"Far North"

Greetings from the Far North!  Well, I’m not really all that far north, but it would seem like it to most of you in the U.S.  I’m in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which is about as north as most people ever go in Alberta even though it is located in the southern third of the province!  Though there is plenty of territory north of here, Edmonton  is definitely the end of the road as far as Alberta microbrewing is concerned.  You’ll find no microbreweries north of Edmonton, and a couple decent ones in and around Edmonton, so there’s really no point in going any further. I'll tell you about the good craft brew establishments in a subsequent blog or two - today I'll just cover Brewsters.

Edmonton has five Brewsters, a mini-chain with 14 locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan pouring 14 different beers, mostly brewed in Calgary.  I’ve been to two of the five.  They remind me of a BJ’s, Ram, Oggie’s or Rock Bottom – casual but nice family dining, lots of flat-screen tv’s, good food and pretty decent beer, all things considered.  A great place to introduce the uninitiated to microbrew.  Safe, nothing very exotic or over-the-top, and the menu has some microbrew guidance for the newbie.  

I don't want to dis Brewsters, but as a craft beer lover I have very little reason to go to one of their locations.  It would be a different story if the food or beer were superb, but they are merely good.  Maybe toward the high end of good, but Edmonton has some superb dining and great craft beer is available, so Brewsters just doesn't cut it for me. 

Most Brewsters are located in little strip malls/shopping centers on main arterials where they are easily accessible and predictably boring.  Today, I visited the Century Park location in the south of town – 111^th Street at the corner of 23 Avenue.  I've also been to the Meadowlark location on 87th Avenue.  I sorta doubt I'll be visiting any of the others - if you've seen one of them you've seen them all, I figure.  Here's one:

In the entry area they have a wine display.  Nothing wrong with that, but a funny emphasis, I think, for a place called Brewsters that promotes itself as a place for “Great Beer, Great Food, Great Times.”  

Maybe the wine display is meant to reassure those who are nervous about this whole microbrewery thing and wonder if they have to drink beer.  No worries: wine, full bar.

For such a chain, Brewsters’ 14 beer row of taps is impressive – similar to BJ’s and more than twice the offerings of Ram and Rock Bottom. But like BJ's, the beer is brewed at a big facility somewhere else, not on premises (mostly in Calgary, though two are brewed at the Oliver Square Brewsters in Edmonton).

On the downside, of all those 14 taps, not a single one is an IPA!  Ay caramba!  How can that be?  Shouldn't that be automatic?  How can you not have an IPA?  The closest thing they have to an IPA is their Rig Pig Pale, but at 35 ibu it is just a mid-range Pale.  Even their Czech Pilsner and Shaughnessy Stout, with 40 and 49 ibu respectively, outdo Rig Pig for bitterness.  Still, the use of Cascade hops in the Rig Pig does make it a very tasty Pale.

The food is good.  I liked my pizza.  It had a nice spicy bite to it.  

Perfect to pair with a big IPA.  If only they had one.

Cheers!