Brew Brothers Brewing Company here in Calgary. From Bear Brewing my favorite is the Black Bear Ale, a dark beer that has some blackberry and currants added to the formula. The fruit flavoring is very subtle and contrary to a recent method of flavoring beer. In Belgium these are known as lambics, and I would take a lambic over a Lethbridge Pilsner, for example, in a New York minute. (I would also drink my own bath water before I would a Pil, so there you go.) From Shaftebury Brewing, I like their Honey Pale Ale, with its hint of sweetness and creamy malt flavors. Brew Brothers recently sent a sample of their Prairie Steam Ale my way, in a very attractive 1,000-millilitre resealable bottle, and I was impressed with its mellow maltiness and slightly sweet, yeasty finish.
Many of Quebec's microbreweries are opting to produce intensely flavored Belgian-style ales, and the cream of this crop comes from the Unibroue brewery in Chambly. Under the direction of Belgian brewer Gino Van Tieghem, Unibroue has wowed beer writers everywhere with their knock-out combination of great taste and packaging. These beers jump out at you on the shelf, with names like La Fin du Monde (the end of the world), Maudite (the damned) and Eau Benite (holy water). La Fin du Monde undergoes a triple fermentation, one of which occurs in the bottle, and is fermented on the yeast solids (lees), which accounts for the sediment in the bottle. At nine-per-cent alcohol, this beer packs a punch along with its intense flavors. The bottles come sealed with a wire-wrapped cork, just to let you know there is something special inside despite the dark humor employed on the label. Unibroue also produces a fruit-flavored lambic, but as far as I know it is not yet available in Alberta.
Fans of Belgian lambics may want to head over to the Mission Bridge Brewing Company, as chef Desmond Johnston tells me they are brewing up a Belgian-style whit beer, flavored with orange and coriander. Most lambics are also low in alcohol, making them ideal for those (unfortunate) situations where the effects of alcohol are not desired.
So, as the Big Rock motto goes, three cheers for real beer and a happy new year to all Fast Forward readers!
Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents