The brewery was founded in 1984, by Ed McNally, who was disappointed in the beer available to buy in Calgary, AB. A lawyer by trade, McNally was representing a group of barley growers in a legal action against the AlbertaWheat Board in the 1980s. Through the course of the legal action, McNally learned that the Alberta climate produces 2-row barley that is ideally suited for malting, and had access to glacial water from the nearby Rocky Mountains. At the time, most barley production in Alberta was used as cattle feed. With an entrepreneurial background, McNally decided to open a craft brewery. The name "Big Rock" was chosen after the Okotoks Erratic, a 16,500-tonne glacial boulder located outside of the town of Okotoks. The first brewmaster was Bernd "Peppy" Pieper, a German brewmaster for Heineken International. In Summer 1986, when Big Rock had been in production for only a year, workers at the Molson and Labatt breweries went on strike. This proved to be a windfall for Big Rock, as it was the only beer available in Alberta that summer, and production quickly grew. The second brewmaster was Larry Kerwin, a former brewmaster for Molson and current distiller at . Kerwin started as a brewer at Big Rock under Pieper in 1994, and took over as brewmaster in 1998 when Pieper retired. He was with Big Rock for 12 years. The third brewmaster was Paul Gautreau. Gautreau joined Big Rock in 1986 as its fourth employee and worked in marketing and operational capacities before replacing Kerwin as brewmaster. Gautreau is a graduate of the Brewing and Packaging program at the University of California, Davis, the Brewing & Malting Science program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, England. He is also a member of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, and he has served as President of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. McNally retired from day-to-day operation of the company, retaining the ceremonial title "Chairman Emeritus" until his death in August 2014. In March 2015, Big Rock's Urban Brewery opened in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2017, Big Rock partnered with restaurateurs Oliver & Bonacini to open , located in Liberty Village, Toronto. On July 23, 2018, Big Rock closed an amended transaction to acquire certain brewing assets and inventory related to branded beer and cider from the Fireweed Brewing Corporation, including beverage brands such as Tree Brewing, Dukes Cider, and Shaftebury.
Products
Big Rock brews 10 year-round beers, 5 ciders, as well as a number of seasonal offerings and limited edition lambic-style beers.
Year-round beers
Traditional Ale – A medium-bodied brown ale in the traditional English style
Grasshopper – A medium-full bodied Kristall Weizen. Winner of the 2007 and 2009 Gold Medal and the 2017 Silver Medal for "Wheat Beer – North American Style" at the Canadian Brewing Awards and named "Best Patio Beer" by the National Post in 2006.
Czech Style Pilsner – A European-style lager. Winner of 5 awards including the 2017 Gold Medal for European Lager – Pilsner at the Canadian Brewing Awards, and the 2019 Gold Medal for German/Czech Style Pilsner at the Alberta Beer Awards.
Big Rock Brewery is the first commercial craft brewery in Canada to develop a wild ale, authentic Belgium style program. They built an isolated wing in their brewery that includes a custom-built 2,000-litre Coolship. It has been designed to replicate the open fermentation conditions of Belgian breweries that specialize in brewing traditional lambic sour beers.
Kriek – 3,000 bottles released in February 2018. A lambic-style Kriek aged in wine barrels with cherries.
Framboise – 1,500 bottles released in March 2019. A lambic-style Framboise aged in wine barrels with raspberries.
Seasonal brews
Midnight Rhapsody Dark Ale – Fall 2018 release
Jackrabbit – A light lager
Contract brews
Big Rock brews beers for restaurants in Western Canada, including:
Hudsons Tap House Beers, which include Beaver Tail Amber Ale, and Lumberjack Premium Lager
In 2017, Big Rock Brewery hosted the Barn Burner Concert at their Calgary brewery. The concert was held in the brewery parking lot and included live music, craft beer, and local food. Headliners included The Sheepdogs, Sam Roberts Band, and The Dead South. In 2018, they expanded the concert series to Toronto playing host to indie-folk group Mt. Joy.
Big Rock Eddies
From 1993 to 2016, the Big Rock Brewery Eddies were an annual event in Calgary that raised money for Calgary arts beneficiaries, including One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, the Calgary Folk Music Festival, and the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts. were a promotional contest to encourage beer drinkers to make an advertisement for Big Rock. The contest later included a student category that allowed post-secondary students to compete with their peers for prize money.
