Need a cool beer to bring to a party of beer people

December 14, 2018 5:53 PM

Can anyone recommend a beer that I could pick up or have ordered to Calgary to bring to a a party consisting almost exclusively of beer nerds? Not really looking for anything with wacky added flavours. A bottle big enough to share for under $20CAN would be fantastic.

A cool friend of mine invited me to his NYE party year and I'm really excited about it. I've gone to one of his parties before and it was one of the best I've ever been to. Him and all his friends are brewers/beer geeks, either professionally or professional level. At the last party, everyone brought some kind of cool, rare beer and we all just shared with everyone. By and by, all of the empties were lined up on the table, in order of rank. You could move the bottles around if you thought a particular beer was better than another, and so on. It was awesome.

The only problem is, I don't really know a lot about cool beers and last time I showed up with a six-pack of AGD. And I mean, whatever - nobody gave me a hard time about it (AGD ended up ranking somewhere around #16 our of 30 or so by the end). But this time I would like to pull my weight and actually bring a cool beer worth sharing like everyone else.

Can anyone recommend a beer that I could pick up or have ordered to Calgary to bring to a a party consisting almost exclusively of beer nerds? Not really looking for anything with wacky added flavours. A bottle big enough to share for under $20CAN would be fantastic.

posted by CarrotAdventure to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Alley Kat and Blindman are Alberta-based and often have good, interesting things to try. Alley Kat's Olde Deuteronomy barley wine might be fun for this particular occasion. Blindman has had some good Imperial Stouts -- the Toasted Coconut in particular. But the most reliable route might be to stop by a good bottle shop and ask for a recommendation. I don't know Calgary well, but either of these two places are what I mean by "bottle shop," and both look pretty promising.

I could put you on to some good breweries from BC, but none of my favourites will ship and they're also annoyingly stubborn about not expanding to other provinces. If you know anyone who's visiting over the holidays from outside AB, though, you could have them pick you up basically anything from 33 Acres and you'd be the toast of the party!
posted by halation at 6:18 PM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Looking at Oak and Vine, they note having Rodenbach Caractere Rouge in as of 30 minutes ago, and not even the most hardened beer nerd would turn that down.
Not sure if they still have it, but a couple weeks ago they had Epic Brewing Quadrupel-Barrel Big Bad Baptist, which is a phenomenal series & a rather limited run, it might face stiffer competition by style but it'll be fantastic.

Shame shipping a bottle up there'd be a non-starter for a few reasons, I'd love to send something your way (this sounds like a fun party)
posted by CrystalDave at 6:30 PM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Is that wine place in Kensington still there? They always had a good selection of fancy beer. I haven’t lived there for a while though.
posted by bighappyhairydog at 6:55 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Unibroue isn't rare rare but it's good stuff, the kind of stuff that reminds you how good it is when you return to it after a while. A big ol' 75cl bottle of La Fin Du Monde is not going to be sniffed at, there are other more obscure or limited-edition options, and based on the beer finder, lots of places in Calgary stock a wide range.
posted by holgate at 7:47 PM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Asking a beer vendor in person might be helpful. Domestic Bottle Shop across from MEC has a fairly good selection, Vine Arts does more wine but does have a decent beer selection as well. Both do growlers, which might be a good size for a party.

You can also go straight to the brewery - Dandy and Cold Garden are two that might have something interesting.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 8:59 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]