24 CAAR COMMUNICATOR tastiest local-area beer. The Communicator magazine had quite an enjoyable chat with Andryo, discussing everything from beer to hockey to Ikea to hockey and beer. Conversation Lubrication Despite all of the breweries participating and the attendees having the opportunity to savour the best local beers, whenever Andryo organizes The Science of the Six-Pack event, he said it’s all about creating an experience for the people who attend and providing all with a forum to talk about the beer and whatever else comes to mind. Started in 2012 as an event for ATB’s participation at the Agri-Trade Equipment Expo in Red Deer, Alberta. The Science of the Six-Pack beer-tasting event featured six different beers that utilized Alberta malt barley as an ingredient, with beers that ran the full-colour palette from light to dark. They invited 250 farmers to attend the beer tasting, but as luck would have it, only 130 farmers were able to attend thanks to the blizzard conditions affecting the area. Still… 130 farmers braved the elements to sample the beers. ATB wanted to educate the farming community, to let them know just who is buying their malt, and why—not all malt is created equal, especially as far as beer brewers are concerned. They wanted to inform the farmers just what the brewers make and to teach them about the beer-making process to educate them about the value chain of what they produce. “The Science of the Six-Pack was initially seen as a social event after harvest time where people hadn’t seen their neighbour in weeks,” he explained to the magazine. “It was a time to catch up, to reacquaint themselves with their neighbours.” It then became a diversified social event amongst other local-area communities, as it allowed local craft breweries to connect with the people in their area who were using their crops, as well as those who were consuming their products. It was a learning process for all involved. “The CAAR event is all different, of course,” noted Andryo. “It’s all Saskatchewan beers, but there’s the opportunity—again—for the brewers to talk with the farmers about where they get their malt barley from.” The beer-testing attendees will have an app to vote on their favourite beers, Andryo said. “It becomes very competitive as the app projects the results up onto a large screen so everyone can see what’s going on. It then causes those who didn’t see the bump in votes to go out and talk to people to convince them that their beer is the best deserving of Berta.” CAAR’s The Science of the Six-Pack event will feature six beers as chosen by a trio of experienced beer tasters: Andryo and his compatriots, the “Beer Maven” Sondra Baker, and Don Tse, the “Don of Beer.” The beers that will be featured are: • Cyclone Barleywine - Bushwak- ker Brewing Company; • BEER! - based on a German Kölsch, it’s from Rebellion Brewing; • Bavarian Dark Lager from the District Brewing Company; • Vienna Lager - Pile O’ Bones Brewing; • Liquid Whisper, a sour beer from Nokomis Craft Ales; • Milk Stout from Black Bridge Brewing. To learn a bit more about these breweries and the flavour profiles of these beers, go to Page 21 in this very issue. While attendees will certainly be able to vote for their favourite beer, each brewery will be able to provide the audience with a five-minute presentation on themselves, the beers they create, and whatever connection they may have with the local area farmers. Representatives of the breweries are, of course, welcome to hang around with the audience to eat, mingle, and solicit votes—and maybe even learn how a local agri-retailer played a part in the growing of some of the beer ingredients they use. The winning brewery of the The Science of the Six-Pack event, gets to take home Berta, a phenomenal prize for a beer judged superior. SCIENCE OF THE SIX-PACK Unlike the silver and nickel alloy of the Stanley Cup, that other great trophy from Canada— Berta—is made of stainless steel and is awarded to the Canadian craft brewery deemed to have the best-tasting beer at local-area The Science of the Six-Pack events. Above, Graham Sherman & Jeff Orr from Calgary’s Tool Shed Brewing are two-time winners of Berta, when it was held in Alberta in 2014 & 2016. Photo courtesy of Terry Andryo.
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