The third annual Fredericton Craft Beer Festival (FCBF) will be taking place on Saturday, March 7th at the Fredericton Convention Centre downtown. This year’s festival promises to somehow improve on last year’s event, featuring new breweries and new beers, while continuing to focus strongly on those represented by the Maritimes. The festival has many sponsors: event sponsors include Massive Graphics and the King Street Ale House; hotel sponsor is the Crowne Plaza-Lord Beaverbrook Hotel; and supporting sponsors Investors Group and Atlantic Canada Regional Council of Carpenters, Millwrights and Allied Workers.
This year’s FCBF sold out even faster than last year’s… all 1,050 tickets were spoken for more than two weeks ago, with the 250 VIP tickets selling out within hours of going on sale. The festival will run from 7:30-10:00 pm, and features 4 oz pours of a large variety of craft beers, ciders and mead. VIP ticket-holders get early access to the festival at 6:30 pm, as well as a custom tasting glass.
There will be several food options available during the festival; the full list hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we can confirm that Johnny 5’s Burger and Fries will have sliders and potato wedges available for purchase, and Magzy’s Kettle Korn will be there for the third year in a row.
For those visiting from out of town (or Frederictonians who want to make a full night of it!), the Crowne Plaza – located across the street from the Convention Centre – is once again offering their festival rate of $109/night for both Friday and Saturday (March 6th and 7th); that discounted rate is available here. There will be lots of craft beer available before and after the festival in the city – the King Street Ale House has been named as the Official Beer Bar of the festival, and always has plenty of options on tap and in bottles. Also, the James Joyce Irish Pub, located in the Crowne Plaza, has been steadily increasing their selection of draught craft beer lately, and they’re hoping to have at least one beer from almost every craft brewery in New Brunswick.
Last year’s festival saw a significant increase over the inaugural event in 2013, with 28 brewers and distributors pouring over 150 different beers, ciders and meads. This year, there will be even more: about 45 breweries and 190 different beers will be available! With the exception of Acadie-Broue, every brewery in New Brunswick will be attending this year. Both breweries from PEI will be there, along with seven breweries from Nova Scotia, making a large showing from the Atlantic provinces – more than half of the booths will feature local beers! As well, thanks to importers Good Pallets and ASWL, ticket-holders will see many new breweries from outside Atlantic Canada attending for the first time, such as Quebec’s Dieu du Ciel!, Trou du Diable, and Trois Mousquetaires, and Ontario’s Flying Monkeys and Grand River Brewing, to name a few.
While many favorites will be pouring from breweries attending FCBF, there are lots of one-offs that will be available for tasting, and several breweries are even bringing new beers brewed specifically for the festival! Fredericton’s own TrailWay Brewing will have three new beers (an APA, IPA, and Imperial Coffee Milk Stout); Big Tide is bringing a traditional Bavarian lager, Bucht Bock; Boxing Rock’s collaboration Rye IPA (The Next Chapter) brewed with Andrew “Esty” Estabrooks will be making it’s awaited debut; and Big Spruce will have UnRYEvaled Chocolate Rye IPA. As well, Petit-Sault will have their new beer brewed earlier this month for International Women’s Day, Phémie-la-Bootlegger.
All of the local breweries will have a brewer and/or brewery representative on hand to answer questions about their products. As well, Good Pallets will have several volunteers on hand; these volunteers have many decades of combined experience in the industry. So, feel free to discuss beer at the festival, instead of just consuming it! In addition, many breweries will have swag on hand for purchase.
Finally, two breweries planning to open in the near future will have brewers in the crowd: Riverview, NB’s A.W.O.L. Brewery will be represented by owner/brewer Robert Black, and the crew from Wrought Iron Brewing in Halifax will also be at the festival. If you can find them, be sure to stop and say hi!
Now, on to the brewery/beer list! Keep in mind these products are subject to change, and some have not been announced yet. We will continue to update this list as we find out more information:
Atlantic Spirits & Wines (Dartmouth, NS) – Somersby Cider, Kronenbourg 1664, Holsten Festbock, Holsten Maibock,
Authentic Seacoast Brewing Co. (Guysborough, NS) – Rare Bird Pale Ale, Rare Bird Full Steam Stout, Rare Bird Red Ale
Bad Apple Brewhouse (Berwick, NS) – Black and Tackle RIS, Mosaic DIPA
Barnone Brewing (Rose Valley, PEI) – IPA, Pale Ale, Summer Sessions, American Wheat Ale
Big Axe Brewing (Nackawic, NB) – Big Axe Blonde, Shakesbeer Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Wrath of Putin Imperial Pale Ale, Red Ale
Big Spruce Brewing (Nyanza, NS) – Tim’s Dirty American IPA, Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout, Coade Word: Snowmageddon, UnRYEvaled Chocolate Rye IPA
Big Tide Brewing Company (Saint John, NB) – Fogbound Hemp Pale Ale, Bucht Bock
Black Oak Brewing (Etobicoke, ON) – 10 Bitter Years
Boxing Rock Brewing (Shelburne, NS) – Temptation Red Ale, Hunky Dory Pale Ale, The Vicar’s Cross Double IPA, The Next Chapter (Rye IPA)
Brasseurs du Petit-Sault (Edmundston, NB) – Tante Blanche, Bob LeBouef, Louis XVII, Canon Franchetti, Phémie-la-Bootlegger
Celtic Knot (Riverview, NB) – Dubh Loki Black IPA, Éire (Irish Red Ale)
Central City Brewing (Surrey, BC) – Red Racer IPA, Red Racer Copper Ale
Churchill Cellars (Toronto, ON) – Bavaria 8.6 (Original), Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse, Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse, Amsterdam Natural Blonde, Amsterdam Boneshaker IPA, Amsterdam Orange Weisse
Creemore Springs Brewery (Creemore, ON) – Creemore Springs Premium Lager, Mad & Noisy Hops & Bolts, Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale
Dieu du Ciel! (St-Jerome, QC) – Péché Mortel, Moralité, Chemin de Croix
Double Trouble Brewing (ON) – Hops and Robbers Extra Delicious IPA, Prison Break, Fire in the Rye, Revenge of the Ginger, French Press Vanilla Stout
Flying Monkeys (Barrie, ON) – Hoptical Illusion, Smashbomb Atomic IPA, The Matador Version 2.0 El Toro Bravo, Genius of Suburbia, The Chocolate Manifesto
Garrison Brewing Co. (Halifax, NS) – Tall Ship Amber, Irish Red, Raspberry Wheat, IPA, Imperial IPA, Glutenberg American Pale Ale, Glutenberg Blonde, Glutenberg Red
Grand River Brewing (Cambridge, ON) – Plowman’s Ale, Mill Race Mild, Pugnacious Pale Ale, Curmudgeon IPA
Grimross Brewing Company (Fredericton, NB) – Cheval D’Or, Ben’s Bitter Pale Ale
Hammond River Brewing (Quispamsis, NB) – Too Hop to Handle DIPA, Breakfast Stout, Imperial Vanilla Porter (Bourbon version)
Lake of Bays Brewing (Baysville, ON) – 10 Point IPA, Top Shelf Lager, Old North Mocha Porter, Rock Cut Lager, Spark House Red Ale, Crosswind Pale Ale
McAuslan Brewery (Montreal, QC) – St. Ambroise Pale Ale, St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat, St. Ambroise IPA
McClelland Premium Imports (Mississauga, ON) – Erdinger Weissbier, Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel, Fruli Strawberry, Stiegl Lager, Stiegl Radler, Mort Subite Kriek, Mort Subite Framboise, Mongozo Premium Pilsner, Palm Amber Ale, Delirium Tremens, Delirium Tremens Christmas
Mill St. Brewery (Scarborough, ON) – Belgian Wit, Belgian Tank House, Belgian Organic
Moosehead (Saint John, NB) – Moosehead Boundary Ale, Moosehead Pale Ale, Clancy’s, Moosehead Radler, Hop City Barking Squirrel, Hop City HopBot, Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale, Hop City 8th Sin Black Lager, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Sam Adams Rebel IPA, Sam Adams Cold Snap
Muskoka Brewery (Bracebridge, ON) – Mad Tom IPA, Detour Session IPA
Le Naufrageur (Carleton-sur-mer, QC) – Raccoon, Corte-Real, Saint-Barnabe, Swordfish, Carrick, Penelope, Ale Amerindienne, Ale Amerindienne Double Blanche (Tanaisie), Ale Amerindienne Myrique Beaumier
Northampton Brewing Company/Picaroons (Fredericton, NB) – Maple Cream Ale, Yippee IPA, and four casks: Winter Warmer, Scotch Ale, a Brown Ale, and one TBA
PEI Brewing Company (Charlottetown, PEI) – Sir John A’s Honey Wheat, Sydney Street Stout, 1772 IPA, Island Red, Iron Bridge Brown, Beach Chair Lager, Blueberry Ale, and a TBD cask
Propeller Brewing (Halifax, NS) – Pale Ale, IPA, London Style Porter, Double IPA, RIS, Irish Red Ale
Pump House Brewery (Moncton, NB) – Biere de Garde, Premium Pilsner, IPA, Blueberry, 4 Alarm IPA (on cask)
Railcar Brewing (Florenceville-Bristol, NB) – Artisan Brown Ale, Cafe Buzz Coffee Porter
Red Rover Brewing (Fredericton, NB) – Spring Cider, Summer Cider, Fall Cider, TBA Seasonal
Shiretown Beer (Rover Charlo, NB) – Blonde du Quai, Big Brown Ale, Siren’s T’Ale, TBA Special-release
Sleeman Breweries Ltd (Guelph, ON) – Sleeman Cream Ale, Sleeman Silver Clear, Sleeman Honey Brown, Sleeman Original Draught, Unibroue Maudite, Okanagan Mild Winter Ale, Sapporo, Dos Equis Special Lager, Old Milwaukee
Sunset Heights Meadery (Fredericton, NB) – Queen’s Nectar, Denim (Blueberry), Tart’n (Cranberry), Naughtea (Iced Green Tea), Shipwreck (India Pale Mead), Meadmosa, Bee Mine, A Peel
Tatamagouche Brewing (Tatamagouche, NS) – North Shore Lagered Ale, Dreadnot India Black Ale
TrailWay Brewing (Fredericton, NB) – a new APA, Imperial IPA, and Imperial Coffee Milk Stout
Les Trois Mousquetaires (Brossard, QC) – Porter Baltique, Hopfenweisse, Maibock, Sticke Alt, Kellerbier, Pale Ale Americaine
Trou du Diable (Shawinigan, QC) – La Pitoune, Morsure, MacTavish in Memorium, Dubaï Pillée, Le Sang D’Encre, Saison du Tracteur
Windward Imports (Halifax, NS) – Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale, Shipyard Export Ale, Shipyard Monkey Fist IPA
It’s always been a great time at the FCBF, and this year won’t disappoint! As the FCBF tagline states, “It’s all about the beer. Pure. Simple.” Both Shawn and Chris will be attending; we hope to see you there!