WINNIPEG — What do polar bears, art and beer all have in common?
If you’re husband-wife team Brad Chute and Jenna Khan, it’s the beginning of a brand new project called Blank Canvas Beer Company.
Chute, a lover of craft beer, and Khan, a champion supporter of Winnipeg’s vibrant arts scene, have partnered with Torque Brewing and polar bear artist Kal Barteski to create Arctic Stout.
The sudsy new blend is a representation of Barteski’s unique artwork on the can and Torque brewmaster Perry Joyal‘s mixture into what a craft beer with a splash of Manitoba’s north should taste like.
“The whole thing with polar bears and Churchill strikes a chord with me and definitely came up in my conversation with Kal, and so right away I thought of something we call a white stout,” says Joyal.
The two met up over beers (of course) to discuss the project and what each of them could bring to the table.
“Perry went into great detail about a white stout and how it’s not a camouflage, not a hidden secret, but just something unexpected. And I feel like that was one of the things that I really felt about polar bears when I saw them for the first time in the wild,” says Barteski.
Blank Canvas Beer Company’s Arctic Stout will launch February 13 at 4 p.m. in limited quantities at Torque Brewing (330-830 King Edward Street) and at the Quality Inn Craft Beer Market (685 Weatherdon Avenue) while supplies last. A limited run of 3,500 cans has been produced with each having a unique number.
“It’s our hope that both the craft beer community and artistic community in Winnipeg really embrace this project, and maybe learn something about each other. If this first release is successful, our plan is to do it all over again in partnership with another brewery and another artist,” added Chute, co-founder of BCBC.
WATCH: The history of BCBC’s first brew, Arctic Stout
