Calgary has a vibrant craft beer scene, and while I can get some selected beers at home in Saskatoon, it’s always better to visit the source for a taste of their craft at its freshest. I did my research and lined up my visits to a number of craft breweries so I could taste the “best of the best” that Calgary has to offer. This is obviously a subjective list of breweries and taprooms but I highly recommend each of these.

Stop number one, just as an unexpected snow storm whipped through the city for a few hours, was Annex Ale Project. When I arrived, I noticed they had a number of beers on tap from 2 Crows from my old hometown of Halifax on account of a tap takeover event the previous day. I had previously tried all of the 2 Crows so I stuck to sampling a couple from Annex. My favourite was their “Heavy Meadow” (a saison) and I also quite enjoyed the delicious burger from the attached burger joint. Burgers and beer are always a great pairing!

My next stop was at The Establishment Brewing Company. This ended up being my favourite tasting flight and included a couple of the best beers from the entire trip. In particular the two beers on the right (“Sky Rocket VI”, a 7.3% NEIPA and “Beauty in the Vibrant Form”, a sour) were mind blowing. A local Saskatoon beer group is always recommending this brewery to anyone visiting Calgary and they did not lead me astray.

To wrap up my first day of tastings I next headed to Cabin Brewing. I loved the rustic motif of the taproom and loved the overall quality of the beers in this flight. My two favourites were the ones at the front of the picture below – the “Into the Dark” stout and the “Triples is Best”. That one, a triple NEIPA, is a style I hadn’t had before and one that I think I need some more of in my life. It was a 10% beer and it very dangerously went down a lot smoother than a 10% beer should.

I stopped in at the Dandy Brewing Company the next day for lunch and a tasting flight. Another exceptional set of beers here (nice to know that the time spent on advance research was paying off!) and was really charmed by the Vienna lager at the far right, their “Haste Still Pays Haste”. That’s a style I love when it’s done right. Something else that was done right here was a twist of the side of potato chips I got with my sandwich – they were amazing. When I mentioned them on my way out, I got their secret…. lime powder and minced fresh cilantro and mint tossed with good quality ripple chips. I’m adding that to my football watching snack rotation for the fall.

A short walk away was Eighty-Eight Brewing. Named in a nod to the 1988 Calgary Olympics, this brewery leaned into everything 1980s from the beer names to the music playlist. While I was outside sampling a few delicious beers I was treated to New Kids on the Block, Cyndi Lauper and Rick Astley among other nostalgia inducing artists.

I was in Calgary to attend and present at a conference. The presentation went well and was well received and I was relieved to have it in the rear-view mirror. To decompress a bit from a four days of being around people all the time, I headed to Ol’ Beautiful Brewing. I loved the almost stout-looking dark lager I tried called “Eternal Twilight”. I also loved sipping these beers while my view consisted of the good boy named Ellis. I wish every brewery was dog friendly!

I hopped next door to Cold Garden to continue my decompression. The beers here were a notch below their neighbours with the exception of the vanilla porter beer on the far right below. What I loved about this taproom was their expansive outdoor patio including cottage-like furniture and a view of planes on takeoff from YYC. By the end of this tasting flight and an hour of watching plans takeoff and bank east or west on their journeys I had recharged my batteries.

The last stop of my Calgary tasting tour was on my way to the airport for my flight home. I got to Citizen Brewing just as they opened and had a tasting flight with a couple of great beers – a sessional blonde ale on the left of the picture to the left below, and a pint of “Belma and Louise” a hazy pale ale in the picture on the right below.

Having that last pint on a patio as I headed home was a perfect wrap to this series of tastings that lived up to my expectations of Calgary’s outstanding breweries.