Big Rock Brewery

Big Rock Brewery is a Canadian public company and the largest brewery that is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As of March 2020, it was also Canada's largest craft brewery.[3] Big Rock distributes a variety of beers and ciders throughout Canada.

History

The brewery was founded in 1984, by Ed McNally, who was disappointed in the beer available to buy in Calgary, AB.[4] A lawyer by trade, McNally was representing a group of barley growers in a legal action against the Alberta Wheat Board in the 1980s. Through the course of the legal action, McNally learned that the Alberta climate produces 2-row barley that is ideally suited for malting, and had access to glacial water from the nearby Rocky Mountains. At the time, most barley production in Alberta was used as cattle feed. With an entrepreneurial background, McNally decided to open a craft brewery. The name "Big Rock" was chosen after the Okotoks Erratic, a 16,500-tonne glacial boulder located outside of the town of Okotoks.[5]

Products

Big Rock brews 10 year-round beers, 5 ciders, as well as a number of seasonal offerings and limited edition lambic-style beers.

Year-round beers

Traditional Ale – A medium-bodied brown ale in the traditional English style
Grasshopper – A medium-full bodied Kristall Weizen (filtered wheat ale). Winner of the 2007 and 2009 Gold Medal and the 2017 Silver Medal for "Wheat Beer – North American Style" at the Canadian Brewing Awards[11] and named "Best Patio Beer" by the National Post in 2006.
Czech Style Pilsner – A European-style lager. Winner of 5 awards including the 2017 Gold Medal for European Lager – Pilsner at the Canadian Brewing Awards,[11] and the 2019 Gold Medal for German/Czech Style Pilsner at the Alberta Beer Awards.[12]
Rhine Stone Cowboy – A lagered ale
Warthog – An English Style Mild Ale (discontinued)
Honey Brown Lager – A medium-brown lager
Session IPA – A bitter pale ale (discontinued)
Citradelic – A single-hop American IPA
Scottish Heavy Ale – A malt-flavoured ale
Craft Lager – Canadian-style lager (discontinued)

Rock Creek ciders

Rock Creek Apple Cider – A dry cider with Okanagan apples
Rock Creek Peach Cider – A dry cider with peach
Rock Creek Pear Cider – A dry cider with pear
Rock Creek Strawberry Rhubarb Cider – A dry cider with strawberries and rhubarb (discontinued)
Rock Creek Rosé Cider – A dry cider with apples and rosé wine flavours (discontinued)

Coolship program

Big Rock Brewery is the first commercial craft brewery in Canada to develop a wild ale, authentic Belgium style program. They built an isolated wing in their brewery that includes a custom-built 2,000-litre Coolship. It has been designed to replicate the open fermentation conditions of Belgian breweries that specialize in brewing traditional lambic sour beers.[13]

Kriek – 3,000 bottles released in February 2018. A lambic-style Kriek aged in wine barrels with cherries.
Framboise – 1,500 bottles released in March 2019. A lambic-style Framboise aged in wine barrels with raspberries.

Seasonal brews

Midnight Rhapsody Dark Ale – Fall 2018 release
Jackrabbit – A light lager (discontinued)

Contract brews

Big Rock brews beers for restaurants in Western Canada, including:

Hudsons Tap House Beers, which include Beaver Tail Amber Ale, and Lumberjack Premium Lager
John Palliser Ale for the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary, Alberta
Livingston Lager for Heritage Park in Calgary, Alberta
President's Choice beers for Loblaw Companies Limited in their western Canadian markets
Co-op branded beers for Calgary Co-operative Assn. Ltd at their liquor outlets.
Original Joe's draft beers labels at their restaurants.

foundation	1985
founder	Ed McNally
location city	Calgary, Alberta
location country	Canada
key people	David Kinder (Chief Executive Officer)‡R1R‡
industry	Alcoholic drink
products	Beer
owner	Public
traded as	tsx: BR
production	181,951 hL (2015) 168,268 hL (2014)‡R2R‡
revenue	C$39,594,000 (2015) C$36,755,000 (2014)
operating income	-C$1,146,000 (2015) C$715,000 (2014)
net income	-C$1,075,000 (2015) C$624,000 (2014)
homepage	bigrockbeer.com

History

Products

Year-round beers

Rock Creek ciders

Coolship program

Seasonal brews

Contract brews

Marketing

Big Rock Barn Burner concert series

Big Rock Eddies

See also

External links

References