Halifax’s 2 Crows Brewing Co. has spun a commercial beer into a local delight. Using only Maritime ingredients, the brewery hopes its AC Light Lager can access the Bud Light drinkers of the world into the craft brewery market.

Andrew Simpson, from 2 Crows Brewery, said that the new flagship brew is made with Shoreline Malting Co. barley, Lakeview hops, and Halifax water.

The brew is so local, that even the print on the label was created by Alexander MacAskill of Midnight Oil Print And Design House.

“The style is nothing out of the ordinary. But what we wanted to do was emulate some of those bigger brand lagers and put our own take on that,” Simpson said.

“A lot of big brand lagers still use adjunct grains like rice and corn and sugar syrup… so we wanted to make a very traditional, anyone-can-enjoy-this [type of] beer. But actually brew it properly with good, local ingredients,” Simpson says.

The AC Light Lager is the brewery’s attempt to bring the world of craft beer to the more casual beer drinker.

“I think anyone who’s into craft beer, they don’t just start at the weird niche end of the spectrum. If someone drinks Bud Light their whole life, it’s hard to entice them into the craft world with a barrel-aged sour. So this is a way to kind of bridge the gap a little.”

Simpson’s focus for the brewery goes beyond trying to capture the drinkers of Molson Canadian’s market shares. He says by using local ingredients is a way to both highlight and cope with the ongoing supply chain issues disrupting the craft beer industry.

The pandemic has cracked the systems that supply ingredients, causing massive headaches for local brewers.

“The idea of crafting this beer is to not rely as much on shipping, and getting ingredients shipped from elsewhere, when we have beautiful ingredients that we can use in our own backyard,” said Simpson.

Photos courtesy of 2 Crows Brewing Co./Instagram