A group of Edmonton craft breweries is working together to create a walkable beer-focused area along 99 Street south of Whyte Avenue.
“It’s more for the fans of these brewers because they can easily hop from one location to the next and try a bunch of different things,” said Jay Sparrow, one of the owners of Sea Change Brewing Co.
“We’re going to put out collaboration beers and collaboration T-shirts and all kinds of fun stuff.”
The collaboration Happy Beer Street beer — a dry hop sour — is available Friday.
Seven breweries found along that route are part of the initiative: Blind Enthusiasm, Bent Stick, Omen Brewing, Longroof Brewing Co., Sea Change and Alley Kat.
“We’re all friendly and we talk about things and share ideas all the time so we thought this was a good way to collectivize our group,” Sparrow said.
“It’s nice to have this big group of people. We sell each other equipment, we lend each other grain when we’re short, and we share ideas and we always share new beers. It’s a nice little family we’re growing.”
The breweries are going through the application process of having the district officially renamed Happy Beer Street.
“We pitched the name around and everyone seemed to think it was dumb and funny,” Sparrow said.
“We’d be happy with even a secondary name… like, it’s still 99th Street but underneath it says: ‘Happy Beer Street.'”
Sparrow acknowledges the group is still in the early stages of the naming process, which he expects could take a year or two of lobbying the city. Still, the response so far has been encouraging.
“All the social media response has been huge. The Instagram page is growing rapidly.
“Our fingers our crossed.”
The breweries consider Happy Beer Street to run between 81 and 60 avenues, but they’re happy to welcome any future additions to the brewery family.