15 JAN 2018: When Canada Beef invited me to Alberta in December to learn what was afoot with beef in our country, I knew there would be much to see. I had heard that Calgary’s Gen Y and Gen X population had transformed Cowtown’s restaurant scene into a vibrant landscape of the cool and trendy. I challenged my hosts to show me the ropes.

Taking me around was Caitlin Best, a PR gal extraordinaire from that millennial demographic. The plan we hatched was to weave in sampling visits to eateries in Calgary and Banff while also attending the Canada Beef functions in Lake Louise and at The Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence (their headquarters, opened in 2015, where culinary training and education in impressive demonstration kitchens showcase our country’s beef).

We started at Bridgette Bar in the heart of Calgary’s Design District, owned by the Concorde Group Entertainment which has multiple local dining and drinking hot spots such as Anju, The Bourbon Room and Ricardo’s. Bridgette Bar was right on trend with wood-fired cooking, a comfy casual atmosphere and a focus on local producers such as Brant Lake Ranch near Priddis where they get the Wagyu beef for their carpaccio. www.bridgettebar.com

At the Fairmont Palliser where I was overnighting, we met up with Chef Eraj Jayawickreme better known as Chef “E”. He told us about the grand reno plans he has for the hotel in 2018. The dining and bar area off the lobby will be transformed into an ‘independent’ restaurant with live music every day of the year and food that’s hyper local but made with classical French techniques. There will be share plates, boards of charcuterie and cheeses, and of course Alberta beef – that’s dry aged up to 98 days. www.fairmont.com

Within walking distance of the Palliser is the up-and-coming Victoria Park neighbourhood full of new wine and cocktail bars, hip music venues and trendy restaurants. (The city recently committed $150 million for infrastructure improvements in Vic Park.) Two Penny Chinese had just opened a few weeks before we visited it. This upscale dim sum and Chinese share plate eatery is under the banner of Thank You Hospitality Management and talented Chef Cody Willis. www.twopenny.ca

Chef Willis is also behind Native Tongues, the city’s lively and highly popular Mexican taqueria restaurant. Native Tongues grills some of their taco fillings such as beef tongue and octopus over hot coals, and others such as lamb neck and pork belly are braised or stewed and served in corn tortillas. All of this Mexican ‘street food’ is delicious but I was even more impressed by the 67-strong list of mezcals, the spirit of Oaxaca. The mezcal flights of three half-ounce pours are good for the inquiring mind. www.nativetongues.ca

We polished off the evening at CHARCUT Roast House, across from the Palliser. While not new – it opened in 2010- chefs John Jackson and Top Chef Canada finalist Connie DeSousa were early responders to the generational shift that has transformed Calgary’s restaurant scene. Chefs Jackson and DeSousa are also owners of Charbar, opened in 2015 in the revitalized East Village community, lauded for its Argentine wood-fired grill. At Charbar Chef Jessica Pelland specializes in whole-animal butchery, curing, grilling and roasting with a refined/rustic cooking style. www.charcut.com

At the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence the next day, I learned that Canada is the eighth largest exporter of beef in the world and that our beef industry contributes about $25 billion to the Canadian economy annually. Later at Wineglass Ranch, we met with fifth generation ranching family, Travis and Kara Eklund. Given their daily chores and average income, they are clearly in it for the love of it and the outdoors.

Later that day at the gorgeous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Banff National Park, we had behind the scene tours of the multiple enormous kitchens. Feeling the heat of the ovens and seeing the frenetic pace of the chefs at work who prepare up to 5,000 meals a day, I knew that’s another job you do for love not money.

The next day we drove to Banff Springs to visit Park Distillery, the world’s first distillery within the bounds of a national park. Taking a glacier to glass approach, Park Distillery sources its water from the Rocky Mountain glaciers, its grain from the Alberta foothills and some of its aromatics from Banff spruce buds.

The distillery has a restaurant and bar on site and cocktails here are dangerously delicious. A flight of barrel aged cocktails (three one-ounce pours) will set you back $25 but is well worth the experience. My favourite was the Negroni made with Park Alpine Dry Gin, which included those spruce tips among its botanical flavourings. Park Distillery also makes excellent naturally infused flavoured vodkas such as Park Espresso (coffee bean infused 21 days) and Bird’s Eye Chili Vodka with three spicy little chilies in each bottle. The on-premise cuisine is ‘campfire’ cooking (wood-fired, smoky-savoury). www.parkdistillery.com

The Fairmont Banff Springs is undergoing renovations with the new Vermillion Room, a French brasserie replacing the Bow Valley Grill, scheduled to open in June. The restaurants under executive Chef JW Foster at this hotel are truly awesome. The hotel makes its own breads, butter, sausages, charcuterie, pastries and more. It buys vegetables from about 30 local Alberta and BC farmers and whole carcasses of Angus beef from Benchmark Farms south of Lethbridge.

Benchmark graze their animals on wide open fields, ultrasounds their calves to ensure the right fat marbling to produce grade AAA beef and raises them hormone free. Banff Springs 1888 Chop House restaurant, serves up Benchmark Angus steaks dry aged 40 to 50 days, as well as bison, boar chops and venison. www.1888chophouse.com

We fit in one more Alberta beef meal before I left the province. Chuck’s Steakhouse in Banff Springs (replacing the long running Beaujolais Restaurant) is a gem of a place that opened in 2016. Meat is butchered in house and charcoal grilled to perfection. Their Taste of Alberta platter is three ounce each of Brant Lake Wagyu, prime and grass-fed beef (from Benchmark and Top Grass ranches). www.chuckssteakhouse.ca

Heading back to the airport, we stopped in at Eau Claire in Turner Valley, a grain to glass distillery which just launched a three-year old single malt whisky made from Alberta barley. They also produce an excellent line up of vodkas and gins under master distiller Caitlin Quinn, a native of Scotland and lower sugar tonics. At their premises restaurant we had local meats and cheeses and house made dips. www.eauclairedistillery.ca

There’s nothing to beef about in Alberta.