Interview with Ed McNally of Big Rock

This summer I was asked to interview Ed McNally who founded Big Rock Brewery in Calgary, the quintessential microbrewery that became a macro. I was a little apprehensive. We had met once before and it hadn't been under very good circumstances. I was a fly on the wall in a meeting he had with one of his key national accounts, and they had called him in because they'd decided to end the relationship. On top of that, my editor had told me that others had found him hard to get to know, and that he usually gave one word answers. Oh that's just great, I thought.

Nothing could have been further from my experience. As it turned out, Ed's just an old Alberta cowboy. He's a charmingly gruff straight shooter who admittedly likes to "raise hell" at the office, but he's also warm with a self deprecating sense of humour. As soon as we discovered we had some mutual friends he warmed right up, and we had a great conversation (only some of which made it into the magazine). I hope you enjoy the interview - I did, and so did Ed.