How to Start a Brewery in Alberta

The short answer

A brewery in Alberta needs two licences before it can brew for sale: a federal excise licence from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and a Class E manufacturer licence from Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC). Apply for the federal licence first, because AGLC asks for proof you have applied for it at the start and for the licence itself before it will finish your file. Then work through AGLC's five steps — preliminary assessment, initial application, advertising, final documents, and final inspection — and do not start production until after the final inspection. This guide walks the Alberta application only; the national brewery guide covers the shared federal ground in brief, and this guide does not repeat it.

Step 1: Get the federal excise licence first

Under the Excise Act, 2001, you need a licence to carry on activities the Act restricts, and the CRA issues it. The CRA's memorandum on obtaining a licence says to send a completed Form L63A, Application for an Alcohol Licence or Registration to your regional excise office, with a list of the premises the licence should cover. There are no application fees or other costs involved in obtaining a licence under the Act, and a licence is valid for at most two years from its effective date. To renew, send a completed Form L63A to your regional excise office at least 30 days before the expiry date.

The CRA will only issue a licence if you meet its eligibility rules: an individual applicant must be at least 18 years old and have enough financial resources to run the business responsibly; a corporation must have enough financial resources; and no applicant may be in receivership over its debts, have failed in the past five years to comply with a federal or provincial law on the taxation or control of alcohol or tobacco, or have acted to defraud His Majesty in the past five years. Security is required for a spirits licence only, so a beer-only brewer does not have to post security. Tell the CRA in writing, without delay, if your name, legal entity, locations, activities, officers, or directors change — a change of legal entity cancels the existing licence and the new entity must apply again.

Start this step early. AGLC asks for confirmation that you have applied for the federal excise licence — a confirmation email from the CRA will do — before it will take your initial application, and it asks for the licence itself among the final documents.

Step 2: Check zoning and line up the site

Contact your municipality before you apply to AGLC. You need to be sure that municipal zoning and bylaws will allow a liquor manufacturing business at the proposed location, and AGLC says to get in touch with the municipality as early as possible. A city business licence, or written approval from the municipality, is one of the final documents AGLC requires, so a site the municipality will not approve cannot finish the process.

Before your initial application, AGLC requires you to have several preliminary items ready:

• A signed offer to lease or purchase for your premises
• A site plan showing the block, adjacent buildings and businesses, street names, and directions
• A floor plan showing entrances and exits, washrooms, the office, proposed equipment placement, and the locations of any off-sales, lounge, and taproom areas
• A business plan with a manufacturing plan, the amount of production in hectolitres per year, a marketing and distribution plan (self-distributed or through AGLC), and proposed products and packaging
• A list of commercial-grade equipment, with dimensions and details
• Proof of application for a federal excise licence, such as a confirmation email from the CRA

AGLC also offers an optional preliminary assessment: a meeting with AGLC staff, by phone or in person, to talk through the licensing process. The step is not required, but AGLC says it is highly recommended because it can save time and effort later.

Step 3: File the AGLC manufacturer application

All Alberta liquor manufacturers need a Class E licence, and some need more than one licence depending on what they plan to do with their products. The classes that matter to a brewery are:

• Class E — required for all Alberta liquor manufacturers: distillers, vintners, and brewers with a permanent facility.
• Class A — needed if you plan to serve your products at your manufacturing facility. The types AGLC names for manufacturers are Taproom (Community Hub), Minors Allowed, and Minors Prohibited.
• Class D Manufacturer's Off-Sales — needed if you plan to sell your products directly to the public to be consumed off your premises, for example filling and selling growlers from your taproom or selling at farmers markets.

You can apply for all of your licences at the same time. If you do, you pay only one $200 application fee for all of them, though you still pay the licence fee for each licence.

For the initial application, you must provide completed application forms for your liquor licences, details about you, details about your proposed distribution, products, and packaging (which is why AGLC expects a developed business plan), your proposed location including a signed offer to lease, a floor plan, and equipment details, the $200 application fee, confirmation that you have applied for a federal excise licence, and a criminal record check, no more than 90 days old, for all directors, shareholders, and managers.

Step 4: The posting, then the final documents

Once AGLC accepts the initial part of your application, it posts your application on the AGLC website for 7 days so affected third parties can object — a neighbour, for example, might be concerned about the proposed location. If there is no objection after 7 days, you continue to the next step. If there are objections, you must apply to the AGLC Board for a hearing before you can continue, and an AGLC inspector will tell you the next steps. AGLC recommends responding to objections as soon as possible.

To finish the application, you must provide:

• A licence fee of $500, in addition to your original $200 application fee
• Forms about your company, including your Certificate of Incorporation
• A signed and witnessed Acknowledgement and Undertaking about your legal responsibilities as a liquor manufacturer
• A signed copy of your lease agreement or certificate of title, in your name
• Fire approval for the manufacturing premises and related areas
• A city business licence or written approval of the municipality
• Your federal excise licence

AGLC says the end-to-end process typically takes one to three months, depending on how fast your local municipality provides the approval documents needed to open the business.

Step 5: Final inspection, then production

When your application is complete and your site is fully functional, an AGLC inspector contacts you to schedule the final inspection and approval. You cannot start production until after your final inspection. The inspection usually takes 30 to 45 minutes. After an approved inspection, the inspector discusses the terms and conditions of your licences with you and typically issues an interim licence at the final inspection, with a licence certificate to be sent later.

After you are licensed: selling the beer

You can start production as soon as you are licensed, but before you can sell or serve your products you must set up your business with AGLC's systems, and you and your staff must be certified with ProServe Liquor Staff Training.

Selling in Alberta works differently from an ordinary sale. When you sell a liquor product, whether to another AGLC licensee or directly to a consumer, you sell your product to AGLC, your purchasers pay AGLC, and AGLC pays you after you submit your weekly sales report. If you sell to the public, you first sell the product from your manufacturing side (your Class E licence) to your public-facing side (your Class A or Class D licence) — AGLC treats that move as a sale even if you only mark it on paper — and then resell it to customers from the Class A or Class D licence.

As a manufacturer you can distribute your products in three ways: self-distribute, use Connect Logistics Services (CLS) for distribution, or use a combination of both. If you self-distribute, you process all of your sales yourself: invoicing customers, making sure they pay before delivery, and delivering the products. You can sell directly to other licensees such as liquor stores, bars, and restaurants, and you can sell to the public from your Class A or Class D licence. If you use CLS, it warehouses and distributes spirits, wine, coolers, and domestic and imported beer in Alberta under contract with AGLC, ships orders to licensees in over 320 Alberta communities, and processes your orders for you, including receiving payment from licensees, paying AGLC, and delivering the products. For details about CLS services and fees, contact CLS.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened AGLC pages do not state a production threshold for a small manufacturer, a renewal period or renewal fee for AGLC licences, or the fee for a Class A or Class D licence beyond the $500 licence fee stated at the final-documents stage, so this guide states none of those figures. The opened pages also disagree on the posting period: the application-steps page says AGLC posts the application for 7 days, while the what-you-need page says five days — this guide follows the application-steps page and you should confirm the current posting period when you apply. The CRA's memorandum names Form L63A for an alcohol licence and does not explain when the beer-specific brewer's licence form listed on the CRA's excise duty forms page applies instead, so confirm the right form with your regional excise office before filing. This guide gives no advice on whether your business plan or site will be approved — those are AGLC's and your municipality's decisions.

Related guides

• How to Start a Brewery Business in Canada — the national brewery guide, with the shared federal ground in brief.
• How to Get a Liquor Licence in Alberta — Alberta's liquor licence classes for serving and selling, beyond manufacturing.
• How to Register a Business in Alberta: Trade Names, Registry Agents, and the $10 Government Fee — registering the business name or corporation behind the brewery.
• How to Start a Brewery in British Columbia — the same business under British Columbia's licensing system.
• How to Start a Brewery in Ontario — the same business under Ontario's licensing system.

Sources

• Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, Apply for your licences — Class E required for all Alberta manufacturers, Class A and Class D uses, the $200 application fee and $500 licence fee, the five licensing steps, the 7-day posting, the final-documents list, the 30-to-45-minute final inspection, no production before inspection, and the one-to-three-month timeline.
• Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, What you need — checking municipal zoning first, the preliminary requirements including the lease offer, site plan, floor plan, business plan, equipment list, and proof of excise application, and the later documents including the certificate of incorporation, fire approval, and city business licence.
• Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, How to sell — ProServe certification before selling or serving, selling to AGLC with payment after the weekly sales report, self-distribution, and Connect Logistics Services warehousing and distribution to over 320 Alberta communities.
• Canada Revenue Agency, EDM2-2-1 Obtaining and renewing a licence — Form L63A to the regional excise office, no application fees, a licence valid for at most two years, renewal at least 30 days before expiry, eligibility rules, security required for a spirits licence only, and the duty to report changes.