For beer connoisseurs there’s very few things better than a good cold beer enjoyed with friends on a nice hot patio.
While he can’t guarantee the weather, Township 24 Brewery Head Brewer Curtis Metzger, can supply good beer to be enjoyed with friends.
“I think I actually like making the product a lot more than I do drinking it,” he said, “and I do love drinking it.”
It was his love of a good beer, specifically Belgian styles beers that led Metzger from beer drinker to beer brewer.
“I really love drinking Belgian style beers I just really didn’t enjoy paying $13 for a tiny little bottle,” he said.
“So, I thought hey why don’t I get into home brewing and I can start and see if I can make these beers myself,” said Metzger.
From there he took the Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program at Olds college before being brought on as Head Brewer at Township 24.
As he’s grown to really enjoy the brewing process, Metzger said that the creative process is what keeps the job interesting and fun.
“It’s that creative outlet, to be able to take raw materials that somebody has grown in their fields and then malted or processed into hop pellets, to be able to take those raw ingredients and make something that somebody will sit down and enjoy, that’s rewarding in and of itself,” he said.
And since the brewing industry is open and collaborative, Metzger said there are always new recipes, techniques and ideas to be tried.
“The industry’s really good in that, there’s not a lot of trade secrets,” he said.
“If somebody does come up with a fantastic new beer style or a fantastic new process that they think makes the brewing process better or more efficient it gets spread out to the industry pretty quickly.
“So there’s a lot of really nice collaboration that way,” said Metzger.
The sharing of ideas and friendly competition is part of what he likes about working in the industry.
Another perk of the job for Metzger is working the taproom at Township 24 and seeing people’s reactions to his brews.
“It’s that completion of the whole process,” he said, “taking those grains putting it through my brew house and the fermentation process and being able to pull that tap handle and fill a glass and hand it to somebody who is going to enjoy it and be able to see that moment when they take that sip and be like yes this is a beer that I like.”
He also likes to try and broaden people’s palates.
The most common case of this is helping people who don’t like dark beers discover a dark beer that they do like.
“The classic person that comes into the taproom saying no I don’t like dark beers and I hand them a tasting glass of our black lager and almost without fail they go ‘wow this is a really good beer I could drink this’,” said Metzger.
In his experience, its often Guinness that people dislike not dark beers. Regardless of individual tastes, Metzger really enjoys talking beer with people.
“That’s my favourite thing is watching people enjoy what I’ve made, getting to know them chatting with them, finding out what they do when they’re not in my tap room, connecting with them on that level,” he said.
He said that beer has always been a community beverage, a tradition he hopes to keep alive in Chestermere.
“It’s been something that was served you know it was served around camp fires back in the mists of time,” said Metzger.
Watch Metzger demonstrate his brewing process online at www.theanchor.ca.
