Happy New Year! How many times did you say that this week, going back to work and exchanging pleasantries with friends and families? As we all get back to post-Holiday life, take some time to rest and recover from the vacation time! Kick those feet up, grab something local, enter our contest and check out some quick hits about Atlantic breweries below.
Spryfield’s finest kicks off the news this week with Serpent Brewing releasing Winter Wit. This is a tweak on their White Mountain Witbier, but brings Chamomile to the party, joining witbier yeast and wheat malt. There are some classic witbier flavours with orange, coriander and a bit of banana. This is only available at the brewery on tap for pints and growlers. It’s 5.5% and available now.
Staying in Halifax and in the theme of only being on-tap, Propeller Brewing has Peach and Yuzu Fruited Ale releasing today. This is a pilot brew, so it is quite limited in availability. This 5.0% Pale has some obvious additions of peach and yuzu, bringing a nice citrus and stonefruit combo in a refreshing beer. It’s available at all 3 Prop Shops for pints and growlers today. And as always (even if we forget to mention it), they will be pouring a special Cask from the bartop of their Gottingen Street taproom this evening, allowing the brewers to flex their creative muscles, doing something a little different than usual. Tapped at 6 PM every Friday, this is available for in-house enjoyment only, until sell-out. Tonight’s cask is their Passion Fruit Sour, with additions of vanilla and lactose, for that full on milkshake character.
Hopping on the 102 and headed toward The Hub of Nova Scotia, lands us at Truro Brewing Company and a returning release. Willow Street Wheat is back on tap at the brewery and this is a light, refreshing, approachable ale at 4.8%. It features Amarillo hops and is on tap now and is a core beer that is usually in cans as well.
Yellowbelly Brewery has a winter seasonal release available at the brewery and at many NLC stores. Winter Solstice is a New England IPA that features the ABV to keep you warm this winter and the flavour to refresh you, all at the same time! This is 7% and available in 473ml cans.
Staying in Newfoundland, Landwash has a four-banger of sours out now. Joining their original Newfoundland sea-salted sour, Brackish, two more Brackish varieties and another sour join the lineup. First up, Ruby Line is a fruited sour, featuring Raspberry and Lime, clocking in at 4.5% The first Brackish variant is Brackish with Tangerine, featuring the original beer conditioned on tangerines. The second is Brackish with Pineapple, going through the same fruited conditioning stage, but with Pineapple. All 3 of the Brackish line comes in at the same 4.8% ABV, but very different flavours. You can get a trio of the Brack Pack (clever), or grab them all in a four-pack or singles, everywhere you normally find Landwash.
In the beer-adjacent category, Atlantic Business Magazine published the first annual Best Places to Work in Atlantic Canada. Featuring some bigger and smaller companies, one brewery stands out on the list. Upstreet Brewing is the only company on PEI of the 20 companies named and we’d like to raise a glass to our friends! Check out the full list of recipients here.
Looking to brew? Fredericton’s Maybee Brewing is hiring a new Brewer to work alongside their head brewer. Take a look at the job details at the link here and apply in person at the brewery or send your resume and cover letter to info@maybeebrew.com
You may have noticed in the news this week that a familiar spot in Halifax has some new plans. Good Robot will be opening up another location across from the Halifax Commons at North Park and Cornwallis. This space may be familiar to you craft beer fans, but the Robots are looking for input from the community as a whole, so check out the article here from The Coast to read more about it and what the space should become.
And speaking of Good Robot, this is a friendly reminder about our contest that closes in 12 days! If you want a tour of their Elmsdale Brewery on Saturday, January 21, keep on reading. To enter, post a picture/story/reel on social media of a favourite local beer/cider/mead you’ve enjoyed in 2022 or 2023, and be sure to tag us in it and use the hashtag #ElmsdaleTour. And if you’re not the social media kind, no problem, just fire us an email, send us a text, or release a carrier pigeon to let us know you’re interested! (We’d like to post/re-post to show what our readers are drinking, hope that’s OK) We’ll be drawing a whole buncha names Jan 18 at 6 PM, so your chances are good to take part! Looking forward to meeting you there!