Stephen Lowden's guest appearances

Stephen Lowden

The Explore84 Podcast

Let's Meet For a Beer

Bob Sutton

Ben Fiddler

Nicole Gomes

Brian Dunn

Ben Leon

Bud Kelly

Hans Doef

Jochen Fahr

Mike Foniok

Chris Heier

Matt Willerton

Graham Sherman

Jamie Smith

Jim Button

Tim Kitchen

OwlTail

On today’s episode of the Let’s Meet For a Beer Podcast, I met up with my friend Stephen Lowden - owner of The Pig &amp; Duke Pubs in Calgary, Alberta.  With Alberta’s restaurants closing for the fourth time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I wanted to get a sense of what the mood is behind the scenes and if there is still hope for the future of our hospitality industry.Stephen has been in the restaurant industry for many years and has built a large network of friends from breweries and restaurants across Alberta.  Along with his wife Joanne, they built the Pig &amp; Duke almost 10 years ago and have since added a second location.  Their team of employees is like family, which makes the constant shutdowns even harder for both them and their staff.Stephen wears his heart on his sleeve and always speaks his mind - which makes him the perfect person to connect with to get the pulse of the industry.  We had a great conversation - I hope that you enjoy it!Alberta Beer Festivals: website | twitter | instagramPig &amp; Duke : website | twitter | instagram 

On today’s episode of the <a href="https://letsmeetforabeer.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Let’s Meet For a Beer Podcast</a>, I met up with my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/moosebesocial" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stephen Lowden</a> - owner of <a href="https://pigandduke.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Pig &amp; Duke Pubs</a> in Calgary, Alberta.  With Alberta’s restaurants closing for the fourth time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I wanted to get a sense of what the mood is behind the scenes and if there is still hope for the future of our hospitality industry. Stephen has been in the restaurant industry for many years and has built a large network of friends from breweries and restaurants across Alberta.  Along with his wife Joanne, they built the Pig &amp; Duke almost 10 years ago and have since added a second location.  Their team of employees is like family, which makes the constant shutdowns even harder for both them and their staff. Stephen wears his heart on his sleeve and always speaks his mind - which makes him the perfect person to connect with to get the pulse of the industry.  We had a great conversation - I hope that you enjoy it! Alberta Beer Festivals: <a href="https://albertabeerfestivals.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ABBeerfestivals" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abbeerfestivals/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a> Pig &amp; Duke : <a href="https://pigandduke.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/pigandduke?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pigandduke12th" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram </a>

Episode 21 - Stephen Lowden, Owner - Pig & Duke

Gerry Forbes

Two pubs, 48 hours, burst pipes, and 52 staff members. Returning guest Stephen Lowden breaks the news about the crazy happenings and the two Pig and Duke locations that have left their doors temporarily closed and their many employees in limbo. In steps Gerry Forbes to help Stephen find a way to keep his staff afloat, and today they’re both on the podcast to explain how you can help.They say bad news comes in threes, and Stephen has been on the receiving end of a lot of flooding related bad news. Less than a month after being forced out of his home by burst pipes both Pig and Duke locations ended up nearly underwater after Calgary's cold snap in early January. Stephen views his staff as family and doesn’t want to leave them without a way to pay their bills until the pubs reopen, and after the immense amount of work Stephen has done in the past to support the community Gerry knew he had to help assemble the community to help Stephen’s staff. After all, good staff are hard to find and even harder to keep.Of course we wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to have a Calgary media legend on the show, so we take a bit of time to dig into Gerry’s 43 year long career in radio and what he’s been up to since retiring from CJAY92 in 2018. We find out about his early passion for radio, creating his own tapes as an 11 year old would be DJ, followed by the start to his career at CHNL in Kamloops and the many stations in between before he finally made a home for himself at CJAY. Gerry recalls the changes from records to minidiscs to cds to computers, and how working in radio changed during that time.“We made sure everything we do is real. There was nothing fake” - Gerry ForbesLet’s Meet For A Beer!Buy Tickets to the Pig &amp; Duke Staff FundraiserAlberta Beer Festivals: website | twitter | instagramGerry Forbes: twitter | instagramStephen Lowden: twitter | instagramPig and Duke: website | twitter | instagram - 12th | instagram - downtown

Two pubs, 48 hours, burst pipes, and 52 staff members. Returning guest Stephen Lowden breaks the news about the crazy happenings and the two <a href="https://pigandduke.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pig and Duke</a> locations that have left their doors temporarily closed and their many employees in limbo. In steps Gerry Forbes to help Stephen find a way to keep his staff afloat, and today they’re both on the podcast to explain <a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/d/canada--calgary/pig-and-duke/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">how you can help.</a>They say bad news comes in threes, and Stephen has been on the receiving end of a lot of flooding related bad news. Less than a month after being forced out of his home by burst pipes both Pig and Duke locations ended up nearly underwater after Calgary's cold snap in early January. Stephen views his staff as family and doesn’t want to leave them without a way to pay their bills until the pubs reopen, and after the immense amount of work Stephen has done in the past to support the community Gerry knew he had to help assemble the community to help Stephen’s staff. After all, good staff are hard to find and even harder to keep.Of course we wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to have a Calgary media legend on the show, so we take a bit of time to dig into Gerry’s 43 year long career in radio and what he’s been up to since retiring from CJAY92 in 2018. We find out about his early passion for radio, creating his own tapes as an 11 year old would be DJ, followed by the start to his career at CHNL in Kamloops and the many stations in between before he finally made a home for himself at CJAY. Gerry recalls the changes from records to minidiscs to cds to computers, and how working in radio changed during that time.“We made sure everything we do is real. There was nothing fake” - Gerry Forbes<a href="http://letsmeetforabeer.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Let’s Meet For A Beer!</a><a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/d/canada--calgary/pig-and-duke/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Buy Tickets to the Pig &amp; Duke Staff Fundraiser</a>Alberta Beer Festivals: <a href="https://albertabeerfestivals.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ABBeerfestivals" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abbeerfestivals/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a>Gerry Forbes: <a href="https://twitter.com/Flapjack92" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/GerryForbes/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a>Stephen Lowden: <a href="https://twitter.com/MooseBeSocial" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/moosebesocial/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a>Pig and Duke: <a href="https://pigandduke.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/PigandDuke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pigandduke12th/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram - 12th</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/piganddukedowntown/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram - downtown</a>

47 - Gerry Forbes & Stephen Lowden

Kevin Crowe

This episode of Let’s Meet For A Beer is a double feature with Kevin Crowe of Give A Mile and Stephen Lowden of the Pig &amp; Duke pub. In addition to our usual dive into their histories we also talk about how Pig &amp; Duke is partnering with Give a Mile to help give families the gift of a final visit with their loved ones.Kevin was first introduced to Stephen when he was looking for a venue to hold an early fundraiser for Give A Mile. Stephen and his wife Jo have been operating the Pig &amp; Duke since 2012 and while they’ve always been a fixture of the community Stephen had long wanted to attach themselves to a charitable cause that they could support in ways beyond just writing a cheque each month. Kevin had approached a friend at Red Bison Brewing about putting together a craft beer focused fundraiser and they needed a venue. As it turned out he knew just the guy….Stephen’s pub opened in early 2012 after only 62 days of construction after Stephen had fallen in love with the province of Alberta. Having always wanted to own a pub and spent most of his life working in pubs and bars across Western Canada he would put down roots in what once might have been considered a cursed location, having notoriously been a site of businesses that just couldn’t seem to make a go of and stay open for more than three years. However the Pig &amp; Duke has proudly long since broken the curse and now has two locations in Calgary and constantly fields questions about expanding outside of Calgary in a franchise model. However this hasn’t happened just yet as Stephen explains his worries about diluting their brand by no longer being able to have a personal presence in each location.Kevin first came to Alberta in 1997 on a work term while attending the University of Victoria. He came out expecting to only be here for six weeks, met the woman who is now his wife while he was out here, and 22 years later that temporary six week trip to Alberta still hasn’t come to an end. His inspiration for starting Give A Mile came about after losing a close friend, Ryan, to brain cancer at 36. Kevin describes the amazing year and a half he spent with a man who knew he was dying and how through that experience he learned the power of visit. While his friend was in hospice care he would see other families saying their final goodbyes over the phone because they couldn’t make the flight to Calgary, and shortly after heard about a statistic that 16 billion travel miles go unredeemed each year in Canada. Kevin would then found Give A Mile and 11 years later Ryan’s legacy lives on through this 100% volunteer run organization.In those 11 years Give A Mile has donated more than 620 flights with the help of community leaders like Stephen, and this year they’re taking it to a whole new level with The Gift Gala on November 14th. Their goal is to raise enough funds and travel miles to donate an additional 60 flights before Christmas. You can help support this cause by buying a ticket to The Gift Gala on GIve A Mile’s Website, participating in their Flight Hero program, donating through their website to a specific flight for a family in need, or even just sharing their message on social media.Let’s Meet For A Beer!Alberta Beer Festivals: website | twitter | instagramGive a Mile: website | twitter | instagramPig &amp; Duke: website | twitter | instag

This episode of Let’s Meet For A Beer is a double feature with <a href="https://giveamile.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kevin Crowe of Give A Mile</a> and <a href="https://pigandduke.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stephen Lowden of the Pig &amp; Duke</a> pub. In addition to our usual dive into their histories we also talk about how Pig &amp; Duke is partnering with Give a Mile to help give families the gift of a final visit with their loved ones.Kevin was first introduced to Stephen when he was looking for a venue to hold an early fundraiser for Give A Mile. Stephen and his wife Jo have been operating the Pig &amp; Duke since 2012 and while they’ve always been a fixture of the community Stephen had long wanted to attach themselves to a charitable cause that they could support in ways beyond just writing a cheque each month. Kevin had approached a friend at Red Bison Brewing about putting together a craft beer focused fundraiser and they needed a venue. As it turned out he knew just the guy….Stephen’s pub opened in early 2012 after only 62 days of construction after Stephen had fallen in love with the province of Alberta. Having always wanted to own a pub and spent most of his life working in pubs and bars across Western Canada he would put down roots in what once might have been considered a cursed location, having notoriously been a site of businesses that just couldn’t seem to make a go of and stay open for more than three years. However the Pig &amp; Duke has proudly long since broken the curse and now has two locations in Calgary and constantly fields questions about expanding outside of Calgary in a franchise model. However this hasn’t happened just yet as Stephen explains his worries about diluting their brand by no longer being able to have a personal presence in each location.Kevin first came to Alberta in 1997 on a work term while attending the University of Victoria. He came out expecting to only be here for six weeks, met the woman who is now his wife while he was out here, and 22 years later that temporary six week trip to Alberta still hasn’t come to an end. His inspiration for starting Give A Mile came about after losing a close friend, Ryan, to brain cancer at 36. Kevin describes the amazing year and a half he spent with a man who knew he was dying and how through that experience he learned the power of visit. While his friend was in hospice care he would see other families saying their final goodbyes over the phone because they couldn’t make the flight to Calgary, and shortly after heard about a statistic that 16 billion travel miles go unredeemed each year in Canada. Kevin would then found Give A Mile and 11 years later Ryan’s legacy lives on through this 100% volunteer run organization.In those 11 years Give A Mile has donated more than 620 flights with the help of community leaders like Stephen, and this year they’re taking it to a whole new level with The Gift Gala on November 14th. Their goal is to raise enough funds and travel miles to donate an additional 60 flights before Christmas. You can help support this cause by buying a ticket to The Gift Gala on <a href="https://giveamile.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GIve A Mile’s Website</a>, participating in their Flight Hero program, donating through their website to a specific flight for a family in need, or even just sharing their message on social media.<a href="http://letsmeetforabeer.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Let’s Meet For A Beer!</a>Alberta Beer Festivals: <a href="https://albertabeerfestivals.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ABBeerfestivals" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abbeerfestivals/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a>Give a Mile: <a href="https://giveamile.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/giveamile" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/giveamile/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instagram</a>Pig &amp; Duke: <a href="https://pigandduke.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/PigandDuke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/piganddukedowntown/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">instag</a>

34 - Kevin Crowe & Stephen Lowden