Minhas Brewing Calgary CEO Manjit Minhas

The Alberta Small Brewers Association (ASBA) announced in their newsletter last week that Manjit Minhas, the sister half of the sibling duo behind Minhas Brewing, has joined the ASBA Board of Directors.

I would be lying to you if I said that I wasn’t surprised. I am floored. My surprise has nothing to do with Ms. Minhas. She clearly has the business acumen and industry experience to offer value to any board she sits on. I have met her a couple of times and she is professional, intelligent and charming. My surprise arises because of my long history watching the industry.

A few years ago the Minhas brand was much reviled among Alberta craft brewers, in large part due to their Wisconsin-based operation saying things that would make a consumer believe they were an Alberta-based craft brewery. I will fully admit I was one of those voices – I termed the phrase “faux craft” in part to capture their (and others’) strategies.

Since the opening of a Calgary brewery location, the Minhas picture became more complicated, as they were actually brewing beer in Alberta (although the vast majority of their product still came out of Wisconsin). It became even more complicated early this year when the duo split the company into two – Ravinder keeping the helm of the larger Wisconsin operation and Manjit taking over the Calgary brewery. I can only speculate on the reasons for the split, but I suspect it is due in large part to evolving beer mark-up rules and growing consumer sensitivity to buying authentic local. As a business move it seems brilliant to me, although it does feel the separation is more of a paper divorce than any kind of actual parting of the ways. The siblings remain close and I imagine will coordinate closely on the respective operations.

But back to ASBA. After many years of animosity toward Minhas, including originally crafting membership criteria to ensure Minhas was not eligible, they have been engaging in a been a slow shift in position. They granted Minhas membership a year or two ago and there has been a general warming in relations between individual breweries.

Why? That is my question. First I believe it reflects a shift in the Alberta craft beer industry. It was easy when there were only a dozen or so breweries for it to be a close-knit network of like-minded (mostly) guys fighting against the big guys. There are now over 100 breweries in Alberta and a increasing diverse number of business models and approaches to beer. Plus with such increased competition, I think some are seeing that even their so-called “brothers” can engage in some below-the-belt tactics, making Minhas less of an anomaly.

I am not condoning such behaviour, nor am I moving from my longstanding position against faux-craft. I just think this kind of nuanced understanding happens with maturing industries. It isn’t about having a board of your buddies, but ensuring all aspects of the industry are represented.

Second, I think the policies of the last few years forced a shift in Minhas’ business model. For years they could ship beer west from Wisconsin, and with little trouble convince people it was Alberta beer. The Alberta government policies of the last few years, for all of their faults, (and in this I include Redford’s 2011 changes) have made it more difficult to dump beer into Alberta. Today you have to hold legitimate Alberta roots (I will leave Mill Street and Wild Rose for another day). The Minhas’, to their credit, shifted their business model to meet that new reality.

I can’t and won’t speak about the beer – mostly because I haven’t had any in years. The marketing still feels a bit over-wrought to me which leaves me skeptical about a conversion to true craft approaches.

What I will say is that this Board appointment is a clear indicator about how much the industry in Alberta has changed. Whether it is for good or bad depends on your perspective, and so I will leave it to the reader to decide for themselves.

I just bring you the news.