One country, twelve beers: Red Racer Across the Nation Collaboration
One country, twelve beers
Canada’s 150th birthday is being celebrated in many ways, but one of the most delicious is Central City Brewing’s cross-Canada 12-pack, which features one bottle of beer from each province and two of the territories. The Red Racer Across the Nation Collaboration 12-pack features some of the tastiest and most interesting beer being brewed in Canada today. Tastings will be held at each of the participating breweries between now and mid-June, and the 12-packs are available for sale now in liquor stores in most provinces.
I spoke with Dustan Sept, Marketing Manager at Central City, to ask a few questions about the collaboration. Here’s what he said:
Q: How did you come up with the idea to work with other breweries from across Canada on this project?
Dustan Sept: Canadians love beer, and the craft brewing scene has exploded in recent years. We saw Canada’s 150th as a great opportunity to introduce Canadians to breweries that they might not have heard of before, while also creating 12 beers that represented the provinces and territories of Canada. What started as a crazy idea came to fruition, and we were lucky enough to have the support of 12 leading Canadian craft breweries in making it happen.
Q: You had a brewer from each brewery join you in Surrey to help brew their product. Tell me how that worked.
Sept: Developing each beer happened over the phone and through email leading up to the brew. We worked individually with the different breweries over the course of a few months dialing in the recipes. We then flew each brewer in for a day at the brewery to actually brew each beer. Each partner was in Vancouver for two nights while we were brewing.
Q: How would you describe the process of bringing this to market? Any snags or windfalls?
Sept: Ambitious is probably the best word to describe it. It was a massive amount of work for everyone involved, but also a great opportunity for all to have their brands represented across the country. There were no major snags, and we learned a lot in the process. The windfalls came in many ways from the relationships, collaboration recipes, distribution and brand awareness for Red Racer as well as for our partner breweries.
Thanks to Dustan for taking the time to speak with me. And good luck to Central City Brewing and all the participating breweries with their “ale-star” tribute to Canada 150.
Want to know more about this project, and the tasting dates for each brewery? Check out Central City’s website.
