Big Rock Brewery — Restaurant in Calgary

Having only done the Wildrose Brewery Tour in the past I really didn’t have much of a measuring stick going into the Big Rock Brewery, nonetheless I was very excited to check out Canada’s leading craft brewery. Right away after pulling into the parking lot it was that clear I had entered into a new upper echelon of craft beer brewing. Wildrose felt cosy and quaint, but Big Rock’s facility feels massive in comparison. Their bottling facility alone shadows Wildrose’s entire facility! Also on site is the brewing facility of course, a restaurant – “Big Rock Grill” that doubles as their events centre, and acres of farm land they lease out to farmers (some who contribute ingredients to the beers brewed on site!).

Our tour group started at the upper level of their events centre with some beer sampling, despite being at Canada’s largest craft beer brewery one of the biggest hits is actually the Black Currant Cider from their Rock Creek cider series lol. There’s a total of 16 taps on the upper level, the majority being from their Signature Series but there are also a couple Brewmaster Editions like The Great Cherry Farini that I was happy to try. There are all the usual favorites like Grasshopper, Traditional and Honey Brown, but tonight most of the attendees like me are here to expand their palette and try something new! One that I really enjoyed was their SAAZ Republic Pilz; it’s soft and malty with a nice mild hop finish.

After sampling some drinks we put ourselves in the very capable hands of Kelsey our Tour Guide who doubled as our Bartender. We began at the start of the brewing cycle with all the raw ingredients and followed what would be the usual cycle through malting, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting, filtering and finally bottling/packaging. I’m extremely impressed with how well versed Kelsey is with the process and history of Big Rock, she lead a tour McNally would be proud of! The brewery itself is very impressive, from the giant 200 hectolitre tanks right down to their new Nano Brewery tanks and Brewmaster Casks. One of the highlights for me was the two new Open Fermentation tanks, these take in yeast from the open air that are added into the fermentation process. It’s the oldest process known, but one that is new to craft beer in Canada, can’t wait to try the finished product!

To conclude we ended at the gift shop for some more samples along with the opportunity for any additional questions. I was happy to take home a six-pack of SAAZ and a wealth of new...

I want to start this off with I REALLY enjoyed the Barn Burner event. Such a great choice of entertainment. Sound wasn’t obnoxiously loud. Despite the power going out during the headliner, it was a very fun time.

What could be improved for next year, I’m sorry to say that your restaurant portion was severely understaffed. For only taking orders and serving drinks these poor girls were rocked off their socks, but were still in good spirits and friendly.

I understand events like this that have thousands in attendance are not the normal here so I will indeed return and this hasn’t soured my experience at all. This is just an observation and some constructive feedback to make your next years event even more enjoyable than it...

Decent beer rotation. I tried the white peaks steeped tea and it tasted like very watered down Nestea that you can get from the store. I was excited for big sky bbq in big rock since I’ve gone to the one by okotoks but felt disappointed with dried out brisket and the thinnest ribs ever. I didn’t think much of the ribs until my friend ordered them and got massively thick pieces compared to me. Our waitress was pretty lackluster. Constantly forgetting a things we ordered and forgetting people’s drink refills etc.

Overall it sounds bad but their patio was huge and there was a lot of room and you didn’t feel crowded like you would at bars downtown and I believe that was its...