Alberta
Local brewery, Hawk Tail, releases new beer in honour of Alberta growers. Special release event Friday in Rimbey
News Release from Hawk Tail Brewery
Small-batch brew meets soil health movement in Alberta. Nothing is more satisfying than ingredients that taste great and are good for the environment.
WHAT: In anticipation of its latest release, Hawk Tail Brewery announces a special tapping for its latest creation made from ingredients grown literally in their own backyard. Created with agriculture in mind, the lager is a great way to showcase unique Alberta products like grains, which form malt – a key ingredient in beer.
As the name suggests, Organic Malt Lager is brewed using quality, organic ingredients. However, the vision of this beer extends beyond ingredients and into the soil.
“As a locally owned and operated brewery, we strive to create traditional and refreshing beers as timeless as the agriculture that produces our grains and the environment it thrives in,” explains Randall Vandenhoven, co-owner of Hawk Tail. “This marks an especially poignant stage in Canada’s movement towards sustainability as more breweries work to reduce their ecological footprint.”
Most traditional grain and hop farms use pesticides and chemical fertilizers, which can have negative environmental impacts. Instead, the company worked with two notable local companies focused on organic, wholesome food: Kettle Ridge Organics and Replenish Nutrients. With both companies certified organic and focused on soil health, Kettle Ridge Organics and Replenish Nutrients believe that only good barley can grow in good soil. Good beer is a bonus.
“Taste-wise, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between an organic and a non-organic beer. However, as a proud Albertan, I wanted to enjoy a beer knowing it was as easy-drinking as it was easy on the environment,” stated Chris Simeniuk, beer enthusiast and owner of Kettle Ridge Organics.
WHEN: May 13, 2022
WHERE: Organic Malt Lager release party starts at 5pm on Friday, May 13th at the Hawk Tail taproom at 6311 52nd St, Rimbey, AB T0C 2J0, Canada. 20 oz pints of Organic Malt Lager is on special $5.50 throughout the evening.
HOW: For more information, visit Hawk Tail’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hawktailbrewery
If you happen to miss out on the event on May 13, Hawk Tail’s taproom is serving limited quantities of Organic Malt Lager in both pints and growlers, and a small number of kegs are also available. Additionally, Hawk Tail’s Organic Malt Lager is available at liquor stores across the province in 473ml cans.
ABOUT HAWK TAIL BREWERY
As a locally owned and operated brewery, we strive to create traditional and refreshing beers as timeless as the agriculture that produces our grains and the environment it thrives in. We pride ourselves on a local experience; quality local ingredients and small-batch production are our focus. Learn more about our beers and our taproom at hawktailbrewery.com.
ABOUT KETTLE RIDGE ORGANICS
Kettle Ridge Organics is a certified organic grain farm near Alix in Central Alberta, Canada. We are a family-owned and operated farming operation that plant and harvest our crops, fix our machinery, and perform almost every other task on a prairie grain farm. For more information, visit www.kettleridgeorganics.ca.
ABOUT REPLENISH NUTRIENTS
Replenish Nutrients delivers leading regenerative fertilizer solutions to support a farm system that puts healthy soils and grower profitability back on the table. We’ve developed a sustainable alternative to synthetic fertilizers that enhances overall soil function and biology by combining Canadian-sourced nutrients with our proprietary delivery system. To learn more about Replenish Nutrients products, visit www.replenishnutrients.com.
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
Alberta
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