[Blaster86]

Well my go-tos are Wild Eye and Bridge for proximity, though Street Car and House of Funk aren't bad. Beere is actually quite good, but have major issues with keeping their product available, a first world problem for them to be sure. Deep Cove is much better for their spirits, their beer is run-of-the-mill crap ever since Gibbons bought them. Green Leaf is god awful, and if not for their location they'd have died years ago.Black Kettle exists still (I think).


If I'm willing to go a bit further out the golden mile is worth it. Bomber, Off the Rail, Strange Fellows, Luppolo, Callister, Slow Hand, Andina, Powell Street, and usually finish off with Parallel 49. Only real weak link in that line-up is Bomber, much the same reason as Deep Cove. Off the Rail, doesn't have anything exceptional, but nothing bad either. Strange Fellows has a spectacular pale ale and some really solid seasonal beers, like their amazing Blackberry sour. Big fan of Slow Hand who are really focusing on under utilized styles, Andina is mostly for the food, their beer is actually better outside of the tap room. Powell Street's ode to citra and Lazy D'haze make the stop their worth it every time. P49's beer is mostly average but they have a huge selection and with the absorption of Boombox they have some amazing beers on their huge selections of taps.

Now, if you aren't really interested in traveling in that area, you could hit up the other huge cluster over on Main. Big Rock, Main Street, Brassneck, 33 Acres, 33 EXP, Faculty, Red Truck and R&B brewing. Big Rock actually has amazing beer, but do a piss poor job of advertising it's from here and not being shipped in. Main Street is real bad. Brassneck is real good. 33 Acres and 33 EXP are both fantastic, probably because they're the same brewery, in two different buildings that are side-by-side. Faculty is probably my favorite brewery in this area, their London Fog ale is delicious. Red Truck is bleh, but good food. R&B is an indication of what happens when you don't adjust fast enough to the new market. Howe Sound has done a good job of resuscitating one of the OG breweries, but it still needs a lot of work four or five years on.




Blindman is actually probably my favorite Alberta brewery. In truth, not much else makes it out here. Troubled Monk tried to make a push, but I haven't seen or heard much from them in some time.