My 3 favourite beers from my recent Calgary brewery tour
Recently, dad and I took a 2-day trip to Calgary to check things out. I think it was actually our first road trip together, just him and I. It wasn’t so much father and son bonding over a beer as it was over several breweries. Six, actually: Banded Peak Brewing, Cold Garden Beverage Co., the Dandy Brewing Co., Last Best Brewing and Distilling, Tool Shed Brewing and Trolley 5 Restaurant and Brewery.
One more day and we would have hit every place in town. But that’s the incredible thing: at a reasonable, enjoyable, relatively sober pace, it would have taken 3 days. Even then, with other breweries likely to start up before the end of the year, my work in the city would not have been done. With nearly half-a-dozen breweries claiming to be near opening, a return trip will be necessary.
In the meantime, however, I can be satisfied with proof I have that beer brings people - family included - together in unexpected ways. Oh, and proof that Calgary’s craft beer scene is leaving that of every other city from here to Winnipeg in the Prairie dust. As tough as it is, of the nearly 2 dozen beers I tried on the trip, I’m picking these 3 as my favourites.
One Summer in Saskatoon
Cold Garden Beverage Co.
6.2%
During lunch at a place near the brewery in Inglewood, Cold Garden marketing director and co-owner Kris Fiorentino (that’s her, in the blurry picture above) walked me through tasting 2 beers on tap, This Must Be the IPA (love that song, don’t you?) and Red Smashed in Buffalo Jump.
"I loved this beer right up until they did the dry hopping," Fiorentino laughed and said of the IPA, brewed with Cascade and Amarillo and accented afterwards with Mosaic. The malt-forward, sweeter-than-average red, she said, is the new company’s top seller.
Impressed by those dainty sips in tiny glasses, I decided later that afternoon to locate more of the brewery’s beer in greater quantities. At Craft Beer Market I noticed Cold Garden’s distinctive pool noodle tap handle. I asked the bartender what it was and she shrugged and said, “It’s only called ‘Summer.’”
When she put a pint in front of me it was clear from the aroma that it was a saison: One Summer in Saskatoon. It had a phenomenally complex and compelling scent of yeast, nutmeg, elderberry, gingerbread, even fallen leaves. Beautiful colour as well, a hazy red copper. Though I tend to dislike beer that's too cold, this seasonal was deliciously chilly, perfect for the warm fall day.
The flavour came through clearly despite the low temperature, owing much to the saskatoons but by no means everything. One Summer features a sturdy malt foundation of whole grain toast and caramel as well as heady spices and a lively snap of pepper. The saskatoon comes along soon after, a rustic juiciness accompanied by the essence of raspberry and vanilla. The finish is a logical conclusion: an earthy bitterness with zest of orange rind.
I'd say Calgarians are pretty lucky to be able to simply walk up to the bar and order a Cold Garden pint. I travelled 300 kilometres for the pleasure and I'd happily do it again. But it'd be really great if brewery Cold Garden came to a growler bar near me.
Marzen
The Dandy Brewing Co.
6.3% ABV
The 24-seat tasting room at the Dandy is what made me most envious of Calgary's craft beer scene. At 4 o'clock on a Thursday it was packed, even though the nano-brewery is located in an industrial park. A turntable on the bar competed with the chatter, a couple turned up with a toddler in a stroller, and the taps poured mostly one-off brews.
To my mind, it was everything a community brewery should be. (I love living across the street from a Brewsters but this was something entirely different.)
I could almost have picked anything as a favourite (well, Smoke Boss, a rauchbier, might be pushing it), being so impressed by the atmosphere of the place. Still, the unnamed marzen, appropriately made for Calgary's Oktoberfest, stood out. It's the one in the top left corner.
The orange-amber beer was brewed in March and had been aging since. It offered roast malt on the nose, and dark stone fruit, savoury spice and a lot of caramel on the palate. “I honestly think it is one of the best beers we have ever done,” said Matt Gaetz, co-founder and marketing and sales director.
Only one beer I tried – Dandy in the Underworld Oyster Stout (I get the name now - watch this) – is a regular. But versatility and variety are virtually written into the company’s business plan. Judging by the crowd in the tasting room, it’s working.
“People know that if they go to the Dandy tap room, in 2 weeks they’ll see something different on the menu,” says Gaetz. If the marzen remains, don’t miss it.
Southern Aspect
Banded Peak Brewing Co.
7% ABV
There was a similar feeling at Banded Peak, situated in another industrial park. The moment co-owner Matt Berard rolled up the brewery’s garage door the afternoon of my visit, single dudes strolled up to the bar and sat down like characters in a Cheers episode.
“You got a new one?” one of them asked. What was on tap didn’t matter, as long as it was Banded Peak.
A standout, however, was Southern Aspect, a bold 7% seasonal IPA. I enjoyed it so much I asked Berard for takeout, which was accomplished through a “canimal” prepared on-demand at the bar (see the video below).
This is a bear hug of a beer – big, warming, overwhelming in a good way – and the result of an approach Banded Peak has taken since before it began selling beer in May. Berard and his 2 business partners/best friends have homebrewed for years. They just make the kind of beer they want to drink, like this badass IPA.
Southern Aspect’s scent is a citrus blast, a brisk mix of grapefruit, pineapple and guava. At least when cold, the malt stands back until that first sip, where it ranges between oatmeal with brown sugar and graham cracker drizzled with caramel.
Just before the beer seems too get too heavy the hops save the party. They start off subtle with a split second of mint, then bring back the citrus from the scent: grapefruit with a spritz of navel orange and a dash of pepper. Other than exerting a mellowing effect, the alcohol seemed masked throughout.
Everyone complimented the bartender, Berard, a law school student who’s too happy in the industry to contemplate being a lawyer right away. (With evolving brewing legislation, he points out, there’s plenty of opportunity to put his studies to work anyway.)
That interaction between him and customers over Banded Peak creations is what keeps him going roughly 90 hours a week these days, brewing, cleaning, fixing, marketing and, of course, serving pints and prepping canimals.
“Having someone go, ‘that’s a really good beer,’ is the coolest thing ever,” says Berard. “I’m having an absolute blast.”
