Craft Beer Club

August

Last month’s beer club released on July 20th.  We included a beer from Ol’ Beautiful in that pack as our small way of supporting them having lost their taproom to a fire.

Five days later 25,000 people were evacuated from Jasper.  

People have lost homes and businesses, and our hearts go out to them.

It’s been a summer dominated by fire, and it can feel a little like there’s not much myself as an individual can do about it.  So what to do?  Well, I got online, did some self learning, and am happy to present this; our Wildfire Awareness Pack.

Fire Smart Canada offers a free, one hour, online course providing education on the realities of living in areas susceptible to wildfire, and what we can do to better protect ourselves and our homes.  I took the course myself and with each beer entry in this newsletter I’ll share a bit of information from it, however I would recommend taking the course yourself.

Key Lime Ale

Jasper Brewing Co

Jasper Brewing, along with four other breweries exist under the Bearhill Brewing collective, often marketed under the “Albeerta” name.  This collective will no doubt be a major saving grave for Jasper Brewing, which combined with the firefighting efforts in town which saved their taproom, should mean they can bounce back relatively quickly.  This Key Lime flavoured brew asserts it’s dessert namesake by not being a sour beer!  By going with a cream ale base this beer exhibits a graham-cracker maltiness and a rich mouthfeel that we associate with a fluffy meringue topped pie.

Let’s raise this pint to the efforts of the firefighters throughout our province.

$5

Fire Safety Tip #1

Call 310-FIRE to report a forest fire.

Wild Warden

Banff Ave Brewing

The next in the bearhill offerings of this club, we’ve got another fruited beer, and this one is a sour!  Sweet raspberry and tart rhubarb are the fruit duo dominating the palate of this beer, however a secret third ingredient completes the package, wheat!  By using a large portion of wheat in the malt Banff Ave has given the body of this beer the necessary boost it needs to support all that fruit flavour.

$5.50

Fire Safety Tip #2

By living in the bow valley we live in an area where a wildfire could reach an urbanized area.  These become known as Wildland Urban Interface fires.  WUI fires are especially difficult to fight as the mixed fuel sources have different burning characteristics, creating a complex conditions affecting ignition and spread of the fire.

Tropical Pyramid

Campio Brewery

Okay, no more fruit in the beer, although this one might leave you questioning that!  Mosaic, Vic Secret, and Azacca all exhibit big tropical aromas of tangerine and mango, supercharged with Kveik yeast to take this hazy to the next level.  Wheat, flaked oats, and 7% Alcohol make this beer fuller than full bodied.  No half measures in this glass. This beer takes its name from the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, where four glass pyramids house over 700 species of plants!

$5.5

Fire Safety Tip #3

Up to 90% of homes with non-combustible materials and and 10M of clearance will survive a wildfire.  More than 90% of homes destroyed by wildfires are ignited by embers.

IPA

Last Best Brewery

Our final Bearhill Brewing beer, and I mean, you all know how I feel about Last Best.

I frequently have to remind myself that even though my personal favourite IPA (Tokyo Drift) is from them, their standard IPA is also worth drinking!  This beer is a benchmark of the IPA style.  Copper coloured with a dense head, locking in flavours of citrus, pine, and a touch of floral presence.  The finish is expectedly bitter, but not astringent.  It smells like a walk in the woods, and that’s a good way to enjoy it.

$5

Fire Safety Tip #4  

Consider these area’s surrounding your home:

0-1.5M = Immediate Zone.  Remove all combustible materials in this area

1.5-10M = Intermediate Zone.  Create a landscape that will resist transmitting fire.

10-30M = Extended Zone.  Move combustible materials into this zone.

Chinchaga Cream Ale

Alberta Ale Works

Chinchaga Cream Ale takes it’s name from the 1950 Chinchaga Fire, North America’s largest blaze in recorded history.  Given a lack of settlements in the area the blaze was allowed to burn freely, ultimately covering 1.7 Million hectares.  For comparison, the Jasper Wildfire covered 39,000 hectares.  The Chinchaga fire created the world’s largest smoke layer in the upper atmosphere.  The effects of this “Great Smoke Pall” were seen widely in the northern hemisphere, including Toronto streetlights turning on in mid-day.  As for the beer there are no surprises here, but it does lie on the light side for a cream ale, making this easy drinking style even easier to drink, maybe even downright crushable.

$5

Fire Safety Tip #5

The most vulnerable area of your home to wildfire embers is your roof.  Keep it clear of leaves and other combustible material.  This includes gutters!

Catching Smoke

The Establishment

Well, we’ve talked at length about fires.  What we need now is a palate cleanser. Smoke beer anyone?  This so called Piwo Grodziskie is a beer style made from oak smoked wheat malt.  Catching this smoke gives an oddly refreshing dryness to this high carbonation, light bodied ale.  The low low ABV of 3.2 makes this one enjoyable for a few in a row.  If you’ve never had a smoke beer before, this is the one to start with!

$5

Fire Safety Tip #6

Canmore is a FireSmart town.  You are able to request a free FireSmart assessment of your property with a certified Fire Rescue team member.  

Click here for the submission form.

And that’s the end of the club!   While I’ve preached plenty of fire awareness, I think it’s worth saying that I absolutely love a backyard campfire in this coming fall season, but just like enjoying a beer, its best to enjoy responsibly.  Cheers Everyone.