Wild City Brewing

Talked to Trolley five manager Luciano Ibarra, tried some food, had a multilevel tour of a very interesting building. Talked about the importance of working with other breweries to create and learn to a higher level.

Stopped by to see these guys just before Christmas! great hosts pictures to follow

What is this you may ask? When a customer has either can or bottle filled they get no oxygen. The vacuum and co2 purge cycles in the filler allow you to store your can or growler of beer for months and open it to fresh beer!

A few months ago, while gathered with investors, it was determined that additives to brewing water will be reduced as close to zero wherever possible. https://www.livestrong.com//299977-what-are-the-dangers-o/

Recipe development continues!

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 08 - Malty National.. Solid beer and advice on brewery specific software and kegs suppliers.

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 07 - Common Crown in Calgary is a brewery named after all the different hats people wear in their professions. Damon spent almost two hours with us explaining the mehods of planning for proper expansion and how it has already given him an advantage in the Calgary market. Also the importance of ceiling height. Just an incredible tour!

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 06 - Banded Peak, Calgary AB. This is exactly what happens if your space hasn't planned for expansion. Lucky for Banded Peak, they have the unit next door coming available. They have good beer and nice methods for stamping labels, a crowler filing station and cool staff!

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 05 - Wild Rose Brewing, Calgary. 70's, 80's punky tunes spun on vinyl by this guy! Also the most relaxed shed with fun marketing.

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 04 - Blind Enthusiasm, Edmonton. One of the best hosts we had on our trip. Greg sold his software company "BioWare" and invested in a passion for beer and food. He made sure we met the whole crew! Rob Monk the very talented brewer explained to us his methodology of mixing subtle flavors to create a complex drinkable beer that is not over powering.

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 03 - Situation Brewing, Edmonton. Discovered some cost saving and labor saving ideas from the height of the mash tun from their floor, to cost effective ways to seal concrete.

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 02 - Alley Cat Brewing, Edmonton. Brewer Tim MacLeod had the biggest beard I saw during the trip and he gave us a variety pack for the road.

Collaborating with Canada's independent brewers Blog 01 - 4th Meridian Brewing - Great dressed dog! I knew this was going to be a good meeting.

We’ve had a lot of questions the last day or two about #BuckABeer, and as to why we don’t support it. In short, the Buck A Beer program is bad for small Ontario... breweries. Here’s why: 1) It challenges small brewers to race to the bottom. The premier’s Buck A Beer Challenge invites breweries and, by the choice of making the announcement at a small Ontario brewery strongly implies the challenge is to Ontario Craft Breweries. The result of this is the government challenging small, family owned businesses in towns across the province to make less money on the product that they work so hard to produce meaning less money for their families, the local folks they employ, and their communities as a whole. 2) It favours Big Multinational Brewers. On May 26, the Ontario PC party said have been forced to pay inflated prices for beer in order to increase the profits of big corporations. We’re going to allow price competition for beer and this will save consumers money. However, in the new Buck A Beer program, their primary incentives are: Recognition by the LCBO, Promotional discounts and promotional displays at the LCBO; Advertising in LCBO literature. The assumption is that this product is to be sold at the LCBO, rather than at Brewery Retail Stores. However, only the largest multinational brewers can afford to sell Buck A Beer and not lose money, meaning that all of those premium LCBO shelf spots, discounts and promotional consideration may be mostly to the benefit of the big corporations themselves, and will likely only accomplished the feat of taking money out of the pockets of small brewers who participate in the program. 3) It commoditizes and politicizes craft beer. One of the best things about beer especially craft beer is that it is egalitarian. No matter your political stripes, nearly everyone can take a moment to enjoy their favourite lager, IPA, or stout, and in many cases, support their local economy at the same time. The Buck A Beer Challenge instead implies that beer is a vague, largely similar commodity, like buying screws at the hardware store. It doesn’t recognize the incredible diversity and quality of our Ontario craft beer market, and simply implies it’s all the same. It has also turned that same beer into a political play piece, to be shown to cameras and bragged about in sound bites; after all, the premier himself said promise made, promise kept, as if that was all there was to it. With an increasingly stressful and worrying political climate in our country, it’s disappointing to see something as hopeful as craft beer appropriated and divided. We don’t care how much or how little brewers sell their beer for. Want to make beer for a buck? Go for it. However, upending the playing field to coerce businesses into playing ball to get the attention Buck A Beer will bring doesn’t do it fairly. Rather, how about examining Ontario’s provincial beer taxes? Or cracking down on the Pay To Play our industry suffers from daily, despite its clear illegality? There are so many more meaningful things we could be discussing while Buck A Beer sucks up all the oxygen in the room. Instead of #BuckABeer, let’s talk about #BuyLocalBeer, and support the hard working small breweries in our communities, rather than the Big Multinationals that already benefit unfairly in Ontario.