Alberta is home to a lot of things. Our province is intertwined with the oil sands through good times and bad. The Rocky Mountains are basically our backyard here in Calgary. And we have barley, lots and lots of it.
We have so much barley that it only makes sense that our province is home to a bustling craft beer scene. But have you ever stopped to think about what it takes to turn barley into beer?
In the Great Plains industrial area, just north of Calgary, Last Spike Brewery has been making beer for over eight years. They have contracts brewing for over a dozen clients as well as their in-house brand, Bronc, which is a growing presence in the beer market.
Last Spike’s experience in the industry made them a natural choice to find out more about the brewing process. This year alone, Last Spike Brewery produced over 1,000,000 litres of Bronc Lager.
“We want to continue to be the preeminent, go-to brewer for quality beer at a good price,” said operations manager Evan Kaslander. “What we aim to do is get a really good, consistent, quality beer out to market for people to enjoy.”
Chris Chibi, the operations coordinator at Last Spike, explained that the beer isn’t made overnight. In fact, brewers technically don’t even make beer. The mixture they push out of the brew kettle is something else.
“That liquid, called wort, is the starting place for beer,” said Chibi, noting that it’s not until the wort is fermented with yeast that beer is born.
