Big Rock beers are distributed from Newfoundland to British Columbia, all northern territories, and to South Korea.

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Rahr Malting

Twenty-five years ago, Ed McNally had a neighbor, Otto Leverkus, in Alberta, who would return to his Swiss home every October.  When McNally asked  why Leverkus split his time between the two countries, he told him he loved Canada but he missed drinking “real beer.”

This put the wheels in motion for Big Rock Brewery, an independent craft brewery located in Calgary, Alberta. After starting out with a 25,000 square-foot building and a radical – by Canadian standards – English bitter in 1984, the brewery now brews and markets eleven distinctive brands, including a cider, and has a strong showing on the TSX exchange. “A lot of things we’ve done have been copied by big and small brewers, such as quirky labeling and sterile cold filtration” McNally says. “That first English bitter was replaced with a mellow, smooth English style ale that proved to be our flagship brand and we’ve never looked back, growing a market from drinkers experiences with that beer.”

The eleven products produced today are:

• Traditional Ale – Its flagship English-style amber
• Grasshopper – A wheat ale
• XO Lager – A true Czech-style Pilsner
• Honey Brown – A smooth lager with a hint of Alberta honey
• Jack Rabbit – A crisp, mild, light lager
• Warthog – Mild brown ale  
• Pale Ale – A genuine dry-hopped India pale ale
• McNally’s Extra – A strong and full-bodied Irish ale with buttery maltness
• Black Amber – A rich stout
• McNally’s Reserve – A special beer only available in draught
• Rock Creek Cider – A cider made from Okanagan cider apples

All of Big Rock’s brews are hand crafted in accordance with the 1516 Bavarian Law of Purity, and McNally says Big Rock was the first brewery in North America to follow the edict. “Each beer is 100 percent malt, naturally carbonated, additive free, and sterile cold-filtered,” McNally says. “With no addictives or adjuncts used, it is like comparing homemade bread to Wonderbread. It’s got a good, wholesome taste because we don’t pasteurize the beer like the big brewers do.”

Big Rock handles sales and distribution from its brewery in Calgary as well as a distribution facility in Edmonton, Alberta. Its beers are distributed from Newfoundland to British Columbia, all northern territories, and to South Korea. Big Rock is exploring other opportunities in the United States, Asia, and Europe, as well.

Getting Efficient
Inflation is rampant in every industry, and Big Rock and its operations have not been spared.  McNally says the company is working on becoming more efficient to deal with the rising cost of business, specifically in terms of transportation.

“Rising beer transportation will become a factor because what comes around goes around,” McNally says. “Big breweries in the ’20s and ’30s began to use transportation as an edge to gain market share from local brewers who could not be as efficient serving only one market. Now, the smaller breweries are gaining some of that edge back because the transportation costs have skyrocketed and a local brewer can keep costs in line if [they] use local suppliers of raw materials.”

Another trend has been the consolidation of the major breweries in both the United States and Canada. McNally says this is the reason imports and craft breweries are growing in popularity throughout North America. “These consolidations hurt mainstream brands as average drinkers begin to look for craft brews with more taste and authenticity,” he adds.  “It is really beginning to derail the old big breweries [built on] huge advertising budgets.”

Laid-Back Corporate Culture
Throughout its history, Big Rock has maintained a family atmosphere for its corporate culture, which McNally believes has led directly to his company’s high retention rate. “It must be a happy place to work since we have original employees that have been here 25 years,” he says.  “We haven’t lost anybody except to age, and we have a very family atmosphere.

“It is a major thing in my mind, and I am not sure you can do it and get much bigger.  But if they all feel they have input, they will feel like a part of it. It is probably a huge advantage to all craft brewers that we don’t have massive equipment and massive amount of employees.”

When it comes to hiring new employees, McNally says he primarily looks for fans of his beer who want a career with Big Rock. “The first guy I hired was an English policeman who had a job in a Calgary women’s clothes store,” McNally says.  “He came to me and wanted a job and asked what he should do. So, he went out and sold beer and trained himself.”

Big Rock even lets fans develop advertising through an annual competition. The Big Rock Eddies is the company’s annual beer commercial contest for amateur producers. Since 1994, it has raised money for charities.