Frequently Asked Questions
OUR TAPROOM
ARE YOU OPEN?
Our taproom and patio are open for off-sales, online order pickups, and limited indoor & outdoor seating, with the proper guidelines to keep everyone safe. Our hours are:
Mondays - CLOSED
Tuesdays - 3:00 to 9:00 pm
Wednesdays - 12:00 to 9:00 pm
Thursdays - 12:00 to 10:00 pm
Fridays - 12:00 to 11:00 pm
Saturdays - 12:00 to 11:00 pm
Sundays - 12:00 to 7:00 pm
DO YOU TAKE RESERVATIONS?
Our taproom and patio are primarily seated first come, first served. We do not take reservations for parties smaller than 15 people. Requests for private and semi-private bookings can be submitted here.
IS YOUR TAPROOM KID-FRIENDLY?
Yes! Well-behaved children are welcome if accompanied by well-behaved adults.
IS YOUR PATIO DOG-FRIENDLY?
Yes! We love a good patio pup, and have a rotating tap of water bowls for them, too.
WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?
The Establishment Brewing Company is located at 4407 1 Street SE in Calgary. We are situated in the heart of Calgary's Manchester brewing district - an area perfect for brewery hopping with breweries like Born Brewing, Cabin Brewing Company, and Annex Ale Project nearby, as well as cideries and distilleries like Uncommon Cider and Confluence Distilling.
HOW DO I GET TO THE TAPROOM?
We are just a 5-minute walk south from the 39 Avenue SW CTrain station on the Red Line as well as along the #10 Bus Route (Southbound Stop #4801 at Macleod Trail and 42 Avenue SE or Northbound Stop #5556 at Macleod Trail and 42 Avenue SE) and the #30, #147 and #449 Bus Routes which stop at Westbound Stop #5575 at 42 Avenue SE and 1 Street SE. Our taproom is also a block off the new 42nd Ave Multi-Use Pathway, so it’s easy to ride your bike or scooter down to the taproom.
IS THERE PARKING AVAILABLE NEAR THE TAPROOM?
We have limited number of angle parking spots in the lot adjacent to the East side of the building, as well as plenty of free, street parking along 1 Street SE. There is no dedicated handicap parking stall at this time.
IS THERE A PLACE I CAN LOCK UP MY BIKE?
Yes, we have plenty of bike rack space to lock up your whip. Also, we are a block off the new 42nd Ave Multi-Use Pathway, so it’s easy to ride down to our taproom.
IS THE TAPROOM Accessible for Those with Mobility Impairments or require Wheelchair Access?
All of the public areas in our taproom are programs located on ground level and can be accessed without stairs, and our restrooms are spacious enough to fit a wheelchair or scooter, and they each have a metal support bar. The main door to our taproom and our two restroom doors are 35 inches in width for wheelchair or scooter access. There is angle parking in front of our main door, but no dedicated handicap parking stall at this time.
IS YOUR TAPROOM ACCESSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE VISUALLY IMPAIRED?
Our main entrance has a manual pull door with a left-handed vertical handle, and one of our taproom staff will greet you at the door.
Our menu is available online at establishmentbrewing.ca/menu. This page is readable with screen readers. We do not currently have any signage with braille or raised tactile lettering.
We have 2 restrooms that are on the left-hand side of the restroom hallway. The first restroom on your left has a sink immediately to the right as you enter through the door and a toilet in the far right corner from the door. The toilet has a metal support bar to the right of the toilet. The second restroom on your left has a sink immediately to the left as you enter through the door and a toilet in the far left corner from the door. The toilet has a metal support bar to the left of the toilet.
ARE YOUR RESTROOMS Gender ACCESSIBLE?
There are 2, single-person, all-gender washrooms in our taproom that are spacious enough to fit a wheelchair or scooter, and they each have a metal support bar. One of our washrooms also has a baby changing table.
DO YOU SERVE FOOD IN YOUR TAPROOM?
We serve the perfect snacks to pair with your favourite beers, from Glamorgan Bakery’s legendary Cheese Buns to Bretzelking’s authentic European-style Pretzels and mixed nuts. You can also have food delivered directly to the taproom from our friends at A1 Cantina and Inglewood Pizza. Just tell them to deliver it to The Establishment Brewing Company at 4407 1 Street SE. You can find our full menu here.
DO YOU HAVE NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK OPTIONS IN YOUR TAPROOM?
We have some great non-alcoholic drink options available in the taproom, from craft-brewed kombucha made by True Büch to Soda from our neighbours at Annex Soda and juice boxes for children. We also have non-alcoholic cocktails from Wild Folk, and light and dark non-alcoholic beer options made here in Calgary by One For The Road.
DO YOU TAKE USED CAN HANDLES to be reused and recycled?
Yes! Our 4-packs use 100% recycled HDPE handles, and we will gladly collect your used can handles. We will clean and reuse whatever we can, and the rest will go to our neighbours at Annex Ale Project, who act as a consolidation port for the PakTech Recycling Program.
OUR BEER
WHAT BEERS DO YOU HAVE AVAILABLE?
You can find our menu here. It has the latest list of beers that we have available on tap, for growler fills, and for off-sales.
DO YOU DO GROWLER FILLS?
Yes, we always have a few beers on tap that we fill in Growlers. You can find our growler menu here. You can bring in your own (clean) growler, but we also have glass growlers and stainless steel STANLEY® growlers for sale in the taproom.
DO YOU OFFER KEG RENTALS?
Yes! We have 30L and 50L kegs available for purchase. Please follow the Keg Off-Sales link on the Contact Us page of our website for more information and to submit a request.
ARE YOUR BEERS GLUTEN-FREE?
We strive to have a cider tap that features a rotating collaboration cider with our neighbours at Uncommon Cider. We also have gluten-free non-alcoholic beverages available in the taproom, like True Büch Kombucha, Annex Soda, and Wild Folk non-alcoholic cocktails. Our beer is not strictly gluten-free, as we use barley, wheat, and oat products in production
What are the Carbohydrate calculations for your beers?
While we don’t know the exact carbohydrate calculations for our beers, the specific gravity of a beer once fermentation has completed (Final Gravity) can give us a good estimate of the overall carbohydrates left over in the beer.
Very Low: our barrel-aged wild beers are all very low in carbohydrates in general, including those we have on tap and on our in-house cellar menu, as well as our cider we made in collaboration with Uncommon Cide.r
Low: our ‘light’-style beers such as My Best Friend’s Girl (Kölsch-style Ale, 4.8% ABV) and PilsGNAR (German Pilsner, 5.2% ABV) are typically low in carbohydrates.
Medium: our pale ales, fruited sours and dark ales often have medium amounts of carbohydrates.
High: our New England IPAs and porters are generally high in carbohydrates.
Very High: our Imperial-strength beers (New England IPAs and fruited sours), as well as bourbon barrel-aged beers, have the highest levels of carbohydrates.
DO YOU EVER BRING BACK PAST BEERS?
We don’t discriminate against beer styles and are constantly dreaming up new delicious brews. But, we never say never, so the best will likely come back for an encore.
DO YOU OFFER HOME DELIVERY OR SHIPPING?
At this time, we do not offer home delivery or shipping services.
WHERE DO YOU BREW YOUR BEERS?
All of our beers are brewed and fermented at our taproom and brewery at 4407 1 Street SE in Calgary in the heart of the Manchester brewing district.
Our Barrel-aged WILD BEER
We don’t discriminate against beer styles, but our true love is barrel-aged wild beers. Our Barrel-aged Wild Beer program is inspired by old-world techniques and new-world styles. It’s a traditional method of ageing beer and is great for developing sour beers in particular. Part of the uniqueness of the program is that they use their own wild yeast cultures which have been developed and maintained over the years. These are one-off limited-edition brews, so grab them when you can.
WHAT ARE YOUR BARREL-AGED WILD BEERS?
Our barrel-aged wild beer program is the first of its kind in Calgary, inspired by old-world techniques and new-world styles. We use a traditional method of ageing beer that is great for developing sour beers in particular. Part of the uniqueness of the program is that we use our own wild yeast cultures which have been developed and maintained over the years. These are one-off limited-edition brews, so grab them when you can.
How Many Barrels do you have? What type of Barrels do you have?
We have just shy of 100 barrels in our brewery! Almost all of our barrels are used red wine, "neutral oak" barrels. These barrels were previously used for all kinds of red wine, like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. The wineries use the barrels until the barrels no longer add oak flavour to the wine, and that's when we buy them. Sometimes for a few years, sometimes up to a decade.
When you age beer in Oak Barrels, do You get the oak flavour in the beer?
The oak barrel doesn't impart a strong oak flavour since the red wine process has already stripped away the strong oak flavour. That said, we do get some oak flavour, but it's very gentle; vanilla, tannins, light oak notes. Not like you get with Bourbon, or Whisky barrels. The reason we do age in oak barrels is that the wild yeast and bacteria love to live in the oak. The small amount of oxygen that gets through the oak keeps all those healthy cultures alive during the long ageing process.
Are All of your Barrel-Aged Beers Sour?
A great majority are. Our "house" wild culture has some bacteria that produce lactic acid during fermentation, very similar to sourdough! We do have some barrels that are not sour, however, they have Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that loves to live in oak and produces some complex flavours during the long slow fermentation in barrels.
What type of fruit do you use in your beers?
We love to use whole and ripe fruit whenever possible, from local Alberta and British Columbia farms. Due to seasonality restraints, sometimes we decide to use high-quality fruit purees. We never use concentrates or flavourings in any of our beer!
Why do you put your barrel-aged wild beer in bottles and not cans?
Mainly because that's how it's done traditionally in Belgium, but also because glass can handle higher carbonation levels. Some of our wild beers are highly carbonated and cans can bulge and deform if the carbonation is too high.
How long does the beer stay in barrels?
We wait for two things: the fermentation is done and the beer tastes good. This typically takes about 8-10 months, but because of the nature of the wild microbes present in the fermentation, it could take longer, up to 2-3 years! Every barrel has its own personality by virtue of the wild microbes present and living in the wood, and some take longer than others. They all taste different!
Where are your barrels from?
Most of them are from the Okanagan wine-making region (notably Burrowing Owl winery), but some come from U.S. wine producers. A majority of them are of French Cooperage (they were made in France with European oak).
DO YOUR BARREL-AGED BEERS GET BETTER WITH TIME?
We can never predict exactly what will come of our barrel-aged wild beers as they age over time, but we can predict that they will change with great certainty. Fruit flavours and aromas evolve, dissipate, and transform. The rustic or funky character of the beer will often increase with age, the bitterness can become lower, and the carbonation may increase slightly, and all of this depends on how you store the beer.
CAN I CELLAR YOUR BARREL-AGED BEERS?
We wait patiently and age the beers ourselves before we release these beers so that when we do, we know they are tasting great. So the ageing is not necessary to fully enjoy the beers, but it is fun to see how they develop over time! Each one will be different as they change over time since the wild microbes are still present in the bottle and will change the flavour profile. We recommend no longer than 1.5-2 years. But don't wait too long! Once the microbes die off, the beer will deteriorate rather quickly. This type of beer is a live product and it should be handled delicately.
HOW SHOULD I STORE THEM?
If you want to cellar our barrel-aged wild beers, ideally they should be kept in a cool, dark cellar at less than 16°C (around 12°C is great!). A basement around 16-17°C would also work, but that might be a bit too warm for really extended (years) ageing.
HOW LONG SHOULD I CELLAR THEM FOR?
Regarding how long they can be aged, we found that our beers tend to peak around the 1-year cellar mark, but after that, we don't have much experience because we've only been making these beers for 2 years! With other commercial mixed culture beers, our personal experience is that after about 1-2 years the quality starts to degrade (the mixed microbes die off, and oxygen gets in and starts to affect the beer in negative ways).
What’s the best what to serve out of the bottles?
We recommend chilling the bottles to refrigerator temperature, typically for a few hours before opening. The ideal serving temperature is around 6°C - 8°C. Gently open the bottle and pour the beer. Be careful not to rouse the lees (yeast) at the bottom of the bottle. When pouring, keeping the bottle at an angle will help prevent the lees from coming up into suspension. Note how the flavour changes as the beer warms up.
What's all that stuff at the bottom of the bottle?
Since we bottle condition with live yeast (referment in the bottle to create carbonation) there will be residual lees (yeast) that settle over time. It's totally OK to drink the lees, there isn't much of a flavour difference if the lees get stirred into the beer, so there is nothing to be concerned about, but it does affect the appearance of the beer.