CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 05/01/09 -- Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation -

Shale Ale Launch
Time: Monday, May 4, 2009, 4-00pm-6:00pm
Place: Roundup Centre, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alberta

One hundred years ago, on Mount Burgess in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott discovered the world's most important fossil animals. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation (the BSGF) and Big Rock Brewery proudly announce the launch of "Shale Ale," a historical twist on Big Rock's Traditional Ale. A limited edition beer made exclusively for BSGF's special events, the Shale Ale label depicts Dr. Walcott surrounded by the 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale fossils, famous for their amazing diversity, bizarre life forms, and out-of-this-world appendages.

Shale Ale will be launched at the GeoConvention Gala of the annual technical convention of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Canadian Well Logging Society, to the 4,000 (or so) geologically savvy attendees.

"This is the champagne of beers to celebrate the contribution geologists' have made to science," said Randle Robertson, executive director of the BSGF. "Shale Ale kicks off our 1909-2009 centennial celebrations, which are designed to engage the public in geology, climate change and the history of exploration and discovery in the Rocky Mountains."

"We are pleased to support the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, and promote its vision to inspire appreciation for the earth and life sciences, and to continue to find ways to educate the public on the importance of current and future environmental issues," said Jim Button, Vice President Corporate and Community Affairs for Big Rock Brewery.

The BSGF, is a not-for-profit, geoscience educational organization based in Field, British Columbia, and is focused on "Putting Earth back into the Sciences." During the past 14 years, the BSGF has guided more than 45,000 clients from all over the world, to the two protected fossil locales in Yoho National Park. For more information on the BSGF, visit www.burgess-shale.bc.ca.

Big Rock Brewery, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, produces premium, all-natural craft beers. As Canada's leading craft brewer, Big Rock boasts a family of ten exceptional ales and lagers, Rock Creek dry apple cider, as well as an ongoing selection of seasonal beers. Big Rock products are sold in eight provinces and three territories in Canada, and, oddly enough, are also available in Korea. For more information on Big Rock Brewery, visit www.bigrockbeer.com.

To view a picture of the Shale Ale Label, please click the link below:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Shale%20Ale%20Label.pdf