Beer Revolution - Edmonton, AB

Recently I met up with some friends at one of Edmonton's newer pubs, Beer Revolution. Though new to Edmonton, the Calgary location has been open for some time and I remember hearing my brother rave about the pizza. Our only criteria that day was a place with a patio to enjoy the 29 C weather, so Beer Revolution it was. I'm not a huge beer drinker, so I can't really comment but from the long lists proudly displayed on screens around the restaurant, Beer Revolution seemed to have a good variety. My main concern (as always), was the food. We settled on pretzels and two pizzas, the Blazing Saddle (blackened steak, bacon, banana peppers, cheese, onions, cajun remoulade, horseradish aioli, and seasoned arugula) and the Alice (crimini, shiitake and porcini mushrooms, fontina, truffled olive oil, walnut basil pesto). It was quite a wait before the food came out, giving us ample time to catch up with each other. Bavarian pretzels (sea salt, caraway spice, grainy mustard aioli) were first to the table, fresh and warm, served with an equally delicious aioli. Unfortunately, the pizzas did not fare as well. The Blazing Saddle was extremely heavy and one-note in flavor, while I couldn’t taste much of either the truffled olive oil or pesto on the Alice. The crust was nothing special, and the toppings which sounded so delicious on paper turned out to be nothing special in taste.

I returned a week later to try out the 4 for $4 happy hour specials with a friend, available from 4-6 Monday to Saturday. Having skipped lunch, we opted to try all four specials - pretzels, ribs, truffle fries, and a six-inch personal pizza. The pretzels were as I remembered them - soft, warm, and delicious. The BBQ beer ribs (beer & apple butter BBQ sauce, green apple, beer mustard) came out somewhat cold, but overall had good flavor. I particularly enjoyed the tart sweetness of the green apple. Surprisingly, the best bang for our buck went to the truffle fries - a huge cone of mixed regular and yam fries that we could not finish, served with a white truffle aioli that was decent but lacking in any truffle flavor. The disappointment for me was the personal pizza - maybe it's my poor math skills to blame, but six inches was actually quite a small portion and the pizza was nothing out of the ordinary.

Overall, I think Beer Revolution is a great place to grab a beer and relax after work. The servers are friendly, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the general feel is a bit trendier than nearby Brewsters. However, although the food is decent, I do think it is a bit pricy for what it is, and certainly nothing impressive in terms of taste or value.