A World Of Pure Imagination
Amber’s takes SEE on a Willy Wonka tour of their brewery: beer ca taste like pancakes?Published June 26, 2008 by
Melissa Priestley in
Food & DrinkCome With Me, And You’ll See It’s no Chocolate Factory, but the beers coming out of Amber’s are as magical as anything Willy Wonka ever invented.
Upon walking into Amber’s, my first thought is “Where’s the brewery?” As my eyes adjust from the blazing summer sun to the filtered interior, I’m hailed by brewmaster Joe Parrell, who saunters up to me with a good-natured grin.
Amber’s Brewing Company (9926-78 Ave) was born a couple years ago as a two-person operation manned by Parrell and owner Jim Gibbon. They created their first beer through contract with Alley Kat. Last summer they found their new digs in an old Chinese noodle factory, Wing’s Foods, and renovated the entire facility. And Amber’s lineup of craft-brewed beers have been appearing in more and more places around Edmonton ever since.
As we walk amongst gleaming stainless steel tanks and valves, Parrell intersperses his descriptions of beer production with candid stories of the growing pains he experienced as the new brewery took shape.
“I wish you could have seen this place last year—it was a disaster!” he laughs, describing the place as a mess of cords, wires, nuts, and bolts. “I was constantly finding pieces, organizing piles of stuff.... It was like the biggest jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever done.”
He points out a sawed-off pipe jutting out of the ceiling next to a large steel tank and explains that it used to be a container for liquid sugar. “We thought the line was empty,” Parrell says, “so we cut it.” They all too quickly discovered that it wasn’t empty at all. “It ran for three days! We carried thousands of buckets of sugar out to the back. On the first day there were only a couple wasps around. By the third day, there were hundreds. Brewing school doesn’t prepare you for that kind of thing!” (The space has since been converted into a chillout area, complete with vintage chairs and lava lamps.)
As we walk around the mash tun, Parrell notes his previous experience working for Molson was wholly different from what working at Amber’s is like. “I learned more at Amber’s in three months than I did in my whole time at Molson,” he says. “There, everything was automated—you just pushed a few buttons and the beer was made. But here, we climb around on the equipment like it’s monkey bars.”
Most microbreweries follow a similar do-it-yourself approach, as the cost of opening a brewery with shiny new robotic equipment is simply prohibitive. Amber’s uses equipment from the retired microbrewery Flanagan and Sons; their bottling machine comes from the original Coca-Cola plant in Atlanta, Georgia. (As soon as I see that baby blue monstrosity I’m in love: I’m a sucker for anything vintage.) However, even the bottling line was not without its share of trials. On its first test run, Parnell and Gibbon discovered it was designed for the classic stubby Coke bottles, so it had to be modified to fit the modern, sleeker beer bottle. The machine also takes a good 30 to 40 minutes to get going. Parrell describes it as an old man: “it takes him a while to get out of bed in the morning, but when he finally does he’s ready to go.”
We move to the makeshift bar in the middle of the room, where I sample their lineup. I had tried the Australian Mountain Pepper Berry before, which has a unique, powerfully peppery flavour that builds at the back of your palate. It was one of their first brews, released just before the Pale Ale, which is refreshing, crisp, and very good for summer sipping.
I also tried Bub’s Lunch Pail Ale, made with water from the High Level Bridge waterfall. (Don’t worry, it’s clean drinking water, not scummy river water. I checked.) It’s more of an English-style ale and is dangerously smooth, with a small bite of citrusy hops at the end.
With an interesting name and even more interesting flavour, the Sap Vampire Maple Lager is memorable, even if it doesn’t suit your taste. This beer is liquid pancakes. I’m not joking—it’s straight up Aunt Jemima’s, and after a couple of sips, my craving for bacon becomes insatiable. (Why do I always discover breakfast beer while visiting breweries?)
We finish off with Grog, something I hesitate to call a “cooler” as this word has unfortunately become synonymous with mass-produced, hyper-marketed bitchpops favoured by the high school crowd. Grog far outshines anything in the cooler category, tasting like something derived from real fruit. It even has some pulp floating in it. With aromas of fresh limes and a well-balanced palate, it’s a drink you can indulge in without feeling guilty (or underage).
Amber’s may still be in its infancy, but the beer is already good and will only get better with time. And if you need a final reason to check them out, Amber’s is eco-friendly: they have implemented an effective, all-inclusive recycling program and have even gotten rid of their industrial garbage bin.
Ah, guilt-free alcohol
