The owners of several southeast breweries are asking City of Calgary officials to consider introducing pathways and other infrastructure that would improve safety for patrons and workers who choose to cycle.
“There’s a lot of gaps in cycling infrastructure within the area,” said Colin McLean, co-owner of Banded Peak Brewing. “There’s more people coming to Manchester on the weekends. We want to focus on mixed uses pathways, some bike lanes in the area and keeping our patrons safer as they’re visiting different breweries.”
In recent months, a number of taprooms have been established in the area between the Bow River in the north, Macleod Trail to the west, 42 Avenue S.E. to the south and Blackfoot Trail to the east.
“In the last two years, about 12 breweries have opened up between Inglewood and Manchester. We decided to branch out in Manchester and call ourselves the Barley Belt.”
McLean points to the mutually-beneficial combination of breweries and bicyclists in British Columbia and Oregon as an example of the bike-friendly culture he would like to have in the Barley Belt.
“We saw the success that Vancouver and Portland had with things like urban pedal tours and self-guided bike tours and we kind of want to build on that and build the taproom culture, brewery culture, within Calgary.”
“We're definitely headed down the right track and we just want to keep that momentum going. We've got some really strong voices on council that have got our backs on this one and I think we've got a lot of backing within the community to get some of this infrastructure and get some bike safety in place."
Andrew Bullied, Annex Ale Project’s founder and head brewer, says the close-knit industry is based on camaraderie not competition and all breweries would benefit from an influx of cyclists to the area.
“We work really closely together. There’s an understanding in craft beer that craft beer drinkers are fiercely loyal to craft beer but not loyal to any one brewery. We like to work really close together because we all share the same customers.”
"If the city was to step up and start giving us some crosswalks, maybe the mixed use pathway down 42Avenue, I think it’s really going to encourage people to tour around this area and do it safely."
Bullied says petitions regarding a bike-friendly Manchester Industrial Area are circulating and there have been productive talks with members of city council.
In addition to Banded Peak and Annex Ale Project, breweries in the area include Born Colorado Brewing, Paddy's Barbeque and Brewing, Legend 7 Brewing and Village Brewery.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says there are several areas of the city that are still deficient when it comes to bike infrastructure and the City of Calgary would need to ensure there was sufficient demand for bike paths in the industrial area before committing to a project.
“What we really have to balance off is ‘if we build it, will they come?’,” explained Nenshi. “One of the really cool things that’s happening in the microbrewing and craft brewing industry in Calgary us we’re getting a nice geographic concentration of these things. A lot of the workers are the types of folks that would like to cycle to work so it’s absolutely something we can look at.”
Aside from the breweries, a unique transportation company is betting on the popularity of cycling in the Barley Belt.
Matt Gosse, the owner, operator and driver of Urban Pedal Tours, is hosting cruises through the area on his 15 passenger bike.
“We take people on a two or two-and-a-half hour pub cruise,” said Gosse. “Basically, we’re pedaling from brewery to brewery. We pedal for about 10 minutes, get off and enjoy a brewery for about 25 minutes and then we get back on the bike.”
Gosse hopes to raise exposure to an area that may be off the radar for many. "We wanted to be that person that could introduce people to come down to the Manchester area that may have not come down to this area just not knowing that these are down here. We wanted to create that opportunity for people to just get a sampling of what’s available and then hopefully they’ll return and come back many more times.”
With files from CTV’s Stephanie Wiebe
