Local Connections Halifax

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Friday Wrap-Up – News from Boxing Rock, Hammond River, BarNone, Picaroons, PEI Brewing, Red Rover, Rogues Roost and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-05-09
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: BarNone Brewing, Big Axe Brewery, Boxing Rock Brewing, Brewer's Bash, Garrison Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, Local Connections Halifax, Meander River Farm and Brewery, North Brewing, Paddys Irish Brewpub, PEI Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Brewing, reLiSH, Rogues Roost Brewpub, Schoolhouse Brewery, Stubborn Goat, The Pub Magazine, Tide & Boar Gastropub. 1 comment

Hello, craft beer fans! As the weather finally starts to improve a little in our region, let’s warm up your weekend even more with some beer news…

• Boxing Rock has released details on their newest brew, a Biere de Garde; this marks the first time this malty, lagered, French beer style has been brewed by a brewery in Nova Scotia. La Rive du Sud is brewed with base malts and dark caramelized sugar; it clocks in at 7.5% ABV. With “notes of biscuit, caramel, toffee, as well as tangerine, peach, nutmeg, clove and allspice”, the beer has a dry finish with a “lingering spicy aftertaste”, according to the brewery. Available in 650 mL bottles at the private stores in HRM Saturday, on tap at select bars/restaurants, and in bottles and 1 L growler fills at the brewery, get it while you can! You can read more about this new beer on the Boxing Rock blog, here.

• Hammond River Brewing has announced that they’re brewing a new beer today, an Imperial IPA (aka Double IPA) named Too Hop to Handle. Brewer/owner Shane Steeves has confirmed that the beer should come in at about 8.4% ABV and 101 IBUs (calc); all of the flavor and aroma hop additions will incorporate the Zythos hop, a hop blend that has been described as strongly aromatic, with “tangerine, lemon, grapefruit, and pine notes”. We’ll keep you updated on it’s release; it should be available sometime next month in the Saint John area.

• Over in PEI, BarNone Brewing has also brewed up a new beer. Details on Summer Solstice are pretty slim, but we do know that the strongly-aromatic Citra hop is involved. BarNone recently had a vote on its Facebook page as to whether the beer should be filtered or unfiltered; unfiltered was the strong favorite, so look for the beer to be slightly hazy, but exhibiting more hop aroma and flavor as a result.

• Picaroons has announced that they will be having their Brewer’s Bash beer festival again this year, on Saturday, July 12th from 11am – 11pm. Like last year, the event will be held at Officer’s Square in downtown Fredericton; ticket prices will remain at $25 each, with 500 more being sold this year. The date of ticket sales has not been determined yet; keep your eyes on their Twitter feed for an announcement next Tuesday. With about 60 breweries and 300 beers featured in last year’s sold-out festival, expect at least as many this year. In the meantime, they are looking for volunteers; send them an email if you’re interested! We’ll post more details on the festival as they become available.

• To celebrate the 1st anniversary of the opening of their new brewery, the PEI Brewing Co. is putting on their 1st Annual Taps & Tunes Music Festival. This 4-day festival will take place from Tuesday, May 14th to Saturday, the 17th, and involves multiple bands at multiple venues (including the PEI Brewing Co. and Gahan House locations); check out their link for full music details. No details yet on if they’re brewing up something special for the festival, but there MAY be a special cask released!

• Speaking of the PEI Brewing Co., this Saturday they will be hosting their fourth Art Battle (an event that features live competitive painting). For this battle, they plan on releasing a British Pale Ale dry-hopped with whole cone hops… that’s all we know for now, but if you’re in the area and want to give it a try, drop by for a taste!

• Red Rover Brewing has added a couple new accounts to their growing list, as their Spring Brew is now available at two new locations. Look for it on tap in Fredericton at reLiSH Gourmet Burgers at their uptown location, and in Moncton at the Tide & Boar.

• Rogues Roost has brewed up an exciting new beer, set to hit the taps late next week: a Dunkel Weizenbock. Combining the best characteristics of several styles, this 7.5% ABV beer will taste like the chocolate banana split of beer, thanks to the melding of malt, hops and yeast character. It was lightly hopped with Saaz and Hersbrucker, though these flavours and aromas take a back seat to the rich melanoidins and sour-dough breadiness. We’re looking forward to this one!

• Paddy’s Pub in Wolfville is hosting a Brewery Tour this Saturday, May 10th, at 5:30pm. Visitors will be able to learn the art and science behind brewing, by learning about the ingredients that go into your pint, the brewing process, and how to taste the beer. Tickets are $10 (available at the bar), and include a 16oz beer. We are not sure if this will be a regular event, so be sure not to miss it!

• Also on Saturday, Halifax is home to Open City, a city-wide event highlighting local beer, food, arts and craft producers. Several beer-centric stops will be on the go, including:
– Garrison Brewing will be hosting a pop-up by Getaway Meat Mongers, and are featuring a Test Batch IPA-based mimosa, which will pair well with Getaway’s Philly Cheese Steak.
– Stubborn Goat is hosting a Goat Fest with music and Oulton’s Farm Burger (with Ran-Cher Acres goat paneer, Sriracha slaw & bacon fat mayo).
– North Brewing is hosting the Food Wolf truck for your K-Dog fix, and featuring special pricing on growler fills.
– The Foggy Goggle is featuring $5 Propeller Pints, and Giant Foggy Spud stuffed with bacon, corn, red onion & cheese.
Check out I LOVE LOCAL‘s page for the full list, and be sure and get out and experience Open City!

• Speaking of Garrison, they are releasing a new beer today in advance of the OBEY Convention, being held in Halifax May 22-25. OBEY This Brew is a hopped-up Pale Ale, a blend of their Hop Yard and Tall Ship Amber brews, weighing in at 5.0% ABV and 30 IBUs. It will be sold in 650 ml bombers, available at the brewery, NSLCs, private stores and at hosting licensees during the OBEY Festival.

• Garrison is also one of the breweries taking part in the Local Connections Wine and Spirits Gala, taking place next Thursday, May 15, at the Halifax Club. They will be serving an Elderberry Wheat Ale, dry-hopped with whole leaf Simcoe for a piney, woodsy character melding with the berry aroma. It weighs in at 4.6% and 13 IBU. Joining them in the Craft Brewer’s Room are Boxing Rock Brewing, North Brewing, and Propeller Brewing. There are still a handful of tickets left, so jump on them now if you’d like to attend. These LC events are always a great time, lots of different flavours and tastes under one roof!

• It was a busy week for new breweries in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley: after Meander River’s announcement of their May 17 opening, the soon-to-be-open Schoolhouse Brewery was invaded by local brewer Greg Nash, Beer Tech owner Ken Greer, and The Pub Magazine’s Troy Kirkby. They brewed Principal Ale, their dry-hopped Pale Ale, and are looking to have this on tap in early June. Stay tuned here in the next little while for a full profile on Cam Hartley and the Schoolhouse Brewery!

• Chris had a chance to drop by the Heron’s Nest Cottages & Bistro Pub in Charlo for a food and beer tasting last night. Derek Leslie of Shiretown Beer lead the tasting of 9 different New Brunswick beer, including Shiretown’s Blonde du Quai, Big Brown Ale (used to cook meat balls), Honey Wheat (made with local Charlo honey, and used in the cooking of a ham), and Siren’s T’Ale (chicken thighs were roasted in this beer). Also featured were three offerings from Big Axe Brewery in Nackawic: Chanterelle Cream Ale, Maple Wheat Amber Ale, and their Double Bit IPA. The Bistro Pub always has Shiretown beer on tap, and an excellent stock of beer from around our region and around the world, and is definitely worth visiting when in the area.

And, don’t forget… it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday! Thank a Mother near you with some tasty craft beer!

Details on Local Connections Halifax and their Craft Beer and Local Food Celebration Jan 16 at The Halifax Club

Posted by acbbchris on 2013-11-25
Posted in: Beer Events, Profiles. Tagged: Local Connections Halifax. Leave a Comment

localconnections_event

In advance of the Craft Beer and Local Food Celebration being held January 16 at the Halifax Club, we reached out to Alex Henden of Local Connections Halifax for more information.

Alex is the brains and visionary behind Local Connections Halifax, a quarterly print and online magazine that highlights the best of Halifax, in all categories (shops, food, beer, crafts, everything!). In addition to the magazine, Alexander also hosts and helps promote events all over the HRM (remember Sausage Fest?). The Autumn edition of the magazine has a wonderful feature on The Golden Age of Craft Beer in Nova Scotia.

ACBB: Please tell us a little about yourself and Local Connections Halifax.

Alex: My background at Local Connections Halifax is that I started the magazine about 1.5 years ago with no experience, and have begun doing events right from the get go. At this point in our brief history, we have accumulated a lot of data/experience doing events successfully, and are now looking to apply our findings to what we do to make our events even better. There hasn’t been any outward pressure to improve, but we simply roll this way.

Reception from local businesses and the general public has been similar. We have developed a solid group of readers and supporters. We are close to sustainability with the magazine and have forged a fairly solid reputation as an event host. With this is mind, we are keen to deliver big on January 16 and move up a notch or two in terms of public expectation and demand. We want to be one of the top dogs.
You certainly appear to be a fan of craft beer and local food, tell us about how you got into it.

My interest in beer comes from my first bottle of craft beer which was Shaftebury’s Rainforest (in BC). From there I just started liking beer and began to try others. I am not in any way a beer expert, but I do enjoy drinking craft beers on regular basis and have tried quite a few. On the food end, I probably began a slow transition towards good food, which is often local, probably as far back as 20 years ago. At some point, you have to concede that not all food is equal, and at some point, realize that some of it really isn’t food in the first place. Obviously having a name like Local Connections Halifax implies a support-local mandate, but the truth is, we have a quality-first mandate which is then supported by a support-local one. I think this differentiates us most other buy-local groups.

Please tell us about the January 16 event.

The previous event (Meet Your Local Spring Gala), from the public’s perspective, was that it was a great event, and the format of having 7 themed rooms is something we are keen to continue. The Gala actually showcased the most local producers in the Halifax Club’s 150 year history, and to my knowledge, no one has ever has 7 differently themed rooms, or host the diversity of people entering the building. As event organizers, we enjoyed ourselves, but have instead choose to look at where we can improve. With a bunch of people having told us that the Gala was one of the best events they’ve ever been to makes us very happy because we know we can do much better.

So, the Craft Beer and Local Food Celebration will be more refined in terms of quality and experience. Obviously the focus will be the beer, but we will have cider, entertainment, contests at the event, and lots to eat. Our goal is to have an event which exceeds even our own expectations. This might sound odd, but what we’ve learned is that when you surround yourself with like-minded folks and let them run with it, you end up with something pretty amazing. We saw this firsthand at 3 of the pop-up events during Sausage Fest.

At the moment, for the most part, what you see on the website is pretty much where we are right now. On the breweries end, we are aiming to have as much of the complete product line-up as possible, and in the cases of most breweries, have them make a cask or two for the Cask Room. Jeremy at Big Spruce is keen on doing a home brewers contest prior to the event. We’ll also be requesting that the breweries do some sort of collaboration on their casks. As an example, I have asked Boxing Rock to work with Avondale Sky Winery. We will also have the chefs and dessert makers cook and bake with beer, with the exception of the Stubborn Goat who will be using apples and cider with pork.

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Thank you to Alex for the additional details. We can also tell you that almost every packaging brewery and cidermaker in Nova Scotia will be in attendance, as well as all three HRM brewpubs. As he mentioned, they have been encouraged to collaborate with the excellent chefs in attendance, so the pairings will be effortless (no need to scoot from the beer room to the food room, food and beer will be right beside each other). One of the most intriguing room is the Cask Room, where many brewers will have a special one-off beer pouring, and there will be Beer Ambassadors roaming around to chat about the brewing process, suggest beer and food pairings, and just chat beer.

Some other details on the evening: the event is all inclusive, and there are only a handful of tickets still available, even with the event two months away. They are expected to sell out this week, so act now if you are on the fence! More details on the “Seven Rooms, Seven Experiences” can be found on the event page. Be sure to follow Local Connections on Facebook and Twitter as more details and sneak peeks are released. We’ve been told that there are still lots of fun details that will be released leading up to the event. And look for the magazine online or at your favourite restaurant, bar or shop.