'A taste of southern Alberta': Breweries champion local beer with Hwy 3 Ale Trail

Eight breweries across southern Alberta have joined forces to promote brewing in the region through the Highway 3 Ale Trail tourism initiative.

Named after the highway that cuts east to west across southern Alberta, the trail was created in partnership with tourism agencies in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and the Crowsnest Pass.

Collaboration between small and mid-sized centres is key, says Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge.

"We are competing with giants like Calgary and Edmonton and really the only way for us to have a stage and a platform is to work together," said Crane.

Medicine Hat's Hell's Basement Brewery, Medicine Hat Brewing Company and Travois Ale Works are on the trail. So are Lethbridge's Spectrum Ale Works and Theoretically Brewing Company.

Fort MacLeod's Stronghold Brewing Company, Lundbreck's Oldman River Brewing and Blairmore's Pass Beer Co., which is closer to the Alberta-British Columbia border are all on the western side of the trail.

The project began two years ago with breweries in Medicine Hat and southwestern Alberta. Last year, Lethbridge came on board.

This summer the group unveiled their second collaborative brew, the Ale Trail American Wheat Ale.

The breweries say working together fosters community, but there are also practical benefits, like combined marketing budgets, and increased product reach.

"A lot of people don't realize what a rich brewing area we've got here in the south," said Kelti Baird owner at Lethbridge's Theoretically Brewing. 

Local ingredients give "a taste of southern Alberta"

Baird says with new products constantly entering the market, there is pressure to search far and wide for the new ingredients.

Theoretically takes a different approach. Everything that goes into the beer is Canadian and the brewery takes advantage of southern Alberta's reputation as a food basket.

Barley and hops are sourced from Alberta, or neighbouring provinces. The water is from the Oldman River. They even flavoured a habanero margarita beer with habanero peppers grown by an indoor planting business next door.

"It's a real taste of Southern Alberta," said Baird.

The people at Pass Beer Company in Blairmore feel the same.

"We've got lots of awesome barley farmers, a couple of hop farms in Alberta … it's pretty cool that everyone can kind of partner up and make something that's all Alberta made," said brewer Max Rude.

Rude says the brewery's scenic location among the peaks of the Crowsnest Pass is a big draw. It also has benefits for the brewing process as Pass Beer uses water from nearby aquifers.  

"Our water is awesome. I barely have to adjust for salts or anything," he said.

Food tourism on the rise

The ale trail is part of a growing food tourism trend in southern Alberta. 

"In tourism we always talk about highlighting the things that differentiate you from other places," said Crane.

"Agriculture and agri-food tourism really does that for us here."

Baird believes breweries are well positioned to take advantage of that.

Since the initiative launched, the breweries have seen a mix of visitors coming in from the United States, neighbouring provinces and Albertans exploring their backyards.

Community focus key for breweries

However, the backbone for these breweries is still their local communities.

"We have the tourists that come through during the summer, but the locals are what get us through in the winter," said Pass Beer Owner Danielle Radvak. 

Radvak says the brewery does what it can to return the favour, sometimes running fundraisers for locals in need.

In Lethbridge, Theoretically Brewing has an open door policy. Its patio and taproom are bookable spaces that host events from open mic nights to conversations around climate change and an urban planning book club. 

"It's a wonderful, supportive space that we've created here," said Baird. 

Baird opened Theoretically in 2015 after Alberta eliminated minimum production capacity requirements for alcohol manufacturing in 2013. 

She says at the time was the only microbrewery south of Calgary. Now, that number keeps growing. 

"I think it's only going to go up [and] get better. I mean there's more [breweries] popping up every day" said Radvak.

Brewer Max Rude says the increased interest in local beer instead of imported beer is a return to tradition.

"I think it just ties us closer back to the roots with beer," said Rude.

"Beer has been around for generations and generations, we've always had it."