Friday Wrap-Up

Friday Wrap-Up – News and Brews from Big Spruce, Celtic Knot, Garrison, Bad Apple, Picaroons, North Brewing, and more!

Posted by acbbchris on 2014-04-04
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Big Spruce Brewing, Brasseurs du Petit Sault, Celtic Knot Brewing, Garrison Brewing, North Brewing, Picaroons cat contest, Picaroons Traditional Ales. 2 comments

Happy Friday, everyone! As we begin the long process of shedding winter for warmer weather, check out the following beer news to keep you warm…

• Big news for Big Spruce! This week, they celebrated one year in operation, congratulations! To celebrate, they are holding a birthday party at the Bras d’Or Yacht Club in Baddeck this Saturday, starting at 5pm. Featuring a BBQ and cake, live music, and, of course, beer! They will be releasing a special cask of their The Whole Nine Yards 1 Year Anniversary Scotch Ale, infused with Glenora Glen Breton Rare 10 year Single Malt Whisky. Weighing in at 6.5% ABV, the beer features lots of roast flavour, as well as smoke and peat characteristics from the whisky. If you’re anywhere near Cape Breton this weekend, this is the place to be!

• In more Big Spruce news, their collaboration with Sawdust City brewmaster Aaron Spinney, You Spin Me White Round Wheat IPA has made it on tap in Halifax, beginning with Stillwell Beer Bar.  This Wheat IPA weighs in at 6.5% ABV and 79 IBUs, and will available at a few more locations around the province soon.

• Celtic Knot Brewing has released some early information on a new beer that they’re brewing up, a low-ABV American IPA (beers of this “style” are often referred to as Session IPAs or India Session Ales). Owner/brewer Bruce Barton is naming the beer For Shore (poking a bit of fun at how some Maritimers say “for sure”); the beer will be “light-colored” with an ABV around 5%. Brewed with 2-row and Munich malt, with a bit of Melanoidin and Wheat malt added, it will also feature two new hop varieties for Celtic Knot, from Australia and New Zealand. Low in bitterness but high in hop flavor and aroma, look for this “Maritime Session Ale” to be on tap in the Moncton area in the near future!

• Garrison Brewing is releasing another of their Test Batch IPAs, #3459, today. Taking note of customer feedback from their #3447 release in February, they have tweaked the recipe a bit. The IPA is 6.5% and 51 IBUs, featuring lots of tropical and citrus notes from the (secret) hops. As before, look for this beer to be on tap around Halifax, and available in 650mL bombers at the brewery, private stores and NSLC, and for the first time, a pallet is being sent to the ANBL . Use the #TestBatch Twitter tag to weigh in on this version, they’re anxious to hear what you have to say!

• And more great news from Garrison, Brewmaster Daniel Girard brewed for the first time on their new brewhouse this week, located in the Film and Media Centre building, just across Marginal Road from their current location. The larger brewhouse will allow them to triple their production, allowing them to keep up with the growing demand for their beer across our region, and expand in to more provinces across the country. President Brian Titus had this to say, “End of a challenging 3 year process to stay in the Halifax Seaport & build a state of the art craft brewery. Done & done!” They brewed up their Irish Red Ale, which was also the first beer they brewed back in 1997. Congratulations on the new digs, and continued success!

• As the summer approaches, everyone at Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault is working hard to get everything up and running so their first two flagship beers are ready for the thirsty public! In the meantime, they’re putting on a couple of beer workshops with beer expert Mario D’Eer. The first is being held tonight at 7:30 pm at the Book Fair at Cité des Jeunes A.-M-Sormany High School in Edmundston, which will involve an introduction to beer and cheese pairings, with six different beers and cheese to be tasted. The second workshop will be held tomorrow at 3:00 pm at The Deck, and will include a basic “ABCs” of beer, with tastings of nine beers, ranging from Hoegaarden to Picaroon’s Winter Warmer. There are only a few tickets left for both workshops; call (506) 733-7409 to reserve yours!

• And, if you’d like to meet some of the people behind Brasseurs du Petit-Sault, you’ll have a chance next weekend! On Saturday, April 12th, there will be a Beer Fest at Au Cafe d’LaVieille Forge from 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm. Those representing the new brewery will be on hand to pass out information and answer questions. Tickets for the beer festival are $40.

•  A quick note for our Valley readers: Bad Apple Brewhouse American Pale Ale is now on tap at the Union Street Cafe and Wick Pub in Berwick, NS. Stop in for a pint today!

• Picaroons will be holding their annual Prohibition Repeal Party and Tap Takeover at The Capital Complex in Fredericton on Saturday, April 19th at 7:00 pm. All 12 taps will feature Picaroons beers; while details on which beers are being served are currently being kept secret, Marketing Director Dennis Goodwin has confirmed that there will be some interesting options. They also plan on bringing their “Randall the Enamel Animal”, a device designed by Dogfish Head that hooks up to a bar tap and acts as a flavor-inducing filter system (check out the link, really). There will also be live music from Krasnogorsk and Jim Blewett & The Swingin’ Cats starting at 9:00 pm. No charge for tickets; entry is free at the door until regular cover charge starts at 10:30 pm.

• And while on the topic of annual Picaroons events, they’re currently accepting entries for their Melonhead Cat Contest. Send in a hi-res picture of your cat (no need to involve melons), and the Picaroons people will pick their favorite and include it on the label for this year’s release of Melonhead. The beer should be released sometime in June; the winner will be announced before the beer’s release. Cat pics can be emailed; the deadline for entries is Thursday, April 24th.

• Finally, those of you who are big fans of the Picaroons spring/summer seasonal, Dooryard, haven’t got much longer to wait until its 2014 release. They’ve announced that the beer should be available on Tuesday, April 22nd. A wheat beer brewed with coriander and orange peel, it’s an easy-drinking and light beer with an ABV of 4.5%. We’ll keep you updated on its release… there’s usually some type of launch party that goes with it!

• North Brewing is releasing a second batch of their Glenora Barrel-Aged Strong Dark Belgian today. This beer is in very limited quantities, so be sure to drop by the brewery *today* to avoid disappointment!

• It’s only April, but the Beerthief Newfoundland Artisanal and Craft Beer Group is already taking orders for the 2014 Craft Beer Advent Calendar! Featuring 24 mystery beers from 24 breweries on six continents, these will brighten up any beer lover’s December. Orders must be placed by Monday, April 7th, so get on them now!

Friday Wrap-Up – Burgers n’ Beer Events Planned for NB, Brews and News from Garrison, Propeller, Sea Level, Rockbottom, Bad Apple Brewhouse, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-03-28
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Bad Apple Brewhouse, Burgers n' Beer, Celtic Knot Brewing, Garrison 2013 Home Brew-Off Challenge, Garrison Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, PEI Brewing, Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Brewing, reLiSH, RockBottom Brewpub, Saint John Beer Fest, Sea Level Brewing, Stillwell Beer Bar. 3 comments

Happy Friday, and end of March! Don’t worry, the snow has to start melting sometime soon… right? Regardless, here’s what’s new for craft beer in our region this week:

• Despite just wrapping up the 2014 Fredericton Craft Beer Festival earlier this month, organizer Lloyd Chambers is bringing another beer idea of his to fruition… Burgers n’ Beer! Partnering with reLiSH Gourmet Burgers, there will be three small events throughout New Brunswick. The first will be held on Tuesday, April 15th in Fredericton from 8-10 pm (at the new uptown location), and will include six reLiSH sliders paired with six 8 oz pours of craft beer and cider. The tentative brewery list includes Grimross Brewing, Red Rover, B.C.’s Central City Brewing (with their Red Racer IPA representing), and Celtic Knot and Hammond River Brewing, both in Fredericton for the first time for this event! A custom 8 oz tasting glass is also included, and Adam Clawson of Red Rover will be doing a small presentation on all three of his ciders pouring at the event. Tickets are $45, taxes and fees included, and can be purchased online here. Future events are also planned for reLiSH locations in Moncton (April 29th) and Saint John (tentatively May 9th).

• Garrison Brewing has just released last year’s Garrison Home Brew-Off winner. Saint Peter’s Belgian-Style Strong Ale, a Belgian Blond Ale, was brewed with the winner of 2013’s competition, homebrewer Peter Welton. Coming in at 7.5% ABV and 24 IBUs, the beer is described as having a “hazy but vibrant orange color and a fluffy white head”, and exhibits a “smooth, spicy, and fresh aroma with notes of vanilla and banana, with the juicy flavor matching the aroma and finishing with a lingering warmth”. Look for the beer in bottles at the Garrison retail store, and at private liquor stores and NSLC stores throughout the province.

• Returning this week from Propeller Brewing is their popular Double IPA. A “heavily dry-hopped” Imperial IPA, it packs a punch at 8.2% ABV, with 85 IBUs. The brewery describes the beer as having “a huge amount of piney, floral, and citrusy hop aroma and flavors, balanced by sweet malt flavors”. You can find the beer in bottles and growlers at the Halifax and Dartmouth Prop Shop locations, and in bottles only at NSLC and private liquor stores in the province.

• Hot off the recent release of their El Rojo Diable Double IPA (which is just about gone, by the way), Sea Level Brewing is releasing another new beer. New World Alt is a Düsseldorf Altbier brewed from a recipe given to Brewmaster Randy Lawrence from a brewer friend of his in Düsseldorf, Germany. Described as a “clean, medium-bodied ale” with a background hop presence provided by the Hersbrucker hop, the beer is lagered for three weeks at zero degrees before packaging; it comes in at a very drinkable 4.8% ABV. New World Alt should be available at the brewery sometime next week, and will follow shortly afterwards at their regular outlets.

• The Rockbottom Brewpub in Halifax recently provided details on their next beer dinner on their Brewer’s Blog. Starting at 6 pm on Monday, March 31st, the three-course meal looks spectacular as usual, and features beers from brewer Greg Nash that includes Balticus, Fathom IPA, and Wreckoning RIS. Tickets are $35 and can be reserved by calling the brewpub.

• Meanwhile at Rockbottom, Nash has released some early details on two new beers that he’s brewed recently. The first is a Double IPA that is fermented with “Conan”, a well-known yeast strain in the brewing world as it is the one used by The Alchemist brewery in Vermont in their world-famous Heady Topper DIPA. The original yeast was cultured from a can of Heady Topper by one of the members of the Brewnosers, and Nash continued to grow this yeast until he had enough for a full-sized batch. Dry-hopped multiple times, the beer’s ABV will come in around 8% with 130 IBUs (calculated). The other beer is a SMaSH (single malt and single hop) India Pale Lager. Brewed with Pale Ale malt and Galaxy hops, the beer is fermented on lager yeast at cool temps, and then lagered and dry-hopped with more Galaxy. Look for this one to finish somewhere between 6.5-7% ABV, and with 80 IBUs. Both beers should be available at the brewpub sometime in the near future!

• Details are still very slim, but we can report that Bad Apple Brewhouse has brewed a new DIPA. Supposedly bigger and hoppier than the crowd-pleasing Conception DIPA that was pouring at the FCBF this month, this should be one heck of a beer! Stay tuned for more details as the beer approaches completion/packaging.

• The PEI Brewing Co. has started a new “Cask Program” run by brewer Karen Allen. We’ll have some more details in the near future, but for now they’re sending three pin casks to Halifax early next week to be tapped at Stillwell sometime soon. The first cask, Cherry Blaster, is the same sour, barrelled Saison that’s been served before, but instead of dry-hopping this one, they’ve added a tart cherry concentrate. The second cask is Business Lunch IPA, a “sessionable pale ale” dry-hopped with Mosaic and Cascade. Finally, Spray Tan Imperial IPA is a DIPA that has been double dry-hopped; first with Cascade and Falconer’s Flight, and then with Centennial in the cask. Keep up-to-date with Stillwell’s tap list on their Twitter feed.

• And a reminder that the 2014 Saint John Beer Fest is fast approaching! This year’s event is once again being held at the Market Square Atrium in downtown Saint John, on Saturday, April 5th. It was just reported this morning that all tickets are now sold out (including regular admission and VIP). The brewery/beer list has recently been posted on their Facebook page linked above. We hope to have a more detailed post on the festival sometime next week!

Friday Wrap-Up – News and Brews from Paddys Irish Brewpub, BarNone Brewing, Hammond River, PEI Brewing. Tide & Boar and more

Posted by acbbchris on 2014-03-21
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: BarNone Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Paddys Irish Brewpub, PEI Brewing, Tide & Boar Gastropub. 1 comment

Happy Friday, one and all. We hope you’ve recovered from Monday’s festivities, wherever/however you may have celebrated!

• Paddys Irish Brewpub has tapped their latest seasonal release, “Solo Citra”. This Pale Ale beer weighs in a 5.3% ABV and 50 IBUs, with a colour reminiscent of Tangerines and a light body at 1.005 FG. Thanks to the generous dosing of Citra hops, the beer features plenty of citrus flavour and aroma, as well as a significant bitterness, thanks to the light body. It is available now at both the Kentville and Wolfville locations on tap and in growlers.

• BarNone Brewing recently announced that they’re brewing a new beer to help celebrate this year’s 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference, and tying it in with a special event at Baba’s Lounge. From April 1st-7th, Baba’s is holding a 150-hour long music jam in honor of the sesquicentennial; when Don Campbell (brewer/co-owner at BarNone) asked what type of beer they wanted him to brew for the event, they decided on a Red Ale. Don soon came up with “RedEye”, a hoppy Amber brewed with 150 kg of malt and 150 oz of hops, with a 150 minute boil time. Coming in at – you guessed it – 150 IBUs and a color of 15 SRM, it will be served exclusively at Baba’s for the music jam. After that, it may pop up on tap at other restaurants/bars in the area, and will likely be available for Thursday growler fills at the brewery.

• Shane Steeves of Hammond River Brewing has confirmed that he is planning on brewing a new beer in the near future. While details on the recipe are still slim, we can confirm that it will be an Imperial IPA weighing in at about 8.6% ABV and 100 IBUs. The beer will be brewed soon, after Steeves returns from a much-deserved vacation; we’ll keep you updated as to when and where the beer will be released.

• In other Hammond River news, they’ve recently rebrewed their Hop Flash IPA; this time it’s been dry-hopped with two different hop varieties than previous batches. It should be on tap in the Saint John area in a few days… if you can guess the two hop varieties used, post it on their Facebook page to win a Hammond River ball cap!

• Expansion continues over at PEI Brewing Co., as they recently confirmed that they will soon be shipping their beer to Ontario! The first shipment will consist of their Fathers 2014 Commemorative 4-packs, which include renamed and relabelled bottles of their Blueberry Ale, Coles Cream Ale, Iron Bridge Brown, and Sir John A’s Honey Wheat. More on this Anniversary release in our previous post here.

• The Duo Wine Bar at The Tide & Boar Gastropub in Moncton is having their second beer dinner next Wednesday, March 26th. Hosted by chef Michael Savoie, there will be five courses, all paired with a different craft beer; some of the beers include a Picaroons cask ale, a “surprise IPA”, and some highly-rated Belgian beers. Accompanied by such courses as lobster crostini and a marinated salmon with hop salad, the event is almost sold out. Tickets are $115 (inc. tax and gratuity); if you’d like to reserve, email Duo.

• As promised a couple of weeks ago, Hell Bay’s R.I.P.(A.) version 2.0 is now available. Featuring the same base recipe, but triple the hops (but still a smooth, non-overwhelming bitterness), it is available at the brewery in growlers, and will be on tap in Halifax very shortly.

• And finally this week, Garrison Brewing is releasing their latest seasonal, the Baltic Porter, today. This dark and rich beer weighs in at 9% ABV and 30 IBUs, featuring lots of roast character. Bottles are available at the brewery, and shortly at the private stores. Also look for it on tap at better beer establishments in our region. The winner of the 2013 Home Brew-off, Saint Peter’s Belgian-Style Strong Ale is being released Monday (not today, as we originally posted), look for it at the brewery and private stores, as well as on tap at a few bars in the city.