Edmonton's craft beer producers tap into delivery market during pandemic
Min Dhariwal | CBC News | Posted: June 2, 2020 12:00 PM | Last Updated: June 2, 2020
'We can either take it lying down or start paddling and hustling and getting our beer out there'
The closure of bars and restaurants during the pandemic gave Edmonton craft beer producers little choice but to go looking for customers online.
But the online market has allowed business remain steady over the last two-and-a-half months, as the demand for beer delivery started flowing.
At Blind Enthusiasm Brewing, in Edmonton's Ritchie neighbourhood, demand has been steady.
Although the taproom at Biera — the restaurant that shares space with Blind Enthusiasm in the Ritchie Market — is still closed, owner Greg Zeschuk and his team can often be found working on a busy assembly line.
"The beer delivery business for all of us was a 'Hey, down the road we'll get to this.' It was like the No. 14 on the to-do list. When this happened, it became No. 1," said Zeschuk.
Hundreds of bottles of the brewery's products are boxed and shipped every week. Demand ramped up as word got out about beer delivery, he said.
"[Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis], the city and the province have been really great about letting us do business, that's one of the great things about this as well, they haven't hampered our ability to kind of survive," said Zeschuk, who also serves on the board of the Alberta Small Brewers Association.
Just a couple of kilometres south is Sea Change Brewing Company, which has been selling beer for about 2½ years.
Before the pandemic hit, the company, with its beer offerings such as The Wolf and Prairie Fairy, had established a loyal following.
It had opened up a second location in Beaumont and its brews could be sampled in about 80 Edmonton bars and restaurants. But once businesses were shuttered, sales dried up.
"When everything shut down, it was a little scary. We were, for all intents and purposes, wiped off the map," said Ian McIntosh, one of the founding partners at Sea Change.
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'We couldn't keep up'
When the pandemic began, Sea Change needed to come up with a plan B.
"About an hour after our first Instagram post, the phone was ringing off the hook, so much so that we couldn't keep up," said McIntosh.
"About an hour after our first Instagram post, the phone was ringing off the hook, so much so that we couldn't keep up," said McIntosh.
McIntosh says the company even hired back employees it let go on the same day, thanks to online demand taking off.
For newer breweries, the opportunity to sell and deliver beer online meant keeping the lights on.
The Growlery Beer Co., located along Airport Road in the Kingsway area, is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month.
"When things really hit, it was like, OK we can either take it lying down or start paddling and hustling and getting our beer out there," said Growlery co-owner Kevin Danard.
Danard said online orders haven't replaced taproom sales, but "it's close."
'Opened a lot of people's eyes'
Danard said one important change was the brewery is now able to can its beer, which helped them get it onto liquor store shelves and delivered to people's homes.
"You know, I'm hoping that once things do hopefully normalize that there's still that support when we kind of get through this.
"I think it's opened up a lot of people's eyes that, you know, a lot of products that we make here in Edmonton are really great products, and we should be proud of that and help each other out."