It’s hot and sticky out there through much of the region, so get outside, or inside, and enjoy all the beer-y goodness while the sun is shining. We’re giving you the rapid-fire style this week so we can all spend more time enjoying the summer. Onto the news below. Cheers!
There’s something wonderful about Halifax hosting the Canadian Brewing Awards, and that something wonderful is a lot of collaborations for us to enjoy after everyone leaves town! This week we feature a collaboration between Garrison, Merit and Sawdust City, as they came together to bring us Too Many Cooks! This is a dry-hopped West Coast IPA featuring Emerald Squire and Hyrdra hops. Pilsner is the base malt in this 6.3% beer that you can grab now from Garrison locations.
Tanner Brewing has a new release for us that’s perfect for the heat. Rhubarb Lemondrop Sour is a tart and refreshing beer that was kettle soured and hopped both in the boil and dry-hopped with (you guessed it) Lemondrop. The grain bill features local malts from Horton Ridge and Shoreline, the rhubarb comes fresh from the garden and it all comes together for a tasty, refreshing 5.2% treat that you can grab from both Tanner locations and their online store for delivery.
Hot off opening their new Bedford Highway location, Propeller turns their attention back to the peninsula where they’ve put together a beer in partnership with Black Sheep restaurant. Lucky Ewe is a dry hopped lager with modern Continental variety Huell Melon that brings subtle flavors and aromas of strawberry and apricot. This one will be an excellent candidate for sipping on the Black Sheep patio and should pair well with their fresh and varied menu.
More collaborations from the summer! Dear Friends is a new beer (not to be confused with the wonderful Dartmouth establishment, Dear Friend Bar) from Landwash and Rough Waters.This is a Rosé ale that mimics the fruitiness and refreshing lightness of a glass of rosé but with a beery twist. Featuring French hops, Triskel and Barbe Rouge, it also features additions of hibiscus flowers and prickly pear. Coming in at 5% it will only be available at the retail shop and local stores (no NLC!) and on tap at Landwash!
Staying on the collaboration train, North Shore’s Tatamagouche Brewing and Dartmouth’s North Brewing are returning with seasonal release, Cool Melon, a watermelon Kölsch. This beer features a bunch of real fruit, as it was co-fermented with over 800 pounds of watermelon and it features Huell Melon hops. You can expect it to be crisp and refreshing and not too heavy at 4.5% and it’s available from all North locations and online today (in cans and on tap!)
Trailway Brewing has got it bad (got it bad, got it bad) this week with the release of Hop for Teacher. This one was brewed for the end of the school year to celebrate the beer-drinking teachers and other educators in our lives, especially the wives of Trailway owners Jake and Dan. A fruited IPA with peach purée and everybody’s favorite new hop HBC 1019, expect this one to hit hard on the sweet and juicy peach character, but not too hard on the ABV at 5.5%. Sounds like an excellent tipple for what’s sure to be some stankin’ gross weather in Freddie this weekend. Grab it at the brewery in cans, get your growler filled to go, or sit and sip one in the taproom.
Bannerman Brewing in St. John’s, NL, has a brand new fruited sour pouring for your summer enjoyment. Conditioned on yuzu, for notes of lemon peel, and pear, for hints of pear skin, it also boasts peach pit character and a hint of salinity. Super light and refreshing, it should pair nicely with hot and humid weather if any of that happens to be going around. Currently only on tap for pints and fills to go from the brewery on Duckworth, there are plans for cans as the summer wears on.
Speaking of yuzu, lagers, and collaborations, Candid Brewing in Antigonish is ticking all those boxes this week with Yuzu Biru, a citrus lager. Brewed for Antigonish Townhouse as an ideal summer sipper, this is essentially a fruited version of their pleasantly dry Kanpai rice lager kicked up a notch with a big citrus punch thanks to fermentation on yuzu purée. This 4% crispyboi isn’t being packaged, so you’ll have to hit the Townhouse or the Candid taproom at 88 College Street to give it a try.
Village Green in Cornwall, PE, has a brand new summer seasonal on the taps. BUZZ30 Citra-Sabro Pale Ale is what it says on the tin: a tribute to The Buzz, “PEI’s Guide to What’s Going On,” on the occasion of their 30th anniversary, and also a pale ale brewed with Citra and Sabro hops for big citra presence and some coconut and melon overtones. You can grab this one for pints or fills or cans to go at the brewery, but you’ll want to move quickly as it’s going fast (don’t worry too much, though, they’ll be brewing more!)
In yet more collaboration news, a whole bunch of folks came together at Brightwood Brewing to do a batch to benefit the Back to the Sea Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to, “sparking curiosity for marine life and inspire a desire to protect the ocean.” Featuring contributions in time, labour, and/or ingredients from Malthouse (malt), Elnova Equipment (hops) Brew Culture (hops), Lallemand Brewing (yeast), and Scotty G (label design). Back to the Sea Hazy IPA is, well, a hazy IPA, coming in at 5.7% ABV and 35 IBU. Featuring Mandarina Bavaria and Bravo in the kettle up to the whirlpool, and then double dry hopped with Bravo and Nelson Sauvin (warm) and Mandarina and Nelson (cold), it was fermented with the Verdant IPA yeast strain to maximize the fruity flavors and provide haze stability. Proceeds from this one (available at Brightwood) will benefit Back to the Sea, who have their soft opening this weekend. Meanwhile, look for a launch party at Brightwood’s beer garden in the next week or two!
Nyanza’s Big Spruce Brewing are into the swing of summer with the return of their Ukrainian Pilsner Ykpaïa (try saying that three times fast!) This one leverages Ukrainian hop variety Zlato Polissya (“polished gold”) and, in fact, hops grown in Galchin in Zhytomyr oblast. It boasts a deep golden color and floral and herbal aromas and flavors. Expect a smooth mouthfeel, delicate bitterness, and a bit of sweetness. Packages in cans, it’s 4.9% ABV and it’s also available on tap at the brewery for pints and fills.
Only one event to tell you about this week, but it’s a good’er:
We’re rounding out the news this week with a good ol’ event like the glory days of tap takeovers at Stillwell HQ. Saturday, July 8th, the Barrington street staple is featuring taps and bottles from Quebec’s own Brasserie Dunham. The main feature is six versions of their Viti Vini Vici series. These releases typically feature a Saison aged in different wine barrels. Check out the six versions on tap and the different bottle selections available below:
On Tap:
- VVV no. 6 – Pinot Noir from Les Pervenches
- VVV no. 9 – Gewürztraminer
- VVV no. 11 – Pinot Noir from Nival
- VVV no. 13 – Sauvignon Blanc
- VVV no. 15 – L’Acadie Blanc
- VVV no. 16 – Frontenac Noir
In Bottles:
- Opora – White wine barrel-aged saison
- Opora Gooseberry – White wine barrel-aged saison with gooseberries
- Funk Làlà – Barrel-aged grisette with blueberries
- Funk Écarlate – Barrel-aged grisette with cherries
- Paul – Hoppy wild ale
- Saison Cassis – Sour saison with cassis
- Vieille Cerise – 3 year barrel-aged wild ale with cherries
- Assemblage no. 10 – Blend of sour beers and foudre beer with acerola
- Saison Bleuet – Saison blend refermented on blueberries
- Quench du Soif – Wild IPA with Citra & Galaxy