Medicine Hat's three breweries are part of the Highway 3 Ale Trail collaboration. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Highway 3 Ale Trail bolsters regional breweries and brews

Aug 11, 2023 | 3:16 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – An eight-pack of southern Alberta breweries has combined on a special brew and a tourism initiative meant to boost their profiles along Alberta’s Crowsnest Trail and beyond.

Stretching to the B.C. boundary is the Highway 3 Ale Trail tourism initiative.

“There’s still a pretty small market here for craft beer so we’re all working together and kind of taking on the big guys. So definitely work together and happy to do it,” says Kaiden Vancuren, director of brewing operations at Medicine Hat Brewing Company.

Known casually as Brew Co., Medicine Hat Brewing Company was one of the earliest craft breweries to open south of Calgary.

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There are now about a dozen but instead of competition, there’s a spirit of collaboration that serves them all well.

Brew Co, Hell’s Basement Brewery and Travois Ale Works make up the Medicine Hat contingent. They’re joined by Lethbridge’s Spectrum Ale Works and Theoretically Brewing Company.

Further west are Fort Macleod’s Stronghold Brewing Company, Lundbreck’s Oldman River Brewing and Blairmore’s Pass Beer Co.

Vancuren says it helps make southern Alberta more of a destination for beer lovers

“Calgary has the Barley Belt, Red Deer has Craft Beer Commonwealth area, Edmonton has Happy Beer Street. They all work together to help promote the breweries in the area,” he says. “We’re a little bit further apart but we still know we gotta work together to kinda help bring people down south and check out all the great beer down here too.”

This summer the second Highway 3 Ale Trail Series brew was released, an American Wheat Ale. Vancuren says it’s tasty and easy to drink.

“It’s a great lawnmower beer, good on these hot days we’ve been having this summer.”

The regional partnership is also a way to tap into the growing food tourism industry and an increased focus on tourism corridors.

Jace Anderson, executive director of Tourism Medicine Hat, says this region is uniquely positioned at the crossroads of both those and has been working with Highway 3 partners for a while.

He says the Ale Trail is a fantastic project.

“It’s an opportunity for us to highlight and accentuate the entire route, and a significant number of travellers today are looking for experiences that they can self-guide and meander a little bit and not have to hit certain time frames. Highway 3’s a natural,” he says.

Vancuren agrees and says the Ale Trail comes up often at the participating breweries

“We get people that start in Medicine Hat they check out the three breweries and go all the way to Crowsnest Pass and check out all the other ones,” he says. “So I think it really helps bring people down here and bring more awareness for the breweries and helps all the beer in southern Alberta.”

He says people will be able to pop the top on more Ale Trail brews in the future.