Leduc hotel bar installs Canada’s first beer wall
Leduc hotel bar installs self-serve beer wall that dispenses Alberta craft brews in one-ounce increments
A Leduc bar has turned that kid-ina-candy shop dream of being your own bartender into reality by introducing what it says is Canada’s first self-serve beer wall.
Customers at Barney’s Pub and Grill can try Alberta craft draft from about a dozen high-tech taps controlled by an electronically readable card that allows them to sample as little as an ounce of beer at a time and restricts total consumption to 32 ounces before an employee has to renew the customer’s card.
A screen at each tap provides information about the beer and shows how many ounces are poured.
The cost is automatically added to the bill.
“I was at a conference and … they talked about this self-serve model. I thought it was neat,” said Perry Batke, general manager of Leduc’s Best Western Plus Edmonton Airport Hotel, where the bar is located.
“One of the things we found is people are sometimes a little intimidated trying a craft beer because they’re not sure they will like it. This is great — you can buy it by the ounce.”
The new system, which cost $50,000, was installed in April. It hasn’t reduced labour expenses because the pub also offers food and full bar service, and staff “ambassadors” are needed to show customers how the technology works.
But Batke said Wednesday patrons love it. He expects the device will pay for itself through increased sales and the attention it brings to Barney’s.
As well, he found from talking to American self-serve operations that pouring your own helps create a feeling of community.
“People would come in, sit and try these different beers, ask ‘Which did you try?’ People would discuss it and it becomes really interactive,” he said.
“It’s also a way to enhance service when things are busy … You don’t have to wait for another beer, you can serve yourself.”
The American equipment supplier has told him no one else in Canada has such a wall.
The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission approved self-serve beer in 2013, and allowed wine dispensers two years later. Hard liquor dispensers aren’t permitted.
Three establishments in Alberta have automated self-service beer or wine systems, but Barney’s in Leduc is the only one with taps on the wall instead of on table tops, commission spokesperson Aleesha Bruno-Jex said in an email.
The bars have followed commission policies, closely regulated service and monitored consumption, so there haven’t been any issues, she said.
The draft wall is Barney’s top product line, with beer from Edmonton’s Brewster’s, Calgary’s Village Brewery, the Grizzly Paw Pub and Brewing Co. in Canmore and Ribstone Creek Brewery in Edgerton, 240 km southeast of Edmonton, among the most popular, Batke said.
He isn’t immediately planning to expand self-serve to the other Leduc Best Western, which he also manages, but thinks the idea has a bright future in the right place.
“We’re an airport hotel. We get a lot of people from not only Canada, but across North America. People want to try local, they want to try authentic,” he said.
“It works for us in our location. In a rural site, I’m not so sure.”