Beer keg thieves showed no preference for Yukon vs. N.W.T. brews
Kegs were at Yellowknife's visitors centre for World Shore Lunch Championship's Battle of the Breweries
RCMP are investigating after thieves made off with kegs of northern beer from a truck parked at Yellowknife's visitors centre.
Eight kegs in total went missing Sunday night: four N.W.T. Brewing Company kegs and four Yukon Brewing kegs, said Elijah Forget, director of communications at the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre.
Thieves gained access to a locked truck that was parked at the visitor centre following the World Shore Lunch Championship event over the weekend.
The kegs were on hand for the shore lunch event's Battle of the Breweries, which the N.W.T. Brewing Company won.
But Forget said the thieves showed no marked preference for either Yukon or N.W.T. beer.
"It almost seems like they gave them both an equal chance," he said.
"It doesn't seem like they preferred one beer or another. I guess they just helped themselves to whatever they could carry."
Given the weight of the kegs, Forget said they initially thought that the thieves had loaded them on a truck.
But two of the kegs along with a dolly that had gone missing were later found near Somba K'e civic plaza and two more were recovered along the trail north of the legislative assembly building.
"It seems like the two that were found by the legislative assembly had been consumed, they managed to force those ones open and get all the beer out," he said.
"The two that were found by Somba K'e civic plaza, one was completely full and the other one was partially empty but we're suspecting that was due to having been already opened at the shore lunch event. It seems like those two were stolen by people who weren't able to get them open."
Forget said the missing Yukon Brewing kegs should stand out as they're the only Yukon Brewing kegs in Yellowknife, having been flown in from Whitehorse especially for the event.
He said the theft may wipe out profits from the event that were meant to help fix the visitors centre building, which is sinking into the muskeg.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact the Yellowknife detachment or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.