Canmore Alberta

[Colin @ Canada]

For the first time ever I visited the western half of Canada. One of my best friends wedding was at the Banff Springs Hotel last weekend so I flew into Calgary and drove into Canmore.
The beer scene was Pretty good. The bars had mostly Big Rock stuff and Grasshopper. We went into a few "beer shops" and bought a few new beers I had never had before. Here they are....
1) Four Twenty Brilliant Lager from Shaftebury Brewing Co.
2) Gastown Amber Ale from Granville Island Brewing.
3) Okanagan Spring Mild Dark
4) Innis and Gunn Oak aged Beer From Scotland.
5) Rutting Elk Red from Grizzly Paw Brewing Co.
6) Randy Goat Pilsner from Grizzly Paw Brewing Co.
7) Alley Kat Amber.
Erdinger Weisbier Dunkel.
I really liked the Innis and Gunn beer, lots of flavour and Scotch notes. The Grizzly Paw brewing Co I really liked and they had other styles as well but my body couldn't handle trying them all, and I think the Erdinger Dunkel has been here before but I'd never had it and it was delicious as well.
Colin

[pootz]

You found a good bottle shop in Canmore?

[Cass]

Reviving a short ancient thread. Anyone been to Canmore recently?

Ski trip next week and we've decided to stay in Canmore as it looks like it's got more stuff than the town of Banff (and have stayed there before anyway).

Looks like there's four breweries there (Canmore, Blake, Sheepdog, Grizzly Paw - still going from the original post of the thread! - 2 locations) and some pubs.

Will report back on what I find!

[Cass]

On the way back from a fun ski week out west, staying right in the heart of Canmore. Some notes:

There are four breweries in Canmore:

Grizzly Paw (which is the original brewery in town), has a pub location on the downtown main street, and their new brewery which is a few blocks away in a shopping district. Their brewery location has a small taproom, and a large restaurant space above the brewery with amazing mountain views. I enjoyed both locations - probably my favourite brewery spot in town.

Canmore Brewing is your typical modern brewery space - tap room is within the brewhouse. What they call a NEIPA pretty much just is a hoppy blonde ale - no haze or traditional juiciness. I questioned the bartender and they said it was due to the water 'minerality' locally. I thought that was kind of bullshit and for some reason they don't make a NEIPA like everyone else does.

Blake is a modern brewery & restaurant, again with great mountain views. Very industrial, lots of metal and granite. They only had about 5-6 of their own beers and some guest taps. Not your usual brewery food menu, worth a visit for sure.

Sheepdog is out of downtown, but there's a free town bus that stops right out front. Very much a mountain vibe with lots of old skis hanging from the walls. Probably the most diverse selection of beers of the breweries in town.

Generally I found the breweries to kind of be a bit of a throwback to the earlier days of microbrew. Pretty much everyone had an IPA, a Red, a Nut Brown and a Stout. The core four. Not much in the way of barrel aged stuff nor sours, not that I really yearned for that anyway. Decent, drinkable beers. And beer is cheaper that Toronto these days, and many spots still serve full pints.

My biggest beef was that all the breweries closed at 10pm or earlier, which is kind of a shame for what is a fairly lively ski town.

On the non-brewery front, Fergus & Bix was a nice, upscale bistro-y place with a good tap list of local brews. Georgetown Inn has a very wooden, British style pub which was a neat spot.

All in all a good destination, a great place for skiing and beer as most smaller ski towns in the west don't have this many breweries. Would definitely stay in Canmore again for a future ski trip!

I also shot footage for A Quick Beer while I was there so watch out for a new episode soon!

[Cass]

Here's my "A Quick Beer" video about Canmore if anyone is interested in giving it a watch:

[shintriad]

Nice! I'm hoping to visit the area this summer. Some good times a-brewing.

[Cass]

Nice! I'm hoping to visit the area this summer. Some good times a-brewing.

Excellent! It was a fun spot to visit.