July 3, 1980: Stocking up brew before the shelves are bare

The summer of 1980 started out with a strike by Alberta's brewery workers - sending people in droves to liquor stores to stock up before supplies dried up.

As the tensions between the four Alberta breweries and workers heated up, labour lawyer PhilPontingtried to calm consumers by saying the supply of beer would not be in jeopardy.

"The Nation Union of Brewery Workers are prepared to have beer shipped in from Manitoba and Saskatchewan," he said.

That wasn't enough to calm the fears of beer drinkers, who lined up outside of liquor stores to buy in bulk, leaving behind bare shelves.

In the end, the drinkers were right: beer workers walked out on July 17,1980 and did not return to the job until the following February.

CBC'sHolly Bridges captured the final rush to stockpile beerin this snapshot of Alberta history on CBCNewsday, 36 years ago.