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Wild Rose Brewery Review - Sept 8, 2023
Wild Rose Brewery has been around since 1996, well before the Craft Beer boom of 2013 when AGLC lowered production limits. Located only a few minutes drive from downtown, in an old airplane hanger at the former military base Currie Barracks, Wild Rose is one of the more popular spots in Calgary. It seems that anytime you visit, the Taproom is always quite busy, and on a hot summer day, you can be sure to find guests on the patio (often with their dogs) enjoying some great beer and some of the better food available at a Calgary Brewery.
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Today, our quest to visit every brewery in Calgary in one year continues with Wild Rose. You can see our other Calgary Brewery Reviews here.
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Wild Rose Brewery has a large menu for beer and food, so choosing a flight, and dinner, here was difficult. As everyone is familiar with the core classics that made Wild Rose famous (Velvet Fog, Wraspberry Ale, Electric Avenue and Barrack Brown) , we decided to try something from the brewers tap (Cold IPA), an exclusive dark wheat beer (which you don't really see that often), a lager because Ales always get the credit and a small batch beer.
With no particular drinking order in mind, we dove right in to the one we were most excited for, Wred Wheat, Canadian Dark Wheat Ale. Instantly we knew we were going to choose this for our beer of the week. This beer, aside form being fairly unique also combined SIX types of wheat and barley to arrive at a super tasty red/amber ale with notes of sweet caramel and a perfect balance. This beer was mega crushable.
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From there we went to the Brewers tap, Heart of Glass Cold IPA. The brewers tap here is always fun and is not something you see everywhere. These smaller batch beers are the brewers way of having some fun and getting creative. Most of the time they have to brew all the beers you see in stores and on taps at other venues, but with this brewers tap, the team gets to experiment and make smaller quantities of other styles of beer. The Cold IPA that the brewer chose here, is a relatively new style of beer that arrived as an offshoot from the IPA craze. The A in IPA stand for Ale, which means it is made at warmer temperatures with ale yeast. However, in the case of the Cold IPA, it is made with lager yeast and cooler temperatures. Often the result, as is the case here at Wild Rose, is a crisper, cleaner and lighter version of an IPA. This combination makes these beers a great sunny day choice.
Number three was the rotating tap White Knight. made with Alberta wheat, this medium bodied beer is standard for the style. Clean and crisp with a citrusy dry finish. Easily drinkable and flavourful would be the best way to describe White Knight.
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Lastly, we went with the Big Hoodoo Lager. We mentioned earlier that lagers don't often get the love they deserve. Craft beer drinkers are so addicted to IPA's / other ales, that those beers dominate the market. Added to the fact that lagers (good lagers) can take several months to brew, compared to a few weeks for some ales, breweries often do not have the capacity or time needed to brew a lager. Here at Wild Rose, they have plenty of both, resulting in a crisp, yet mellow beer that easily can be consumed in volumes.
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We did order some food, which Wild Rose is known for, but the rain came so we had to move inside and just forgot to take a picture.
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The staff, most of whom have been here for a decade or more, are always super relaxed and welcoming. There is a real family vibe here among the team, and it is extended onto the patrons. This is definitely not your pretentious "we-are-such-a-cool-brewery" type vibe. Anytime you visit Wild Rose, the brewers are usually around and are more than happy to talk about beer.
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With great food, a sunny patio, a tasty selection of beers, and super nice staff, Wild Rose is always a perfect spot to visit. Wild Rose is also soon to be part of a new Calgary Brewery District with Vaycay Brewery and Burwood Distilling nearby and not too far away Buffalo 9 Brewing coming soon. We covered New Calgary Brewery Districts here. Will it be called the Currie Barracks, or Currie Beeracks?
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Be sure to ask about Wild Rose for a Calgary Brewery Tour and check out our other Calgary Brewery Reviews here.
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YYCTOURS also offer Calgary Charters if you would like to plan your own event and just need wheels and a driver.