From field to foam: Brewing beer from Manitoba’s bounty

In the heart of Manitoba, a brewing revolution is quietly taking place—one that’s rooted in the province’s rich agricultural traditions. Craft breweries like Trans Canada Brewing (TCB) are drawing inspiration from local ingredients to create beer that tells a unique story. For beer enthusiasts and agriculture fans alike, learning how beer is made—starting with the soil—is a truly fascinating experience.

In early March, a beer-tasting event hosted by the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation provided an ideal platform for locals to connect with the agriculture behind Manitoba’s craft beer scene. Held at the Neubergthal Commons Barn, the event featured Scott Sawatzky, head brewer at Trans Canada Brewing, as well as sales team member and certified beer server Dustin McCaughan.

Sawatzky, who has been with the brewery for seven years, took the guests on a detailed journey through the brewing process, emphasizing the importance of high-quality ingredients. The evening’s focus wasn’t just on tasting the beer, but understanding the care and precision involved in creating each brew, from the fields to the glass.

While craft beer has become a growing trend across Canada, the brewing process itself remains steeped in tradition. For Sawatzky, it’s all about balancing the age-old techniques with modern innovations—and above all, paying attention to every detail. He shares, “We are a proudly independent company. If we expect people to choose our product over multinational brands, it’s important they understand how we produce our beer and why we take so much care in crafting each recipe.”

Much of that care starts with the ingredients, especially the grains. Sourcing ingredients locally isn’t always an easy task, but it’s essential for creating a beer that represents the region’s unique terroir.

“Sourcing malt barley is tricky,” he explains. “There’s not a lot of it growing in Manitoba, and it all needs to be purchased by a malting facility. Most of our malt barley comes out of Calgary, but it’s originally grown in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.”

For Sawatzky and his team, this is a constant effort. They work to find the best possible local sources for their ingredients—particularly barley, which is critical to the brewing process. While Manitoba may not yet be a barley powerhouse on the same scale as Alberta or Saskatchewan, the craft beer industry here is showing a real commitment to changing that.

At its most basic level, beer is made from four main ingredients: water, barley (malt), hops, and yeast. Each plays a crucial role in shaping the flavor and character of the final product. However, to truly understand the magic behind a great craft beer, it’s important to explore how each ingredient is sourced, treated, and transformed throughout the brewing process.

Water: the foundation of flavour

You might not think of water as an ingredient with a lot of personality, but in the world of brewing, it’s the starting point for everything. Sawatzky emphasizes just how important water quality is for brewing great beer. “The quality of water really changes how your beer looks, how your beer tastes, the overall profile for it,” he explains.

Fortunately, TCB is located in Winnipeg, which is known for having some of the best water in Canada for brewing. “Winnipeg water is very good for brewing with,” he says. “Ideally, you want a generally very soft water. We run it through a filter just to remove all the chlorine.” Chlorine, even in small amounts, can severely affect the beer’s taste. He uses a simple analogy to illustrate this: “If chlorine gets in our beer—like even a couple parts per billion—you’re going to get a beer that smells like band-aids.”

The city of Winnipeg’s water comes from Shoal Lake, where the water quality can vary throughout the year due to factors like algae blooms and temperature changes. That’s where the science of brewing comes in. “We have to manipulate our recipes based on how the water changes. If the city’s treating the water differently, we adjust accordingly,” he notes.

This level of precision is a hallmark of craft brewing. While many large-scale breweries might not focus as much on the water composition, smaller breweries like TCB have the flexibility and expertise to adjust their recipes as needed. This gives their beers a consistency and quality that can be tough to match.

Malt barley: the backbone of beer

Barley is the backbone of beer, providing the sugars that yeast will later convert into alcohol, as well as the flavors that give beer its depth and character. Sourcing barley is a bit more complex in Manitoba, where the growing season can be challenging, and the crop isn’t as widely cultivated as it is in other provinces like Alberta. However, this hasn’t deterred breweries like TCB from seeking out high-quality local sources.

“We’re always looking for the best barley,” Sawatzky says. “But it’s not easy to find in Manitoba.” In fact, most of the malt barley TCB uses comes from Calgary, though it’s grown across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. For now, the brewery imports the bulk of its malt from facilities that malt the barley grown in the region. However, Sawatzky is optimistic that Manitoba’s barley industry will continue to grow, as demand for locally sourced ingredients becomes more pronounced.

Barley is malted by soaking it in water to allow it to germinate and then drying it to stop the process. This process is what transforms raw barley into malt, which gives beer its sweet, toasty, and sometimes nutty flavor profiles. The malting process is a careful balancing act, as the barley must be roasted to varying degrees depending on the style of beer being brewed.

Lighter beers, like a pilsner or lager, require pale malts, while darker ales or stouts need heavily roasted malts.

“The level of roasting, the type of malt—it’s all part of the recipe,” Sawatzky explains. “When you get it just right, it contributes a unique flavor profile. We take a lot of care in selecting the right malt for each beer style.”

The flavor of the malt has a significant impact on the final taste of the beer. When brewed correctly, malt can contribute subtle flavors like caramel, toffee, or biscuit-like qualities, or more intense roasted flavors like coffee or chocolate, depending on the roasting process. It’s this rich diversity of flavors that gives each beer its individuality.

Hops: adding a touch of bitterness and aroma

Hops are another essential component in the brewing process. Known for their distinct bitterness, hops help balance out the sweetness of the malt and add depth to the beer’s flavor. But hops aren’t just about bitterness; they also contribute to the aroma of the beer, with many hops imparting citrus, floral, herbal, or piney notes.

Sawatzky is very selective about the hops he uses, as each variety brings its own personality to the beer. “Hops are incredibly important,” he says. “The bitterness balances out the malt sweetness, and it’s also where the aroma comes from. Depending on the variety of hops, it can give you anything from grapefruit notes to piney flavors. It’s a huge part of creating the perfect beer.”

When it comes to sourcing hops, he explains that while there are a few local hop farms in Manitoba, the majority of the hops TCB uses are sourced from larger hop-growing regions like the Pacific Northwest in the United States. However, as the local craft beer scene continues to grow, there’s hope that Manitoba’s hop farms will flourish, giving local breweries even more reason to buy locally.

Yeast: the silent worker

Yeast is the final key player in the brewing process, though it often goes unnoticed by beer drinkers. This tiny microorganism is responsible for converting the sugars from the malt into alcohol and carbon dioxide, creating the beer’s alcohol content and carbonation.

Different strains of yeast can produce vastly different flavors, ranging from fruity esters to spicy phenols, depending on the strain and fermentation conditions. Sawatzky explains that yeast is one of the most crucial elements in crafting a distinct beer. “The type of yeast you use will shape the overall flavor,” he says. “We use different strains for different styles of beer. It’s about getting that perfect balance between the yeast, malt, and hops.”

Though yeast is typically cultured in labs, some craft brewers are experimenting with wild yeast strains, allowing natural fermentation to contribute even more complexity to their beers. Wild yeast is unpredictable but can produce incredibly unique and flavorful beers, adding to the excitement of the craft beer movement.

As the evening drew to a close, Sawatzky and McCaughan led attendees through a tasting of four distinct beers: Flying Otter, a light lager; Blueberry Ale, a refreshing fruit-infused beer; Lamplighter, a rich amber ale; and Arrow, a bold IPA. Each beer was paired with food to complement its flavors, and the pair provided valuable insight into which foods best suit each beer variety.

For Sawatzky, the goal is to craft beers that reflect the local agricultural landscape while maintaining the high standards that make craft beer so special. “At the end of the day, we’re brewing beer with local ingredients, and we want people to taste the difference,” he says. “We want to make sure that each beer represents the best that Manitoba has to offer.”