Drinking at the 'Local Spot'

In only my second column, I broke code and talked about coffee, a beverage that is anything but local and, while there are coffee houses (Roca Jack's in Regina) that import their own fair trade, organic coffee and roast it locally, coffee nevertheless remains a commodity that must be shipped here from faraway places. As such, coffee leaves a heavy carbon footprint when it comes to Saskatchewan. My thoughts, then, turn to the other libations I enjoy, and it is on this terrain that I find both satisfaction and relief that I can source them locally.

It will surely come as no surprise that Saskatchewan grows some of the highest quality barley in the world. Happily, in the middle of our prime barley growing region is a company called Prairie Malt Ltd. Located in Biggar, Prairie Malt takes approximately 220,000 metric tonnes of barley, every year, and converts it into malted barley, which is one of the four cornerstones of my favourite beverage. The malting process is, in short, a cruel joke played on innocent kernels of barley. Steeped in water and laid out in massive “streets” the barley grains begin germinating, converting starches into sugars to feed the dramatic growth that ensues during the growing season. Just when the plant is ready to send its delicate tendrils up into the warm prairie sky, the germination process is arrested by kiling. In the kiln (basically an oven), hot air blasts the grains, stopping germination and securing fermentable sugars for the production of a wonderful, complex and ancient drink: beer.

Beer, at its core, is the result of many brilliant chemical interactions between fermentable sugars, water, hops and yeast. Despite the best efforts of industrial breweries to convince us otherwise, beer is, in fact, a wonderfully complex and diverse source of refreshment and nourishment. From the crisp, refreshing and purposefully tasteless American light lager to the thickest, strongest and tastiest barleywine, beer can be, and is, produced with local ingredients. I've talked already about barley malt; let's look at the other pillars of beer.

Hops are flowers whose bitterness is used to offset the cloying sweetness of the barley sugars I discussed earlier. While Saskatchewan isn't known for its hop crops, I can tell you this: related to hemp and cannabis, hops basically are weeds that will grow like mad with minimum care, especially in Saskatchewan's long, warm, and sunny growing seasons (of course, the hops I planted in my yard last spring failed utterly to grow—no doubt, I've earned a karmic bumper crop for 2010). So, once the hop harvest is in, and the 100lb bag of barley malt is sourced from Prairie Malt, all we need is some tap water and some yeast. Add time and some loving care, and you too can have a world-class drink that will put the Molson, Coors and Labatts empires to shame.

Of course, if you have neither the time, nor the inclination to geek out in the brew room like yours truly, please take a look at some of our local brewers. For Regina folks, please do check out the Bushwakker, one of Canada's finest brewpubs, in whose basement, brewer Mitch produces everything from the lightest lager to the hoppiest India Pale Ale, the maltiest Doppelbock and everything in between. In Saskatoon, drop by Paddock Wood, a craft brewery that kicks out quality ales and lagers for the SLGA, and specialty brews for beer geeks like me. The moral of the story is this: if you plan to go locavoracious, coffee is out. Beer, however, is fair game. Please drink responsibly.