Alberta is BREWING (haha puns) over with craft breweries across the province. You may have heard of some of the bigger ones such as Yellowhead Brewery, Alley Cat or Grisly Paw, but there are hundreds of microbreweries making tasty delicious beer. There are now “…more than 125 existing and pending licenses” for independent craft brewers in Alberta.
“Alberta farmers grow some of the world’s most sought after barley and agricultural products. It only makes sense to grow the brewing industry right here and support good jobs from grain to glass,” said Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci
It would take a LONG time to track all these breweries down and taste the hoppy goodness, and thus enter in brewery tours. Brewery tours will take you to about 3-4 breweries and you’ll get the chance to talk to the brewmaster and sample some of the best of Alberta.
Bike Tours
Urban Pedal Tours originally from Edmonton, and now has tours in Calgary, have a specific Craft Brewery tour in Old Strathcona. It will take you on a two-hour tour of three breweries. Read about our experience with Urban Pedal Tours here (side note, it was awesome).
Canadian Craft Tours are opening this summer in Calgary and have a 2-hour tour of 3 Calgary breweries! Watch this space for more information on this tour.
Edmonton
Alberta Craft Tours offers not only craft beer tours but also distillery tours around the capital region. The craft beer tour is $150 and includes, guided tour of 5 breweries, beer samples, and lunch.
Canadian Craft Tours visit at least three breweries and a “behind the scenes” tour at least one of the partner breweries and a flight (4 x 4oz) of beer from each brewery. Price of this tour is $89.
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Calgary
Canadian Craft Tours is identical to the Edmonton tour but in Calgary. You will visit at least three breweries and a “behind the scenes” tour at least one of the partner breweries and a flight (4 x 4oz) of beer from each brewery. Price of this tour is $89.
Canmore
Canmore Brewery and Distillery tour offer tours of breweries, distilleries or a bit of both. The “Mountain City Brew Bus” operates on Thursdays and Sundays and takes you on a tour of the Bow Valley and three breweries. Tours cost between $100 and $110 depending on the tour.
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Olds
This is a different kind of tour, the kind that is in a building and there’s no taking a look behind the scenes of breweries, but also…beer. The Olds Beer Festival, June 22 of this year, is a “rural craft beer festival” that at the time of writing has 21 local craft brewers. Tickets are available online for $10 and $15 at the door
Medicine Hat
Medicine Hat has not one, but three breweries in town. The tourism board seems to offer a tour, but they need two weeks notice, so you might be better off doing a self-guided tour if you would like one for the weekend.
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Resources
Love craft beer and want to craft your own craft brewery tour? Well, there are lots of options but it can be overwhelming. Firstly check out the Google…not to oversimplify your quest but if you type in “Brewery and ….(insert your home town or destination) chances are there is a brewery and a tour.
Other places to check out are the Alberta Beer Guide (be prepared for the weird font that can be hard to read), but the best resource, if you’re planning your own trip, would be the Alberta Breweries. Here you can enter in your location, what you’re looking for and it will magically pull together a list of local breweries for you. MAGIC.