Canada
Calgary
Big Rock
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Ed McNally, Founder and CEO of Big Rock Brewery, is a native Albertan who as a young boy growing up in Lethbridge, had been exposed to the legacy of the Sick's Brewery. It was a boyhood dream of Ed's to be involved in brewing. He had seen the success of Sick's Brewery brewing of Rainier and Lethbridge Pilsner and had marveled at the perceived simplicity: brew beer and sell beer. Ed's outside perspective simplified a complex business.
He grew up to study and practice law - a useful discipline that paid the bills and taught him how to see a way through red tape. He was asked one day to represent a group of Alberta barley growers in a law suit against the Canadian Wheat Board. The issue was that the Wheat Board was selling premium malting barley for premium dollars but not paying the farmers that grew the malting barley the premium price. He was then appointed to the Board of Directors of the Alberta Barley Growers and discovered that Alberta grows some of the finest two row malting barley in the world. It contains less proteins and more carbohydrates which is perfect for brewing beer. He also learned that the largest malting company in the world was located right in Calgary - Canada Malting Company. Being a risk taker, Ed decided to become a farmer and grow barley.
Anyone who is a farmer will attest to the fact that in order to be a good and successful farmer you have to be smart, focused, and sensitive to nature. The definition of an entrepreneur, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is "one that undertakes a commercial enterprise with a chance of profit or loss." The farmer is a classic entrepreneur. As a farmer, Ed learned how to cope with all sorts of obstacles. Farming, and perhaps his Scottish heritage, tempered him into one tough, hard working individual. He is smart, focused, and highly attuned to the environment.
Like most farmers who have worked a long full day, Ed cherished a good beer. But Ed is a gourmet and a connoisseur. He found it very difficult to palate the local beers that were available to him. He found himself paying a premium price for an import beer because he felt that domestic beers were often bland and excessively carbonated. Two questions arose: why, if Alberta grows the best barley and has good hard water, could he not get a good local beer? And why was the top quality malting barley he grew being sold for cattlefeed?
The entrepreneur in Ed McNally stirred. It was March, 1984.
There were a number of things that needed to be done. First, Ed had to do a market study to determine if there was a market place for such a beer in Alberta. Second, he had to get the necessary financial backing to build a brewery in Calgary. Third, he had to find someone who could brew the beer that he had in mind. Fourth, he had to get the permits to brew beer. Fifth, he had to build a brewery. Sixth, he had to develop the packaging and labels for the product. And finally, he had to brew beer and sell beer.
Financial backing came from a few close friends and Ed's immediate family. They knew him, listened to his reasoning and were impressed by his entrepreneurial spirit. It was an unusual time to get financial backing because Calgary was still reeling from the economic recession in the oil and gas industry - the dominant local industry. Calgarians were very cautious investors and the scheme to brew ales in a lager drinking province sounded a little too risky to many of them.
The brewmaster, the man who could create these beers that Ed had in mind and also build a brewery, was a pivotal appointment. Advertisements were sent out worldwide. Otto Leverkus, an original investor in the Brewery and long time friend of Ed's, was enlisted to help find this brewmaster. Living in Switzerland, Otto interviewed Bernd Pieper and telephoned Ed saying that he thought he had found the man for the job. Bernd, whose resume stood out from all the others, had brewed Guinness in Africa and had been the head brewmaster for Lowenbrau in Zurich. He came to meet Ed McNally and to see Calgary. Bernd too was an entrepreneur, and he was impressed by the vision Ed had explained to him and he wanted to use his education and experience to brew his own beers. He was also intrigued that there were still real cowboys and believed that perhaps, the wild west was still alive in Calgary. Bernd Pieper became the Brewmaster of Big Rock Brewery.
The name Big Rock Brewery and the names of all the beers are attributed to Ed McNally. 'The Big Rock' is a glacial erratic, part of the Foothills Erratic Train and is located east of Okotoks, Alberta. It symbolized a number of things to Ed. It was something that had stood the test of time, it was a local phenomenon, and it had a short and snappy name.
The development of the attention getting labels came from the labour of a local Calgary artist - Dirk Van Wyk. When Ed and Dirk first met, Ed had brought with him a number of wine labels and told Dirk to design a beer label. Ed wanted a piece of art and something out of the ordinary because the beer Big Rock would produce was going to be out of the ordinary. He wanted the label to indicate to the buyer "natural" and "quality". The Traditional Ale label was drawn. It was then sent off to Toronto to be printed and it came back in a very fancy matted portfolio printed on trimmed foil paper. The only word that was legible was "Traditional". The printers had completely revamped the original art work and tried to make it glossy and graphic. Both Ed and Dirk gasped, and they admitted that it was not what they had in mind. They realized then that if they wanted anything done that mirrored their vision, they would have to do it themselves. What Big Rock wanted was to be unique and quality conscious. Anything standard was, in Big Rock's estimation, the lowest denominator. There were no standard procedures as everything was new, and even today everything is always evaluated and changed to fit whatever Big Rock needs.
The first eight employees of Big Rock were all characterized as having a solid sense of individualism, loyalty, and humour, and all were extremely hard working. The same is true of the staff today: exceptional people produce exceptional beer and give exceptional service.
Initial sales were slow. The first three beers Big Rock produced were the Traditional Ale, Bitter, and Porter. All were distinct full flavoured natural unpasteurized beers. Big Rock had two goals: to develop Albertans' palates for such beers and to get the people drinking import beers to try Big Rock.
The sales representatives, none of whom had any previous sales experience, but who were all extremely knowledgeable about beer and their product, used all of their tenacity and wit to open the market. Every sales call was a cold call. Alastair Smart, a British-born Canadian, centered his attention on the pubs. He developed a draught beer system that let pubs which did not have expensive refrigerated draught systems to carry Big Rock draught. And as draught beer is always less expensive than bottled beer, people were trying Big Rock and their palates were evolving.
Big Rock began producing the Pale Ale in June of 1986. It is a blond beer with a mild finish. A perfect introductory beer and a delicious thirst quencher. The kick off for Pale Ale coincided with a strike at the big breweries. The only beer available during a very hot summer was Big Rock. Big Rock brewed 24 hours a day to meet the sudden demand and all of the employees donned their rubber boots to get that beer ready and delivered. Even the President sat and watched clean bottles fly by on the assembly line. Pale Ale's success was the turning point for Big Rock and sales doubled.
At Christmas 1986 a seasonal beer was developed - McNally's Extra, a 7% alc/vol Irish style ale that exceeded all expectations. Extra crossed all the demographic borders and exposed this world class beer to new Big Rock enthusiasts. Sales doubled and an adjacent building was purchased.
Big Rock learned that like wine, beers could be consumed with different meals or occasions and that, by offering a large variety of beers, Big Rock would appeal to a larger drinking public. Also, the trend towards drinking less meant that people wanted to drink something fuller flavoured. The fact that Big Rock was, and is 100% natural was also appealing.
The 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary and the huge number of visitors were keen to try local fare. They were impressed by Big Rock beer, and substantial numbers of the press covered an event called the Alelympics at a local pub called Buzzards. Patrons were given a passport and had it stamped after drinking a pint of one of the showcased beers. All of Big Rock's beers were on hand including a new beer created to celebrate the Olympics, the Cold Cock Winter Porter. This beer's name promoted Big Rock's marketing concept to use beer labels and names that caught people's attention. The Brewery tripled its capacity and another building was annexed.
Big Rock saw an opportunity to expand its market place into the United States. Produce trucks hauling goods from California to Calgary were returning to California empty. Freight was inexpensive and the market in California for specialty beers had already been developed by beers like Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada. It was an opportunity to see how Big Rock's products competed directly against similar quality micro brewed beers. Buzzard's Breath, Warthog, Grasshopper, and McNally's Extra Ale beers have all been warmly received. Sales tripled.
In 1993 Big Rock became a publicly traded Company. Construction of our state-of-the-art brewery was completed in July 1996. Production capacity increased from 150,000 Hectolitres to 450,000 Hectolitres. Big Rock's success and continued growth is the result of the production of world class natural beers, hardwork, sensitivity to the environment, innovative marketing, superior service, and outstanding employees that are devoted to Big Rock and determined to make it an amazing success story.
(Info from: Big Rock, 2002)
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