Cochrane’s only craft brewery scooped up gold at the Alberta Small Brewers’ Association’s (ASBA) inaugural awards event for a beer that has a very personal connection.
The award-winning ale Half-Hitch Brewing Company submitted to the 2018 Alberta Beer Awards was entered into an all-Canadian category the Cochrane brewers helped create and pays homage to their father.
The idea to craft a Canadian-style beer popped up months before the competition among several Alberta-based breweries that identified a gap in the beer market – there were no beers that stood out as having a distinctly Canadian flavour.
“For a country that defines itself so much by its beers, there’s no style that really defines a Canadian ale,” said Chris Heier, president of Half-Hitch.
The brewery gathered with nearby brewers including Cold Garden, Tool Shed, Village, Grizzly Paw and Last Best Brewing Company – all to make their case for what would be Canadian ale, which then became a category – Canadian Cereal Ale – at the first ASBA beer awards held March 12 to 14 in Calgary.
The pre-requisites for the category had to involve use of Canada’s staple cereal grains – barley, wheat, rye and oats. The beer also had to fall somewhere between five and six per cent alcohol content.
There was also the option to including triticale – a hybrid of wheat and rye with a deeper flavour of the former and a grassiness hint of the latter.
“We came forward and came up with our own rendition of the recipe, which became the Papa Bear Prairie Ale. We entered that in the competition and ended up taking gold,” Heier said.
Beyond finishing with gold and helping craft a nation-identifying beer style, Heier, who runs the company with the help of his siblings and family members, said the beer holds special significance.
“It’s kind of a double-sided story to this,” Heier said, explaining all of the company’s beers are named as part of a fictional storyline about a farmer’s daughter firing a shotgun at a wedding.
“We described the Papa Bear to be the grandfather figure in the family that everybody likes. He’s always involved in the community and gets involved in the things his kids are involved with, spends his money donating to charity and things like that.”
On the reality side of things, the Papa Bear Beer is an analog for the siblings’ father.
“It’s a bit of an homage to how much our dad means not only to the staff here but to us as a family as well.”
Heier said some of the service staff called his dad Papa Bear long before the beer came about.
“He comes in and always gets to know our service staff, you know. Like, ‘How’s school?’ to some of those going to university. He’s always here, he always wants to get to know the people working for us as well.”
It’s a big victory for the brewery, which opened its doors in January 2017 and has won multiple other awards since.
More than 300 beers were submitted in 40 different categories. The beers were categorized into flights and were judged on aroma, flavour and overall impression. The top three from each flight were presented to judges where they were ranked in first, second and third place.
Mark Nesdoly, a judge for the Canadian cereal ale category at the beer awards and who has had a bad experience in these flavours, described what makes a great beer.
“The thing that you have to understand about beer judging is that it’s about the balance. It’s about finding something that isn’t “one dimensional.” It’s about depth of flavour, nuance, and flavour ‘waves’ that come and go.” Some beers are like the proverbial 600-pound gorilla in the room, and depending on the style sometimes that’s appropriate. Others are like a ballerina – light, delicate and graceful.”
Nesdoly said at first, almost all the judges were fawning over a beer with a big rye, the Prairie Ale seemed more skillfully put together.
“Just close your eyes and think – you get rye, but also a bready, sweet wheatiness, and a smooth silky aspect which might be from oats. There was also a beautiful hop presence that was harmonious with the grain,” Nesdoly said. “Not too long after, the rest of the judges reconsidered and agreed that the delicate example was in fact the best beer at the table. And now here I sit a month later making a mental note to search for Half Hitch’s Papa Bear next time I’m out to buy beer.”
Terry Rock, the executive director of ASBA, said the benefit in creating and participating in a beer competition for brewers is to receive critical praise from professionals in the industry.
“We implemented a competition specifically to start a conversation about product quality and excellence,” Rock said. “It’s often difficult for brewers to get good feedback on their products ... We have trained beer judges, we have professional brewers and people who purchase beer from restaurants as part of the judging panel.”
To see the rest of the winning beers, visit www.albertabeerawards.ca.
