Alberta has seen tremendous growth with their breweries over the last several years and now, as part of a tourism initiative, breweries along Highway 3 in southern Alberta are launching a collaboration ale to draw more attention to the provinces’ craft brew scene.

The initiative called “Highway 3 Ale Trail” is meant to drive both locals and visitors to craft breweries in southern Alberta.

Tourism Medicine Hat, Tourism Lethbridge and the South Canadian Rockies Tourism Association started the partnership and the trail is made up of eight breweries located within communities along the Crowsnest Highway, from Medicine Hat to Blairmore, Alta.

Highway 3 Ale Trail/Tourism Lethbridge

“This year we decided to, as kind of a way of highlighting everyone in the southern region, work together on some branding — which is the Highway 3 Ale Trail — as well as produce a beer,” said Kelti Baird, co-founder of Theoretically Brewing Co.

“I believe we’ve called it Southern Exposure.”

“People are already driving down the highway,” said Tom Henderson, owner and brewer at Stronghold Brewing in Fort Macleod. “We might as well work together.”

Tourism Lethbridge described the beer as “a light ale, with tasting notes of citrus and pine, delivered over a smooth and clean malt body.”

“It’s just light, approachable, super easy drinking. I think it’s going to the perfect kind of end-of-summer beer,” Henderson said.

“We have the best brewing barley in the world and it’s a huge privilege that we get to use that ingredient and turn it into something that everybody will get to enjoy,” Baird said.

“Prior to 2013, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission had a rule that stated if any brewery wanted to open up they had to have a minimum production capacity of 500,000 litres. So you had to start with a very large facility,” she explained.

“(Amending that rule) opened up the market to people who are interested like us… We started as home brewers.”

Other breweries involved include Hell’s Basement Brewery, Medicine Hat Brewing Company, Spectrum Ale Works, The Pass Brewing Company, Old Man River Brewing Ltd. and Travois Ale Works.