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The vision was a community brewery in Calgary. Seven beer guys with a combined brew experience of 150 years came together in 2011 to make Village Brewery a reality. They also have a group of 50 investors known as “The Barons”. These are like-minded Calgarians who share the vision of Village’s original founders. Brew master Larry Kerwin came to the Village with more than 40 years of brewing experience. Larry has shepherded an earnest group of brewers, with their sights set on liquid excellence. Andrew Bullied graduated from the Niagara Brewmaster program and cut his teeth at Jasper Brewing Company. Jeremy McLaughlin began as a brewer at Picaroons out of Fredericton, N.B.. Jeff Demaniuk put in seven years at Big Rock and Phillips before joining the team.
In early 2012 they produced their first two beers, the Village Blonde and the Village Blacksmith, available only in kegs. By the summer, they added a third, the Village Wit. From the beginning, the bulk of their ales have been available in unique large format growler bottles. By the fall, Village began bottling in six packs. They also started their seasonal brew program. Some of their most exciting beers have been their small batch ales. Local ingredients have gone into everything from their Village Gardner to Prairie Oyster Beer!
Village’s vision included not just brewing outstanding beer, but making a contribution to the community. They contribute 10% of their bottom line to local charities. They also support dozens of local initiatives, with a strong focus on the arts.
From the beginning, Village Brewery’s philosophy has been keeping it local; local talent, local ingredients, local support for the community. This also includes local consumption. Village beer is only available in Calgary. Visitors can tour the brewery just about any time. Call ahead to make reservations. Or rent their tasting room for events.
Location: 5000 12A st. S.E., Calgary.
403-243-3327 [email protected]
Products: Village Blonde, Village Blacksmith, Village Wit,
Seasonal Ales include the Village Maiden, Village Monk.
Availability: Better wine shops and restaurants throughout Calgary.
Founder Art Andrews began the Chinook Honey Company in 1995 as a hobby. It began as a way to relieve the stress of a full time airline job. Art started small with 2 beehives.
Art’s hobby soon grew into a full-fledged cottage industry. Art’s wife Cherie joined the project and soon the two were managing almost 250 hives. In 2004, the couple opened a retail operation to sell their honey, as well as various jams, jellies and honey-related products. This “Honey House” began to offer tours and an interpretive centre where visitors could observe real working bee hives.
All the while, Art was experimenting with honey wine or mead. After five years and almost 50 batches, art struck liquid gold. Soon the meadery was awarded Alberta’s first cottage winery license. In 2008, Art began producing award winning mead.
Today the meadery produces more than 25, 000 litres of premium mead a year. Tours of the “Honey House” are popular year round. A knowledgeable staff member guides visitors through the facility. This includes observation of a real working beehive. People learn about the maintenance and care of the bees, and how honey is produced.
Visitors to their 12, 000 square foot gourmet honey store can sample and purchase ten distinct and delicious meads. Some highlights include King Arthur’s Dry, a traditional mead, and Bochet-Vanilla mead made from a recipe dating back to the 14th century.
The meadery operates from March 30 - Dec 24. Its hours are Wednesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday & Monday 12pm - 5pm Closed Tuesday. It is open most holidays. Visitors can take a tour of the meadery during regular business hours. You can also tour the apiary, though bees are most active from April to October. Contact them directly to make a reservation.
Location: Okotoks, Alberta. SW corner of Hwy 7 & 16th street W
Products: Ten meads including -
Fruit Wines include – King Arthur’s Dry, Buckaroo Buckwheat, John Cameron Classic, Bochet-Vanilla, Summer Sassation, and Frosted Blissssss
Availability: Most fine wine shops and retailers, various farmer’s markets. On-line purchasing available.
Visitor info: Chinook Arch Meadery offers tours as well as an onsite gift shop.
Owner: Garnett Sand
Producer: Adelle Sand
Twenty seven year old Adelle Sand has just switched homes with her mother and become the new cheesemaker at Smoky Valley Artisan Cheese. Her father purchased the farm, and Adelle is milking the sheep and making the cheese. A fast transition smack dab in the middle of her last year of nursing school as it was only January 24th, 2014, that she moved to the farm with her two standard poodles, Shadow and Chloe. They couldn’t be happier with farm life.
Adelle is excited about her new adventure. Adelle’s mother, Leslie Sand, is well known in the Edmonton area as a hard working and accomplished fresh goat cheese maker. She has been on site training Adelle, then Alex, Leslie’s partner, has remained on site assisting Adelle with the initial set up and learning curve.
After visiting Glengarry Cheese in Lancaster, Ontario, Adelle knew this was an opportunity she could not pass up. Currently preparing for her pasteurization license and bulk milk transfer, and expecting new little goat kiddies in late June, Adelle will be producing fresh artisanal goat cheese this Spring.
Offering Albertans farmstead artisan cheese from grass fed, pasture raised goats is the mission of Smoky Valley Artisan Cheese. The Farm itself has never been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals. We have 19 goats who all have names and are considered family pets. Hormone and Antibiotic free goats milk is produced into Cheese that is free of preservatives and orange dyes to maintain a natural and organic product.
Eventually, cheese classes and events at the farm will be held as they have been in the past. Smoky Valley Artisan Cheese can be found at the following farmers markets:
Smoky Valley Artisan Cheese
P.O Box 58 Smoky Lake, AB T7A 3C0
1 587 733 0091
E-mail [email protected]
Rhonda Zuk Headon is our Alberta Pecorino Queen
And then there is the art part. Rhonda has spent time in Italy in the Tuscan heart of Pecorino country learning her craft. Her mentor has been working with her locally, as well. The more experience she gains, the better her cheeses become. She is the only sheep milk cheese producer in Alberta, but that isn’t why people love her cheese. It is just that good.
Rhonda’s story is compelling. She met her future husband shortly before traveling to Italy. Once home, she found her city-slicking-self marrying a full fledged Alberta beef farmer. Her pre-marital plea to her new family with a long history of cattle ranching was to get a heard of sheep so she could make Pecorino. The old milking cow barn was transformed into a cheese making facility with the sheep milking parlor added at the rear and a year or so after her marriage, Rhonda was in business! Preganant with twins, it was the summer of 2010. She has not stopped since.
This is a must stop spot if you are in the area in Alberta. Rhonda will book cheese making sessions, offers tours, and her on site café offers the best grilled Pecorino cheese sandwiches you have ever tasted. Her product can be found at various stores and farmer’s markets throughout the summer season. Please check out her website for where to find the cheese all throughout the province.
Rhonda Headon
Kitscoty, Alberta
PH: 780-846-2590
PH: 780-522-8784
[email protected]
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Johwanna Alleyne, Owner/Producer
In 2011, as a board member for Slow Food Edmonton, Johwanna was responsible for the Canning Bees and enjoyed the process so much, she canceled her cable TV, got a certificate in canning from the University of Georgia on line and pickled and preserved until she had so much produce she didn’t know what to do with it. That is when Mojo Jojo was born. “I am Jojo and my Mojo is Pickles and Preserves.” Johwanna sold over 2000 hand packed jars to hungry Edmontonians in her first year! That speaks to her creativity and adventurous palate as she takes local ingredients and transforms them into fantastic concoctions. She has a following completely addicted to her repertoire as these are pickles you can get nowhere else on the planet.
She offers a modern twist on a traditional product. Her spice blends are inspired by global flavours: her whims and culinary travels. Although each pickle and preserve is familiar, she strives to make produce something “your momma don’t make”! Her use of high quality table and balsamic vinegars, fresh and foraged spices and innovative flavour profiles ensures a product for everyone in her line-up of sour, sweet, salty and fun.
Her Beet Caviar earned the Best New Product by the Alberta Farmers Market Association and in 2014, her Spicy Pickled Carrots where voted #25 on the Tomatoes Best Things to Eat in Edmonton list. And, the Salted Caramel Pear Butter, a specialty market product, was nominated number 38 of 100 items in the local food paper, The Tomato, on its Best Things to Eat List.
All products are made in small batches, by hand, in Edmonton using natural preservatives and the best local produce available.
2 11011-124 Street
Edmonton, AB T5M 0J5
PH: 587-881-1156
www.mojojojopickles.com
Available at:
Select Save -On-Food Stores in Edmonton.