By Alex McCuaig

Local drinks

Local beer and spirits abound for New Year`s drinks

Dec 28, 2019 | 4:50 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – As New Year’s Eve approaches so too does thoughts of having a few alcoholic beverages. As 2019 reaches its end, Hatters have a wide variety of locally crafted drinks to choose from.

Travois Ale Works celebrated its one-year anniversary last month and is looking to end this year in style as it hosts a New Year’s Eve party of its own.

With Alberta staking its claim as one of the top destinations for craft brews, one of the co-owner of Travois says Medicine Hat is also attracting attention for its beers.

“In the province, it’s grown vastly in a short amount of time,” said Todd Wiebe of craft breweries in Alberta. “There were originally 15 all through the 90s and now there is 110 all through the province.”

Travois was the city’s third brewery open in recent years with another two in Brooks. But while the local numbers of breweries increase, the competition for beer consumers remains the same.

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“The local other breweries aren’t our competition,” said Wiebe, adding craft breweries are up against the same companies which have dominated Canada’s beer industry for generations. “Hell’s Basement and (Medicine Hat) Brew Co. are our brew brothers. . .For us, if we convert a customer away from the big breweries like Molson and Labbat and into a craft beer and if they enjoy it, then they’ll be future craft beer customers.”

While beer is one favourite tipple, vodka and gin can also provide libation for those thirsty on New Year’s Eve.

Grit City Distillery has been producing spirits for over a year in Medicine Hat with it’s Tasting Room opening up last month serving cocktails and food.

And like the province’s craft brew industry, so too has the craft distillery industry boomed in Alberta.

For co-owner of Grit City, the biggest thing which makes its spirits different is the local ingredients.

“For a lot of our drinks, we actually pick the ingredients around the community,” said Andy Schmunk. “For our absinthe, we pick wormwood from over in the Medalta area and that is a product which is very rare in the world.”

Schmunk said people appreciate having locally made, hand-picked, hand-made products and, when it comes to spirits, enjoy the “farm to flask” concept which makes Grit City’s products original.

“That’s something that you can’t find from a massive factory in Russia where the cheapest ingredient makes the end product,” said Schmunk. “We source some pretty cool ingredients which makes our product – what we like to say – a cut above.”

Grit City will be closed early on New Years Eve but tickets to Travois Ale Works’ New Year’s Eve event are available on Event Brite with a link available by visiting the brewery’s Facebook page.