The founders of Red Hart Brewing had been friends for years before embarking on the fateful Red Deer River weekend canoe trip where we first started to dream of a brewing business. We were somewhere downstream of the River Bend Golf Course when Curtis, our head brewer, having drunk several of his own brews at this point, stood up in his canoe in order to show the remaining founders his hind end. He succeeded, and then immediately failed, when he proceeded to fall over, spilling the canoe and its occupants into the chilly waters of our namesake river. It was conversations around the campfire that weekend that started us down this path to building this business, Red Hart Brewing. Red Hart Brewing is named for our city and county - Red Deer.
The Cree people called the river that winds through the present day city of Red Deer Waskasoo Seepee, which translates to Elk River. However, Scottish fur traders translated the name to Red Deer River, since they mistakenly thought the elk that the name referred to were the European red deer of their homeland, the mature males being known as “harts”. Thus, the name - Red Hart Brewing, with the proud hart as our symbol.
Secondly, in traditional craft brewing de rigueur, the name “Red Hart” is also a subtle play on words, with ‘Hart’ hinting at one of our focuses: operating with heart. Red Hart Brewing uses its platform to serve our community, with our motto being
Drink Good Beer, Do Good Things.