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From avocado toast stout to unicorn blood taro bubble tea ale: Edmonton breweries get weird at Wyrdstock 2025

Stouts, lagers, ales and IPAs come topped with pickles or rimmed with Cheeto powder, sparkling luminescent to sick-Hulk green. It’s quite the trip — literally

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Defiant eradicator of all your Dry January hopes and dreams, Edmonton breweries have Wyrdstock 2025 on tap through Feb. 16.

A bizarre mobile cocktail mix of Pokemon hunting, Harry Potter jellybean tasting and the winter wonderland-hopscotch vibe of Sundance Film Festival, the brewmeisters of no fewer than 19 Edmonton-area beer factories came up with 20 new concoctions — flavours inspired by everything from avocado toast to pizza to, yes indeed, glittery purple unicorn blood.

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Stouts, lagers, ales and IPAs come topped with pickles or rimmed with Cheeto powder, sparkling luminescent to sick-Hulk green. It’s quite the trip — literally.

“It’s like a city-wide scavenger hunt for beer geeks,” notes third-time flier Mike Berezowsky, his days off coinciding with opening week.

“Edmonton has some incredible brewers,” says Berezowsky, and enjoys seeing what surprises they come up with. “This gives them an opportunity to push the boundaries of beer. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but sometimes they come up with something brilliant.”

Get location-stamped for 16 of them and you can grab a freaky commemorative pint glass. Hit all 19 and you’re awarded the coveted Medal of Absolute Coolness — both available at Analog Brewing Company starting Friday.

Wysdstock Talking Dog
Paul Houle of Spruce Grove’s Talking Dog Brewing, part of Wyrdstock 2025. Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

More than the suds and swag, the festival is a well of great conversations with friendly servers, brewmeisters and folks like Talking Dog co-owner Paul Houle out in Spruce Grove, who as part of the Northern Alberta Brewers Alliance was in on the ground floor of the fest in 2023.

“January is always so slow,” he explains, “and a few of us came up with this as a way to come out of the pandemic.”

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The business is family-run, down to his daughter having an independent craft soda line, its walls covered in photos of dogs including their border collie.

Getting out and experiencing these venues is also a big part of it all.

“There’s that fun social aspect to the event,” Berezowsky adds. “I make a point of sitting at the bar in each location to chat with other people. I often run into the same folks over the few weeks and it becomes like a secret club where we compare notes and suggest favourites to each other.”

Whyte Avenue legend and my comrade-in-suds Mike Mars did the circuit in three days, see reviews below. Note: I don’t love IPAs, so it’s been a rough decade.

That said, there were no real stinkers, but definitely extra points for freakiness!

Analog (8620 53 Ave.) — Cowabunga Pizza Sour

Basil, tomatoes, oregano —?you can taste it all in this hilariously pizza-flavoured delight in a very awesome, videogame-inspired setting, including a beautiful 8-bit tile countertop. 5/5

Arcadia (10712 120 St.) — Deadhead Ginger and Beet Ale 5%

Seriously great vibe in here in the faux Europe strip mall, and brewmeister Eric Cherrington clearly knows his stuff, saying of this earthy red brew, “I love being able to turn a beer that colour.” It probably won’t dye your pee, he notes, which I can, uh, confirm.

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Alley Kat (9929 60 Ave.) —?Unicorn Blood Taro Bubble Tea Ale 5%

Mike Mars’ favourite of the 20 (yes, 20!) offerings: a nutty vanilla pale ale, silky purple with edible glitter. Alley Kat outdid itself here. 5/5

Beer Revolution (11736 104 Ave.) —?Smoked Chai Masala Ale 6.5%

Coming to us all the way from Slave Lake’s Dog Island, a bit bitter, a little smoky, but didn’t inhabit its supposed flavour and could have been spicier. The delightfully sassy server sure was, though, so bonus points! 3/5

Bent Stick (9926 78 Ave.) —?Mash Potatoes Potato Lager 5%

Bent Stick rules, such a communal beer hall vibe complete with shuffleboard and giant couch space, but this definitely did not taste like potatoes. Solid lager, though, so 3/5.

Endeavour (215 Carnegie Dr., St. Albert) — All Hail the Dilsner Spicy Caesar Dill Pickle Pilsner 9%

Gorgeous location with the alluring smell of the embedded café, this pilsner includes a big pickle slice and tastes like a Caesar with a dash of Worcestershire sauce, appropriately spicy. Nicely done! 5/5

The Growlery (40 Airport Rd.) —?Purple Pils Ube Lager 5%

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We got our final stamps here on a high note with a terrific, coco-nutty vanilla lager as Nick Cave played on the stereo just before closing time. Certainly one of the best logos out there, too. 4.5/5

Irrational (10643 124 St.) — Doughnut Party Raspberry Bismark Pastry Sour 6.9%

The old power station has one of the finest-designed interiors, and this sour as good as it sounds with a lambic, strong-start rhubarb vibe, but with a nice sweet kick. Yum! 5/5

Leduc Brewing (4901 50 Ave., Leduc) —?No Sleep Till Siam Thai-PA 5.5%

I dig the retro hotel-bar walk-up counter here, but no sudden moves in this not-overpowering IPA where you can at least detect a taste of lemongrass. The reminder to pay your tab posted at the front door definitely tells a story. 2.5/5

Wyrdstock Odd Comapny
Odd Company’s Animal Ale Burger Style Irish Red Lager on offer at Wyrdstock 2025. Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

Longroof (9916 72 Ave.) —?Canned Heat Jalape?o Cornbread Ale 5.8%

Served on the transplanted Empress Ale House bar, great vibes and staff here and this spicy, cornmeal-breaded ale was 4/5 terrific, but try their delicious Folle de la lune saison if you have a chance as well.

Manual Labour (280 Portage Close, Sherwood Park) — Death Row Shrimp Cocktail Beer 4.3%

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Those used to mixing Clamato with beer might find this underwhelming, but the shrimp, tomato and horseradish are all detectible —?I’d just kick them all up a notch. 3.5/5

The Monolith (9919 78 Ave.) —?Single Barrel Spon-Stil Beer 6.5%

Best overall experience by far, Blind Enthusiasm is serious and specific as this no-carbonated beer was spontaneously fermented for three years in a Cali Pinot Noir barrel. Oh, and try their international award-winning Homage to the Old Ones — trust me. 5/5

Odd Company (12021 102 Ave.) —?Animal Ale Burger Style Irish Red Lager 5.3%

Beef stock in beer sounds disgusting on paper, but with the groceries on top —?lettuce, pickle, tomato, onion —?you’re well prepared for the meaty drink which has a sort of HP Sauce, mustardy notes. Probably my favourite —?properly insane and delicious. 5/5

Omen (9942 67 Ave.) — Disco Balls Wine Lager

There’s a nice, informal gamer feel to this high-ceiling box, but shiny as it is, the edible-glitter Italian grape lager —?3/5 —?pales in comparison to the Spilt Milk Stout.

Wyrdstock Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm’s Koto Matcha Oat Cream IPA, part of Wyrdstock 2025. Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

Polyrythym (11635 145 St.) —?Koto Matcha Oat Cream IPA 6%

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Its flavour overpowered by hoppiness but delightfully green at least, so 2.5/5 on that, order a pint of their amazing Hurdy-gurdy Black Currant, Blueberry Milled Sour instead. Also, the most chill venue of the batch, like Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem’s crash pad.

SYC (11239 180 St.) —?Big Easy Banana Fosters Stout 6%

As advertised, this one is perfectly bananas — notes of vanilla, rum, espresso — and this west-end brewery has an up-close-and-personal Japanese micro bar downstairs, wide open upstairs. 5/5

Southbound (9943 69 Ave.) —?Avocado Toast Imperial Multigrain Stout 9%

A yummy stout that tastes more like wine, rye whisky and maybe dates, its still nice and creamy, and the Thin Lizzy décor and staff vibe are unparalleled. 3.5/5

Talking Dog (10 Westwind Dr., Spruce Grove) — Ol’ Yeller Lemon Meringue IPA 5%

Well worth the drive, this bright, canine-themed space had a solid offering — 4/5 — with flaked wheat biscuit and real lemons in the mix, named for the saddest done dog ever. If you’re feeling Snoopy, try the crisp Sled Dog Spiced Winter Ale and the Santa’s Little Helper Gingerbread Brown, both through the woof!

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Wyrdstock Town Square
Town Square Brewing has two special beers on tap for Wyrdstock 2025. Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

Town Square (2919 Ellwood Dr.) —?Cheetos and Chill Cheeto Dusted IPA 6% and Captain Fun Gus Smoked Mushroom Porter 5.5%

If offering two “wyrd biers” is cheating, you may as well do it with Cheetos! Powdered crunchy rim aside, couldn’t pick up the Cheeto flavour in the brew, so 2.5/5 there, but the mushroom porter was the bomb — 4/5 — and you definitely want to try their regular Beets Kettle Sour in this warm locale with amazing beer plungers including a carved nude and katana hilt. Getting to know all these new bars has easily been the best part of this crazy quest!

fgriwkowsky@postmedia.com

@fisheyefoto

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