Craft beer meets great music at Calgary's first Big Winter Classic

Whoever said good fences make good neighbours, clearly wasn't thinking of the pairing ofBroken City and Last Best Brewing and Distillery.

Theneighbouring social club and craft brewery respectively, on 11 Ave. S.W.,are coming together this week to debut a new Calgary event, the Big Winter Classic.

"It's kind of our first kick at the can of starting a landmark piece for Calgary that's going to be something to talk about for years to come," Adrian Urlacher told CBC'sThe Calgary Eyeopener.

Urlacher is one of the co-founders of the event and credits its promise to the team of people that came together to create it.

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The event will showcase 55 bands in three days, Jan. 28 to 30,on two outdoor and two indoor stages. Meanwhile beer from 17 craft breweries will be on tap, including the seven establishments currently pouring in Calgary.

One of the things that makes this event unique, Urlacher said, is that specificbreweries paired with bands and made special brews to match the bands' personas.

For example, Brewsters has been hidingaway in the back rooms, crafting a new recipe for the Calgary band Savk.

"In their conversations, they realized thatfrontmanStephen vanKampenfromSavkloves tea. So they implemented tea into this blond, and he's a blondman," Urlacher said.

Especially the secret beers. The brew crafted in honour of CalgarybandNapalmpom has been kept under wraps, Urlacher said.

Other bands playing at the festival includeMounties, Edmonton's WetSecretsand local favourites like 36 andWindigo.

The festival shows that Calgary is "just on the cusp" of exploring the possibilities of craft breweries, Urlacher said.