Calgary, Alberta – Craft Beer, BANFF, and Dog-Friendly Breweries, Restaurants, and Bars
Calgary is a shockingly cool city. We stopped by accident (in 2018) due to bad weather in Jasper / BAMF, but extended our stay because we liked it so much. Out of all places on this list, Calgary and Milwaukee have – in my opinion – the best breweries. Every brewery we went to in Calgary was incredibly unique, trendy, vivacious, and had truly excellent beer. A few of our favorites were: High Line (excellent IPAs), Cold Garden (one of the most wildly decorated, unique, and lively breweries I’ve ever seen), and Eighty Eight (everything you loved about the 80s/90s plus great beer). Cold Garden is located in Inglewood, which is a trendy brewery district in Calgary. There are lots of great walking / biking paths you can use to get around the city, plus Calgary is only an hour from BAMF and Jasper, which are two of the most popular Canadian parks and ski areas.
Dog-Friendly Breweries, Bars, Restaurants, and Hotels
As a general rule, Canada is not overly dog-friendly. However, upon our second stay in Calgary in 2019, we found that it was much more dog-friendly than the typical Canadian city. Below are a few of our favorite dog-friendly spots and areas:
- Holiday Inn Macleod Trail South – This is a really dog-friendly hotel that’s close to a few huge dog parks. You also can walk the trail into downtown, or hop on public transit with your doggie, all from the hotel.
- Dog & Duck – This amazing spot is set up in a house / backyard in a Calgary neighborhood. The food is great, the vibe is even better, and – best of all – they love dogs. Again, it’s rare for dogs to be allowed even on outdoor patios in Canada, so this nice, fenced backyard restaurant was a big find for us.
- One Night Stan’s – This is one of those go-to downtown dives and all-around fun bars. Oh and, their patio is dog-friendly.
- Cold Garden (Dogs allowed inside!!) – See above. Cold Garden is probably my favorite spot in Calgary because both indoor and outdoor are dog-friendly, which is completely unheard of in Canada. It also is probably the most unique and lively brewery I’ve ever been to…
- Banded Peak Brewing – This brewery has solid beers, was close to our hotel, and allowed dogs on the patio.
- Other bars, restaurants, and breweries that allow dogs on their patios, but that we weren’t able to check out: Embarcadero Wine & Oyster Bar; Oak Tree Tavern; Midtown Kitchen & Bar; and Ranchman’s Cookhouse & Dancehall.
