Inside the Calgary brewery that's bringing back centuries-old beers

Calgary is a beer city, with dozens of local breweries innovating and creating new and unique brews, but what about those that have been lost over the centuries?

Enter Good Cheer Brewing, one of the newest additions to Calgary’s beer scene, and the only brewery in the city that’s dedicated to recreating historical beers from around the world.

Nathan Vadeboncoeur, owner of Good Cheer Brewing, told Dished that he’s always been interested in history, noting that beer is a “reflection of the societies that produced it.”

“I wanted to create a different kind of experience where people can explore the world through beer,” he explains.

But bringing recipes that date back hundreds of years isn’t quite as simple as it sounds, as for some brews, clear, written recipes don’t exist. As such, bringing Good Cheer Brewing to life has been a decade-long project for Vadeboncoeur.

10 years of research

Beginning research 10 years ago, Vadeboncoeur underwent a lot of archival research to piece recipes together.

While some of the earliest exports did have tasting notes, the process involved deciphering different weights and measures used, or working out the grains based on brewing and tax records and the regions the beers were originally produced in, Vadeboncoeur explains.

“We try and replicate the water chemistry of the place the beer is from, from filtering the water down to nothing and adding the minerals that would have been in the particular regions. We find heritage grains. We use old malting techniques when we can,” he explains. 

While it involved a lot of work, all of the research has allowed the Good Cheer team to be able to make the most faithful reconstructions of these beers.

“When you create a beer that’s resurrected from hundreds of years ago, it helps thin the mists of time and allows us to reach back and to touch and to taste something that people would have consumed,” he adds.

While recreating the recipes began as a home brewing project, Vadeboncoeur then began brewing sample batches at a brewery in Vancouver, before officially opening Good Cheer Brewing in 2025.

A Calgary Time Capsule

Since opening, Good Cheer has produced beer dating back as far as the late 900s, right up to the 1990s. A lot of its recipes recreate sips from the 18th and 19th centuries, as there are good records available.

However, the taproom itself is also somewhat of a time capsule to Calgary’s history. The building dates back to 1918, living several lives in that time as a metalworks, making munitions for World War II, an auto garage, and even as the home of a newspaper.

Vadeboncoeur stripped back the room down to the exposed brick, and reimagined the space using materials from all over the city.

“Our tables are made from the ceiling of an old mansion that was built in 1902 with quarter-cut oak. Our big table has 15-foot-long solid oak planks. We’ve taken wainscoting from an old judge’s house, and we built a bar out of a judge’s fireplace,” he explains. 

Chairs that patrons now use had been picked up from Facebook Marketplace and estate sales, and restored to their former glory. All of this work has created a period-style room that draws on the city’s rich history.

History buff or not, Good Cheer Brewing is a truly unique brewery experience.

Good Cheer Brewing

Address: 1220 20th Ave. SE, Calgary

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