Business spotlight: Sipping Serendipity - Airdrie and Korea beer collaboration

Airdrie’s 948 Brewing is bridging a 8,500-kilometre gap between Alberta and South Korea with a spicy collaboration beer that honours a shared military history and a serendipitous local connection.

Owners Kyle Wudrich and David Schroter released the "Hearthstone Pilsner" on March 25, a project sparked when Airdrie’s Wendy Timmermans, mother of Korean-based brewer Les Timmermans, walked into their taproom after seeing their beer at an event for Airdrie’s Korean War Gapyeong Battle Victory Monument by the Town & Country Centre in 2023.

Les returned to his hometown this month to celebrate the brew before Wudrich joins a Canadian delegation to Korea in late April for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gapyeong, with the beer eventually destined for a museum display in South Korea. The trip includes a ceremony at the UN Memorial Cemetery and a visit to the museum where the Airdrie-made beer will be showcased.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime. I cannot pass this up. Let's go," said Wudrich.

After meeting the team at 948 Brewing, Wendy connected her son, Les, an Olds College brewing graduate who now runs White Crow Brewing in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with Wudrich. Les and Wudrich talked for about two years and created the Hearthstone Pilsner, which is infused with Korean gochu peppers and named after the ondol—the traditional hearthstone central to a Korean home.

"You never know who walks through your front door and how they could be connected to you or your future," Wudrich said of the meeting with Wendy that started it all.

Wudrich and Schroter are SMARTstart program graduates known for collaborating with the brewing industry, private companies and non-profits in Airdrie for other brewing projects.

"The power of beer to bring people together, we're seeing it," said Les. “Collaborations within communities and between communities are important. What the world needs in times like these is a good beer, shared together.”

For both brewers, the two-year planning process was driven by a shared belief that local passion can resonate on a global scale.
"Whether it is local or global, you're not alone in this,” said Wudrich. “There's somebody else that has the same passion as you…You're going to have a connection with somebody."

The Calgary Korean Association has also been pivotal to the Airdrie-Korea connection, including in 2023 when the Gapyeong monument was erected in Airdrie. For that event, 948 brewed special beers, which were purchased by City of Airdrie for the ceremony.

Learn more about 948 Brewing

Photos by Britton Ledingham