We’ve got another week chock-full of new and returning releases, as well as another new brewery opening in the region. A reminder that with Remembrance Day Monday, the provincial liquor stores will be closed, and many of the private stores will be as well. Breweries and taprooms may be adjusting their hours, to allow their employees time to observe the day, so please keep an eye on their social media to avoid disappointment.

For the second time in less than a month, we are thrilled to announce the opening of a new brewery in Newfoundland and Labrador! RagnaRöck Northern Brewing Company is opening their doors today in St Anthony, in the Northwest region of the island. Located at 223-227 West Street, the brewery features a taproom where you can enjoy a sample, flight, or pint, and then fill up a 0.95 or 1.89 litre growler for further enjoyment at home. Four of their own beers will be complemented by four more from their closest brewery neighbour, Crooked Feeder located in 400 km south in Cormack. And to keep you happy and able to go all day/night, the Northern Wings food truck will be serving burgers, wings, and a few other snacks. The taproom will be open today 2 PM – 12 AM, and open again for the rest of the weekend, keep an eye on their FB page above for details. Congratulations to the RagnaRöck family! This brings the number of breweries in the province to 16, with a couple more slated to open before the end of the year!

Hot off the heels of their tap takeover at Battery Park last night, we have further details on two new releases from Propeller Brewing this week. First up is a Propeller-only beer, NZ Pils. You’ve probably noticed a few different beers in Atlantic Canada popping up over the last year or two with the style name “New Zealand Pilsner”, and this is one of those, hopped entirely (and heavily, compared to your poppy’s Pilsner) with New Zealand varieties… in this case, Nelson Sauvin and Motueka. These wonderful hops have topped up this beer with lots of gooseberry, white wine, and fresh citrus in the aroma, with a “light malt body” to balance. Clean and refreshing, it comes in at a pretty-sessionable 5.2% ABV, and releases today at both Prop Shop locations in cans and on tap. It should be appearing in the private stores in the HRM shortly, as well as at NSLC The Port next week. Finally, NZ Pils will also be making an appearance at Propeller’s cask night at 5 pm today, accompanied by an extra Nelson Sauvin addition.

Continuing with Propeller, their next beer is a collaboration with North Brewing, Wing & Ding Lithuanian Pale Ale. This one is a 5% ABV Saison brewed with Shoreline Pale malt, hopped with Amarillo and El Dorado, and fermented with Lithuanian Farmhouse yeast, which has given the beer “aromas and flavours of passionfruit, orange zest, and guava, with a light Farmhouse funk”; they’re also describing it as “a fusion of tropical fruit and spice, with a lightly tart finish”, which sounds pretty good to us! Now, while you can find cans of this baby at both Propeller and North retail shops, North will be selling theirs under the name of Ding, and Propeller under Wing. Confused? Well, there’s a method behind their madness: there is a code on the can labels for you beer-lovers to crack, and you’ll need both cans to decode it. The first person to do this and DM either Propeller or North will win a prize pack from both breweries. The beer releases today, so get cracking!

Keeping up with collaboration news, Port Rexton Brewing teamed up with Brasserie Artisanale de l’Anse of St.Pierre-et-Miquelon, an overseas collectivity of France located near Newfoundland (just 25km!). Port Rexton believes this may be the first France-Canada craft beer collab, and we’re going to defer to them, because the thought of researching that right now is exhausting! The beer is named French Pale Ale, and was brewed with French Pale, Pilsner, and Biscuit malts. Hopped with French hop varieties (Strisselspalt, Mistral and Bouclier), the final beer has “notes of rose, melon, herb and grass with subtle spicy/floral undertones and a lingering bitterness”. Available on tap and in cans at the taproom, this 5.1% ABV brew was released yesterday; you’ll also be able to grab cans at the brewery’s St. John’s Retail Shop. And in other PR news, you should be able to find some of their beers in cans at select NLC stores across the province; availability will be limited, of course, and styles will vary from week to week.

Niche Brewing, located in the New Brunswick Capital region, has gone hazy and sweet again this week, with the release of Lush. Their latest in the Milkshake IPA theme, the 6.5% ABV Lush features lactose powder and vanilla beans, fermentation with a hazy IPA yeast strain, and conditioning on mango purée before packaging. Fruity and tropical from both the hops and fruit addition, vanilla and milk sugar keep it a bit sweet to complete the milkshake experience. Look for it on draft at The Joyce and Graystone Brewing in Fredericton, Saint John Ale House, Peddler’s Creek, and Ducky’s elsewhere in the province, The Auction House in Halifax (along with the recent batch of Niche’s Single Origin Coffee Sweet Stout), and at ANBL Moncton North for growler fills

We’ve got some news on the latest beer comin’ out of Lunenburg’s Shipwright Brewing, a Rye IPA named Rye’T Some Good IPA (the rye beer puns are never ending, eh, Tony?). As you probably figured, there’s a good portion of Rye malt in the grist of this one, and the classic Simcoe hop variety was used in abundance to provide aromas of grapefruit and pine, which always pair well with this style of IPA. There’s a bit of sweetness upfront as well, along with moderate bitterness and “a cleansing stone fruit counterbalance”. You can only find this one at the brewery (pints, growlers and crowlers), so those of you who are Rye IPA fans, get in your cars! Or on your horse, if you have a horse and don’t mind longer road trips.

We know that pretty much all of you don’t want to hear it, but sorry, Bootleg Brew Co. is going to remind you with their new beer… CHRISTMAS IS COMING (anyone got one of those handy Ned-from-Game of Thrones memes hanging around?). Anyway, the beer. Tis the Saison is a 5.5% ABV Farmhouse Ale that they’ve spiced with nutmeg, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. On the nose, expect “apple/orchard fruit Saison characteristics” with a touch of spice; the spices do come through more prominently on the palate, however, along with the orchard fruit and a bit of bubblegum. Available at the brewery right now on tap and in bottles, so drop on in (Santa costumes optional). 

Have you been itching for a new supremely-hoppy beer from 2 Crows Brewing? If the answer is a resounding “Of course YES so just get to the damn news about the beer already!”, then FINE, EXCUSE US FOR TRYING TO MAKE THIS A LITTLE LESS THAN MONOTONOUS. Anyway, the beer is Another Iteration, brewed with Golden Promise, Flaked Oats, and Wheat malt. Hopped with puh-lenty Simcoe and Ella in the hopback, they fermented it with an English yeast strain and then dry-hopped it twice with puhhhhhhhhh-lenty Enigma, Vic Secret, and Huell Melon (16 g/L, to be specific… and for those of you who aren’t familiar with brewing specifics, that is a lot of hops). It came out pretty juicy and tropical, as you might imagine, “with big stone fruit, passionfruit, and tangerine vibes”. Grab this 6.1% ABV beauty on tap and in cans at the tasting room starting tomorrow; fresh is best!

With Remembrance Day happening on Monday, Tatamagouche Brewing has just released a Flanders-inspired beer to honour those who have given so much in sacrifice for our country and our freedoms. Muse is a 6.5% ABV blend of sour red ales that was refermented and aged on cherries for four months. Bottle-conditioned (in 500 mL bottles), the beer has tart blackberries and crabapples in the flavour, “tempered by a slight sweetness evocative of sour candy”. Finishing with a lingering dryness, this is a fine way to enjoy now, or age for further development. Looks like you’ll have to swing by the brewery right now to get it, but let’s hope some bottles see some wider distribution, soon! Plus, look out for cans and draught of their Blue Bales, a 4.8% ABV Wheat Ale absolutely filled with early harvest Organic blubes from North of Nuttby Farm.

Halifax’s Good Robot never really stops and they’re always kind enough to let us know what’s going on during any given week. This time around they’re on a journey into darkness. First up is reminding folks that their Summer Stout brewed in collaboration with Portland, Maine’s Lone Pine Brewing Company is still pouring at the tap room for the moment, although they’re down to their last kegs. But if you happen to miss that, there’s also the impending return of Bingo Bronson, their 6% ABV, 25 IBU smooth, dark and rich Chocolate Porter. And coming back next week is a favorite of many, their Tom Waits for No One American Stout, which returns next Thursday. A big ‘un that’s been around since they opened their doors, it’s a beefy 7.9% ABV and 58 IBU.

Up in Inverness, Nova Scotia, Route 19 Brewing is on the hunt for a brewmaster. Ideally they’re looking for someone with plenty of experience in the industry and is ready to take on a wide variety of tasks in their shiny new brewhouse, including recipe research and development, ingredient selection and purchasing, inventory management, and production. If this sounds like you and you’re interested in working in a quiet, but beautiful part of the region, you’ll want to check out the full job posting and send in an application. And they’re also searching for a Salesperson, to help move all of the beer that new Brewer will be making, so check out the job posting here, and send your enquiries to evan@route19brewing.com for either opening.

We’ve got a few events to tell/remind you about today, including the Atlantic Canadian Craft Brew Fest, happening tomorrow at the Moncton Coliseum. Grab tickets/sign up/mark your calendars, and we’ll see you out there!

As the local beer cognoscenti are aware, the Atlantic Canadian Brewing Awards were judged last weekend, but the results have been encrypted and hermetically sealed and are quietly awaiting revelation. When will we find out which beers are big winners this year? Next weekend, in fact. HopYard Halifax will be hosting this year’s ACBA Awards (presented by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers – Atlantic Canada Chapter) Gala on Saturday, November 16th, from 6 – 9 PM. Changing it up from previous years, this will be a “stand-up mingling occasion” without the formality of a sit-down dinner and allowing the drinking public to attend rather than just brewery and industry folks. Tickets are $57.50 and are available through EventBrite. Come on down and find out whose beer reigned supreme in our region this year!

If one of your personal markers for November is Stillwell’s annual Birthday Party, congratulations, you’re probably beer-obsessed. But that’s okay, so are we! Going down on Sunday, November 17 from noon ‘til late, Stillwell turns SIX. You can, as always, expect tasty goodies on tap from breweries both within and without our region including some debuts. Add to that some lambic bottle pours and some cask conditioned treats as well and you’ve got a recipe for a good time. But wait, there’s more! Food-wise, pig head poutine is going to be a thing, a hoagie platter will be around to share with friends or punish yourself (or maybe both), and to the utter delight of one AC Beer Blogger, Trinidadian Doubles (with proper pepper sauce, we’ll warrant) will be coming out of the kitchen. Also, oyster happy hour from 4 – 7 PM and FREE CAKE! This is a non-ticketed event and we expect the joint to be hopping, so plan your appearance wisely. And while there’s no date yet publicized, keep an eye on social media for opening details of The Stillwell Freehouse, Team Stilly’s English Pub-inspired location opening soon on Agricola Street. Think even more beer engines/handpumps, cozy nooks and benches, and pies and pasties and even some bartop games. We’ll have lots more to say real soon, too!

Are you one of those beer drinkers who doesn’t get the attraction of wild and/or sour beers? Or are you the type who sees that certain breweries are releasing a new one and put the release date and time in your calendar? Somewhere in-between? If you’re into learning more about such beers, where they came from, how they’re made, and why you may be missing out if you avoid them, the Ladies Beer League in Halifax has an event for you. Wild & Sour Beer: A guided tasting with Jeremy Taylor is happening on Tuesday, November 19th from 7:30 to 9:30 PM at 2 Crows. As brewmaster at 2C, Jeremy has been making some of the region’s finest beers in this category since the brewery opened (and before that at other breweries) and has a wealth of knowledge to share. For $30 you’ll have a chance to glean some of this info from him as you sip 4 samples, each with cheese pairing, and a full pint from the taps. We don’t know how many tickets there are, but we’re pretty sure it’s not a ton, so if this event interests you head on over to EventBrite and grab yours ASAP. As with all of the LBL events, this is open to everyone cool, no need to be a member.

Just a few parting words before we dismiss you today. Check out the last few new and returning beers, and a heads up for some new ear-candy coming Tuesday.

While we can’t provide you with a link to the episode as it isn’t up yet, you should set a reminder to visit the 902BrewCast page (or your favorite podcast provider) this coming Tuesday, November 12. You remember earlier this fall when they did their blind tasting of local Pilsners? Well they’re doing the same thing with another style, NE IPAs. Tune in for more mirth and merriment, and Kyle talking about rolling cans (seriously, people do that?). Social media posts suggest that once again the results were a bit of a surprise to the gang themselves, which no doubt will make for an entertaining and educational listen.

Fredericton’s Trailway Brewing has a couple of beers returning this week, one dark and one light. The latest iteration of Beans, their oatmeal coffee stout, has been dosed with cholaca for an additional hit of chocolatey goodness. And the first batch of their winter session ale, Parallel, is also available, with a (for Trailway) subtle hop character of berries and stone fruit sitting pairing with a honey sweetness from a high-quality German Pils malt side. Look for both on tap and in cans shortly, with the latter going to ANBL distribution soon.

And over on PEI, in Charlottetown, Upstreet is having a release party for this year’s Black Tie Affair at the taproom tonight, from 7 PM onwards. Although not strictly black tie, you’re encouraged to dress up for this candlelit soirée where h’ors d’oeuvres will be passed around and background music will be played on piano by Brielle Ansems. Of course you’ll have the chance to enjoy some beer, including the eponymous brew, a sweet and roasty full-bodied stout coming in at 5% ABV and 15 IBU, made slightly tart by an addition of cranberries.

And lastly, staying on the Island, PEIBC has a new beer coming out in their After Hours series of limited edition one-off beers, this one entitled Dry-hopped Sour. With high-quality wheat and Pilsner malts ensuring a crisp and clean base for the sourness and hops to shine, it features citrus and tropical overtones. Low in bitterness like most sours at 14 IBU, it’s 5% ABV and will be hitting the taproom shelves today with full PEILCC distribution coming later. Meanwhile, we’re expecting the results of their Maritime Homebrew Challenge to be announced this weekend; keep an eye on the website and PEIBC and Gahan social media for news on that front!