Atlantic Canada Beer Blog

Happy April to us all! Let’s hope those of us affected by the weather this week will be seeing the last snow and freezing rain to be falling for a few months. It’s looking like our region will be mostly free of cloud cover for this Monday’s eclipse, which is great for viewing, but does come with health risks. Remember to use your safety glasses up until the 2-3 minutes of totality, and immediately after, or else you can damage your eyes. And, just in case you weren’t sure, the difference between 99% coverage and 100% coverage is literally night and day! Those in big cities like St. John’s, Moncton, Charlottetown, and Halifax will want to venture North/West to take in the full eclipse, trust us! The fun kicks off around 4:30pm (5:10pm in Newfoundland), with the partial obscuring beginning about an hour earlier, and ending an hour after totality).

And happy Nova Scotia Craft Beer Month to all of us too. The Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia is officially kicking off the celebration with their Together We Brew festival at Pavillion 22 at the Halifax Seaport tomorrow, and it looks like there are still tickets together. The beer of the same name, brewed and released by more than three dozen member breweries, is out in the wild and worth picking up. We’ve been told that more events are coming this month, so keep your eyes peeled here and on the CBANS site.

O’Creek Brewing in Moncton is holding a massive event Sunday, to celebrate and support the Ukrainian population here, and back home. Kozak Lager is a 4.7% Pale Lager, brewed with Ukrainian hops, and with proceeds going to support Ukrainian efforts to defend their homeland. From 12 – 6pm, visitors to the brewery will be able to enjoy authentic Ukrainian cuisine, traditional crafts, and live performances all by Ukrainian artists, thanks to the members of the Ukrainian Club of Moncton. There will also be a drawing for beer and artwork, and live music by the Watermen.

While there on Sunday, or if you head to Barker St. now, you’ll be able to enjoy River of Fire, O’Creek’s newest IPA. West Coast in style, the hops are present in both bitterness and flavour, with a smooth flavour and crisp finish. This is actually a recipe co-owner and head brewer Patrice Daigle perfected on his smaller system at home, and has scaled up to a larger scale. Centennial, Columbus, Mosaic, and Simcoe were used in the boil, and again during a whirlpool addition, and then in the fermenter. Citrus, pine, and resiny goodness throughout! This 7.0% beer is on tap at the brewery now, and should be making its way to cans in the near future.

Bay Roberts’ Baccalieu Trail Brewing has a new beer out on draught and in cans this week, with a name tipping its cap to their location next to the Shearstown Estuary. Rare Bird celebrates the ornithological diversity that can be found just off their taproom deck, with local birds often greeting those that are migrating or have been blown off course due to adverse weather. We’re not sure if there’s ever been a sighting of a New Zealand endemic species there, but that hasn’t stopped BTB, as Rare Bird is a New Zealand Pilsner, brewed with three NZ hops, Rakau, Motueka, and Wakatu. Grab your binos and head out to Bay Roberts to see what’s new!

Lunenburg’s Shipwright Brewing has a new double IPA on tap this week, Two Sails. At 8.0%, and about 75 IBU, this is a beast of a bitter beer, with Galaxy, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Vic Secret used throughout. Fermented with Escarpment Labs’ House Ale dry yeast, the citrus on the nose is followed by even more citrus and resin on the palate. You can grab it in a pint to enjoy with your pizza, and then take home a growler or crowler fill to drink later! Also on tap at Grand Banker next door.

Prince Edward Island cidery Red Island Cider has a new entry in their Ghost Ship series to tell you about this week. These are one off and limited edition tipples that are often the result of aging, blending, and experimentation. In this case, Esperance started life as a Cox’s Orange Pippen-based cider that was put into an old oak wine cask several years ago. When rediscovered this past winter, it was blended with another Cox cider from a different oak barrel, and then softened with a younger cider. The result was keg-conditioned and yields citrus peel and grapefruit leading to a rounded finish. The oak is definitely present, providing some smoothing buttery character. Find this one only at the taproom for pints or growler fills.

Chester and Chester Basin’s Tanner & Co Brewing is at it again with another European-inspired beer, this time taking a page from the monasteries of Belgium and releasing Belgian Dubbel. A deep amber hue from darker malts and candi syrup, with light hopping to keep the balance in check, a style-appropriate yeast was used to lend some light spicy notes to complete the 8.0% package. Draught kegs are on the move now, and you can grab cans at either Tanner location, or for home delivery in their area.

Now in their 26th year, Propeller Brewing continues to introduce new and interesting beers to the local scene. This time around they’re hitting a style that’s relatively uncommon in the region, the American stout. Although often conflated with black IPA (a.k.a. Cascadian dark ale), the American stout maintains the bigger mouthfeel and smoothness of a more traditional stout and marries it with a kick of traditional West Coast hops that often add piney and citrusy characters. Onyx meets this description, with notes of chocolate, coffee, and a hint of smokiness paired up with pine and citrus from the hops in a 6% ABV and 40 IBU package. Find it in cans at any of the Prop Shops and, likely, other places you tend to find Propeller’s offerings.

One of the few other places that regularly offers an American stout (Flat Black Jesus, natch), is Unfiltered Brewing in Halifax. That said, they’re almost certainly more well known for their slate of IPAs and this week they’ve got a new variation on one of their single-hop DIPAs available. Positively Shocking was first brewed in 2021 and hasn’t been seen since 2022, but it’s back with a few tweaks. Slightly lighter-bodied than the original and somewhat hazy, it’s got the same piney and tropical notes from Idaho 7 hops. Still 7.5% ABV, it’s been packaged in cans and available from noon today at the brewery where you can also slip next door to Charm School for a pint or a growler fill.

If you follow 2 Crows and/or their head brewer Jeremy Taylor on social media, you might know that Jeremy is also an avid apiarist. Last fall his bees produced enough honey that he and his daughters were able to package it and sell it, with all proceeds ($1,200!!) going to the Elizabeth Fry Society. As it turns out there was a little bit of honey set aside and from that Jeremy made some mead. That mead was blended into a light lager base along with some quince, also produced on Jeremy’s property. Only one keg of the result, Linden Lea, was produced, and it’s on tap this Sunday at 2 Crows for pints only. You’ll want to fly in and try it while it lasts!

Burnside Brewing out of ….Burnside in Dartmouth, has recently expanded into a third location, in the food court at The Hub Shopping Centre in Truro. The Common by Burnside has a full taproom and retail location, and they are celebrating their Grand Opening tomorrow! From 3 – 6 PM, there will be drink specials, samples, live music from Next Exit, and door prizes and giveaways. Those in the area, or wanting to check out the latest NS Craft Beer location in the province, should definitely drop by for the fun!

As we alluded to last week, the promised purple cans have arrived from Big Spruce, with Cerberus now available at the brewery and, soon, we expect, at other places you go to for your Spruce fix. No doubt you’ll also find kegs out and about in the HRM and beyond as well. Meanwhile the BS team has another returning beer this week, Tripel, which is pretty self-explanatory in terms of style. Featuring all the characteristics you’d expect from a Belgian tripel, including hints of spicy yeast character, some banana notes, and a little bit of citrus, it’s also got a hammer of an ABV at 9.3%, so tread lightly (or don’t, but don’t say we didn’t warn you!).

Corner Brook’s Bootleg Brew Co has a new beer on draught and in cans this week, one sure to be popular with those across the province. How Now Brown Cow? is not just a way to practice your syllables and rhyming, it’s also a 5.0% chocolate milk stout. Dark, chocolatey, and a bit sweet from the addition of lactose, this beer is pouring on a nitro tap at the brewery today, with cans to go shortly, and wider distribution across the island later.

We’re going to end today’s post with word of a brand new competition for all of our Homebrewing readers. BrewHQ is holding their inaugural beer competition next month, and are looking for folks from across the Atlantic provinces Canada to enter! This is a BJCP-certified and -judged competition, with entries welcome in any category. Winners will be decided from the best of IPA/APA entries, and the best of “Everything Else”. There will be prizes for the top three in each category, with the winner of the pale ales seeing their entry brewed on a large scale for release by Arcade Brewing to be enjoyed on tap, as well as in a wort kit release for other amateur brewers to make at home! Your $20 entry fee (per category) will also get you in the door of the gala being held June 1st at Arcade, your first pint of beer, and a sub from Buddy’s Deli. To learn more, check out their FB page, and contact Jeff to grab a form to enter. Good luck to all!