Alberta's longest-standing brewmaster reflects on beer career

As Alberta's longest-standing brewmaster, Paul Gautreauis a fixture on the provincialbeer scene.

Next month, he'll celebrate 35 years at Big Rock Brewery, where he is vice-president of operations and brewmaster.

Gautreau has watched the industry explode over the last decade. He called in to the Calgary Eyeopener show for a chat with host David Grayto lookback at how much beer culturehas changed and stayed the same over the past few decades.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Thirty-five years.How did you get into brewing beer?

A: That goes back a little bit further.I was in the Canadian Navy in the late '70s, I started as a home brewer over in Halifax butCalgary was my home.

When I came back to Calgary, I jumped into the business and worked for Carling O'Keefe for a little while.

Then Big Rock started up, in the fall of1985, and they were making the kind of beers that I was trying to make at home. Plus, I wanted the opportunity to brew beer for a living.

So, I came knocking on their door and they hiredme in February '86.

Q:So, you met up with a guy with big dreams and an even bigger personality, Ed [McNally], the founder of Big Rock?

A: I did.Ed,he was a lawyer and he was also a bit of an entrepreneur.

He worked to defend the farmers against the Alberta Wheat Board and recognize that Alberta had some of the the best malting barley in the world.

Hehad experience in Europe [with different types of beer]. So if he couldn't get it, he decided he was going to brew his own.

Q: People wouldn't realize it now with so much choice out there, but in those early days, therewasn't that much choice, was there, when Big Rock started?

A: No, even at Big Rock the term craftbeer wasn't even out there, we were called a microbrewery.And you're right, the only kind of black beer,[like] porter, stout, would have been Guinness, and you still couldn't get that.

It was imported, so it would have been aged a little bit and there was no wheat beers or IPAs or anything like that.

Q:Fast forward to today, when there's hundreds of beers in the liquor stores and a "Barley Belt" of brewers in Calgary. What's it been like for you to watch this industry take off?

A:I think it's exciting. I've never seen it as competition.

It's almost like a fraternity, for sure. But I think the idea is that we're growing a segment of the industry that's going to benefit everybody.

We're not thinking about just growing Big Rock's piece of the pie. The bigger piece of the pie that we can get as a craft beer segment in the industry, the better it is for everybody, where we can all succeed.

It gives choiceto people in Alberta as well.

Q: Do you feel pushed by the new brewers out there coming up with new things?

A:I've always considered us to be a leader in the industry, especially in Alberta. But we can't do everything. And there's some pretty creative breweries out there today.

It does drive us a little bit. But it also gives us a little bit of direction as well, because, the market changes, the trends change all of the time.

Even though we are a leader, it's nice to see what other people are doing that might be a little bit different, that could give us some ideas.

Q: How do you celebrate 35 years? Do you have a go to beer?

A: I have been a Trad (Traditional Ale) drinker. That's always my go-to beer any season of the year.

I'm going to have a perfectly chilled Trad and just quietly enjoy that to celebrate.

• Listen to the full conversation, here:

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.