Meet Watershed Brewing Co.: Alberta's most real fake brewery

The Watershed Brewing Co. brand has attracted the attention of Alberta businesses and former Alberta premier Rachel Notley.

But Kurt Pearson doesn't sell the beer he makes at his home near Wetaskiwin.

The air traffic controller by day started making enough beer for himself and some friends in a backyard shed.

While people can purchase T-shirts from his website with the Watershed Brewing Co. label, he's never sold a beer, though some people believe it is a real brewery, he said.

"I've always had a thing about branding, and it's not the first time I've sold T-shirts, so that's why I started a brewery that wasn't a brewery," Pearson said.

It started as a joke between Pearson and some of his friends in the Alberta craft beer industry.

The brand quickly caught on, and Pearson spotted people wearing his T-shirts first at beer festivals across Alberta.

"I think it's probably because of my continued involvement [in the Alberta craft beer industry]. I'm a big Alberta craft beer fanboy. I wave the flag high," he said.

"These people are all really tightly knit. For a bunch of competitors, they're buddies, they're friends. It just became a better way for me to embrace and pursue community in Alberta."

It quickly became more than an inside joke.

Notley included his "brewery" in a Twitter thread celebrating Alberta breweries in August 2018.

"I think it's pretty funny," Pearson said.

His brand has now trickled down into the food industry.

Cilantro and Chive, a Lacombe-based restaurant, have a secret menu item in honour of the wannabe brewery.

"A few industry folks have come in, asked for a Watershed [beer] and we give them a glass of water," said Rieley Kay, co-owner of the restaurant.

The restaurant has helped carry the Watershed brand. Staff have posted stickers throughout the restaurant and a sign advertising Watershed's future tap takeover.

A tap takeover is when a brewery has their beers exclusively on tap at a specific establishment.

"We kept asking him when he's going to do a tap takeover, and he said in 2035. It was a running joke and now it's no longer a running joke," said Kay.

He added that what's most impressive about the Watershed label is their reach across the province.

"Watershed has some of the best marketing, even better than some of the legit breweries out there."

The restaurant's owners believe in the homebrewer so much they paid $1,000 for an advertisement in the 2019 summer edition of Alberta Craft Beer Guide.

"I have not had a sip of Watershed beer but if it lives up to the legend, it's going to be one heck of an event," said Kay.

Pearson has no plans to give up his day job anytime soon, but if he does, it'll be to create a beer for the masses.

"I'll do whatever is the super, most trendy beer of the day and everyone will be happy," he said.