Big Rock Brewery is a Canadian public company and the largest

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

that is based in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. As of March 2020, it was also Canada's largest

craft brewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

. Big Rock distributes a variety of beers and ciders throughout Canada.

History

The brewery was founded in 1984, by Ed McNally, who was disappointed in the beer available to buy in

Calgary, AB Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

. A lawyer by trade, McNally was representing a group of barley growers in a legal action against the Alberta Wheat Board in the 1980s. Through the course of the legal action, McNally learned that the Alberta climate produces 2-row barley that is ideally suited for malting, and had access to glacial water from the nearby Rocky Mountains. At the time, most barley production in Alberta was used as cattle feed. With an entrepreneurial background, McNally decided to open a craft brewery. The name " Big Rock" was chosen after the Okotoks Erratic, a 16,500-tonne glacial boulder located outside of the town of

Okotoks Okotoks ( , originally ) is a town in the Calgary Metropolitan Region, Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Downtown Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to t ...

. The first

brewmaster A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

was Bernd Pieper, a German brewmaster for

Heineken International Heineken Naamloze vennootschap, N.V. (), branded as The Heineken Company is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational brewery, brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. Heineken owns over 165 breweries in m ...

. In Summer 1986, when Big Rock had been in production for only a year, workers at the

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

and

Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...

breweries went on strike. This proved to be a windfall for Big Rock, as it was the only beer available in Alberta that summer, and production quickly grew. The second brewmaster was Larry Kerwin, a former brewmaster for Molson and current distiller a
Eau Claire Distillery
Kerwin started as a brewer at Big Rock under Pieper in 1994, and took over as brewmaster in 2003 when Pieper retired. He was with Big Rock for 12 years. The third brewmaster was Paul Gautreau. Gautreau joined Big Rock in 1986 as its fourth employee and worked in marketing and operational capacities before replacing Kerwin as brewmaster. Gautreau is a graduate of the Brewing and Packaging program at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, the Brewing & Malting Science program at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, and the

Institute of Brewing and Distilling The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) is an trade association, industry trade association for brewing, brewers and Distilled beverage, distillers, both in the United Kingdom and internationally. The IBD had its headquarters at Clarges ...

in London, England. He is also a member of the

American Society of Brewing Chemists American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

, the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, and he has served as president of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. The fourth brewmaster was Ignacio Rodriguez, who held the role from 2022 to 2025. He had previously worked for Molson Coors, Bridge Brewing Company, and Craft Collective Beerworks. McNally retired from day-to-day operation of the company, retaining the ceremonial title "Chairman Emeritus" until his death in August 2014. In March 2015, Big Rock's Urban Brewery opened in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In 2017, Big Rock partnered with restaurateurs Oliver & Bonacini to ope
Liberty Commons at Big Rock Brewery
located in

Liberty Village Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered to the north by King Street West, to the west by Dufferin Street, to the south by the Gardiner Expressway, to the east by Strachan Avenue, and to the northeast by ra ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. These locations later closed in 2024 and 2025, respectively, as Big Rock focused on their Calgary location. On July 23, 2018, Big Rock closed an amended transaction to acquire certain brewing assets and inventory related to branded beer and cider from the Fireweed Brewing Corporation, including beverage brands such as Tree Brewing, Dukes Cider, and Shaftebury.

Products

Big Rock brews 10 year-round beers, 5 ciders, as well as a number of seasonal offerings and limited edition lambic-style beers.

Year-round beers

*Traditional Ale – A medium-bodied brown ale in the traditional English style *Grasshopper – A medium-full bodied Kristall Weizen (filtered wheat ale). Winner of the 2007 and 2009 Gold Medal and the 2017 Silver Medal for "Wheat Beer – North American Style" at the Canadian Brewing Awards and named "Best Patio Beer" by the National Post in 2006. *Czech Style Pilsner – A European-style lager. Winner of 5 awards including the 2017 Gold Medal for European Lager – Pilsner at the Canadian Brewing Awards, and the 2019 Gold Medal for German/Czech Style Pilsner at the Alberta Beer Awards. *Rhine Stone Cowboy – A lagered ale *Warthog – An English Style Mild Ale (discontinued) *Honey Brown Lager – A medium-brown lager *Session IPA – A bitter pale ale (discontinued) *Citradelic – A single-hop American IPA *Scottish Heavy Ale – A malt-flavoured ale *Craft Lager – Canadian-style lager (discontinued)

Rock Creek ciders

*Rock Creek Apple Cider – A dry cider with

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

apples *Rock Creek Peach Cider – A dry cider with peach *Rock Creek Pear Cider – A dry cider with pear *Rock Creek Strawberry Rhubarb Cider – A dry cider with strawberries and rhubarb (discontinued) *Rock Creek Rosé Cider – A dry cider with apples and rosé wine flavours (discontinued)

Coolship program

Big Rock Brewery is the first commercial craft brewery in Canada to develop a wild ale, authentic Belgium style program. They built an isolated wing in their brewery that includes a custom-built 2,000-litre

Coolship A coolship (Anglicized version of the Dutch/Flemish koelschip) is a type of brewing vessel traditionally used in the production of beer. It is a broad, open-top, flat vessel in which wort cools. The high surface to volume ratio allows for more effi ...

. It has been designed to replicate the open fermentation conditions of Belgian breweries that specialize in brewing traditional lambic sour beers. *Kriek – 3,000 bottles released in February 2018. A lambic-style Kriek aged in wine barrels with cherries. *Framboise – 1,500 bottles released in March 2019. A lambic-style Framboise aged in wine barrels with raspberries.

Seasonal brews

*Midnight Rhapsody Dark Ale – Fall 2018 release *Jackrabbit – A light lager (discontinued)

Contract brews

Big Rock brews beers for restaurants in Western Canada, including: * Hudsons Tap House Beers, which include Beaver Tail Amber Ale, and Lumberjack Premium Lager * John Palliser Ale for the

Fairmont Palliser Hotel The Fairmont Palliser, formerly known as the Palliser Hotel, is a hotel of the Canada-based Fairmont Hotels and Resorts chain. The historic hotel (1914) is located in downtown Calgary, Alberta, at 133 9 Avenue SW adjacent to the Calgary Tower an ...

in Calgary, Alberta * Livingston Lager for Heritage Park in Calgary, Alberta *President's Choice beers for

Loblaw Companies Limited Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private ...

in their western Canadian markets *Co-op branded beers for Calgary Co-operative Assn. Ltd at their liquor outlets. *Original Joe's draft beers labels at their restaurants.

Marketing

Big Rock Barn Burner concert series

In 2017, Big Rock Brewery hosted the Barn Burner Concert at their Calgary brewery. The concert was held in the brewery parking lot and included live music, craft beer, and local food. Headliners included

The Sheepdogs The Sheepdogs are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2004. The Sheepdogs were the first unsigned band to make the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' and have gone on to a career featuring multi-platinum album sales and four Ju ...

Sam Roberts Band Sam Roberts (born October 2, 1974) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released seven albums. His debut EP '' The Inhuman Condition'', reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts a ...

, and

The Dead South The Dead South is a folk- bluegrass musical ensemble based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The band was initially formed in 2012 as a quartet by Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (ce ...

. In 2018, they expanded the concert series to Toronto playing host to indie-folk group Mt. Joy.

Big Rock Eddies

From 1993 to 2016, the Big Rock Brewery Eddies were an annual event in Calgary that raised money for Calgary arts beneficiaries, including One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, the

Calgary Folk Music Festival The Calgary Folk Music Festival (also known as "Calgary Folk Fest", or CFMF) is a Canadian music festival held on the fourth weekend of July each year at Prince's Island Park (Calgary), Prince's Island Park, Calgary, Alberta. The four-day event fe ...

, and the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts (now

Arts Commons Arts Commons (Formerly EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts) is a multi-venue arts centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada, located in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District. Occupying a full city block, Arts Commons is a multi-level complex m ...

)
The Eddies
were a promotional contest to encourage beer drinkers to make an advertisement for Big Rock. The contest later included a student category that allowed post-secondary students to compete with their peers for prize money.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 50.9847, -113.9544, type:landmark_region:CA, display=title Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Beer brewing companies based in Alberta Companies based in Calgary Canadian beer brands Canadian companies established in 1985 Food and drink companies established in 1985