999 different bottles of craft beer on the wall

Beer has seen many changes in Alberta over the last few years, what with the province finally making it easier for the small breweries to break out onto the scene.

That has only meant better and better things for the province's beer-drinking public, especially those of us who like to try different beverages from time to time.

"It's the variety," said Peter Bailey in plainly stating the allure of craft beer.

"Beer has four essential ingredients and within those ingredients there's such variety, there's such opportunity to make different tastes from the malt to the yeast, even the water. Then, of course, there are people innovating with going beyond barley by using oats or wheat or other grains."

Of course, Bailey is well known as the director at the St. Albert Public Library but he's also a big beer guy. For years now, he has been the beer columnist for The Tomato, Edmonton's free monthly food and drink periodical, writing as The Beer Guy. I guess that means he's had a quaff or two.

It used to be that breweries used to have a minimum brewing capacity of 5,000 hectolitres and "it was gigantic." That amount equates to more than 1,500,000 individual standard 330 ml bottles of beer.

By comparison, monthly domestic beer sales equate to 1,117,346 hl according to Beer Canada, the national industry trade association. In 2014, Molson Coors alone had a production volume of 8.1 million hl for all of its varieties, including Molson Canadian.

"It seems like such a bizarre thing to make such a difference but it has. [It] really was the watershed moment that changed everything. It was very dramatic. That's where we saw all the startups."

In just those few years, the number of these craft breweries has leaped to the point where experts are predicting that there could be 100 or more by the end of 2020. There are already 20 or so that are on tap to open up this year alone. That means a veritable cornucopia of new flavour experiences for beer drinkers like Bailey, a guy who describes himself as iconoclastic and a little rebellious.

"I was always the guy looking for something unusual."

Tired of the factory-produced beers – "Mol-batts" in his portmanteau-minded vocabulary – he even tried home brewing to satisfy his taste buds.

Being a beer writer means that he needs to do his research. One of his current faves is Bench Creek from Edson. He previously couldn't imagine any delicious potent potable coming from the town with the massive lumber mills. That all changed when he took a chance.

"I have to drink my words because Bench Creek beers are really, really good. Their White Raven IPA is in my fridge right now."

He also recommends Blindman Brewing from Lacombe. They have a New England style pale ale (the "hottest style in brewing right now"), which he says is brewed mysteriously and it pours cloudy with a "juicy" taste from the hops. "It's totally on point. It's with the style. It's really delicious. It's a good summer beer."

Bailey even held a recent beer tasting in the library, a repeat event that fans will have to stay tuned to see for if and when he hosts another one in the future.

In the meantime, craft beer lovers can still hang out around the library area with Critical Mass Brewing, the craft beer-centric resto-pub located in the old Bruin Inn spot at the corner of Perron and St. Anne Streets since early this year.

Co-owner Ron Massé wanted to get in on the game several years ago but the rules were too prohibitive. Once they changed, his eyes got wider once again and he was able to seize his opportunity.

He, like Bailey, wanted something different. The craft beer pub scene in St. Albert is still a little slow to get traction. Critical Mass should help that out.

What started off with him simply wanting a place to get a cold pint during a hot day at the farmers' market has turned into a business wherein he can be at the forefront of a hot/getting-hotter industry. That, plus he loves to boost locally-made products.

"Our commitment to Alberta beer … is purposeful and decisive. They're the only beers that will hit our taps," he said.

Because there is already so much variety on the craft beer market, and even more coming in the next years, he is able to offer a good rotation schedule. That also means that the regular customer can still depend on something dependable and something new on the tap list to test out every month or so.

"I've made sure that I try everything from all over the place. It's a perk, by the way."

He has a healthy selection of bottled brews to accompany his 10 taps where you can find Page Turner IPA and Extrovert Red from Situation Brewing Company in Edmonton, Study Buddy from Theoretically Brewing from Lethbridge, Stump Splitter out of Okotoks-based Six Corners, Polly's Pale Ale out of Hell's Basement from Medicine Hat, White Raven from Bench Creek, Blindman's Longshadows IPA and its Triphammer porter, and Boiling Oar's kolsch, a lighter German-style beer with "an edge to it."

One could enjoy reading the beers' names as much as drinking them, if one were so inclined.

"It's hilarious looking these guys up. It's like 'Oh, that's a good name' or 'What the hell were they thinking?'"

Darren McGeown is the owner and operator behind Arcadia Bar on Edmonton's 124 Street, formerly located right on St. Anne Street. Craft beer is so big to his business plan that he has 'CRAFT BEER' in big handpainted letters right there on his front window.

It's what the people want. Even more clearly is that more and more places are working to offer satisfaction, in keeping with the growth spurt of the industry.

"When I started off two years ago, we only had a couple breweries in Alberta, and I only had a couple of them on tap. Now, you can't even keep track of how many of them are opening up. There's one opening up every couple weeks. It's insane," McGeown said. "I rotate my lines all the time."

"The customers really love coming in to my place. You talk to customers and they're just so excited to hear about where these breweries are opening up. It's a very cool growing industry here in Alberta."

In keeping with the heady spirit of this weekend's Alberta Craft Beer Festival, he's hosting a couple of brewers coming up from the south of the province, bringing with them "some new, unique beers that a lot of bars wouldn't even have."

Visitors to his watering hole could enjoy such gustatory pleasures on tap as the Fahr Hefeweizen ("I have a European taste palate so I really like those types of beers"), to the Situation IPA, to the Blindman Lime Sour "which I'm keeping on all summer long; the people are going crazy for that one."

And if they're looking for something new, Arcadia hosts twice monthly tastings. On Monday, McGeown will crack a cask of Medicine Hat Brew Cappuccino Porter to drain starting at 7 p.m.

The future

As Massé's customer base builds up and the Alberta craft beer scene builds steam, his long range plan is to live up to its name. "We do want to have a brewery at some point," he said.

That means that the city needs to rezone his property to allow for an onsite brewery and he would have to get a Class E license to operate a brewpub. Fingers crossed, but if it works out then CMB would be allowed to sell growler jug refills from the bar.

That's a market whose time has surely come. One can only imagine the thirsty throngs finally having a place to sit down during a hot farmers' market afternoon to enjoy a Naughty Blonde (from Fat Unicorn) or a Naked Woodsman (Bench Creek) or a Village Blacksmith, a Village Maiden or even a Village Wit (from Village Brewery, naturally).

It would certainly please people like Bailey who like to try new things and be pleasantly surprised by what they find.

"I have great hopes that I can walk down from the library and have a pint of locally brewed craft beer. I look forward to that."