An empty lot is all that remains of the beloved Ol’ Beautiful taproom, but the local brewery with Calgary in its corner has a comeback in the works.
Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Company’s taproom was destroyed in a fire in the early morning of June 30, 2024. Since then, Calgary and the local brewing community have exceeded the expectations of the local brewery, helping them on a path to rebuild.
“It was like an immediate reaction. We haven’t had to go and ask for help from anyone,” said Heather Keegan, community manager for Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Company.
The fire put 15 employees out of work in an instant, but through donations from the local community and competitor taprooms, $25,946 was raised in a GoFundMe to support the employees as they transitioned to another source of income.
“It feels almost like other businesses are just lining up to see what they can do, what kind of opportunities they can offer our staff. So they’ve just been totally well cared for and taken care of by folks in the industry, and by the community at large,” said Keegan.
Other local businesses like Eighty-Eight Brewing Company have been serving beer from Ol’ Beautiful following the fire, sidelining their own beer and donating the proceeds to their neighbours.
“It’s heartbreaking. They’re a 10-minute walk away from us, and to wake up to that news is just heart-wrenching. So, it was a pretty easy decision. I mean, we know that they would do the same thing for us,” said Kevin Mitchell, marketing manager for Eighty-Eight Brewing Company.
Eighty-Eight has been serving Abrazo, Ol’ Beautiful’s Mexican lager, instead of its own lager in their taproom. As of July 30, 2024, they had raised $1,700 through sales, which was all donated back to Ol’ Beautiful.
“Rising tides lift all boats. Yes, we are in direct competition with each other, but we’re also trying more to create a community and expand the market for quality craft beer,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said that in Eighty-Eight’s taproom many customers default to a lager putting a good chunk of their sales towards donating to Ol’ Beautiful.
“It does have an impact on the bottom line, but I don’t think it’s like such a huge impact that it’s something that we’re concerned about. It makes more sense to be able to help out our friends than to worry about selling our own lager,” said Mitchell.
Current state and the plan forward
Ol’ Beautiful had started to produce their beer offsite in a second location launched in November of 2023. This has allowed them to maintain 80 per cent of their previous production capability.
“The orders that are coming in are unlike anything that we’ve ever experienced before, just people reaching out with open arms wanting to order tons and tons of beer,” said Keegan.
Ol’ Beautiful’s retail partners have reported that every weekend since the fire, their beer has been selling out because of Calgarians going out of their way to support.
“People are going out and intentionally seeking out our beer to give us some love during this time,” said Keegan.
The same support was seen at last weekend’s Taste of Calgary event where Ol’ Beautiful went through triple the amount of beer they thought they would with a total of 200 flats being sold.
“We reached out the minute after the fire happened and invited them here to participate and they took us up on it,” said Jennifer Rempel event producer for Taste of Calgary.
Manager Natalie Boyartchuk, who has been with Ol’ Beautiful for three years, worked with her fellow employees at their Taste of Calgary tent.
“Through all of this we really realized the spot in the community that our space held, and how important it was for not only my team and my staff, but definitely for the community and for just people from all around Calgary,” said Boyartchuk.
The team at Ol’ Beautiful is still waiting on details of what the fire investigation found and what kind of insurance coverage they can receive.
“The rough future plan is we hope to rebuild on the same site as soon as we can. Once the dust settles, we’ll know a little bit more,” said Chris Carroll, co-owner of Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Company.
Cold Garden Beverage Company announced that they will be hosting Ol’ Beautiful’s annual Pride drag shows in their stead on August 30 and 31. Tickets can be found here.
The gofundme for Ol’ Beautiful’s employees reached its goal and was closed as of Aug. 4, 2024. Two of their former employees were taken on by Eighty-Eight Brewing with others now using the money raised to transition to new work.
