Today’s guest is Wild Rose Brewery CEO and President Bill McKenzie. Bill tells us about his history in Canada’s beer industry, Wild Rose’s recent acquisition by Sleeman, and why he considers himself the luckiest guy in beer.

As Bill was coming of age he had planned to go into medicine, until meeting a local Molson beer rep. He applied to work as a summer campus rep for Molson and received a job offer before he was even old enough to drink the beer! As we learn, both Mark and Bill have worked as campus beer reps and agree it was the coolest job a guy on campus could’ve had. After a number of years being transferred throughout Ontario, Bill ended up working out of Edmonton at 34, fell in love with Alberta, and never left. From Molson Bill moved to Diageo and later to Calgary original Big Rock. Mark loves to hear stories about Big Rock founder Ed McNally, and Bill doesn’t disappoint, describing Ed as “an individual who was like noone else I’d ever met.” Clearly Ed thought highly of Bill as well, as Bill later stepped into the role of President at Big Rock.

From there Bill moved to his current role at Wild Rose, and we get the inside scoop on what makes Wild Rose’s legendary culture possible. It all starts and ends with the brewer veto: no matter what other brewers are doing, Wild Rose doesn’t produce a single beer that their brewing team wouldn’t be proud to stand by. They follow a mantra of “freedom to fail, freedom to succeed,” because as Bill puts it: “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.” Wild Rose has just been acquired by Sleeman because of their legendary culture, and Bill is proud to talk about Sleeman’s commitment to their brand legacy and their team. “I think it’s extremely important that we stay true to who we are, stay Albertan, and run the brewery accordingly.”

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