Bellwoods Brewery

All posts tagged Bellwoods Brewery

Happy Last Friday of November to you and yours! And/or Happy Black Friday Deals if you’re into that kind of thing. Though the big holiday is south of the border and most of the really good deals with it, you might find your local producers and retailers throwing a cheeky bone in the form of a modest sale, so be sure to check your social feeds for opportunities. With that said, it’s a somewhat quiet weekend in regional beer news (not that we’re complaining!) but we expect it’s just one of those “calm before the storm” weeks before the big holiday season is upon us.

We’re starting the week with a bunch of beers in Halifax from a brewery we haven’t featured much in the blog. Opening just over a year ago, we wrote about The Brewery by Quinn’s opening up with their own beer and other local fare. The other locations for Quinn’s beers, under the Revelry Beer Company brand, at Quinn’s Arms and the two Brown Hound Locations (Agricola Street and Hollis Street), under the same ownership. Primarily, all of the Revelry beer will always be available at The Brewery by Quinn’s, while Quinn’s Arm and the Brown Hound locations serve a smaller selection, but still feature other local breweries. 

Now with that covered, let’s hit you with four new beers releasing on December 1st at The Brewery by Quinn’s (anyone else want some BBQ after reading this?):

  • Sailors Delight – Fruited sour with Raspberry, Passion Fruit, & Ginger  –  4.4%
  • Pyrocumulus – Strong stout with Toasted Coconut and Tonka Bean –  9.0%
  • City of Stone – Dry Stout (on nitro) – 4.0%
  • Nomitomodachi – Rice Lager 5.0%

On top of this, they are aiming to keep a rotating small batch Farmhouse ale on tap from Wild Sour to their Classic Saison. For an upcoming tease, the brewer is currently working on a longer term production of a Wild Sour after a successful stint as a test batch. We have a lot of details on this one that we will save for later, but it will feature fruit, a mixed yeast culture that’s been propagated and kept up for almost 15 years, and some cellarring for at least 3-6 months, maybe longer. We will keep you updated on this brewery for future releases to come as these beers will be more available around their Halifax locations in the coming months. 

Bannerman Brewing, in St. John’s, NL, has a couple of things to talk about this week. Up first is Spice World 2, a place where the Munich Dunkel style meets lemongrass and ginger giving you an opportunity to spice up your life. Deep malty flavors of molasses, caramel, and bread crust meet subtle lemongrass and not-so-subtle ginger, yielding an overall impression that you might find reminiscent of ginger snap cookies. An ABV of 5.3% gives you some room to have a couple and appreciate the composition. Grab it in cans from the brewery and the usual spots. Also new from BB this week, and of particular note, is the first beer to come out of their long in-the-works aged beer program. The first beers to be released will be a series they’re calling “Epiphany” and the first release will be, fittingly, Epiphany No. 1. A simple Golden Ale that has matured in white wine barrels for six months, it is the tabula rasa upon which the future releases in the series will be based. You can expect notes of pepper, stone fruit, and lemon peel, a gentle bitterness, dry finish, and some barrel notes as well. They’re doing a very limited release of this OG ale, so if you’re looking to get in on the ground floor of the Epiphany series, you’ll want to act fast; it’s been packaged in 750ml bottles and is only available at Bannerman.

Fredericton’s Trailway Brewing has a pair of new releases for you this week, so let’s get you up to speed! Vibe Check is a 6.0% American IPA, brewed with a touch of wheat to round out the mouthfeel, and a bit of haze. Of course, the hops take centre stage, with big citrus notes of orange, some apricot and pear, with a medium bitterness finish. Available in pints and in cans to go at both their Main Street Fredericton taproom, as well as the Union House in Saint John. And vibing along with this new release the return of the seasonal Hu Jon Holiday, their ode to the festive season. Think of their flagship Hu Jon Hops, but with the added flavours of locally-harvested fresh spruce tips lending a resiny and sprucey character. Cans are available today!

Headed way up to Lab City, Iron Rock Brewing has a big release to share. Bringing a local spin to their pale ale, this one features hops grown in Labrador. Fresh Hop is a Labrador Pale Ale (not to be confused with their Large Day American Pale Ale) that uses hops grown in their Community Gardens over the summer.  Some community members grew the hops and then helped with the brewing, too. The hops were harvested by the Iron Rock team and used in a wet hop brewing method of using the whole cone, fresh hops directly in the brewing process. This is test batch number one from them and it’s available on tap at the brewery. Go give it a try! As a sneak peek, test batch number two will be another wet hop release, but featuring hops from Goose Bay. 

The little cidery in Portugal Cove, NL, Mauzy Cider, has another small batch complex concoction for the enjoyment of those who can get their hands on it. Starting with feral Russet and Mcintosh apples from the Southern Shore and Mount Pearl, respectively, fermentation took place on lees of Williams Pride from Jefford’s Orchard. Once complete, golden plums from Campbellton’s Farm were introduced and eight months of maceration later, it was bottled in 750ml bottles and conditioned with Baccalieu Trail honey. Arriving at 6.3% ABV, only 33 cases of Diabolically Quenched were produced. It’s only available for local delivery or shipping from their website.

Out in Bay Roberts, Baccalieu Trail Brewing has a new release this week, perfect for enjoying in front of a roaring fire, for those of us adventurous enough to get out and enjoy the brisk fall evenings. Campout is a 6.0% S’mores Stout, brewed using Mecca Grade Opal 22 malt, known to impart both graham cracker and cocoa character to the final beer. Enhancing it even further is the addition of real cacao, for an even bigger nose and flavour of chocolate. Homebrewer Ralph Pike partnered with BaccTrail for this brew, which is out now on draught and in cans at the brewery and St John’s Maries too!

Great news for those in Dartmouth, or nearby, as 2 Crows Brewing are taking over the taps at Battery Park Beer Bar all day today. Sixteen draught and cask taps will be a-flowing all day and night, with OG favourites like Pollyanna, Fantacity, three different variants of their Jamboree Fruited Sour (Blueberry & Lemon, Strawberry & Guava, Watermelon & Kiwi), as well as the newly released Home and Home Hazy IPA with Grapes collab with Banished Brewing (as well as the non-graped Battery Power that debuted last week). And never stopping, never stopping, there are a pair of brand new beers on the board today, Guv Dark Mild and Feral Fawn Wild Ale with Apricot. Full draught and cask list available here. Battery Park is open 11:30 AM until late, and you’ll have a good chance of running into some of the Crows themselves when you pop by to embibe!

Big congratulations are in order to the team at Sea Level Brewing, as they celebrate their Sixteenth Anniversary this weekend! The beer scene was quite different back in 2007, with Sea Level (and their partners at Port Pub) being one of only a handful independent breweries in the province. There have been plenty of changes since then, both at Sea Level, and in the region, so this seems like a great reason to celebrate! Drop by both their Sea Level and Millstone Harvest Brewhouse locations to toast the crew in person!

The wait is just about over for folks thirsty for more beer in Truro, as The Common by Burnside Brewing is super-close to being fully open. While their retail shop at The Hub Shopping Mall has been open for a couple of weeks, their ability to pour pints has been delayed by various levels of red tape. We have word that samples can now be poured, and pints will soon be possible in their cozy space too. Located near Philthy Philly’s and Wung Express, The Common welcomes folks to bring in food to enjoy while in the space. In addition to their standard lineup of beer, look for pilot batch brews done onsite, by long-term and multi-award winning homebrewer Mark MacKay, who has been brewing for more than a decade in the province. Keep your eyes on their social media for the announcement, expected before the end of next week.

Down on the Halifax waterfront, Bishop’s Cellar has a fresh drop of Bellwoods Brewery treats. In addition to the somewhat regular classics on offer, namely, Bellwether Pilsner, Jelly King (OG version), and Roman Candle, they’ve now got three new non-alcoholic brews as well, Jelly King NA Blackberry/Raspberry Sour, Jelly King NA Dry Hopped Sour, and Stay Classy NA IPA. But wait! There’s more!! Also on the shelves are Cat Lady IPA, a less bitter, juicy and tropical answer to Roman Candle, and the beloved and rare Milkshark Tripleberry Milkshake IPA. These are all available now, but we expect many of them will go quickly; if you’re in the area from 1 – 3pm today you can drop by the shop and try them with Bishop’s Beer Baron Lucas Mader!

Warning, while it is September 1st at the time of writing, below you may experience shock and surprise due to the releases of multiple styles of Pumpkin & Fall type beer releases. We don’t blame you if you want to hold onto the last bits of summer before conceding to the grips of the orange crush, but we’re just here to deliver the news! It seems like these Pumpkin Spice releases are coming earlier each year, is that because of global warming or just September starting on a Friday? We invite you to pour yourself a beer and contemplate. Onto the beer-y news!

Straight outta Burnside (and their Antigonish location), Burnside Brewing has a brand new release from this past week. Beer Can Square Pants is a Pineapple IPA that’s hazy, sweet and tasty with a smooth and creamy pineapple flavour. With a slight addition of real pineapple juice, the main pineapple aroma is from the mix of hops in the boil and the dry-hopping from Azacca, El Dorado and Bru-1. The grain bill of Pilsner malt, flaked oats and honey malted oats brings the sweet and creamy mouthfeel and flavour while Kveik yeast brings all the smooth, tropical flavours together. Coming in at 6.1% ABV, this tasty IPA is available now from both Burnside locations and will be available at private stores all across Halifax (including Liquid Assets!). See below for your chance to work with the Burnside team at their soon-to-open location in Truro!

Hopping over to the Rock, Landwash’s first release of the week was the return of their newsletter after 2 years! Check out their socials and website for how to sign up for their news right from the source. The Landwash Dispatch was packed with content this week, starting with one release available now.

Froze Det is a Cold IPA that brings a light bodied, dry, and crisp IPA to your tastebuds. Featuring some big double dry hopping (DDH!) of Columbus and Cascade, you’ll get grapefruit, citrus, hop spice, and a bit of dankness as well. Fermented with a Kolsch yeast, this one is canned and 6.5% and only available in their taproom and retail shop. 

We’re gonna take this next bit right from their newsletter, hinting at three big releases coming this month. We’ll be there to fill in the blanks as they hit the taps and shelves!

Festbiernew release!
A smooth, malty German lager that’s deep gold in color with an ivory head. Brewed with high quality pilsner and Munich malt. Subtle toasty notes and light, sweet bready flavors are delicately balanced by German noble hops, with mild floral and spice notes rounding out this soft, approachable beer. 5% ABV

Make/Shift Kraken IPAthis is a new one in the Make/Shift series. 
A throwback to the classic West Coast IPA, additions of Chinook and Simcoe hops give healthy notes of pine and citrus, while the generous dry hop addition of Evergreen hops delivers punchy stone fruit and orange zest. This hoppy profile is complemented by a subtly sweet base of Golden Promise and crystal malt. 6% ABV

Smiling Land Lagered Alethis is a returning release. 
Inspired by German Kölsch, Smiling Land is our Lagered Ale. Fermented warm with Kölsch yeast, conditioned cold with love, this crisp and bright beer is hopped with Czech Saaz and German Saphir for notes of spice and citrus. 4.5% ABV

Let us wait no longer, and hit you with a sextet of Pumpkin-related releases from across the region. As they’ve all hit the taps in the last couple of days, let’s get these to you in alphabetical order:

  • Brasseurs du Petit-Sault is bucking the trend with their La Bonhomme Sept-Heures, opting for a higher alcohol content in their pumpkin beer. At 8.5% ABV, this one will warm you from the inside out! Look for it at the brewery shop and taproom in Edmundston, and making its way to your local ANBL reeeeeal soon!
  • Breton Brewing has brought back Spiced Up, their 5.5% ABV amber ale, brewed with more than 75 kg of roasted pumpkin in the mash, with spices added to give the full pumpkin pie experience. Available at their taproom and home delivery, and at NSLCs too.
  • Garrison Brewing released Oh My Gourd! this week as well, their 5.0% ode to the orangest of veggies. Pumpkin puree keeps it authentic, and their use of the spices that many of us love, make for a great fall drink. So good, it was awarded best in the Herb & Spice category at last year’s Canada Beer Cup!. Available now at their two Halifax locations on tap and in cans, with delivery an option as well. Private and government shops in NS, NB, and NL will also be carrying the beer shortly.
  • PEI Brewing Company has brought back their Pumpkin Ale, featuring real pumpkin, a touch of brown sugar, and great spicing to the glass. Available at their PEIBC and Gahan locations across the Atlantic provinces, and on shelves at ANBL and NLC before the end of the month.
  • Back to Halifax, where Propeller continues the tradition of using Howard Dill’s world famous giant pumpkins in their beer for a true taste of the region. Spicing with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, caps off the experience. Available today at their three shops (as well as delivery and shipping across the country), private stores in HRM, and select NSLC locations across the province.
  • And finally, we’re back to the gentle island, where Upstreet Brewing has brought back the spookiest of their offerings, Gravedigger Pumpkin Ale. Amber in colour, and weighing in at 6.5% ABV, the full body and heavy-but-just-right spicing reminds us that maybe pumpkin beers are pretty darn good after all! Hitting the shelves at noon today!

The unstoppable duo of Banished Brewing and Lone Oak have released the first of a Home and Home pair of collaboration brews this week. A tongue-in-cheek ode to their collected history gave rise to the name of a Hazy Triple IPA hitting the taps in Paradise recently, Mustard Pickles. Bright yellow in colour, with a hint of green (thanks to all those Citra and Talus hops used, no doubt!). This bitter, yet smooth, dank, yet citrusy, 10.1% ABV beer is a blast in a glass! It made its debut just in time for last weekend’s Newfoundland Craft Beer Festival in Banished’s newly-opened Beer Garden at their Maverick Place location. The BG will stay open as long into the fall as the weather allows. Speaking of the NLCBF, their 12 Beers of Christmas has been announced for November 17 – 18, with tickets available today! And if you’re into NFL and football pools, you’ll want to check out this page for your way to win free Banished beer for a year, in addition to some sweet perks at their taproom every Sunday during the season. Late breaking news: Lone Oak released their own batch of Mustard Pickles Friday after publishing, so those near Borden can get their fix now too!

Mauzy Cider has another small batch release out now, featuring the use of hyper-local ingredients from Thimble’s Cottage at O’Brien Farm in St. John’s. Thimble’s Own was made with 2022 Season apples from an unknown varietal tree in front of the cottage, affectionately known as Kate’s Apples. Added to that were hops, also of unknown variety, grown at the farm and aged before co-fermentation. Syrup made from maple sap collected at the farm, along with honeycomb from their resident bees added to both the fermentable sugar used in and overall character. Fewer than one hundred 750ml bottles were produced, and they are only available at Thimble’s Cottage, so make your way to this oasis in the city to enjoy a taste of O’Brien Farm.

Fredericton’s Trailway Brewing is continuing their Land series of Belgian beers, with a foray back into the monastic styles. Wood Land is a Belgian Dubbel, a style known for caramel, dark fruit, a bit of spice character, and raisin/date notes from the combination of malt, sugars, and yeast. Darker malts sit on the base grains, with the yeast lending some spice character to complement the Noble-like earthy hop choice. Natural carbonation helps to soften the mouthfeel, and keep the mouthfeel from being too cloying, despite the 7.5% alcohol content. To that end, the Tw Crew made their own dark candi sugar, taking advantage of the science behind the Maillard reaction for a bit “more” from the carbonating yeast and sugar, during the months-long process. Available now at their Main Street location in Fredericton, as well as Saint John’s Union House, plus delivery and shipping through their website.

On the North Shore of Nova Scotia, Tatamagouche Brewing has released a couple of new beers this week, both with a Belgian bent. First up, in a truly classic style, is Waterlily, a Belgian Witbier. Brewed with raw wheat and treated with curaçao orange peel, fresh cracked coriander, and elderflower, though it’s bright and slightly citrusy, you can also expect the soft mouthfeel that a large proportion of wheat brings to a beer. Look for aromas of citrus, pear, and spice, no doubt with some contribution from the yeast. At 4.4% ABV, this one has “a couple” written all over it, especially with this weekend’s pending weather. On the slightly less traditional Belgian side is the latest in the Intertidal series of IPAs: Intertidal White IPA. Pairing juicy tropical hops with the fruit-forward nature of Belgian yeast strains, this one is easy drinking at 5.8% and boasting flavours of pineapple, mango, and mandarin. You can grab both of these beers from the source in cans, via online order, and (maybe not immediately, but soon) from other places where you find Tata brews. Note that these are both seasonals, however, and when they’re gone they won’t be back for a while.

Down in the Annapolis Valley, Sea Level Brewing has a new one on the taps, so new that it doesn’t actually have a name. Going by The New Unnamed Light One for now (we won’t be surprised if that sticks, minus the “new” and maybe the “unnamed”), it’s a clean and crushable American-style light ale. Consistent with American-style lagers, this one is very light in flavour and body, with no significant hop aroma or flavour, and a slight malt flavor. No doubt fermented with a clean yeast, so there’s not likely to be much in the way of esters, what you’re going to find here is “beer flavored beer” in a very crushable 4% ABV package. If this sounds like your jam, check it out on tap for pints and fills or in cans to go at both Sea Level locations.

There’s a couple of beery events on the go for the long weekend in Nova Scotia:

The gang down at Horton Ridge Malt & Grain Co. have big things going on all weekend in the Annapolis Valley with a four-day festival they’re calling the Beer of Fundy Festival that celebrates Nova Scotia’s grain-to-glass experience. Uniquely poised to do so as the producers of the malt, they’ve got quite the line up of events starting tonight, and going right through ‘til Monday. Key to the weekend’s events are six different beers from six different breweries, all of which have been made with Horton Ridge malt, which itself is malted from grain grown along the Bay of Fundy:

There are several ticketed events over the course of the weekend, beginning with the Beer Makers’ Circle tonight, and finishing with the Beer at the Bottom of the Bay event early Monday afternoon, which will see folks transported to the seafloor of the Bay of Fundy during low tide (weather dependent, of course). In between will be a wide variety of talks and workshops, including one on brewing and another on foraging and elixir-making, and musical events. We can’t do them all justice here, so we encourage you to check out the full program. There will also no doubt be updates and additional details available on Horton Ridge’s socials (Fb, Ig). Tickets can be purchased on-site, which will help you avoid some fees. If you’re not up for any of the ticketed events, but want to try the beer, you’re free to come by the taproom all weekend where the featured beers above will be pouring alongside Horton’s regular lineup, with seafood-focused fare from Mega Munchies Food Truck.

[ed. We’d just like to take a moment to give a big shout to Horton Ridge, not just for putting on such a big and varied weekend slate, but for how much info they’re providing, especially the full listing of events with ticket prices and all fees clearly spelled out, and the ability for people to just come by and have a beer as normal at the taproom.]

For those in Halifax (or planning to be in Halifax) tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, September 2nd from noon to close (or sellout), there’s a bit of a thing going on down on Spring Garden Road. Stillwell Beergarden is celebrating the Labour Day weekend with a lovely pairing of liquids and solids. Pouring from the taps will be a delightful mix of hoppy things and sour & fruity things from one of Canada’s best breweries, Bellwoods:

  • Cat Lady IPA
  • Jelly King Cherry
  • Jelly King Pineapple, Tangerine & Grapefruit
  • Jelly King Spicy Margarita
  • Jutsu Pale Ale
  • Roman Candle IPA

To satisfy your need for sustenance, there will also be Korean BBQ Street Food coming off the grill. Dubbed “Bell-Gogi”, no tickets are required, but this event is likely to be pretty popular given the beer and food and the nice weather that’s forecast, so think hard about when you want to get down there to ensure you and your crew get seats!

Lots of jobs for those looking to start, or mix up, their career in the art and science of brewing. Hopefully you’ll find something close to you!

In Sydney, Breton Brewing is hiring a Production Brewer to join their staff.

In Truro, The Common by Burnside Brewing is hiring a Taproom Manager and Associates.

In Elmsdale, Good Robot is hiring a Packaging Associate in their state-of-the-art brewhouse.

In Lower Sackville, Great Roads is looking for an Assistant Brewer to join their team. Experience/education is a must!

Tanner Brewing in Chester Basin is also hiring a Brewer to fill out their roster.

A few quicker mentions to lead into your long weekend:

Moncton’s Tire Shack has a couple customer favourite beers back after some time away. Killed by Death is a massive Triple IPA weighing in at 10% ABV and featuring irresponsible amounts of Citra, Mosaic, and Vic Secret. Having won a silver at the US Open Brewing Championships and a gold at the Canada Beer Cup, it’s earned a spiffy new all-black package. You’ll also find a much lighter brew, the cardamom witbier Zenith Libation available. One of the first beers the brewery ever made, it’s smooth and creamy and 5% ABV with a touch of cardamom spice.

With fall just around the corner, that means “fall beers” other than pumpkin ales (<insert cheering from the anti-gourd crowd here>) are coming around as well. Quidi Vidi’s got their 5.5% Oktoberfest Märzen, featuring a toasty malt profile and a dash of herbal bitterness, available from the source, at NLC locations, and in your favorite convenience stores that stock QV brews.

Halifax’s Unfiltered has a returning engagement for you this weekend: Inducement, their ode to shitty sales practices in the industry, is a classic 7.5% NASH DIPA full of tropical hop flavors. It’ll mostly induce you to have another one. Grab a pint at Charm School (live chill techno Sunday afternoon, 2 – 5pm) or have your growler filled to go, because cans of this won’t happen until next week (but there’s still plenty of DOA cans available, and no doubt other stuff too).

Sad news to end the post this week, but we wanted to pass along our good wishes and kudos to the staff of Hopyard Halifax, who learned of the closing of the establishment at the same time as the rest of us earlier this week. After five years at the Gottingen Street location, there is not (yet) a lot of information on the reasons for the closing, but from our outside view, the staff were always gracious and knowledgeable, most recently demonstrated during this week’s “One Pint at a Time” event co-hosted by the Change is Brewing Collective and Boxing Rock. We’re hoping for quick recovery from this set back, and for bigger and better things for all involved.

While there are ghosts and goblins creeping around every corner, we promise no scares or frights in today’s post. We’ve got new brews and events across the region, so adjust your witch hat and Harry Potter glasses, and read on!

The Change is Brewing Collective recently got together with Music Nova Scotia and A. Keith’s Nova Scotia Brewery to celebrate the 25th anniversary of MusicNS and to give back to local communities. Dubbed Pier Beer and brewed on Mi’kma’ki, “It gives recognition to the melting pot of diversity & culture in Unimaki, Cape Breton.” A maple and spruce amber lager, it’s got very fall-friendly notes of maple, floral spruce, gingerbread, and cinnamon. So grab a sweater and head down to the Keith’s brewery on Lower Water Street to grab some.

Speaking of Fall collaborations, up on the Rock in Bay Roberts, NL, Baccalieu Trail Brewing has collaborated with Darkstar Coffee Roasters in nearby Carbonear to produce Have Your Cake & Eat It Too, a coffee cake-inspired brown ale. Brewed with demerara sugar and some sweeter malts for caramel and honey sweetness along with some burnt caramel character. Finished in the fermenter through conditioning on cinnamon bark and vanilla beans for a week, it’s got some distinct “dessert vibes” while still managing to weigh in at a fairly light 5.5% ABV. Sounds like a tasty Autumn tipple to us! Grab it on the Avalon Peninsula now, with distro reaching Central and Western Newfoundland in coming weeks.

Champions in terms of news volume today are the lovely folks at North Brewing, who have a new location and two returning beers for your pleasure this week. First up is the long anticipated full opening of their Timberlea taproom as of today. Although beer has been available at this location at retail for a year or so now, various delays (who ever heard of opening delays in the craft beer industry?!) have kept them to can and bottle sales until now. Featuring a 60-seat dining room to rival their spot in Cole Harbour and a very similar (possibly identical, to start) food menu, expect North’s usual fabulous “Cheers your neighbour” hospitality, just on the light side of Halifax Harbour. Open for full service food and beverage at 11:30am six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday, closing at 10pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, and 11pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, they’ll also have the retail store open on Mondays from 12 – 8pm.

And if you’re wondering what to drink during your first visit to their new spot, they’ve got a couple of bangers back in circulation. First up, released just after we posted last week, is Cinnamon Bun imperial stout. A 9% ABV soft and sweet punch in the face, look for flavors of cinnamon with lots of body and sweetness. A once-a-year brew, grab it soon before it’s all gone. And just out today, timed perfectly for the opening of their TIMBERlea location, is the return of Timberbock, a 6.2% ABV amber lager, quite Märzen-lize, with plenty of body, but still a lovely crisp-like-the-fall-air finish. Grab one or both of these, along with your fave North core offerings, when you check out their new digs.

With the spooky weekend coming, we’ve got some Halloween themed beers and events going on this weekend. 2 Crows is going to have a special spooky version of Pollyanna (their flagship NEIPA) pouring from Friday to Sunday. Bloody Polly is the result of blending 20kg of blood orange into their current Pollyanna recipe, resulting in 150L available through the weekend. This turns the tropical vibes up in Pollyanna and adds even more juice. They’ve also got a movie screening on Halloween with free popcorn at 7 PM!

Staying in the theme of seasonal releases, Propeller is re-releasing Chocolate Orange Porter, a dark, big bodied porter, with flavours of roasted malts backing the tasty combination of chocolate and orange. At 5%, it’s a very approachable and tasty brew and it is available now in Propeller’s three locations, soon to be available in the Halifax private stores as well, and then at the NSLC as December approaches. Move over, Terry! 

Trailway is back with this year’s version of Spooky! This is a “candy” sour that you may remember from last year that features blue raspberry flavours and leverages spirulina to give it a blue-green hue. This is available now from the brewery in 473ml cans and a limited number of kegs have been distributed around Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John as well. 

Paradise’s Banished Brewing is back this week with two new releases. First up is a collaboration with St. John’s food truck Liqoursauce. This one is a 4.5% ABV mini-Dortmunder style lager. Cans are available now at the brewery and will be hitting Banished’s regular retail outlets next Thursday. Next up is Skelephone, a 6% IPA hopped with the Cryo-Pop blend from Yakima Chief. This one also saw an addition of blue spirulina algae to give the beer a halloween friendly blueish-green tinge. Rumour is the label also has some spooky vibes. Try cracking one in a dark room or in Paradise (by the dashboard lights, of course) to confirm. 

Big Spruce is celebrating local legend Mattea Roach’s return to your screens during the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions with the release of Who is Mattea Roach? This 4% ABV session IPA saw a heavy Citra dry hop, leading to notes of tangerine and pink grapefruit. Cans are available now at the Sprucetique and through the online store. Mattea will be appearing in the Tournament of Champions on November 11, with a special warm up match airing on November 8. 

Back in New Brunswick, Maybee Brewing Company has a new sour hitting the taps, with Give up the Gose. This darker take on the German Gose style incorporates the traditional coriander and sea salt additions, but also features chocolate wheat malt to give it a dark brown colour. Find it on tap at Maybee now. 

Mount Pearl’s Landwash Brewery has a fun new four pack that riffs on its popular Brackish sour ale, featuring a favourite of the blog, sea salt from the Newfoundland Salt Company. Using the Citra-hopped base beer as a starting point, the first variation is Ruby Line, which incorporates additions of raspberry and lime. Next up is Pineapple Brackish, which swaps the Citra hops for southern hemisphere Wakatau, and sees an addition of pineapple during the conditioning stage. This one is also available in singles at the brewery. Rounding out the four-pack is Tangerine Brackish, which also sees an addition of Ekuanot hops. Grab it now at the brewery, with distribution across the Avalon next week and throughout the rest of Newfoundland later in November.

With all the various Fall-inspired beers around, it’s up to Annapolis Cider to balance things with a seasonal cider. Part of their Something Different series is Autumn Sweater, a 6.4% ABV cider with plenty of warmth for the incoming chill. Based on fresh pressed McIntosh apple juice, several hundred pounds of ripe peaches were added and co-fermented for 6 weeks. True Ceylon cinnamon bark and local pear juice bring complexity and additional warmth. Extra points if you get the musical reference, which you can hum as you sip. As with all Something Different ciders, this one sees $0.50 from the sale of each refillable bottle got to charity, in this case Hope Worldwide Canada (Halifax branch). Available only in Wolfville at the cidery.

Where to go and have a beer-y blast this weekend? Below is our Events section!

Three of everyone’s favourites are teaming up for a Sunday special! Taco Bellwoods is this Sunday, as the Stillwell Freehouse, is hosting Beverley’s Taco Service for food and Bellwoods Brewery for beer! The Bellwoods will be fresh kegs of some Bellwoods classics along with some fresh releases. Jutsu, Roman Candle, Jelly King, Cat Lady, Monogamy (Vista hops are showcased in this one), Goblin Sauce and Bellweiser are all expected to be on tap, but head down on Sunday if you can to check out all the goodies. Bring your family, friends, or go solo. Taco Bellwoods for all!

A few more quick hits before we dismiss you for the rest of the weekend …

Christmas creep is in full effect at Ol Biddy’s with the release of Naughty or Nice, their 7.6% AVB double chocolate stout. Keep on eye on the NSLC shelves for this one if you can’t make it to the brewery in Lower Sackville. 

Apparently, chocolate stout is a thing, because Good Robot also has a new release out this week with their Chocolate Mint Nitro Stout. Look for notes of cocoa, mint and vanilla in this 5% cozy sipper. 

Unfiltered continues their recent streak of Friday releases with the return of Here It Comes. Featuring hops from Quebec’s Duke25 Hops, this 7.5% DIPA features a big punch of citrus flavour and aroma. Cans are available now on North Street.