town profiles


Manyberries


◗ Households (2016): *41 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture, Oil and Gas ◗ Largest Employer: City of Medicine Hat ◗ Unincorporated ◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Manyberries Station Caboose *Number provided by Forty Mile County


Orion ◗ Households (2016): *6


◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: Orion District Co-op Association Ltd. ◗ Unincorporated *Number provided by Forty Mile County


Skiff


◗ Households (2016): *10 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: N/A ◗ Unincorporated *Number provided by Forty Mile County


Whitla


◗ Population (2017): *5 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: N/A ◗ Unincorporated ◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Golden Sheaf Park *Number provided by Forty Mile County


Winnifred


◗ Population (2017): *20 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: N/A ◗ Unincorporated *Number provided by Forty Mile County


Towns Nearby Bow Island


◗ Population (2016): 2,025 ◗ Land Area: 5.81 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: Tru-Co Structures Inc. ◗ Mayor: Gordon Reynolds ◗ Incorporated: 1912


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◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Pinto McBean Statue, Blues at the Bow


◗ Motto: “The Bean Capital of the West!”


Brewing is booming cont. from page 25 Benefiting the Community


Brewing brings big benefits to the community. Terry Rock, executive director of the Alberta Small Brewers Association, says small brewers inject millions of dollars into the provincial economy through processing, tourism and post- secondary education.


Rock says that microbreweries have a bigger economic impact on the local economy than macrobreweries, creating up to 10 times as many jobs.


“The craft brewing industry is beautifully inefficient. It takes six to 10 times the labour to brew craft beer than industrial beer. What does that mean? It means more jobs for every pint of local beer that is manufactured and sold.”


Currently, Medicine Hat Brewing Co. employs 11 people while Hell’s Basement Brewery employs 14, five full-time and nine part-time, with plans to expand production and add another brewmaster in late April. In addition, both companies have been responsible for providing work in related industries.


“When we brought our brewery onboard," said Parks of Hell’s Basement, “we made a conscious decision to do as much locally as we could so we had more than 45 different local trades members employed in getting the business up for us and the brewery going. As much as possible, Hell’s Basement with our name and vision, has tried as best as possible to stay true to the local theme and flavour. All our barley comes from Alberta as well as the wheat and any additional grains. We try to get anything else if not locally or from Alberta, then from Canada. For example, the blueberries we used we got from B.C. We actually partnered with our coffee stout with Coffee Station here in town and had them do the roasting of the beans.”


Ditto, says Medicine Hat Brewing’s Kaiden Vancuren. “We try to keep everything local as possible. Any new business is good for the local economy. We are using lots of local services, trying to branch out and use as many local companies as we can. We also help out the Alberta economy by trying as hard as we can to use only Alberta grain.”


Breweries support other local industries such as tourism, equipment manufacturing and agriculture.


“Brewing is a primary industry, a manufacturing business,” explains Sookocheff. “These breweries are supporting different trucking companies, equipment suppliers, maybe not in Medicine Hat but in Alberta or certainly in Canada and as they grow to ship interprovincially it creates opportunities all the way up and down the supply chain which just creates more benefits for support industries.”


“I know there is some interest in the agricultural community about farming hops,” continues Sookocheff. “It’s labour intensive and capital intensive but certainly with the growth in the brewing industry it opens up other opportunities in malting and hops production.”


“There is also a tourism element that is just waiting to be developed in Alberta,” adds Rock. “Because we have our very authentic story about beer being brewed from barley, we think you should come and visit where the barley comes from and drink the beer so we are building that as well.”


The Future


“The market research we have done would suggest that a city this size can support two breweries, but, of course, it takes the citizens of Medicine Hat to support them,” says Sookocheff. “It goes back to shopping local. If you are out at the local pub or in the local liquor store instead of buying Budweiser or Labatts support the little guys and give their beer a try. Go and see them. You can go meet the brewmaster; you can talk with the owners and just like any local business, they appreciate and rely on the support of the community.”


“From what I’ve heard,” continues Sookocheff, “the breweries are doing very well; they can’t even keep up. The community has been very supportive. You see the breweries get involved in the local events. It’s just a great addition to the local business community but also to the community at large. It’s about pride in our community, pride in our city. It’s about celebrating the history and culture of the city, the names. Both breweries have done an amazing job with their branding and I think in five to 10 years we won’t be able to remember a time when we did not have Hell’s Basement Brewery and Medicine Hat Brewing Co.”❚


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