Alchemy Brewing Company

Alchemy Brewing Company, Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC, Canada

What microorganism is used? 

Alchemy uses many different brewers yeast strains, depending on the flavours and type of beer they are making. For example, they use a wild Norwegian yeast strain that can withstand higher temperatures, without giving off unpleasant flavours that are a result of phenols and esters produced by yeast in response to stress. They also use some lactic acid bacteria when making sour beer.

What is your production/fermentation process?

A seven barrel system is used at Alchemy, which is similar to a ‘brew in a bag’ system. They boil their grains, add hops, and ferment for 60-90 minutes with additives. Once they have a base, they add things like dry hops when making an IPA and lactose when making milkshake beers. Their production is on a relatively small scale, and all of their canning is done by hand out of the taps.

What raw materials do you use? How do you source them?

Alchemy tries to source local as much as they can! They aim to stay within a 100-200 km radius of Kamloops. Their base grains come mostly from Armstrong; however, they source their roasted grains from Country Malt Group (a much larger distributer). Other ingredients such as malt barley, purees, adjuncts (coriander, berries, fruit) are sourced within Kamloops. They even use local honey, another fermented product, in some of their beer!

How do you handle waste management? 

The waste products, which is mostly ‘spent grains’ are given to a local farmer for hog feed. They are in the process of working with another local butcher to give spent grains to, and even plan to use some of his products in delicious food they offer at Alchemy.

Do you have a product list? Highlighted or recommended products, consumption amount recommendation, parring recommendations?

Some of the fan favourites include a red maple ale called “Sugarbush”, a Mexican style lager called “Bad Hombre”, and one of Al’s favourites, “Lode Star”, a northwest IPA. Their taps are constantly rotating, with new and old favourites cycling all the time.

When did you open? Why did you open? Any fun/interesting history?

Al Renner opened up Alchemy in 2018. Nestled in downtown Kamloops, the 1400 square foot tasting room offers up a variety of beers from hoppy IPAs to light and easy drinking lagers. The small production scale allows a lot of love and attention to be put into each beer, which is very noticeable when drinking their products. Their talented kitchen cooks up a “street food” themed menu from scratch, including traditional brick oven pizza, and traditional BBQ. The inspiration for the beer and street food combo was drawn from trips to Seattle, Portland, and San Diego, where some breweries have food trucks parked right inside! They modified this concept to allow Kamloops to experience something new. Great food, great beer, and no fuss! The brewery name “Alchemy” is a play on words, using the owners name, and drawing upon the chemistry behind brewing beer. You can find a colourful mural in the tasting room that features “Al Kemist”, and mildly resembles Al himself.

How can people reach you? Social media/website links/contact information 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlchemyBrewingCompany.ca/

Website: https://alchemybrewingcompany.ca/

Phone: (778) 471-0096

Email: info@alchemybrewer.com

Where are the products available? 

Due to the small production size, Alchemy’s beer is currently only available in the brewery. You can sit and enjoy a cold one in their uniquely decorated tasting room or fill up your growler to take some home! Additionally, they sell tall cans, and have the option to mix and match your own 4 packs! Their mouth-watering menu has plenty of options for everyone to enjoy! In addition to their great beer, alchemy offers up another fermented product: hot sauce! The hot sauce can be enjoyed in house, but they also have some bottles to take home, so you can spice up your own creations.