Bow Valley · Brewing
Bow Valley Breweries & Distilleries
Curated by the HappyMap editors · Bow Valley locals
The Bow Valley has one of the densest concentrations of craft brewing in Alberta. Three working breweries in Banff, three in Canmore, plus two distilleries running tasting rooms with full menus. Most of them open earlier and stay open later than the average pub, run weekday happy hours that bring the cost of a 16oz craft pint down to the $6–7 range, and ship beer worth taking home with you if you're driving back to the city.
Banff Ave Brewing on the main strip is the easiest to find and runs a great après pour. Three Bears Brewery has the best food of the Banff three. Park Distillery makes its own gin and runs daily 3–6pm cocktail deals. Over in Canmore, Sheepdog and BLAKE are the local-favourite taprooms; Wild Life Distillery is the cocktail-program standout. Every venue listed here is verified, with current taproom hours and happy-hour windows.
If you want to follow the brewery trail across multiple stops in one afternoon, consider the cab/Uber strategy — the Banff and Canmore breweries are walkable within each town but not between them.
Top picks
Our top 3
The rest of the list
Park Distillery Restaurant + Bar
Banff · 3pm–5pm
Sheepdog Brewing
Canmore · 3pm–5pm
Tank310
Canmore · 2pm–5pm
The Canadian Brewhouse
Banff · 11am–7pm
The Grizzly Paw Pub
Canmore · 3pm–6pm
Three Bears Brewery & Restaurant
Banff · 3pm–5pm
Happy hour in the Brewery: featured pint
Wild Life Distillery
Canmore · 6pm–8pm
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About this list
How we curate
Every venue on this list is hand-picked by us. No paid placement, no auto-pulled aggregator data, just spots a Bow Valley local would actually send a friend to. Times and prices are verified against the venue's own sources at least once a month. More on how HappyMap works.