1/ To bring our advent #yegholidaybeer calendar to an *almost* close, I’m writing a thread about the history, and future, of Alberta’s craft beer world. Please excuse an excessive use of GIFs.

2/ I’m not a beer expert. Until this year, I knew less about beer than I do about wine, or politics, which is nothing. But this year, I tried to pay closer attention to beer.

3/ So, given my amateur-ness, I’ve asked actual experts, @jasonvanrassel and @scottlmessenger, to share their thoughts on the history, and future, of Alberta craft beer.

4/ I’ll organize our thread by theme and time. So (cracks knuckles, and a beer ;) ), let’s get started.

5/ The beginning: As @jasonvanrassel writes, Alberta’s craft beer movement started in earnest with the abolition of AGLC minimum production quotas, at the end of 2013:

6/ “To obtain a licence under [the] old rules, breweries had to have the capacity to produce 500,000 litres annually. You can imagine the amount of investment it takes to build a brewery with that capacity. It effectively shut newcomers out.”

7/ "For years, the no. of breweries in AB was stuck at about a dozen. Despite those barriers, two homebrewers in #yyc were dreaming of opening their own brewery: Graham Sherman & Jeff Orr, who brewed in Graham’s backyard shed ... ( @ToolShedBeer)."

8/ "Thing is, @ToolShedBeer's initial plan ... involved having their recipes brewed under contract by @DeadFrogBrewery in BC to get around the AGLC quotas while they raised capital for a brewery in #yyc."

9/ @JasonvanRassel writes that some of the first breweries to emerge under the new rules were smaller than many expected — more nanobrewery than even microbrewery.

10/ van Rassel points to #YYC brewery @DandyAlesYYC as an early example — a brewery that had the basics and not much else (a pioneer story if I've ever heard one):

11/ "There was some skepticism in #yyc’s beer community about @DandyAlesYYC beforehand... [N]obody in living memory had done what they wanted to do: start a tiny brewery seemingly on a shoestring. There was no template."

12/ *Record-scratch sound*

Okay, given we're on foundations, let's also talk about something few talk about with beer, ironically, and that's barley.

13/ When I reached out to @scottlmessenger, he was very enthusiastic about Albert'a barley. Why? Well, turns out beer brewers far and wide are similarly enthusiastic.

14/ "We all know it's the main grain, and ingredient, in most beers," Messenger writes. "What a lot of people may not know is that Alberta is the main source of it for many of North America's best beers."

15/ At this point I recall hearing a @beervanapod discussion of Lagunitas, one of the pioneers of craft beer in the U.S. And I also recall reading about Lagunitas using Alberta barley in some of their beers.

16/ Messenger: "Rahr Malting in Alix (pop. 700) ships malt to breweries including Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Russian River, New Belgium, and more."

Alix is close to Red Deer. This will be important later in our story.

17/ But why Alberta barley? Messenger: "One reason is quantity: we produce more barley than any other province and more than all of the US. The more important reason is quality. It's top-notch stuff because of our geography."

18/ "Barley is a short season crop that thrives at Alberta temperatures, which are also low enough to keep disease at bay."

And this is the foundational kicker for our story today. As Messenger says, "Alberta breweries have these fields as their backyard."

19/ Stay tuned for round two of this story, which I'll tweet out tonight.

20/ Okay, in the short bits of time I have tonight, I'm going to add to this thread. Recall we mentioned DandyAles in Calgary. @JasonvanRassel writes, "Not every brewery has followed Dandy’s path, but it's a good metaphor for the arc of #ABbeer ..."

21/ "... modest beginnings & flying by the seat of pants in 2013, then rapid growth and now, sustained success by meeting evolving expectations of market that has grown up with you."

22/ And back to that barley. Ours is the best in the world, they say. But macro beer is what was on the market in small farming towns for a few generations. As @JasonvanRassel writes, that's where the shift is happening.

23/ "Folks in small-town AB were raised on Bud, Molson, Coors, etc. Breweries in rural AB have done a great job winning converts. They’ve done it mainly by brewing quality beer, and by giving their audience a gradual introduction to craft by making more approachable styles."

24/ "But they’ve also accomplished this by getting involved in their communities & pitching themselves as a local choice."

25/ Okay, so what does that mean for, say, the #abbeer market? This is an interesting question for me. A recent podcast I listened to noted how the larger craft brewers in the U.S., meaning the ones that helped start the craft beer movement, are struggling to keep market share.

26/ It seems consumers are interested in either hyper local and very unique or Coors Light, not the regional rise of mid-size craft brewers. Given Canada has such restrictive trade between provinces, ironically, we may be spared from seeing this happen here.

27/ @JasonvanRassel says craft has 10% of market share. "As much as craft breweries are nominally competing with each other, real competition is claiming some of the 90% from mega brewers. BC is considered a mature craft market; even there craft sits at approx 25% market share."

28/ What is happening with this strong rise in craft beer in Alberta is a sort of 'terroir' level of specificity to place. As @scottlmessenger writes, the malt houses know the farmers, and the brewers can thus trace the source of their ingredients to specific fields.

29/ @scottlmessenger: "The craft malt houses that have popped up, like Red Shed, Origin and others, often malt barley from fields more or less outside the door."

30/ "What does this all mean to the beer we drink? As the guys at Blindman told me during my research, fresh malt, which we have literal tonnes of, makes better beer. I think their product, for one, is pretty good proof of that." (I agree).

31/ Okay, but what about Alix? Remember, I mentioned Alix earlier when we discussed barley and I noted it was important that it was near Red Deer. Well, it's interesting to also note the appearance of craft hop farming in Alberta, like https://www.hardhelshopfarm.com  near Red Deer.

32/ The best expression of this, for me, is the @cbcommonwealth. It's the perfect Alberta craft group. Rural based brewers/farmers/producers; multiple collaborations; accessible beer; moderate size. And ingredients quite literally from where they brew.

The end. #yegholidaybeer

33/ Here's @scottlmessenger 's book. Read it. https://www.touchwoodeditions.com/book/tapping-the-west/