Atlantic Canada Beer News

2016 Atlantic Canadian Beer Award Winners

Posted by acbbchris on 2016-11-07
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. Tagged: Atlantic Canadian Brewing Awards. Leave a Comment

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What a weekend! From Friday afternoon, until Saturday night, 21 beer judges came together to sample the more than 250 beer and cider entries in this year’s Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards. At the Gala Sunday evening, awards were handed out for the top beers in the region. Here are the winners!

1) North American & European Style Lager
Gold: Moosehead Breweries – Moose Light
Silver: Oland Brewery – Schooner
Bronze: Propeller Brewing – Nocturne Dark Lager

2) German Style Specialty Ales
Gold: Uncle Leo’s Brewery – Altbier
Silver: Uncle Leo’s Brewery – Vohs Weizenbier
Bronze: Garrison Brewing – Rise ‘N’ Stein

3) UK Style Specialty Ales
Gold: Pump House Brewery – Barley Wine Ale
Silver: Garrison Brewing – Irish Red Ale
Bronze: Trider’s Craft Beer – Rod’s Red

4) North American Style Specialty Ale
Gold: Upstreet Craft Brewing – One Way Black IPA
Silver: Spindrift Brewing – Riptide IPL
Bronze: Good Robot Brewing – Leave Me Blue

5) Belgian Style Specialty Ale
Gold: Petit-Sault – Tante Blanche
Silver: Upstreet Craft Brewing – De Novo I
Bronze: Tatamagouche Brewing – Tatamagouche Tripel

6) North American Style Amber / Red Ale
Gold: PEI Brewing – Island Red
Silver: Boxing Rock Brewing – Temptation Red Ale
Bronze: Paddy’s Pub – Annapolis Valley Ale (AVA)

7) Fruit & Field Beer
Gold: Lazy Bear Brewing – Braunbär Honey Brown
Silver: Big Spruce Brewing – The Silver Tart
Bronze: Petit-Sault – Bonhomme Sept-Heures

8) Pale Ales
Gold: Hell Bay Brewing – English Ale
Silver: Bad Apple Brewhouse – American Pale Ale
Bronze: Big Spruce Brewing – Gimme Citra

9) Stout / Porter
Gold: Alexander Keith’s – Lunenburg Coffee & Cacao Stout
Silver: Breton Brewing – Cocoa Envy Chocolate Robust Porter
Bronze: Tatamagouche Brewing – Two Rivers Baltic Porter

10) India Pale Ale
Gold: Rockbottom Brewpub – Fathom IPA
Silver: Tatamagouche Brewing – Deception Bay IPA
Bronze: Bad Apple Brewhouse – Mosaic DIPA

11) Experimental Beer
Gold: Bad Apple Brewhouse –  Smoked Porter
Silver: Good Robot Brewing – Damn Fine Coffee and Cherry Pie v2.0
Bronze: Propeller Brewing – Graceland Too White IPA

12) Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer
Gold: Big Spruce – Ra Ra Rasputin Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
Silver: Bad Apple Brewhouse – Smoke Show
Bronze: Big Spruce Brewing – Coade Word: Snowmageddon Barrel-Aged Winter Warmer

13) Standard Cider and Perry
Gold: ShipBuilders Cider – ShipBuilders
Silver: Paddy’s Pub – Fitzgerald Traditional Cider
Bronze: Elderkin’s Cider – Elderkin’s Traditional Hard Cider

14) Specialty Cider and Perry
Gold: Annapolis Cider – Crisp & Dry
Silver: Annapolis Cider – Something Different – Peach & Peppercorn
Bronze: Red Rover Brewhouse – Fall Cider

Brewery of the Year
Bad Apple Brewhouse

Brewpub of the Year
Rockbottom Brewpub

Cider House of the Year
Annapolis Cider Company

Beer of the Year
Ra Ra Rasputin Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout (Big Spruce)

Cider of the Year
ShipBuilders Cider (ShipBuilders)

People’s Choice Beer
T-Rex Porter (Port Rexton)

People’s Choice Cider
Crisp & Dry (Annapolis Cider Company)

Congratulations to all of the winners!

2016 Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards by the numbers:
228 Beer entries from 35 Breweries and Brewpubs
29 Cider entries from 7 Cider Houses
21 BJCP National, Certified, Recognized, and Novice Judges
10 dedicated stewards behind the scenes
12 hours of judging
900 cups of beer and cider sniffed, swigged and sampled
30,000 steps (20 km) walked by the Judging Organizer (acbbchris)

49 Awards

1 Great Industry Worth Celebrating!

ANBL Launches Growler Pilot Project Today

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-09-04
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. 2 comments

The ANBL is launching its Growler Pilot Project today at three locations – Prospect Street (Fredericton), Kennebecasis Valley (near Saint John), and Regis Street (Dieppe) – when they open at 10:00 am.

Customers wishing to take part in the program must purchase an ANBL-branded 1.89 litre growler for $8; growler fills have four different prices ($8, $10, $12 and $15), depending on the beer chosen. The ANBL plans on rotating the selection on a regular basis; whether particular beers will be re-ordered will depend on sales. However, the Dieppe store will feature a permanent Pump House tap, while the Prospect St. store will have one tap dedicated to Picaroons beers.

The first beers that will be available in this program are as follows:

Prospect St.: Picaroons Selection DIPA, Unibroue Ephemere Cranberry, Labatt Shock Top Belgian Wheat

Dieppe: Pump House IPA, Flying Monkeys Genius of Suburbia, Creemore Springs Premium Lager

Kennebecasis Valley: Moosehead Boundary Ale, McAuslan Pumpkin Ale, Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion

Though touted as a way to increase both a wider range of products and distribution for local and small craft breweries (it has been said that the program would “only be offering craft or import beers, [and not] mainstream domestic beers”, according to ANBL CEO Brian Harriman), most of the initial beer offerings will be from outside of the region, and some from multi-national breweries. We reached out to the smaller NB producers not on the initial list, and they cited lack of details on pricing and volume requirements, as well as packaging concerns, for reasons not to take part in the launch. We hope that the ANBL and small breweries will be able to make the economics work to increase local participation in the project. You can do your part by requesting them at the ANBL.

If this initial pilot program is a success, the ANBL plans on increasing to 10-15 stores, “in a more permanent fashion”.

ANBL Update – New requirement for NB craft brewers dropped

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-08-15
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News. 1 comment

In an announcement just made this afternoon, ANBL has removed the new regulation requiring craft breweries to sell at least 100 hL (10,000 L) of beer through ANBL stores before being allowed to sell beer at the brewery for off-site consumption (e.g. growler fills). That regulation, just announced last month (our reports here and here), would have been a major hurdle for many of the small breweries that have opened or would be opening in the province.

ANBL CEO Brian Harriman had the following to say: “I am pleased that the board of directors has approved these changes and I look forward to working with all brewers in New Brunswick to promote the craft beer industry. This regulation was put into place to ensure product quality, however, after discovering it may be a barrier to new breweries, it was removed.”

In order to meet these quality demands, all new brewers will be required to send a product sample to an independent food inspection lab and undergo Smart Serve training; both of these requirements will be paid for by the ANBL.

This is fantastic news for NB craft brewers; we’re ecstatic to see that ANBL board members have listened to the demands of both brewers and the public. If it wasn’t for fans of small and local businesses voicing their concerns, the regulation may never have been re-evaluated so quickly. We look forward to the continued growth of craft beer in New Brunswick, and the rest of Atlantic Canada!