B O O K R E V I E W
Top Shelf Reads
Tapping the West: How Alberta’s Craft Beer
Industry Bubbled Out of an Economy Gone Flat
By Lindsay Risto, Lester Communications Inc.
Beautifully written from the
Introduction to Conclusion, it’s
no wonder Tapping the West: How
Alberta’s Craft Beer Industry Bubbled Out of
an Economy Gone Flat by Scott Messenger
was awarded “Best Book on Beer in Canada”
by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
this past summer.
Using an expert mix of personal
anecdotes and historical facts, Messenger
tells the engaging story of Alberta’s craft
beer scene from its start in 1892, with A.E.
Cross at the helm of the Calgary Brewing
and Malting Company, to the seemingly
arbitrary minimum requirement for
500,000 litres of annual brewing capacity –
Messenger admits that, “Staff members at
what’s now Alberta Gaming, Liquor and
Cannabis don’t know when the rule was set,
or precisely why….” – and its overturn on
Dec. 5, 2013, to what is now one of Canada’s
most thriving craft beer industries.
Messenger takes his readers on his
discovery journey, introducing them to
the characters that helped inform his
knowledge of Alberta’s craft beer industry,
whether it be a daughter of one of
Alberta’s craft beer pioneers or a collector
of Alberta’s craft beer memorabilia. The
infusion of historical fact with the stories
from the people he met on his journey
provide the reader with a book that isn’t a
mere dry historical retelling, chorological
with only facts. Instead, the reader joins
Messenger as he discovered and uncovered
the complete story of Alberta’s craft beer.
It’s a story that isn’t finished as Alberta’s
craft beer landscape continues to evolve.
First-hand accounts from notable
Alberta craft beer figures, such as Graham
Sherman of Tool Shed Brewing – one of,
if not the driving force behind the change
to Alberta’s brewing capacity minimum
requirement – give the reader a true
impression of the challenge would-be
Alberta brewers were up against prior to
2013. Sherman would brew Tool Shed’s
beers in B.C., and import the company’s
brews – made with Alberta ingredients –
back into Alberta.
Yes, the focus of the book is Alberta
craft beer, but that should not deter anyone
from outside of Alberta or in another
industry sector from giving Tapping
the West a read. It is well worth it. With
the number of Alberta craft breweries
continuing to increase, albeit slower than
in recent years, it’s hard to believe that
only seven years ago Alberta’s craft brewing
scene was essentially non-existent; limited
to a handful of big names that were able
to secure the large amount of seed money
required to establish an operation that
could produce in excess of 500,000 litres of
beer annually.
Any industry member from any part
of the country, in any sector, would benefit
from Tapping the West: How Alberta’s Craft
Beer Industry Bubbled Out of an Economy
Gone Flat, to gain a better understanding
of how Alberta’s craft beer scene has been
able to go from near non-existence to
possible market oversaturation, in less than
a decade.
For more information on Tapping the
West’s win at the Gourmand World
Cookbook Awards, visit https://www.
touchwoodeditions.com/show-me-the-honey-
tapping-the-west-win-gourmand-world-
cookbook-awards/.
By Scott Messenger
TouchWood Editions, 2020
Photos courtesy TouchWood Editionsa
40 § POURED CANADA § www.poured.ca
/www
/show-me-the-honey-
/www.poured.ca
