Grain Bin Brewing Company. Photo: www.grainbinbeer.com/

By Shane Clausing

Grain Bin Brewing Company

Grande Prairie’s Grain Bin Brewing Company picks up hardware at 2020 Alberta Beer Awards

Apr 9, 2020 | 12:47 PM

The Grain Bin Brewing Company in Grande Prairie is walking away with some hardware from the 2020 Alberta Beer Awards.

The Alberta Beer Awards gives small local breweries across the province a chance to submit their beers to a panel of judges who decide who has the best beers in the province.

In total, Grain Bin Brewing Company submitted six beers for awards (the max a brewery is allowed to enter) and walked away with two prizes.

“We were very excited to see that we were among some of the winners that were selected last night,” said Dalen Landis, a brewer with the Grain Bin Brewing Company. “Alberta’s making some really fantastic beer right now and we are honored and privileged to be among not only a great community, but some of the other winners selected as well.”

Normally the awards are held at a brewer’s conference in either Calgary, Red Deer or Edmonton. This year’s conference was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the awards were broadcast online via Facebook Tuesday night.

The brewery saw its ‘Welcome’ beer win Gold in the Wild/Natural Fermentation Beer with Fruit category.

This category is for beer’s produced through the use of wild yeast and bacteria, including Brettanomyces, and/or through spontaneous fermentation that includes fruit as a key ingredient.

Landis broke down how they created the beverage.

“It is a stout that was brewed with haskap berries from a local producer. It’s also got tarts and a really rich berry flavor from the half caps, which are a Nordic berry, which is very similar to a Saskatoon or blueberry,” explained Landis. “It has a lot of the same flavors you’d expect from a stout like chocolate and cocoa. It’s a very unique and different beer and our sour program is something we’re really proud of and we think it’s one of the better stouts that we’ve produced.”

The brewery also submitted its Burgundy Barrel Aged Braggot in the Wild/Natural Fermentation Beer category and won bronze.

This category also includes beer produced through the use of wild yeast and bacteria, including Brettanomyces, or through spontaneous fermentation. It should exhibit the flavour profiles of the organisms used, including earthiness, spiciness, sourness, mustiness and cellar characteristics.

“It is a spirt that is made with both barley and honey. It was produced with honey from a local producer that was just getting into producing honey,” said Landis. “It was aged in burgundy wine barrels for nine months before we packaged it. It’s very floral and has a real complex richness.”

There is a limited supply of ‘Welcome’ beer in stores around the city. The Burgundy Barrel Aged Braggot beer is completely sold-out.

Landis tells EverythingGP that despite COVID-19, the brewery is still open for business.

He adds that having restaurants closed has impacted their production, as they supply kegs to several restaurants in the city.

The brewery has implemented online shopping for customers and starting next week, it will offer delivery as well as looking at shipping province-wide. Curbside pick-up is also an option.