Craft Beer Club

July

At the end of last month my partner and I went on a a vacation to Edmonton, hardly a destination, I know, but there was a good reason for it: beer.

Like Calgary (and everywhere other population center larger than a hamlet), the craft beer scene has exploded.  I had to get up there and visit some of these places in person.  In total we spent four days and made stops at ten different breweries, and there was still a few we didn’t make it to.

Tragically, on the morning of our last day we read the news that the Ol’ Beautiful taproom in Calgary had burnt down.

With those events in mind, I’ve opted to feature five beers from Edmonton and Lacombe, and one Ol’ Beautiful beer.  We’re a small store but it’s what we can do to  show support to them in this difficult time.

The beer club releases on the third Saturday every month.  There is no sign up for our beer club, just drop by the store any time were open and pick up a pack!  The price will be between $30 and $35.

Death Wave

Light Lager

Sea Change

Electric Boogaloo

IPA

Bent Stick

Day 2, Stop #1, a quick sleeve and a game of cribbage before heading to the monolith for our tour, which I wrote about in our most recent Wine Club Newsletter.  Bent Stick had a very classic brewery feel, Polaroid’s of dog’s on the wall, a shelf overflowing with board games, mixed furniture inside, and a nicely shaded patio outside.  It would be a great place to laze about for a few hours.

Now as is often the case at taprooms, Crystal and I had a couple beers that are not actually available in cans.  So instead I’m featuring their Electric Boogaloo, a hazy IPA which uses an addition of oats in the malt.  I love when hazy’s do this as it really gives a soft, pillowy body for the intense tropical hops to ride on.  

$5

Eazy Tea

Hard Iced Tea

Shiddy’s Distilling

After out tour at Monolith we were in need of something to eat, and we had this planned from a couple weeks ago.  Flat Boy Burgers, a classic drive-in style burger joint based within Shiddy’s Rumpus Room.  Now look, the whole “Shiddy” name didn’t really do anything for me, it struck me as gimmicky.  But that’s not the real gimmick, it is actually this embrace of a retro 70s look, and boy have they committed to it.  It’s the kind of thing that requires commitment to land without feeling phony, and I think they’ve done that well after seeing it in person.  Anyway, the smash burgers were fantastic, and as Shiddy’s is partnered with Sea Change, I had another Death Wave with it.  For this club I’ve included the hard iced tea from Shiddy’s, as I feel it best represents the vibe they’re going for.  We already plan to go back for another burger.

$4.5

Zesty Zee

German Style Wheat

Blind Enthusiasm

After our insightful tour at The Monolith we decided we weren’t done with Blind Enthusiasm, and so took a walk to their Biera Market location.  Unfortunately the market was closed by the time we arrived, but we still managed a sleeve at the attached restaurant, which to be honest, was a little more fancy than we expected!  

Again this was a situation where the beers we tasted were not available to me for this club, so instead I’m featuring Zesty Zee, which was the can Austin dropped off here at UnWined about 6 weeks ago which kind of got this whole Edmonton Brewery tour started.  This German Wheat Ale is nicely dry with classic wheat ale flavours of banana and citrus, if you’re a fan of Fahr Hefe, you’re likely to love this one too.

$5.50

Foedered Lager

Rye

Blindman

What the heck is a foeder?  Well, first off, its pronounced “foo-der”, and in as simple a description as possible: its a big barrel.  Actually, that’s about as complex as it gets too.  It really is just a big barrel.  So why use a foeder to age something rather than just plain ol’ regular size barrels?  The first consideration is space, a foeder may hold as much as five standard barrels worth of beer, in an overall smaller area, and with less wood use.  Speaking of less wood, you get a more subtle influence of wood on the beer by having less surface area in contact with the liquid.

Anyway, the brewery is amazing, I feel like I could spend three days there and not get tired of it, great beers, a cozy interior with an upstairs loft, a taco kitchen, and a big patio area with tents, cornhole, and a giant hook & ring stand.  It’s an impressively large building and we were pleased to see them consistently busy through the course of the night, it is clear it is the place for rest and relaxation for Lacombe locals.

Melody

West Coast IPA

Ol’ Beaut

Early on in getting to know Ol’ Beautiful I had tasted things like Okami Kasu Japanese Rice Ale, Abrazo Mexican Lager, and Eternal Twilight Dark Lager.  It was these beers that had me believe that Ol’ Beautiful were light beer specialists.  That changed when I made it to their taproom and tasted Melody, it became clear that these guys can do it all, light or strong.  Melody is an IPA handled with restrain - this is apparent right away at 6.5% ABV.  It is a clean amber colour, with expected grapefruit, pine, and bitterness, but it avoids the common IPA pitfalls of chasing extremes.  The pine is welcoming like a relaxing walk in the woods, and the bitterness won’t have you feeling like your tongue is being bruised.  While there are West Coast’s out there that are more bold, this is one that I would be happy to drink at any time, not just when the craving hits.

We’d like to send our condolences to the owners and staff of Ol’ Beautiful.  We are thankful that they have an additional production site so we can keep stocking their beers, they have always been some of our most consistent movers.  I personally look forward to the return of the taproom, and hope it wont be too long before I can get a couple pints and a burrito again.

Cheers to you Ol’ Beautiful, may you rise from the ashes.

$5.5