Our Brews

Cranberry Wheat Ale

Posted on January 08, 2007 at 11:30 PM in Our Brews

Cranberry Wheat started out as a summer seasonal beer, only available in the Yukon and only from about Victoria Day till Labour Day (no snarky comments about the length of a Yukon summer, please!). The beer grew immensely popular as the word got out...the last summer that the beer was only available seasonally (2003) the summer supply sold out in mid-June! The following spring, we decided (actually, we just got tired of being asked) to develop packaging and launch the brand full-time.

And, being smart guys who learn from their experience, we made sure that we had lots available for the summer! So, this time we ran out in early July instead of mid-June. This beer has been doing so well in the Yukon, we decided to let the bear lose on Alberta as well. Why is the beer so popular? First things first...flavour!

We have tried a number of different fruit beers, and always found them, well, too fruity. But cranberries, especially Yukon cranberries, are tart – very tart. So, they kind of act like a slice of lemon or lime. And, many people drink wheat beers with a slice...in this beer, it’s kind of built-in. Like many wheat beers, it is unfiltered so that the tangy flavour of the yeast can mingle with the tangy flavour of the wheat.

We do use local cranberries, by the way, when they are available. That means in the fall, after a good berry season. It is extremely weather-dependent. When they are not available fresh, we use a 100% natural cranberry concentrate that we purchase fresh-frozen from British Columbia.