As tastes change, Alberta’s craft brewers expand their offerings

At this past weekend’s Banff Craft Beer Festival, premixed cocktails were on prominent display amidst the usual IPA’s, lagers and sour beers.

Frozen margaritas, hard iced teas and canned espresso martinis are now part of the lineup, as Alberta’s craft beer brewers adapt to changing consumer tastes.

According to Statistics Canada, beer consumption in Alberta has declined over the past decade. During the same time period, the market share of ciders, coolers and ready-to-drink cocktails has doubled.

While beer still outpaces coolers and cocktails in sales, the 140-plus small beer breweries in the province have noticed the shift.

Dan Allard, co-founder of Cold Garden Beverage Company in Calgary, said the business started making premixed cocktails in 2020 after noticing a decline in the demand for beer.

“When we started, we never would have thought we would have been making those beverages,” said Allard, who opened Cold Garden in 2016. “When we’re hearing loud and clear that people want something other than beer, we’ve got to speak to that or we’d flounder for sure.”

Allard said that premixed cocktails make up about 30 per cent of their revenue now, and he expects that to increase to about 50 per cent by next summer.  

The craft beer boom peaked in 2018 in the province, said Blair Berdusco with the Alberta Small Brewers Association. Looking ahead, she hopes breweries “find their footing,” as many have been in business for close to a decade and are working on how to remain profitable long-term.

Berdusco said the industry has had an overall successful year in adapting to shifting tastes, as more and more breweries expand into the “ready-to-drink” canned cocktails (known as RTDs) category. 

Just a few years ago, roughly a dozen breweries in Alberta were producing canned cocktails, she said; now, a majority are. 

“We can expect more creative things to come out of a lot of the breweries,” she said.

Peter Johnston-Berresford, an instructor in Olds College’s brewery and beverage program, said the golden age of craft beer is over, and the way he teaches students has changed to reflect this.

The program he runs has historically been about brewing beer, but within the last year, it has expanded to include craft beverages like canned cocktails, ciders and even kombucha.

“We’ve got to do all these other products,” Johnston-Berresford said. “So we teach that in our program now, because we recognized if we just stayed with beer, it’s ‘See you later, Peter.’ You’re as done as dinner.’”

Johnston-Berresford said consumers expect a wide variety of drink choices now and show little appetite to stick to one brand or one style of beer. 

“The thing is people are getting tired of beer,” he said.

Canned cocktails, he said, are filling the void for consumers. And spirits-based drinks are much quicker to make than beer, cheaper and offer near-endless flavour options.

Johnston-Berresford said breweries that continue to innovate and learn how to create new drinks will be the ones that succeed.

“If you don’t know how to do an RTD, you’d better learn quickly.”