the labels on the company’s products every
few months. Even though efforts are made
to ensure a suitable match between a beer
and the art that adorns it, that’s not the
primary objective of the exercise.
“It’s less about that and more about
championing the community of artists,” he
said. “If you think now of COVID-19 and
even prior to that, we deal with very busy,
fragmented lives. It can be very difficult for
artists to be seen or heard. Giving them a
platform to be seen and heard – and giving
them some funding – we thought allowed
us to do our part and gives us a unique
opportunity to build our brand.”
Although constantly changing the look
of your product might not be a recipe for
success for most companies, it hasn’t hurt
Collective Arts. If anything, it’s helped. Its
sales have continued to grow year after year,
a fact Johnston attributes in part to the
company’s unique collaboration with the
arts community.
“I think our beer drinkers are very
intelligent and thoughtful people and are
looking for companies that give back and
do more. For us, that’s inherent in what
we do,” he said. “We’re big believers in the
idea that a creative world is a better world.
Creativity solves a lot of problems and
creates a lot of inspiration. If we can do
our little part to inspire creativity and at
the same time champion these artists who
are doing it day in and day out, then I think
we’ve done our part.”
The success of Collective Arts and
its artistic collaborations has served as
inspiration for a number of other craft
brewers across the country.
One such brewer was Blank Canvas
Beer Company in Winnipeg, Man. The
company was formed last year by husband
and wife co-founders Brad Chute and
Jenna Khan. While they were impressed
by some of the collaborative brews they
had sampled, they wondered aloud about
what it might be like if the artist and brewer
worked closely together to create a beer
that was unique and inspired.
They subsequently pitched the idea
to well-known Winnipeg wildlife artist Kal
Barteski, whom they met through mutual
friends. She immediately jumped on board.
Chute then shared their idea with Perry
Joyal, a brewmaster for Torque Brewing
Company, who said it sounded “awesome.”
“I told them I’m just a curator and I
didn’t want to have any sort of influence
on any of this,” Chute said. “A little while
later they met for a couple of hours and
chatted about life and inspirations. One
of the things Berteski talked about was
seeing polar bears for the first time in
Churchill Manitoba. She described
them as unexpected. That word kind of
resonated with Joyal, so when he was
looking for a beer, he wanted something
that was unexpected.”
Thus was born Blank Canvas Arctic
Stout, a white stout with a bold flavour
like a traditional stout, but pale in colour
and lighter bodied. The 473-millilitre can
features a stunning painting by Barteski of
a polar bear climbing out of Hudson Bay.
B FUESAI NT UE SR SE
“When you pour it in a glass it looks like
one thing, but when you drink it, you totally
get an unexpected experience,” Chute said.
“When Joyal said to Barteski after their
initial meeting that he wanted to do a beer
like this, she said that sounded amazing.
She went and painted that picture of the
polar bear which inspired Joyal to make
the beer he did. The two of them basically
came up with the idea. I had zero input.”
Blank Canvas’ initial offering proved
wildly popular. It’s 3,500-can limited-run
sold out in short order. The company had
planned to roll out its second release this
spring, but those plans were temporarily
FALL 2020 § POURED CANADA § 37
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