With the proliferation of microbreweries in Alberta, a store dedicated to selling craft beer would seem to be the next natural step.
And last Saturday, Craft Beer Nation, a store dedicated to craft beer, opened its doors in Red Deer.
A self-described craft beer lover, owner Josh Forbes said he has always tried to find more, unique beers and decided to take it further.
“It’s an opportunity to pull from all these breweries around Alberta, B.C. and all over and pull them into one location,” said Forbes.
He and his wife Erin were in a store in Airdrie called Thumbprint Craft Beer Market during their opening week.
“At that point we weren’t even thinking about opening a store,” he said. “We loved the idea.
“We thought, let’s take their idea, add our own to it and that’s how this started.”
Located at 2310 Gaetz Ave., in the same complex as Bo’s Bar and Grill, the store offers more than 500 types of beer and 12-tap rotating growler bar. Forbes said the growler taps allow the business to bring in unique beers that are unavailable in cans.
Earlier this year, Alberta had 54 brewing licences, up from just 18 in 2014.
“Here, you can get beers that will be a one-off or are unavailable anywhere else,” said Forbes, adding the small batches weren’t originally part of his idea of the store, but he said he was approached by microbreweries with the limited offers.
“We opened the doors on Saturday and being a new business and a new idea, we didn’t know what to expect,” said Forbes. “We opened at 12 p.m., by 12:15 p.m., three of us ran our feet off until 6 p.m. People are loving it, they stare at our wall (of beer) and take it all in.
“Watching them get the cooler was cool, because it’s just a wall of beer heaven.”
Forbes said he hopes to have beer clubs, a loyalty program and collaborate with other local businesses as Craft Beer Nation grows.
mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
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