YYCTOURS Is Calgary's Only Locally Owned and Operated Craft Tour Provider.
Four New Walking Brewing Tour Districts in Calgary
This summer a few more Calgary breweries opened for business, creating four new districts for Walking Brewery Tours where beer fans can have a full afternoon of sampling the freshest YYC beers from at least three craft breweries.
These new Calgary Brewery Districts all feature at least THREE breweries, allowing visitors to enjoy a wide variety of craft products without having to commute to different areas of the city to find more. With the exception of the newly opened breweries, practically every venue in these districts has won awards on the provincial level, with several having recently won on the national level at the 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards, meaning you can enjoy some of the best Canadian beers in several areas of Calgary.
Until now, the Barley Belt and Inglewood were the only real ‘walkable’ brewery areas in Calgary that featured at least three breweries in close proximity to each other. The Barley Belt, situated in the Manchester district, just south of the Calgary Stampede grounds, features Cabin, Born, Banded Peak, Confluence Distilling, 2021 Canadian Brewery of the Year The Establishment, and their neighbour Annex Ales. The Historic Inglewood district, one neighbourhood over from East Village/Downtown Calgary houses Ol' Beautiful, Cold Garden, Highline, and Revival Brewcade.
Now, with the recent brewery openings in Calgary, beer fans of all types can also visit Alyth/Bonnybrook, Sunalta, Currie Barracks and 1 St SW to find at least three breweries all within a very short walking distance of each other. As seen on the YYCTOURS Calgary Brewery Map, 16 of these breweries are found in districts that are next to each other and very close to downtown, making them not only easy to access with transit, but also perfect for a walking Calgary Brewery Tour.
1st St S.W.
The Beltline district of Calgary is just south of downtown and houses five breweries. The immediate area of 1st St SW and 10th Ave SW, now has three great breweries all within a two block radius of each other, while just a couple blocks west there are two more. Being close to the downtown core and providing easy access to public transit, this area is a convenient part of the city to visit a few breweries in an afternoon, without having to worry about getting home safely.
33 Acres Brewing Company
33 has a couple locations in Vancouver and they recently opened a small brewery in Calgary that is making some great beer. One of our favourites is the Superberliner series which is a rotating collection of Berliner Weisse style beers. 33 offers a wide range of very well crafted beers, have a nice outdoor seating area facing 11 Ave SW and some seating inside. Read our full review of 33 Acres here.
BottleScrew Bills.
Since 1980 Bottlescrew Bills has been a Calgary landmark and leader in craft beer selection. During the pandemic, they decided to switch things up by removing some tables and putting in a brewery. Now, not only do they produce the standards like hazy’s, lagers and ales, they are one of only a few venues in town that offer Real Ale and Raw Ale. They have an insane amount of space both inside and out with several rooms, divided, covered and raised patio sections and a comfy ‘dive bar’ feel inside. We reviewed BSB for Calgary Brewery Tours here.
Four Dogs Brewing.
Four Dogs are the new kids on the block having opened in July of 2023. They make small batches of beer onsite while consignment brewing offsite with 2020 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Common Crown in order to meet the demand for their beer. Four Dogs has quickly gained popularity for being one of only a couple places in town that can have dogs inside the brewery. Check out our review of Four Dogs here. To see a Dog friendly map of Calgary showing which breweries you can visit with your pooch, check out this map.
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Last Best and Inner City
Just west on 11 Ave you can find Last Best who are both a brewery and a distillery, and Inner City brewing.
Sunalta, CalgaryÂ
Located just west of the Beltline (14 St SW) there are three more Calgary breweries to visit within three blocks of each other. All featuring great food and various styles of brew for any level of beer drinker.
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Tailgunner Brewing
Tailgunner is one of our favourite breweries in town for a few reasons. First the ownership and team are great people which always makes a venue worth visiting. They offer a bratwurst which in our books, is a must when consuming beer, and lastly, they use a very traditional German and Czech brewing technique called decoction. Decoction involves taking parts of the mash out and boiling them at different temperatures, then adding them back into the mash, to create added layers and dimensions to the overall beer. Normally this is done to lagers, which is what Tailgunner specializes in.
Two House Brewing Company
Located just a few blocks west of Tailgunner is Two House brewery and Acme Pizza. Two House used to be in a different building close to 14th St, but they moved West after constructing their own building and relocating the equipment there. Several beers are available in the large barn-style brewery and they offer snacks and pizza through Acme Pizza which operates from within the brewery.
Best of Kin Social
The newer of the three, Best of Kin is located directly on 14th St. It is a small batch brewery with tasty food and a great family atmosphere. BOK offers a wide variety of beer from lagers to hazy’s, but are possibly best known for their Coffee Kelp Stout.
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Alyth BonnybrookÂ
Situated on the south-side of Inglewood, Alyth/ Bonnybrook now has three top notch breweries that are all within walking distance of each other. One of them just opened and is serving great beer with a cool concept, while the other two are some of the most heavily awarded breweries in Calgary.
Eighty-Eight Brewing Co.
Everyone in Calgary knows Eighty-Eight. They are multi-time provincial and national award winning brewers and masters of hazy beers. 88 also has more than a dozen other beers across all styles pouring fresh on tap. The Inside of Eighty-Eights Calgary 88 olympics themed taproom is Portland Street Pizza, which offers some of the best pies in town, along with great charcuterie, meatballs and more. There is also lots of outdoor and dog friendly seating.
Dandy Brewing Company / Dandy Pizza
Dandy has been around since the beginning of the craft beer boom in 2013. They craft excellent products and also serve great pizza. Any beer that is made at Dandy is going to be delicious as they consistently win awards for their brews. Dandy features a line up of core beers along with several small batch rotating features.
Evil Corporation Brewing
As we covered in our recent review of Evil Corporation Brewing here, they make some great beer and serve it up from a pillar in the middle of the taproom floor. This creative barless concept is something we have never seen before and is proof that the Calgary brewery scene is not only leading the way nationally in award winning beer production, but also through innovation.
Currie Barracks
Ok, this one is a little bit early as we are still waiting for Buffalo 9 Brewing to open their doors, but, until then, Currie Barracks offers easily walkable access to two breweries and a distillery. The Currie Barracks, a former military base, is located a few minutes drive South-west from Calgary's downtown core and off of Crowchild Trail near Mount Royal University.
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Vaycay Brewing and Burwood Distilling
This large former military horse stable has been converted into a brewery and distillery that both share a restaurant called Veranda. Having recently opened in spring of 2023, the venue boasts a large amount of seating and a full sun patio. Vayacy brewing pumps out a series of core beers and are slowly introducing new styles to the mix. Burwood Distilling crafts a wide array of spirits and RTD’s (ready-to-drink) canned cocktails.
Wild Rose Brewery
Wild Rose is an institution when it comes to Calgary craft beer. They opened prior to the 2013 craft beer boom and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent craft beer producer with a cool quonset hut style brewery that serves really good food. Wild Rose always seems to have people in it, but with ample seating inside and out, there is always room for more.
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If you would like to visit more than one brewery district in a day, be sure to sign up for a Calgary Brewery Tour where you not only sample great beer, you also get to learn how it is made with a behind-the-scenes brewery tour.
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