ABOUT US: The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company is a brewpub located on Canmore’s Main Street, in the Canadian Rockies.

While Grizzly Paw owner Niall Fraser was living in Sydney, Australia he got the idea of opening a brewing company during his frequent visits to “The Rocks” in Sydney for a pint of beer. The Rocks was a fantastic brewery/pub set up on the old granite rock piles of Sydney’s inner harbour in the historic old town quarter, nestled between the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

When Niall arrived home in 1992 he started looking for a suitable place to build his own brewpub. During a mini vacation to the Bow Valley Niall found the place where his brewery was to be located: Canmore. On April 29th, 1996, The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company opened its doors to the Bow Valley’s beer drinkers.

In 1996 the brewery used a partial mash, brewing 200 litres from scratch and used wort from a company based in England. Once Niall could dedicate more time for brewing, instead of running the day-to-day operations of the business, he decided to buy a mash tun. In 1998 The Grizzly Paw became a full mash brewery.

The Grizzly Paw was the first brewpub in Canada and the second in North America to can its beers, then a bottling line was added. Powder Hound Pilsner, Grumpy Bear Honey Wheat and Rutting Elk Red are all available in bottles as well as Beaver Tail Raspberry which made its bottle debut in June 2009.

2004 heralded a major milestone when The Grizzly Paw changed its license from a brewpub license to a microbrewery license. In December 2004, the company started selling The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company’s beers outside of the pub’s walls.

The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company brews numerous beers throughout the year, and there will always be a seasonal on tap as well as the regulars.

In 2005, six micro-brewed sodas were added to the portfolio, along with a food line that includes award-winning burgers.

2009 was a busy year for The Grizzly Paw. In April the brewery expanded with a new fermenting room built behind The Paw Shop. The Grape Soda was retired, however Orange made its debut in bottles in April and has gone on to become a firm favourite for takeout.

It was becoming apparent that the expanded brewery was not able to handle the demand for The Grizzly Paw’s products. An entirely new brewery was needed, and construction began on that facility in 2011.

Production at the new brewery fired up in April, 2013, and by July, the cold beer store opened and tours of the new facility started running. The 20,000 sq. ft building will include an event space available for use in Winter 2013/2014.