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Friday Wrap-Up – News from Canadian Brewing Awards, 2 Crows Brewing, Beerocracy, North, Stillwell, and much more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2016-06-03
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, BarNone Brewing, Beerocracy, Big Spruce Brewing, Breton Brewing, Burgers n' Beer, Federation of Beer, Garrison Brewing, Grimross Brewing, King Street Ale House, Lazy Bear Brewing, Maybee Brewing, Moosehead, North Brewing, PEI Brewing Co., Picaroons, Propeller Brewing, Pump House Brewery, Red Rover Craft Cider, Stillwell Beer Bar, Tatamagouche Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Upstreet Craft Brewing, York County Cider. Leave a Comment

Good morning, and welcome to the weekend! Lots going on in beer news as usual, so let’s get started. First off, some local award winners!

• Big congratulations to the winners in our region at this year’s Canadian Brewing Awards in Vancouver, BC, last weekend.
– PEI Brewing was the big winner, taking four Gold medals at the blindly-judged competition. They earned the most medals (of any colour, let alone Gold) of any brewery in the country: Gold in English Style India Pale Ale, Rogues Roost IPA; Gold in Wheat Beer – North American Style, Gahan Sir John A. Honey Wheat Ale; Gold in Session India Pale Ale, Gahan Vic Park APA; Gold in Session Ale, Setting Day Saison.
– Tatamagouche had an excellent showing, with three medals awarded. Gold in Imperial Stout, Russian Imperial Stout; Gold in Barley Wine-Style Ale – American-Style, Giantess; Bronze in Baltic Porter, Two Rivers Baltic Porter. Clearly they know their big beers, as these brews are all above 8.0% ABV!
– Saint John’s Moosehead Brewery also earned a trio of medals for a few of their lager offerings: Gold in North American Style Lager, Alpine Lager; Silver in North American Style Amber Lager, Barking Squirrel Lager; Silver in Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager, Cracked Canoe.
– Garrison: Silver in American-Style Black Ale, Dirty Ol’ Town Black IPA.
– Stillwell: Silver in Belgian-Style Brett Beer, Two, their Second Anniversary mixed fermentation Saison (brewed at North Brewing).
– Red Rover: Silver in Cider with Herbs/Spices, Fall.
– Pump House: Bronze in Barley Wine-Style Ale – English-Style, Barley Wine.

Be sure to visit your local brewery and grab a bottle, can, and/or pint of these award-winning beers, and show them some love! The full list of winners can be found on the CBA website.

• A new brewery, slated to open in Halifax this fall, has just been announced this week. 2 Crows Brewing will set up shop on Brunswick Street, between Cogswell and Duke. Co-owner and Brewer Jeremy Taylor is an avid homebrewer, and after graduating with an MSc in Brewing and Distilling from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University, has brewed professionally in British Columbia for several years before making the transition eastward. 2 Crows will feature a core lineup of four beers, with a bevvy of rotating seasonals and one-offs, all brewed on their 20 bbl (23 hL) brewhouse. Keep up-to-date with their progress by following their Twitter and Facebook pages.

• Beerocracy, a documentary about the brewing industry in New Brunswick, is in its final stages and getting closer to its planned release in July. In the meantime, directors/producers Shauna Chase and Alex Vietinghoff have started an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to help raise some final funds to pay for post-production costs such as audio mastering, translation and French subtitling, graphic design, and more. They’re already about 40% of the way to their $10,000 goal, which ends Thursday, June 16th. If you’d like to donate to the cause, there are plenty of perks available; based on donation, they range from beer glasses, posters, and digital downloads of the film to VIP screenings and even having your name in the credits! Don’t hesitate on your chance to be involved in a piece of NB beer history, and donate today!

• Only 3 weeks after releasing a pair of new brews, North has released yet another two new beers this week. First up is Gestalt, a blend of two different beers. One of the beers is a “Farmhouse Brown Ale” that was fermented with a specialty blend of yeasts, Fruit Bomb Saison (a Saison strain, an “enigmatic” Saccharomyces strain, and a Brettanomyces strain) from Escarpment Labs; the beer was then aged in stainless for over three months. Meanwhile, another batch with a “very simple malt bill” was fermented with another Escarpment blend, Old World Saison (two Saison strains). Both batches were ultimately blended at differing ratios until those at North were happiest with the outcome: a barnyard aroma, with “notes of cherry, tamarind, cola, subtle hay, and a lime zest finish”. Weighing in at 5.4% ABV, it’s available for growler fills now at the brewery, and is on tap at select accounts. Next up is version 2.0 of their Grisette, which comes in slightly stronger at 3.8% ABV, but still remains  supremely sessionable. Some Torrified Wheat was added to the grist, and the hops were changed to Rakau and Ahtanum; also available now at the brewery, so pick them both up while you’re there!

• Fresh off their CBA win, Stillwell released a new beer yesterday that they brewed with the staff at Toronto institution Bar Volo‘s House Ales (a 150 L pilot brewery) earlier in the winter. Pekkolo is a Farmhouse Table Beer named after the hop variety, Pekko, used generously within. This American varietal gives the beer notes of lemon, thyme and mint in the aroma, “all of which dovetail nicely with our funky ‘house’ Saison culture’s flavour profile”, according to Stillwell. Hoppy, with a “soft tartness”, it weighs in at only 3.8% ABV (which allows it to live up to its Table – read: consumable in quantity – status), yet still exhibits a good amount of body, due in part to the sizeable addition of Flaked Barley to the grist. Only a small amount of this beer is available, so it will be available only on tap at Stillwell (with a simultaneous release in Toronto), and won’t last long!

• York County has a new cider on tap for growler fills, Sidra. Inspired by traditional ciders made in northern Spain, York County describes it as “very tart, with notes of unripe fruits”; slightly sour, with a cloudy appearance, it is quite still (very minimal carbonation). Intended on being poured from a height “of at least a yard” to give it a bit of froth upon consumption, it clocks in at 6.7% ABV. Drop by today to give this new “Spanish cider” a try!

• Federation of Beer is releasing a new beer today, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series. Star Trek 50th Golden Anniversary Ale was brewed at Garrison, using Pale and Wheat malts, and a light touch of Hallertau hops. This 5.0% ABV and 20 IBUs beer features a brilliant golden liquid with light frothy head, light malt body, and a slight fruity aroma, to go along with the spicy character of the noble hops. The bottles will feature one of twelve collectible labels, and are available at the brewery now in six-packs. It joins their Vulcan Red Session Ale and Klingon Warnog Roggenbier in the Star Trek licensed releases.

• Sydney’s Breton Brewing will be celebrating their First Anniversary later this month, and they are marking the occasion by expanding their reach across the province. Beginning Monday, June 6, cans of their Red Coat Irish Red and Black Angus IPA will be available at NSLC locations throughout the province, as well as Bishop’s Cellar and Harvest Wines. From Yarmouth, to Amherst, Halifax, and Sydney, the 473ml cans mean that grabbing a pint at the beach or on a hike will be that much easier. This also means that restaurants and other licencees will be able to stock them, so be sure to request them at your local public house. And be sure to drop by the brewery today from noon for the return of Food Truck Friday, with Little Rollin’ Bistro joining them until 7pm. There will be music starting at 4pm, and there is no cover for the entertainment.

• Shifting gears to another Island, the Newfermenters, Newfoundland’s Homebrew Club, are once again hosting a Brew-Off competition. Open to any amateur brewer on the island, entries can be made in the 21A: American IPA, or 21B: Specialty IPA (consult the BJCP 2015 style guidelines for more details). The beers will be judged by Liam McKenna, brewmaster of YellowBelly, and Raymond Feltham, BJCP-certified judge and owner of BrewCraft homebrew shop. The Best-Of-Show winning brewer will have the chance to visit Port Rexton Brewing after they open this summer, and brew up a full-sized batch for commercial release in the fall! Entrants must fill out a form and send it via email to the group before Monday June 6th, and the judging will take place July 3rd. Further details can be found on the Newfermenters Facebook page (or via email).

• Big Spruce has sent a new batch of their flagship Kitchen Party Pale Ale to Halifax tap accounts this week; this batch marks the first time in modern Nova Scotia history that a beer has been brewed entirely with 2-row malted in NS, by Horton Ridge Malt & Grain Co. According to the brewery, this newest batch differs from previous ones, as the malt lends the beer a “slight bitter orange flavour”. If you’re in Halifax, best track it down to give it a try for yourself!

 

• Moosehead has announced that they will be opening a second location in Saint John, in order to brew smaller batches of beer. Aiming to open in 2017, during their 150th anniversary, the brewery is aiming to produce 5000-6000 hL of beer annually, with a brewhouse somewhere in the range of 25 hL, along with a 1 hL pilot batch system. Karen Cousins, Moosehead’s Director of Communications, says that the major objective of this new brewery is to experiment with new styles, in order to keep up with the growing demand from craft beer drinkers in Atlantic Canada.

There’s a couple of events occurring over the next week that still have space for attendance…

• Tomorrow – Saturday, June 4th – is the first Burgers n’ Beer event to occur in Fredericton in some time, and there’s still a few tickets available! The first time the event will be held at the King Street Ale House, it will feature four different handcrafted sliders, each paired with a different Fredericton-brewed cask ale. Pouring will be TrailWay American Stout, Maybee Birdseye Pale Ale dry-hopped with NB Hop Hash, Picaroons ESB, and a TBD cask from Grimross. The event runs from 2-5 pm, and there are still a few tickets available (only $21 each)!

• Next Saturday, June 11th, Garrison is hosting their Backlot Bash!, in support of the Ecology Action Centre. Held in the parking lot of their new production brewery on Marginal Rd (about 100 metres from their retail and storefront location), the event features headliner July Talk, joined by Alert the Medic, The Brood and Three Sheet as amazing local opening bands. Tickets are still available, and Garrison beer, as well as local cider, will be served, with food trucks keeping people satisfied.

Have a great weekend! And before we leave you for good…

– TrailWay is re-releasing their Whitney Coffee Stout this weekend, marking the first time this popular dark ale has been brewed on their new system. Featuring the addition of cold-brewed coffee from local Whitney Coffee Company, it clocks in at 6.2% ABV, and is available now at their brand-spanking-new taproom, and should follow at select tap accounts sometime next week.
– BarNone has just released a new iteration of their IPA; no real details on what’s changed, but it should be popping up at tap accounts across PEI, and may make an appearance for growler fills at tomorrow’s Charlottetown Farmers Market, so best seek it out and judge for yourselves!
– Grimross has a “2nd generation” of their Brett Saison on tap at the brewery; slightly higher in ABV (6.2% vs. 6%), the brewery describes it with the words “crisp, bubblegum, and dry”. The original is also still on tap, allowing side-by-side comparisons to be made.
– Just a note that due to overwhelming response, Lazy Bear will not be attending this week’s Annapolis Royal Farmers’ Market. The good news is that the next batch of their Gut View Amber is *just* about ready, and should be back on June 11th. And keep an eye out for their retail hours at the brewery in Smiths Cove, starting later this month.
– Upstreet was bottling up something special this week, to be released in a few weeks. They will be celebrating their First Anniversary with a weekend of events June 24-26 at their taproom, as well as favourite restaurants and bars across the Island.
– Propeller is now serving flights of samples at their Gottingen St location. These are always a great way to taste through a brewery’s offerings, so that you can then grab a growler (or three) of your favourites!

Friday Wrap-Up – News From Lazy Bear, Garrison, PEI Brewing, Good Robot, Upstreet, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2016-05-20
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Big Tide Brewing, Bulwark Cider, Flying Boats Brewing, Fredericton Beer Run, Garrison Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, King Street Ale House, Lazy Bear Brewing, North Brewing, PEI Brewing Co., Picaroons, Stillwell Beer Bar, Stubborn Goat, Unfiltered Brewing, Upstreet Craft Brewing. Leave a Comment

Howdy, beer fans! Hope everyone has had a good week, and that you’re ready for your long weekend! Here’s what’s currently happening in beer news in Atlantic Canada this week…

• Good news, residents of Digby County, NS! Lazy Bear Brewing is set to launch this weekend, with growler sales commencing this Saturday at the Annapolis Royal Farmers’ Market, on St. George St, open from 8am – 1pm. Their Gut View Amber Ale, an “English-style beer rich with malt overtones and subtle aromas from Canadian-grown English hops” will be available, along with brewery-logoed t-shirts and glasses. The Amber clocks in at 4.9% ABV and 32 IBUs, and should be followed next weekend by their India Pale Ale. Look for the Lazy Bear retail space to open at the brewery in June, in Smith’s Cove.

• Attention all rhubarb growers! Garrison is kicking off their new “U-Pick Series” with an as-yet undetermined rhubarb beer, and they need plenty of the tart stalks from this herbaceous perennial (don’t worry, this won’t be part of next year’s ACBB Trivia!) from the beer-drinking public. For every pound of clean, fresh local rhubarb that you bring to the brewery, you will receive in-store credit! We’ll be sure to provide more info on the beer as it’s determined; in the meantime, get foraging! And keep an eye out for their Brewhouse Cider, which will be back on tap at the brewery this weekend. Made in collaboration with Bulwark, it features a blend of NS apples, and clocks in at 5.8% ABV.

• We have some details on Mango Lassi Pale Ale, the latest cask pouring at the PEI Brewing Co. taproom this week. This single-release is their already-delicious Vic Park Pale Ale, along with the addition of mangos and cardamom during fermentation; the beer is then further dry-hopped with Citra and Sorachi Ace. It weighs in at 5% ABV; if you’d like to try it, get down there fast, as these cask releases usually don’t last very long!

• Good Robot has a pair of new beers pouring at their taproom currently. Beta versions 1 and 2 of an American Wheat were brewed on their pilot system; the two beers feature altered malt and hopping schedules, while they do both feature Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria. Best to try both to find your favourite! The scaled up Alpha version of the American Wheat, Wackity Shmackity Doo, features the best qualities of both, with an addition of Honey malt for a slight sweetness, but crisp finish with the addition of Magnum for bittering, plus a 7-day dry-hopping with Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria. The beer comes in at 5.8% ABV and 25 IBUs. WSD will be released Tuesday, May 24th, as part of their Just Vorlaufs! live outdoor comedy show on their Gastroturf/Green Room.

• Upstreet has released a brand new beer this week, launching their “One Way Series”, on tap at the brewery for pints only due to the extremely small volume. The first release is Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, a 6% ABV Smoked Porter brewed with smoked malt in the grist, to give the beer just enough of a smoky aroma and flavour to make you feel “like you’re already sitting around a backyard bonfire eating BBQ’ed burgers”. Hopped with Chinook from New Brunswick to add some balance, be sure to drop by the brewery taproom for a pint ASAP!

• A new beer was brewed at Hammond River late last week to honour the beloved Duck Tolling Retriever of owner/brewer Shane Steeves and his family, Vegas, who passed away earlier this month. HR’s 200th batch, The Vegas SMaSH IPA was brewed with Pale Ale malt and plenty of the wonderfully-fruity Amarillo hop. Steeves expects the beer to come in at 6.5% ABV and approximately 60 IBUs; we’ll keep you updated as to its release. And expect to see the return of HR’s Blood Orange Hefeweizen, which was re-brewed the same day.

• Today marks the return of Unfiltered’s Daytimer Berliner Weisse. Featuring an assertive tart acidity from lactic acid formed naturally during a warm incubation period, the beer features no hops in the boil, but is generously dry-hopped with Mosaic. The resultant 3.4% ABV is quite refreshing and perfect for the warmer days we’re finally receiving. Grab it today in growlers at noon at the brewery, or in your glass at 4pm at Charm School next door. And for the next several months, Charm School’s doors will be open from noon on both Saturday and Sunday.

• Big Tide brewmaster Wendy Papadopoulos is in the planning stages for a new one-off collaboration beer, and your help is needed in designing and naming it! Brewed with David Veale and Greg Hemmings to celebrate the upcoming 100th episode of their Boiling Point Podcast, the beer style and details are open to suggestion. Simply fill out the online survey by June 1st (it’s short, so will only take a minute or two), and the winner will be announced at the brewpub on Thursday, June 23rd at 5:30 pm during the podcast celebrations. Good luck! For more info, check out this video.

• Shediac Bay’s Flying Boats has a pair of beers now back in their rotation, in time for the warmer months. Humpyard is a 5.8% ABV Steam Ale (also known as California Common), originally brewed by German immigrants in the San Francisco area, as a pale hybrid lager/ale (lager yeast but at an elevated temperature). FB’s version features the iconic Northern Brewer hops for a medium bitterness to offset the characteristic caramel malt flavour. Picnic Train is a Witbier, a Belgian wheat beer with the additions of coriander and bitter orange peel for an easy-drinking beer for the summer. Both are currently on tap at Moncton’s Tide and Boar, and will be available at FB’s other tap locations soon.

• Tomorrow and Sunday, drop by Stillwell for the latest edition of the Rare Beer Series, featuring the Belgian-Saison-inspired Saint Somewhere of Tarpon Springs, FL. Featuring twelve different beers, many of which are on tap, including Anne (Saison with elderflowers), Caitlin (Saison with oranges), Caroline (aged on coffee), and Beached Wood, a collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal. Drop by starting at noon Saturday, and 4 pm Sunday.

• Stubborn Goat’s waterfront Beer Garden location will be opening tomorrow. Located at Summit Plaza, it features a shipping container housing a beer cooler, bar counter and service bay, and a separate trailer with a kitchen, allowing them to offer a wide variety of food choices. Both bar and sit-down table service will be available, and there will be plenty of beer available, focussing entirely on Nova Scotia breweries: 12 taps, with the emphasis on craft. As well, expect to see a small selection of NS bottled beer, and locally-made non-alcoholic products. As it is an outdoor space, it is weather dependent, so be sure to keep an eye on their Twitter feed for the latest information.

• Next Wednesday, May 25th, there will be a special launch party for this summer’s Fredericton Beer Run, held at the King Street Ale House patio. If you’ve purchased tickets for the August 1st run, or would like to show up to buy your tickets in person, there will be beer included! Several kegs of local breweries will be pouring at the party next Wednesday; hope to see you there!

Have a great long weekend! In closing, here’s a few snipits of some other beer releases out now or coming up soon…

– One of North Brewing‘s original releases, their 7.5% ABV Farmhouse Ale, is back on tap at the brewery for growler fills; look for it to appear at better beer establishments across HRM as well.
– Grimross has a new beer on tap at their taproom, ESB, a 5.3% ABV English-style ale that they describe as “woodsy, caramel, peppery, hop finish”.
– Picaroons‘ popular fruit beer seasonal, Melon Head, is set to return on Wednesday, June 1st. This 4.5% ABV summer ale will be available on tap and in bottles throughout the warmer months.

Friday Wrap-Up – News from Sober Island, Gahan House, PEI Brew, Big Tide, Meander River, Propeller, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2016-05-06
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Atlantic Canadian Craft Brew Fest, Big Tide Brewing, Breton Brewing, Downeast Beer Factory, Gahan House (Charlottetown), James Joyce Irish Pub, Maybee Brewing, Meander River Farm and Brewery, NS Craft Beer Week, PEI Brewing Co., Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Craft Cider, Sober Island Brewing, Spindrift Brewing, Stillwell Beer Bar, Unfiltered Brewing. 1 comment

Happy Nova Scotia Craft Beer Week! We hope those of you in the province, or nearby, will make it out to one or more of the events happening all week, including the Cape Breton Kitchen Party in Sydney, or the Beer & Beethoven in Halifax. Check out the #NSCBW Guide we published yesterday for the scoop on the next 10 days of beer fun! And keep your eyes open for plenty of new beer alerts throughout the week; we’ll do our best to retweet and FB-share them so you won’t miss out!

• After a sneak peek at this year’s Saltscapes Expo, Sober Island is officially open, and serving beer! Their current home in Sheet Harbour, Henley House, opened yesterday for the season, so Eastern Shore fans will now have access to a steady supply of their beers. Drop by for a pint of their Oyster Stout, English Golden Rye Ale, or their very own Henley House Private Ale. This 4.8%, 34 IBUs Ordinary Bitter features all late-addition East Kent Goldings hops, and is fermented with an English yeast for a taste of the UK. Sober Island will also have a brew on at this weekend’s Stillwell Open, and is gearing up for festival season, with plans to attend the Cold Waters Seafood Festival June 4-5, and NorthumBeerFest at Pictou Lodge June 11. They are also in the process of finding a Farmers Market location for the summer, so stay tuned for that. While set up at the market, instead of growlers, they will be using Crowlers, the can-on-demand system popular in the US. These 950mL cans are great for taking on the boat, camping, hiking, or to the beach, where glass can be dangerous/forbidden. They will be installing the system in their rolling beer trailer, and will eventually institute Crowler Delivery runs to town.

• Turning now to another Island, there’s a couple of new beers on tap at the Gahan House Brewpub in Charlottetown, PEI. First up is ESB, an Extra Special Bitter that comes in at 6.5% ABV and 65 IBUs. Featuring late hop additions of East Kent Goldings and Fuggles to boost the herbal and earthy aroma, this classic British style has been pouring for awhile now. More recent is Belgium Blue, a strong (7.6% ABV) Belgian style that was fermented with a blend of yeasts, giving it a “spicy banana” aroma and flavour, according to brewmaster Trent Hayes. Be sure to stop by the brewpub soon to give both a try! And swing by the PEI Brewing Co. taproom for a taste of their newest cask, Chocolate Cherry Lager, a 4.5% ABV beer that has cocoa nibs and organic tart cherry juice added in-cask.

• In other brewpub news, Big Tide also has a new beer pouring at their location in Saint John. Cascade SMaSH IPA features a grist of German Pilsner malt, and lots of late- and dry-hop additions of the well-loved Cascade hop variety, sourced from local Darlings Island Farm. Weighing in at 5.25% ABV and 39 IBUs, this “very drinkable” beer has a “beautiful citrusy flavour and aroma”, according to the brewery. It’s available now at the brewpub for pints and growler fills. And coming soon from Big Tide is their Wild Weed Summer Ale, a 4.9% ABV, 15 IBUs Wheat ale enhanced with sweet gale, yarrow, lemongrass, cardamom, and coriander.

• Back to Nova Scotia now, Meander River has re-released their Summer Solstice Session IPA, a hoppy and sessionable beer perfect for when the warmer weather decides to stay for good! Hopped with Amarillo and Citra in the boil, it was further dry-hopped with Cascade to provide even more fruit and citrus characteristics in the aroma and flavour. This 4.5% ale is available at the brewery and Forum Farmers’ Market while it lasts. Meander River has also brought back their Scotch Ale, Surf & Turf, just in time for Nova Scotia Craft Beer Week. A silver medal winner at the 2015 Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards, it was brewed with peated malt and seaweed to give it a “smooth, savoury taste with an earthy scotch finish”; it weighs in at 6.2% ABV.

• Propeller Brewing has released their newest One Hit Wonder this week. Lil’ SIPA is a 4.4% Session IPA, with 27 theoretical IBUs, but as is often the case in beer, the numbers do not tell the whole story! Massive late hopping favours aroma and flavour over bitterness, so this small package packs a massive taste wallop. As always, the OHW beers are ONLY available for growler fills at their Gottingen and Windmill locations, with select kegs sometimes sneaking out to local bars.

• After a brief hiatus, Spindrift‘s Seventh Wave Series returns this weekend. These smaller, pilot batches allow the creative minds at the brewery to run a bit wild, and brew up beers that would otherwise be impractical, or not feasible. The series continues Saturday during Open Brewery Day, with Raspberry Session Saison, a 5% beer with 6 kilograms of raspberries added to the batch. And if that wasn’t enough, it was dry-hopped with whole leaf Citra hops. Grab this beer starting at 11am tomorrow. And Spindrift will keep the Seventh Wave going all week, with a new one debuting every day (or whenever the previous beer empties). Next up is India Session Lager, a 4.4% light lager with massive amounts of Citra and Simcoe at flameout and whirlpool (while the beer chills), for a seemingly-low 25 IBUs, but with plenty of flavour and aroma from the volatile hop oils that would otherwise be boiled off if added earlier in the process. They have several 7W beers locked and loaded to release during NS Craft Beer Week, so be sure to follow their Twitter feed for the announcements.

• Fresh off the great announcement of $436,000 of ACOA funds destined for Cape Breton, Sydney’s Breton Brewing took delivery of a Cask canning machine this week, and will be packaging their core brands of beer in the coming weeks. Look for their cans to hit the shelves of the NSLC, and private stores in the first week of June. And be sure to drop by Breton tomorrow during Open Brewery Day, as they will be launching Crazy Angus DIPA. With the malt bill being an amped-up version of their Black Angus IPA, this 7.4% ABV beer features a massive citrus punch from 85 IBUs worth of hops, including the always-lovely Australian Galaxy.

• With little fanfare, Downeast Beer Factory opened Sunday. Located in the former Brewdebakers location at 612 Windmill Road, the bar and grill is currently serving product from across the province, with 14 beers and ciders on tap. In the coming weeks, they will be adding their own house-brewed beers to the lineup, including Mylde Wylde Blonde, Fiddler’s Irish Red and Game Changer IPA. Their unique building location features a drive-thru beer shop, which will allow them to sell beer to go from other Nova Scotia breweries, when it opens later in the spring.

• Speaking of openings, Stillwell has announced the new location of their mobile Beergarden: the vacant lot at 5688 Spring Garden Rd. Nestled between Bookmark and Eastlink and across the corner from the Public Gardens, it will feature their iconic converted shipping container slinging local and imported beer (upgraded to 10 taps) and handheld “Summertime BBQ” food. Their friends from Manual Food & Drink will be joining them in the space, for some sweet relief from the hot weather (think ice cream and pastries). Construction has already begun at the location, and they look to launch the space in early June.

In addition to NS Craft Beer Week, here are a few more beer events worthy of your attention in the next little while:

• Tomorrow, May 8th, Stillwell is holding the second of their Rare American Beer Series, with several bottles from Mystic Brewery in Massachusetts popping all day. The En Garde, Connards! Biere de Garde, Flor Ventus Barrel-aged Wild Beer, Saison Renaud Saison (also available on tap), and Table Beer will be available by the full bottle, or 5-7oz pours. Look for some special accompanying beers on tap, and, as always, great food from the kitchen.

• The next Meet Your Maker event at the James Joyce will feature Big Tide, and has been scheduled for next Friday, May 13th at 7:30 pm. As always, there is no charge to attend, just show up for some Big Tide beers (there will likely be four different ones on tap) and have a chat with brewer Wendy Papadopoulus!

• As part of this year’s Festival Inspire in Moncton, they will be holding a Craft Beer Village June 18th. We are still getting all of the ticket details, but we do know that Bore City, Celtic Knot, Flying Boats, Maybee, and Picaroons will all be in attendance.

• The date for the second annual Atlantic Canadian Craft Brew Oktoberfest has been set for Saturday, September 24th at the Lion’s Club in Moncton. Featuring many local breweries pouring beer alongside local food stations, the 7:30-10 pm session (tickets $58+fee) will allow unlimited beer samples and a custom take-home glass; VIP tickets ($68+fee) will get you in at 6 pm, along with a special glass, guided beer tasting, and access to an industry panel discussion; a portion of the proceeds will go to the United Way. Keep your eyes on the event page, as tickets will go on sale sometime in July.

And in closing this week:

– Congratulations to Red Rover for winning medals at this year’s Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition! Their Blues, Fall, Fire, and White Witch all took home bronze medals at this competition. In celebration, they have (or had!) all these award winners available at their Cider House on Queen Street.
– Maybee Brewing has released their new Birdseye Pale Ale and recent Elevensies Espresso Stout in cans; a currently-ongoing issue with ANBL’s ordering system has prevented cans from hitting ANBL stores this week, but there’s still lots available at the brewery’s location on Wilsey Rd, so drop in to pick some up this weekend!
– The James Joyce recently registered their venue on the popular beer app/website Untappd, which means their entire draught list, event schedule, and more is available and updated in real time! Check it out here.
– Halifax’s Unfiltered Brewing is releasing a new batch of the Double Orange Ale (DOA) today. This batch of the 7.5% ABV SMaSH was fermented with a famous Vermont yeast for even more juicy goodness. Grab a growler when the brewey opens at noon, or a glass at Charm School from 4pm.

That’s it for this week; have a great weekend!