Atlantic Canada Beer News

Garrison District Ale House in Fredericton damaged by fire

Posted by acbbchris on 2013-01-07
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. Tagged: Fredericton Beer. 1 comment

GDAH Front, from Fundraiser for Garrison Staff Facebook page

Friday January 4th at around 10pm, good friend of good beer The Garrison District Ale House (and sister bar Up Wine Bar) in Fredericton, NB was severely damaged by fire. It appears that it was caused by an electrical issue in a wall. The Fredericton Fire Department spent 6 hours working to contain and extinguish it, and thankfully all patrons and staff made it out safely.

For those that don’t know, The Garrison District Ale House is a great advocate for craft beer from around the Atlantic Provinces, as well as country- and world-wide. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet the co-owners Doug and Shane on several occasions while travelling to Fredericton, as well as their very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Fredericton will be without a stellar watering hole for the next couple of months as the GDAH gets back up and running.

To assist with staff that are now suddenly out-of-work, there has been a Facebook group created by friends of the GDAH. Fundraiser for Garrison Staff already has over one thousand followers, and will have events in the coming weeks to help those affected. One of these will be at the Laundromat Expresso Bar in Moncton this coming Thursday (January 10th). Keep your eyes peeled here, on Facebook, or at their Twitter page for more details. We hope to do a profile of the GDAH once they are on their road to recovery.

The Picaroon’s Brewtique is located immediately beside the Ale House, but was able to open after a clean up from water and smoke.

From all of us at the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog, we hope for a speedy re-opening to the Garrison District Ale House!

GDAH inside, from Fundraiser for Garrison Staff Facebook page

Pictures are from the Fundraiser for Garrison Staff Facebook Page.

Garrison Spruce Beer Available Today at 9am

Posted by AtlCan BeerBlog on 2012-12-14
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. Tagged: Garrison Spruce Beer. Leave a Comment

spruce-beer-500

Updated Dec 14th at 7:23 PM.  I received a press release from the good folks at Garrison after originally posting.  Here is the information contained within the release:

Garrison’s celebrated Spruce Beer goes on sale today

HALIFAX, NS – Dec.14, 2012 – Garrison Spruce Beer is back for the holiday season but it’s not likely to last long. Thirty minutes before opening, a crowd was already gathering for this traditional favourite.

“This has become something people really anticipate,” says Brian Titus, brewery president. “It’s exclusive to Nova Scotia this year so we’re hoping there’s enough stock to make it through the weekend!”

Described by some as a “Christmas tree in a glass”, this seasonal specialty is brewed with local Spruce and fir tips harvested from Meander River Farms and loads of blackstrap molasses. Complex and full-bodied, this beer balances crisp Spruce bitterness and aromatics with the warming flavours of molasses and caramel.

“I really enjoy making such a unique brew for the holidays,” says Brewmaster, Daniel Girard. “The beer is a pleasure to sip on and it has so much history in the Maritimes”.

“Spruce Beer” is 7.5% alc/vol with moderate bitterness. It’s packaged in 500ml single-serve bottles and officially went on sale today at the brewery and all four private stores (while supplies last).

Original post:

In a sure sign that the Fat Guy in the Red Suit will be around any day now, Garrison Brewing’s Spruce Beer will be available today at the brewery at 9am.  The beer will also be available at the Halifax private stores but unfortunately not through any of the local liquor commissions.  Below is an extract of a Q & A I did with Garrison President Brian Titus earlier this year regarding the beer:

ACBB: Your Spruce Beer generated a great deal of buzz when it was available last Winter, can you tell me about the beer?

BT: This is a beer that was initially a curiosity to us and we appreciated the historical references to the founding of Halifax as it was brewed in the area at that time. We even came across some “how to brew spruce beer and cook beaver” reference material when researching the beer. It described cooked beaver as fatty, chewy and basically edible at best. The Spruce beer didn’t sound much more appealing based on the description!

Daniel was really pushing to brew this, he really wanted the challenge of creating something very unique and I kept asking him “how am I going to market and sell Spruce beer”? This has really turned into a big success for us, we brewed three times as much Spruce beer last year as the first year although the harvesting is a lot of effort. Overall Spruce Beers are growing in popularity with some form of Spruce beer available in many provinces at some point in the year.

Pump House Brewery to Release Special Edition Doppelbock

Posted by AtlCan BeerBlog on 2012-12-06
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. Tagged: Pump House Brewery. 1 comment

pumphouse

Pump House Brewery will be releasing a special edition Doppelbock to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its bottling plant.  Friday, December 7th at 5pm they will be tapping a Ferkin Keg of the brew and a bottled version of the beer will be available on ANBL shelves before Christmas for a limited time.  The beer is described as follows:

The Doppelbock has 18.4% OE, a FE of 2.0%, which gives an alcohol content of 9% Vol.%.

The colour is a very dark brown with a reddish tint, the foam is beige, thick and long lasting.

The phenolic taste from the high alcohol content is barely noticeable, an intense maltiness, which is accompanied by a pleasant dark chocolate taste, ties it all together.

Hop bitterness is noticeable but not overpowering, as there is already enough bitterness from the dark malts.  A hint of citrussy hop aroma rounds the taste up.

This beer harmonizes very well with hearty food like stews and game, but is also a good companion to sweet desserts like chocolate mousse or Creme Bavaroise.