Okay, they may not have a brick and mortar location yet, but Big Beaver Brewing is launching their first beer this week.

Kudos to them for taking risks and coming out of the gates offering a Brut IPA and a Red Ale as their first brews, both weighing in at 5% ABV.

The Red Ale is “a classic UK-style Red Ale, with caramel and dried fruit characteristics. We didn’t try to do anything funky with this one,” said Big Beaver’s Michael Hiltz.

Before we go any further, we should discuss the name – get your mind out of the gutter – one of the founders is from Big Beaver, “a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan.”

Sorry to burst your bubble.

As for the Brut IPA, Hiltz had this to say: “This one we went a little different route on; obviously IPAs, DIPAs NEPAs, etc. are all the rage and there’s tons of great ones out there.

“When we started this journey of contract brewing, we looked at our timeline of when we could realistically have product to market and seeing that it was Spring/Summer we thought we’d try something a little different and create this extremeley crushable dry IPA.

“We used a Kveik yeast along with an enzyme to knock out the bitterness. What you’re left with is Amarillo hop flavors and an extremely low IBU to make this the go-to summer brew.”

Sounds promising and certainly ambitious. I’m sure the crew at Big Beaver has done their fair share of brewing before deciding to go commercial with their hobby, but opening with a Brut IPA is still a bold choice. Can’t wait to try it!

Written by Dane Nichol, The Alberta Beer Exchange