Alberta Inventors and Inventions

One scarcely expects to see a tiny piece of Calgary brewing history touted throughout the world. Yet there, on the lower left-hand corner of the cover of The New World Guide to Beer by international beer expert Michael Jackson, sits a bottle of McNally’s Extra Ale, a world-class example of Irish ale.

The McNally in question is one Ed McNally, a Calgary lawyer who in 1984 conceived Big Rock Brewery, the first successful microbrewery to emerge in Alberta. McNally’s Extra Ale, a sweet aromatic dark brew of 7 percent alcohol is a mainstay of the Big Rock line. That it shares cover space with established names like Pilsner Urquel from the Czech Republic, Guinness from Ireland, and Anchor Steam from the United States would be considered a grand achievement for a large brewery with a long, rich history.

But McNally knew from the beginning that he would be offering something new to drinkers more used to beers mass-produced—and predictably flavoured for the masses—by a chain brewer of long standing. His first three beers were more akin to highly flavoured English ales, and included a bitter, a porter and a traditional ale.

Sales were slow, and it was not until McNally’s Extra Ale was produced as a Christmas beer in 1986 that Big Rock clearly established itself, and began introducing new beers.

As it turned out, Michael Jackson’s take on McNally’s Extra Ale was more than polite. "Strong, full-bodied, smooth. As proud an Irish Ale as can be found anywhere," he wrote in his guide, which has been continually updated and is available around the world. Thus, "the little brewing company that could" is known worldwide, though its products are available only in North America.

On taste alone, the company was able to expand to the United States, first to enclaves where brewing history and beer flavour were the richest: California and the Pacific Northwest. And though provincial regulations in the brewery’s early days did not allow its beer to be shipped outside Calgary owing to the cottage-industry nature of the microbrewery, Big Rock is now available across Canada with one notable exception. Quebec, a province with a unique microbrewing history that often borrows from Belgian techniques, has not opened its borders to the upstart from Alberta.

As for Ed McNally, in May 2005, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Lethbridge—a somewhat fitting gift from his home town.