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Buzzard Breath Ale
Buzzard Breath Ale™© is a proprietary
brand, produced by Wildrose Brewery in Calgary under
license for distribution and sale throughout Canada and
the United States. Available exclusively at
Buzzards Food Restaurant & Bottlescrew Bill's Pub in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Buzzard Breath Ale's History
Two seminal events for beer lovers
occurred in Calgary in the middle of 1985: Big Rock
Brewery was established as one of the first
microbreweries in Canada and Bottlescrew Bill's Pub
opened its doors in the old Press Club building in
downtown Calgary.
From the beginning, Bottlescrew Bill's specialized in
beer, starting with four import draught lines, twice as
many as any other pub in town (this was 1985, remember!)
Within months, Bottlescrew Bill's two main competitors
installed two more draught lines for imported beer and
Bottlescrew Bill's moved to six. By Christmas 1985, the
competition had six lines and Bottlescrew Bill's felt
obliged to install another two, making a grand total of
eight draughts, all imports, which was fairly radical
for the time.
Alas, the competition soon responded with eight lines
themselves and Stuart Allan, the owner of Bottlescrew
Bill's, began to search for ways to distinguish the pub
further. After stocking as many bottled imports as he
could, he talked with Big Rock Brewery's Alistair Smart,
who at that time was attempting to install draught beer
lines in various pubs, but meeting some resistance as
bar owners were reluctant to remove successful domestic
draught products and replace them with an unknown.
 In
1986 Stuart, Alistair, and Big Rock Brewmaster Bernd
Pieper experimented with a new and hitherto untried
method of dispensing draught beer - through a soft drink
cold plate - and after much manipulation with gas
pressures and hose diameters, the excessive foaming
problem was solved. Suddenly, unpasteurized beer could
be stored at room temperature under the bar, rapidly
cooled/chilled through a cold plate in the ice bin and
served cold to thirsty customers. This breakthrough
resulted in an additional four lines of draught beer
(all Big Rock) at Bottlescrew Bill's and the consequent
installation of Big Rock products in the other major
pub-style bars in Calgary.
As 1986 moved towards 1987, Stuart began to ponder the
possibility of having a beer in his pub that could not
be copied by his competition. As a sideline, Stuart had
been writing a weekly wine column for the local
newspaper since 1982, and he utilized his experience as
a wine taster to create the perfect beer. He wrote down
a complete organoleptic description of what his ideal
beer would be like: aroma, appearance, colour,
carbonation, alcohol level, bitterness, maltiness,
weight, mouth-feel, finish, etc. Armed with this, he
approached Bernd Pieper, who after much thought and
pipe-chewing, allowed as to how he (Big Rock) could not
actually brew a beer from scratch like this, but if
Stuart was prepared to commit to a certain volume (10
kegs a week was finally agreed upon) then we might be
able to come close to the taste profile by blending
different beers that they currently brewed.
So, for three consecutive weeks in March 1987, Stuart
Allan, Alistair Smart and Bernd Pieper gathered in the
tap room at Big Rock every Wednesday afternoon. Mixing
flasks and graduated cylinders at the ready, the process
evolved from a general discussion of style to a more
specific search for flavour and balance. By the end of
the third week, the tasters had settled for an
appropriate blend of the the beers!
In May 1987, Buzzard Breath Ale was released with much
fanfare and proved itself almost immediately by becoming
the top-selling beer in Bottlescrew Bill's inventory, a
position it has maintained to this day.
In the intervening decade, demand grew to such an extent
that Big Rock eventually decided to brew it from
scratch, although the taste profile has remained the
same over the years.
After a long and successful partnership with Big Rock
Breweries, the time arrived in 2006 to move the
production of Buzzard Breath Ale to Wildrose Breweries.
Wildrose was able to maintain all of the characteristics
of our famous brew and we continue to enjoy a
partnership with them to this day!
Drop by our Pub or Restaurant to
enjoy a pint of this 22 year tradition!
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