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Friday Wrap-Up for January 14, 2022 – News from Truro Brewing, Port Rexton, Tanner & Co, Quidi Vidi, Grimross, Propeller, Tusket Falls, Trailway, 2 Crows and more!

Posted by acbbchris on 2022-01-14
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Battery Park, Beerlab, Grimross Brewing, GTFO Adventure Club, HopYard Halifax, Lightfoot & Wolfville, Newfermenters Homebrew Club, Port Rexton Brewing Co., Propeller Brewing, Quidi Vidi Brewery, Tanner & Co Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Truro Brewing Company, Tusket Falls Brewing. Leave a Comment

We’re heading for a weekend of weather and COVID restrictions across the Atlantic region, so we strongly encourage you to read quickly and make your moves if you haven’t already stocked up on beer for the weekend. After you’ve checked your fave brewery’s social media to make sure they’re open, of course. Hopefully they are, because plenty of them have new beers on the go that you’re sure to want to try. So read on!

Kicking off this week is an inter-provincial collaboration between two breweries with deep, interconnected roots. Alicia MacDonald of Port Rexton Brewing grew up in Truro, and in fact had originally planned to open a brewery in the town, before co-founding PRBC in 2016. While returning to the area this Labour Day, MacDonald spent the day at Truro Brewing Company with Jana Dellapina, concocting something for the coming months. The result of that wondrous day is available now! Quiet Company is an English-style Barleywine, where the hops take the back seat to bold caramel and malt notes. After fermentation, it spent several weeks in a Bourbon barrel from Raging Crow Distillery in nearby North River, where it took on plenty of great vanilla and spirit notes. Originally conceived as an accompaniment to the Matt Anderson song of the same name, Quiet Company is available now in bottles at TBC’s Inglis Place location.

Tanner & Co Brewing in Chester has a brand new hybrid release available exclusively in their Duke Street taproom/retail spot this week. Maybe even a hybrid of a hybrid, as one half of Ambrosia began life as their Kuhlmann featuring Rye and Vienna malts complementing the base Pilsner malt, which was fermented with the natural wild yeasts of the Lucie Kuhlmann grape pomace that was added to the wort. While some was drawn off for the original release, this portion was allowed to age for an additional year on the skins, grabbing more complexity and drying the beer out further. Blended to it was Original Mead, and the resulting assemblage allowed to develop for longer still. As there were only a few cases of Ambrosia produced, you’ll have to go straight to the source to grab them, but we can attest that the visit is worth your time! Also on the shelves and draught is the returning Dunkelweizen, their take on the classic dark wheat beer, featuring banana and chocolate notes.

Quidi Vidi Brewing is celebrating the latest release in their on-going series of homebrewer contest winners from the Newfermenters competition. Wisdom and Wit is the winning beer from Howard Haby, and is true to the original Belgian Witbier style as it features notes of Coriander and citrus, with a hint of chamomile. This 4.1% ABV can is available at their Hops Shop as well online for same-day delivery. 

Also available online now are memberships for Flight Club. Limited to fewer than 200 people, this membership will allow folks early (and sometimes exclusive) access to new and returning beers, their own 20oz mug (to be stored at the taproom), as well as five private events throughout the year. Check that link for more details!

Not many details on this one, but Grimross Brewing has released the latest in their Scratch series this week, Scratch 26: IPA. At 6.5% ABV, this looks to be a West Coast style IPA, with grapefruit, pine, and floral notes coming through. Also out now is a collaboration with the GTFO Adventure Club, Local Legend. $1 from every pint of this juicy pale ale poured will go to their “Give The F Back” Fund. While the taproom may be closing due to return to Level 3 restrictions, both of these are available for growler fills to take away. Stay safe, NB pals!

Propeller Brewing has three pilot-batch beers out now/coming soon, so let’s get you up to speed with them. Available in growlers today at all three of their retail locations, as well as on tap at the newly-reopened Gottingen Street taproom, is Vic Secret Dry-Hopped Sour. This 4.8% tart and refreshing sour ale features loads of fuzzy peach, tangerine, and grapefruit notes thanks to plenty of Vic Secret hops added post-fermentation, on top of a clean acidic base.

Coming soon to the taps are a couple more from their Quinpool Road 300 litre pilot system, in two totally different styles. Bru-1 IPA showcases the hop of the same name, with a fruit salad of flavours like pineapple, melon, and strawberries, and thanks to the Sacch Brux yeast, it finishes fruity, dry, with a hint of acidity. At 6.0% and 70 IBU, rest assured there’s a lot packed into this one! And at the other end of the spectrum is Pineapple & Banana Hefeweizen, a 4.5% switch on the traditional German wheat style, as it was fermented on pineapple puree to bring out that fruit and complement the banana notes from the yeast. Hopyard Halifax has picked up a keg of this to pour soon, and Dartmouth’s Battery Park has grabbed all three to be tapped sometime soon.

Tusket Falls has a new one out this week in their Experimental Beer series, for fans in both Yarmouth County and HRM. The mysteriously nameless Session IPA comes in at 4.6% and features lots of tropical fruit notes from the auditions of Amarillo, Citra, Simcoe and Columbus hops. You can also expect notes of melon, pear, lime zest and stone fruit to accompany a soft body and moderate finishing bitterness. This one is on tap-only at Tusket’s two taprooms. 

Fredericton’s Trailway Brewing is ringing in the new year by revisiting one of their core brands with a bit of a refresh. You might have noticed over the past few months that many of Trailway’s products have received the proverbial “lick of paint” in terms of their branding. Today we can tell you that one of their original core brands, Rype has had that treatment, but also a modification to what’s in the can. The name “Rype” was a play on rye malt, which was originally one of the ingredients. Well no more! Both the rye malt and the crystal malt previously present in the recipe are no longer there, and you can think of “Rype” as a nod to the ripe fruit notes provided by the showcased Mosaic hops. A little drier than it was, thanks to the lack of crystal and the addition of bready Munich malt and some wheat as well, and more refreshing, look for the same tropical fruit notes and dankness, but with a more pure hop expression. Look for it to start appearing wherever you get your Trailway fix, it’s already on the shelves at the brewery.

We’ll leave you today with a ton of news coming to you from Brunswick Street in Halifax, as 2 Crows Brewing celebrates their 5th Anniversary this month. Not ones to do anything in half measures, they are releasing 9 new beers in celebration of their Wood Anniversary (fitting, as several of these will have spent time in their barrels and foedres). The first to be released are a pair of grape-heavy beauts, Bunch and Tobeatic Wild. Bunch is a Berliner Weisse, that is a low abv (3.2%) wheat beer, low in hops, and co-fermented with Lactobacillus to give an acidic kick. Starting life back in February 2020 (ah, the Before Times), the beer lived in its Port barrel primary fermentation vessel until the end of the year, when it was transferred to stainless to rest, before the addition of pureed Concord grapes in the summer. After a couple of months on the fruit, the beer was bottled and allowed to carbonate naturally in the bottle. The resultant beer shows a lovely purple hue, is zippy and spritzy due to the acidic component, with the grape notes shining through. Available in 375ml bottles in store and online now.

Tobeatic Wild is also available now, but in the 355ml can format. Its history is a little more recent, starting from the same base beer as Molten Mirrors, a recently-released collaboration with London’s (ON) Beerlab!. MM was billed as a “Saison/Lager hybrid”, with base grains of Pilsner, rice, and spelt, hopped with Saphir and Huell Melon, and fermented with their house Saison culture. After completion, the temperature was lowered, and an actively-fermenting lager yeast was added (krausening technique) and the beer allowed to further condition and develop at cold temperature. After removing the bulk of the volume to package Molten Mirrors, the several hectolitres left were hit with 800kg of freshly-pressed L’Acadie grape skins (aka pomace) from the Valley’s Lightfoot & Wolfville winery. With plenty of sugar and tannic acid still left in those skins, it also picked up a touch of wild yeast which will no doubt show through the delicate 5.4% beer. Carbing was also done in-can, so expect a little bit of (safe to enjoy) yeast residue at the end. Spritzy Saison/Grisette citrus vibes galore with floral and honey aromatics as well. Like Bunch, TW is available for ordering and pick up today. For more on their love affair with grapes, and L&W, check out this post.

2 Crows have also shown their hand for the rest of the Anniversary releases, which can be consulted on their IG page. As a few of them are extremely limited, they opened up early pre-order access to their newsletter subscribers. So if you are keen on getting early/first access to other releases, we figure it’s the second-best beer list you should subscribe to. For those who want to grab one of each of the Anniversary releases (minus the pastry stouts) in a bundle, you can order yourself a bundle now. Note that the bundle is not available for pickup, delivery, or shipping until January 28th, when the final beer will be released. And if you become a subscriber, you can unlock the Newsletter-only version of that bundle, which features a special branded Arome glass in the box.

“Pastry Stouts?”, you say? Yup! Next week will see the release of two extremely limited Pastry Stouts based on Big Turk and Nanaimo bars, both topping the scale at “11.9%” ABV. While half of the bottles were offered and snapped up by newsletter subscribers, the other half (16 bottles of each) will be available at noon, January 20th, split evenly between online and in store options. Think grape, cherry, and chocolate with Big Turk, and vanilla, coconut, and chocolate for the Nanaimo offering. Also releasing on the 20th is Mountain Shadow, a 10.3% Baltic Porter, which was conditioned with Marquette grape pomace, and features cacao nibs for extra dark chocolate character. 355ml cans of this will be available both online and in store.

Let’s bring this in for a landing with their plans for the final weekend of the month. On Saturday, Jan 29th, they will have a food pop-up in the brewery, as RNB Kitchen serves up some warming and satisfying soul food, with both dine-in (assuming regs allow it) and take-out options available 2 – 7 PM that day. And the oft celebrated (and almost as oft maligned the next morning) Sour Sunday will be Jan 30, with a full board of recent and returning favourite sours on draught, plus shots of Pepto and Tums in case anyone needs them.

 

Friday Wrap-Up for December 3, 2021 – News from Beausoleil, Propeller, Annapolis Cider, Ol’ Biddy’s, Serpent, Lake City, Big Spruce, Landwash, North, Tide & Boar, Annapolis Brewing, and much more!

Posted by acbbchris on 2021-12-03
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Annapolis Brewing Company, Annapolis Cider Company, Antigonish Townhouse, Beausoleil Farmstead Cider, Beerlab, Benjamin Bridge, Big Spruce Brewing, Brightwood Brewery, Candid Brewing, East Coast Cider Company, Glenora Distillery, Good Robot Brewing, Harpoon Brewing, Lake City Cider, Landwash Brewery, North Brewing, Ol' Biddy's Brew House, Propeller Brewing, Serpent Brewing, Spindrift Brewing, Tide & Boar Brewing, Willibald Farm Brewery. Leave a Comment

Well, you’ve done it! You’ve survived another month of wild weather in the region, with snow, rain, wind, rain, snow, and even t-shirt weather for a short blink of the eye. As the weather turns and stays colder, the breweries and ciderhouses continue to change their focus to products with a bit more heft, so keep those eyes peeled for the bottles and cans below, as well as the many others on the shelves and taps in Atlantic Canada this month!

Why not start this week with some cider love? Beausoleil Farmstead Cidery & Vineyard is located on Church Street in Port Williams, a short drive from the centre of town. A small but mighty family team oversees the cider (and wines) coming together, from tree (and vine) to fruit to glass, keeping true to their philosophy of sustainable farming and cellar experimentation. They are celebrating their First Anniversary this weekend, and releasing two new blends to mark the occasion. Oak’d is a 6.8% barrel-aged cider made from a blend of Annapolis Valley-grown apples, including McIntosh, Cortland, and Golden Russet. After six months of aging in French oak barrels, it was finished with just a touch of fresh-pressed juice, to bring some soft tannins and hint of acidity to the rich notes of toasted spice and baked apple in the base cider. Taking a different approach for the second new release is Mimosa, Beausoleil’s take on the popular brunch (or anytime!) drink. Starting with base of Chardonnay wine, it was infused with fresh oranges, blended with Annapolis Valley cider, and given a touch of effervescence to enhance the experience. Wine, cider, and citrus never tasted so good! Both Oak’d and Mimosa are available this weekend at their tasting room (open 1 – 4 PM both Saturday and Sunda), as well as their online shop for local delivery.

Dark beer lovers rejoice! Propeller Brewing is continuing their foray into the dark and festive beers with the latest take on their Porter, Chocolate Orange Porter. Building on the full-bodied and roast-filled original, the addition of chocolate and orange makes this a lovely festive beer. Available on tap now at the two Propeller tap rooms, cans are also available at their retail locations, online for local delivery and Canada-wide shipping, as well as the private stores in town and at the airport (including in the Harvest Beer and Cider Advent Calendar, where you’ll be drinking that later today [sorry for the spoiler!]).

Back to cider, as Wolfville’s Annapolis Cider Company has the latest in their Something Different Series this week, Arctic Kiwi Rosé. Locally-grown Arctic Kiwis (think miniature hairless kiwis that are capable of handling the local cooler climate) were juiced and fermented with ACC’s signature dry-fermented base, offering bright tropical notes and a little body. This blend was finished off with fresh-pressed Geneva crab apple juice for a bit of acidity and astringency, as well as the signature rosé colour. Available now at their tasting room on Main Street, each bottle refill of the 6.1% sparkling Arctic Kiwi Rosé sees $0.50 donated to support the Wolfville Area Food Bank.

Sackville, Nova Scotia’s very own brewery, Ol’ Biddy’s, has both brew and news for you this week. On the beer side, Merry Rye-solution is, beyond its tortured name, a re-release of a holiday treat from years past. Featuring plenty of rye for a characteristic spiciness along with some demerara sugar to provide seasonal notes of molasses and toffee, it was bittered to 26 IBU to ensure some balance and has a drying finish. Deep copper in color and weighing in at a burly 9.4% ABV, it’s not to be trifled with; you’ll find it at the brewery, of course, along with select NSLC locations. On the news side, the gang at OB is happy to report that they’re going to be making it easier for you to get their beer this busy season by bringing it directly to you! For the next three Saturdays, starting tomorrow, if you’re within 10km of the brewery, you’ll be able to place an order for local delivery. In addition to the 10km limit, you’ve got to be spending $24 to qualify for $5 delivery or $50 for free delivery (we don’t know about you, but we don’t find it difficult to turn a $25 order into a $50 order when beer is involved!!) You’ll also need to be of appropriate drinking age (19, last we checked) and home, with ID handy to accept the delivery. Your order must be received by 6 PM the Friday before the delivery date to qualify. Look for the new “delivery” option when ordering on their site and follow the prompts! You can also order kegs for delivery, but you’ll need to call them brewery directly and talk to Chris about that. Lastly, if you do decide to drop down to their taproom for a pint or to pick some stuff up, why not bring a donation for Feed Nova Scotia? You’ll be doing needy folks some good and meanwhile enter to win a Weber Kettle BBQ.

From Sackville to Spryfield, where Serpent Brewing is releasing a big holiday brew of their own in the next week. Three Kings is a rum barrel aged beer in the Belgian Dark Strong style. “What’s a Belgian Dark Strong,” you ask? Well, it uses Belgian yeast for characteristic spicy and estery character, it’s dark in color, and b’y, she’s strong, at 11% ABV. Aged in barrels from Compass Distillers, it’s got notes of pepper, dark fruits, wood-aged rum, and plenty of warmth. There are three different labels coming for this, and by all means, collect them all, but we wouldn’t recommend drinking them all in one night. Or even one weekend, really. Check Serpent socials (Ig/Fb/Tw) for more on when this one is released.

Dartmouth’s Lake City Cider is celebrating the season with the return of their collaboration with Change is Brewing Collective. A little refresher on this one, the fine folks of Change is Brewing visited the Portland Street taproom to put together a winter seasonal to perfectly pair with a hearty holiday meal. Enter Forest Glory, a blend of all Nova Scotian apples and cranberries, infused with locally-grown rosemary, thyme, and juniper. Herbaceous and tart, this 6.8% cider is available again for purchase in the retail store as well as online for local delivery or shipping. All proceeds of sales go toward community-lead non profit organizations working to create space and opportunities for the BIPOC community, both in and out of the drinks industry.

It’s a Big Week for Big Spruce, as they have two new releases to tell us, and y’all, about! Building on the popularity of last year’s From Nova Scotia with Love Collaboration with Boston’s Harpoon Brewery, they’ve done it all over again! For anyone not in the know, after the Halifax Explosion, hundreds of support workers from Northeast US came to help with medical treatment and support. In recognition of that, each year the province of Nova Scotia sends down a Christmas tree to the city of Boston. In 2020, Big Spruce and Harpoon came together for an epid Whiskey Barrel Aged Abbey Ale (read more about it here), and they are one-upping themselves this year, with the Bûche de Nöel Imperial Milk Stout. Taking cues from the holiday Yule Log dessert, the beer itself is big and bold, with plenty of rich Belgian chocolate and fresh-roasted coffee, with cacao nibs and a hint of juniper. Oh, and all of that was aged in a Glenora Single Malt Whiskey Barrel! Cans are available at the Sprucetique and online for delivery now, with kegs delivered and pouring now/shortly at Battery Park, HopYard Halifax, and Bar Stillwell!

Returning favourite, and only available on draught, is Fou D’Amour, a Barbe Rouge-solo-hopped Double IPA. Weighing in at a hefty 8.0% and XXX IBU (your guess is as good as ours!), this French-grown hop is known for tropical and citrus notes, think strawberry and grapefruit and kumquat! Built on a hazy and pillowy base, you’ll be able to grab a pint in Nyanza this weekend, and coming soon to Battery Park and Stillwell at any moment.

Heading from one island to another, up on The Rock in Mt. Pearl, Newfoundland (& Labrador!) Landwash Brewery has a hoppy new brew hitting the taps this week. Frozen Coves is a DIPA in their Limited Series that they’ve hopped generously with Bru-1, Ekuanot, and HBC 586 to give this 7.2% banger a fruity punch of peach, pineapple and tangerine. Available at the brewery for pints to stay and in cans to go, it’ll also be showing up at Marie’s Mini Mart locations and NLC over the next week or so. If hops aren’t your thing, and you lean towards the deeper, darker beers, have no fear, Landwash has you covered there too. Cake Tray, 2021 edition, was inspired by the good old classic Newfoundland Snowball, which if you’re not familiar means you ought to expect lots of chocolatey and coconut character. A stout, of course, plenty of dark malts give it color and body and coconut gives it, well, what you’d expect. At 7% it should have a touch of holiday warmth for you as well. Available now at retail, but if you’ve got a few minutes to sit and enjoy one in the taproom you’ll be rewarded by a pour off the nitro tap, which will impart a super-creamy body that you can’t get any other way. You’ll see this one at Marie’s soon as well.

Now is the time to enjoy the fruits of the annual collaboration between North Brewing and Benjamin Bridge Winery. We told you about these a couple weeks ago (did we jump the gun on that? Ooops!) but we’re sure they’re both available now at all North retail locations. Musqué is a big ‘ol double IPA at 8% fermented on Musqué grape skins, of course, and Blanc is a much smaller and more delicate Grisette fermented on Sauvignon Blanc skins. We recommend experiencing both yin and yang by grabbing both of them. Even better, $0.50 from each can sold of both beers goes to the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. Meanwhile, North also has two other beers back this week for repeat engagements. Midnight Figgy Pudding is a batch of Midnight, their strong dark Belgian that was split between 4 Glenora Distillery whiskey barrels for over two years before being blended with figs, dates, and vanilla. Be gentle with this one as it’s 10.5% ABV, perfect for an evening by the fire wrapping presents, we’d bet! And if you’re looking for something a little more breakfast-y, Stack o’ Pancakes might have you covered. Nominally a pastry stout (we all agree pancakes are pastry, right? Like, “cake” is right in the name and everything!!) this imperial-strength (9% ABV) beer featured plenty of chocolate malt in the grist for roasty chocolate flavors as well as maple syrup (of course), vanilla, and salt! Grab these two beasts from North the next time you’re there or order for curbside pickup, local delivery, or nation-wide shipping. If you’re a fan of North you may also want to grab one of their Holiday Boxes: 12 North beers (oh, fine, eleven beers and one seltzer), including the exclusive Eisbock, a lovely glass stein from which to enjoy them, and a holiday card and some custom wrapping paper.

Moncton’s Tide & Boar Brewing has a big and bold beer out today, their first special release from their new brewhouse at 1355 Main Street. In A Beautiful House continues their tradition of massive pastry stouts first started from their 1 BBL brewhouse in their original Gastropub location. Brewed with lactose (aka milk sugar), this 11.9% ABV beer was conditioned on toasted marshmallows and Madagascar vanilla beans, to get all of the sticky sweetness and bold flavours. Only a few flats available at the time of publishing, you’ll want to get down there ASAP to avoid disappointment!

Annapolis Brewing in Annapolis Royal has brought back their Fundy Haze, their house New England IPA. Absolutely overflowing with Galaxy, Sabro, and Mosaic, this hazy beer is juicy, tropical, and ready to go now! And their sister cider company, East Coast Cider Company has released a new perry this week named Pear Cider. Made with locally-grown pears, the perry features delicate floral and fruity notes, with a touch of honey-like sweetness. Available at their taproom on draught and in cans.

Good Robot Brewing is celebrating a mainstay of Enfield, Curly Portables, with their new Curly’s Amber. Building on the legend of woodsman Curly, born in Rawdon Hills in 1895, who went on to invent the triple-bit axe and other fantastical feats, Curly’s features biscuit and caramel malts to balance the light hop bitterness, and made for enjoying a few after splitting and stacking wood. Keep your eyes here and on their IG for more details on Good Robot’s progress in Elmsdale, just down the road from Curly’s. And if you are looking to give back this holiday season, drop off donations for the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre at their Robie Street taproom, full details available in this post. And check out their Holiday Gift Pack for the person who has everything/nothing!

A reminder that both of the recent Ontario Collaborations hosted by 2 Crows in Halifax are now available, the L’Acadie Draw Sauvignon Blanc IPA with Willibald Farm Brewery and Molten Mirrors Saison/Lager hybrid with BeerLab!. And if you need a reminder on what exactly those are, we gave you all the info you need in last week’s post. Also worth your time is that 2C is having a sale on select 355ml cans in their fridge, which means you can get a flat of Matinee, Tiny Dancer, or Dos Cuervos for just $50. Create your own Advent Calendar on the cheap! Deal is available at the taproom, as well as their online shop, which means free HRM delivery!

Dartmouth’s Spindrift has engaged in a bit of a reinvention over the last year or so, as they pivoted from being the “(almost) all lager, (almost) all the time” brewery to a bit more of an industry standard product range where the primary focus is on ales (don’t worry, though, folks, we’re pretty sure your Toller, Toller Gold, and Toller Light aren’t going anywhere). In the process of these moves they’ve also taken the time to reinvent their branding; you may have noticed their slick designs on the shelves and not realized, at least right away, that you were looking at Spindrift offerings (their old branding was pretty iconic too). Anyways, a few of the things they’ve had come out in the last while that you might keep your eyes out for include:

  • Horizon Blonde Bitter – a light and approachable beer in the classic style, coming in at 4.3% ABV and 27 IBU, with classic British hopping from Northdown and Challenger and notes of orange, tea, and a touch of stone fruit.
  • Grapefruit Spaceship Grapefruit IPA – does what it says on the tin, of course, at 6% ABV, with some very tropical and citrusy hops, namely Galaxy, Comet, and Eureka, boosted by plenty of grapefruit juice, and all balanced with classic West Coast IPA-style sweetness from caramel malt and a blast of bitterness (53 IBU). 
  • Queen Bee Honey Brown – lots of “honey browns” out there, but this one distinguishes itself by being both properly brown and through the use of actual Canadian honey; expect this 4.8% ABV and 25 IBU easy-drinker to be lighter in body than the appearance would suggest, with notes of coffee, toffee, chocolate, and nuts along with a bit of honey on the finish.

Antigonish powerhouses Candid Brewing and Townhouse Pub have come together for a fun collaboration. Kanpai is a Japanese-style Rice Lager, weighing in at a respectable 4.0% ABV. Light, refreshing, and super-crushable, it has a clean and dry finish, making it the perfect accompaniment to a wide variety of dishes, which is right up the alley of these two neighbouring businesses. Find it on tap now at both locations, with cans dropping mid-month.

Back to Portland Street for a new release from Brightwood Brewery. Shy Guy is a flavoured Gose dreamed up and executed by Assistant Brewer Noah, who took a base of a belgian-yeast-fermented wheat ale, with the addition of blackberry puree, orange peels, and a touch of Himalayan salt. Pouring now in their taproom, cans of Shy Guy should be hitting the shelves any minute now!

Friday Wrap-Up for November 26, 2021 – News from Lone Oak, 2 Crows, Propeller, North, Tanner, Bannerman, and More!!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2021-11-26
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, 902 BrewCast, Bannerman Brewing, Beerlab, Breton Brewing, CAVOK Brewing, Delta Force Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Lone Oak Brewing, Lunn's Mill Beer Company, North Brewing, Propeller Brewing, Sourwood Cidery, Storm Brewing in Newfoundland, Tanner & Co Brewing, Tusket Falls Brewing, Willibald Farm Brewery. Leave a Comment

Hey hey hey, it’s 5PM on a Friday and we’re just getting you your beer news now? What gives? Well, as much as we love beer and talking about beer and writing thousands of words about beer on the weekly, Real Life™ sometimes can’t be denied and you, dear reader, end up having to wait a few extra hours for your beer news. We also know that we weren’t quite able to get everything into the post this week that we knew about; we’ll do our best to cover all those bases next week! Or maybe the week after!! By Christmas we’ll be caught up FOR SURE.

If you’re thinking a trip to PEI is in order, or if you’re in PEI and wanted to make a little getaway to Borden-Carleton, we highly recommend dropping in for a visit to Lone Oak. Ok, sure, we’d recommend that at any time, really, but this weekend they have three new beers available on tap – one that is a returning favourite, and two that are just outright brand new. Let’s get right into all three, shall we?

The first newbie is S’well, a 4.4% ABV Brett Lager. The base beer is a Lager brewed with Pilsner malt from Shoreline Malting, and hopped with noble hops. A two-year-old barrel-aged Brett beer was blended in (at about 15% volume) to give the final brew a nice hit of funk, with the whole thing getting a final dry-hop with the always-lovely New Zealand variety, Nelson Sauvin.  

Next up is one of those beers that is conveniently named in a way that really gets to the heart of the beer… Belgian Table Beer with Marquette Grapes. Another easy-drinker at just 3.8%, it has a grist of PEI Pilsner, spelt, and wheat. Hopped with Mistral, a French variety, the beer was aged on Marquette grapes locally-harvested from Carmody Cove Vineyards (Marshfield). Dry, effervescent, with plenty of citrus and sweet fruit character throughout, this and S’well are both available on tap only, at the brewery.

Finally, returning to local taps (and cans, in the near future) is Boat Traffic, a Foeder-aged Oatmeal Stout that has been tweaked slightly, since its last release. With a little less roast and a little more chocolate than last time, this 5% ABV brew was aged in oak from PEI’s own New World Foeders. Sporting a full body, some roast character, and “notes of chocolate and undertones of coconut and vanilla from the oak”, you’re not going to want to wait on picking some of this up when you can, as it’ll be just perfect for sipping on a hot Christmas morning this year!

Last week we wrote a mini-essay about North Brewing because they had so many things going on. We even took a minute to poke fun at 2 Crows for being outdone. HAHAHA. BOY ARE WE DUMB. Seems like the gang at 2C has been up to further collaborative shenanigans with a couple of Ontario breweries and now we have to type it up so you know what to get excited to drink.

First up is fermented beverage nerd alert (we are beer nerds after all). There’s a product new to the market out of New Zealand that they call “Phantasm” and it’s a powdered Sauvignon Blanc grape derivative that happens to be very rich in thiols. “But ACBB,” you say, “that sounds like a wine thing.” Well, yes, Sauvignon Blanc is grapes, but thiols are one of the (naturally occurring) chemicals that give hops (and grapes, and cannabis) their fun fruity aromatics. So what do you think 2C did when they got their hands on some of this stuff? They put it into some beer! They also had some L’Acadie grapes available from their friends at PEI’s Carmody Cove Vineyard, where the team traveled to pick about 500lbs and put it through carbonic maceration, before pressing it (thanks to a hand from Sourwood Cider’s press) and fermenting with wine yeast. The result of that went into the beer too! But what beer? Well, back to the beer brewing part, they collaborated with Ayr, Ontario’s Willibald Farm Brewery (‘member them from the Stillwell takeover a few weeks ago?) to make a super pillowy IPA from Pilsner and Golden Promise malts, raw wheat, and Golden Naked Oats, a lot of mash hops, and some late kettle hopping with Bru-1, Hallertau Blanc, and the aforementioned Phantasm. Once fermentation was complete, they hit it with intense amounts of Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and more (MOAR!) Hallertau Blanc and Nelson Sauvin. When you consider that Hallertau Blanc and Nelson are two of the hops known for their “wine-iness” you can imagine that this is an IPA that fairly reeks of that character: “grapey, [with lots of] gooseberry, citrus, and tropical punch vibes.” Cans of this one, known as L’Acadie Draw will be available to the general public tomorrow, Saturday, November 27th, at noon!

So that’s this week. Next week comes another collaboration that 2C put together with Beerlab from London, ON. Billed as a “Saison/Lager hybrid,” Molten Mirrors sees the ester profile of a Saison married to the dry crisp finish of a lager, with the overall drinkability of both styles well represented. Made from local barley, some rice, a little spelt, and hopped in a restrained fashion with “modern Continental” varieties Saphir and Huell Melon, it was fermented fairly warm with their house Saison yeast which, if you’re familiar with the properties of various yeast strains, is going to give you a rather estery and somewhat phenolic (spicy) character, but it’s not likely to be what you’d call “dry.” So then the beer was chilled down to the sort of temperature that lager yeast likes (10ºC-ish) and it was krausened, which is basically the German way of saying, “we added some more actively fermenting beer to it.” That beer was a smaller volume of the same beer, but one that had been fermenting with a nice clean German lager yeast. After giving the result time to completely ferment out, the temperature was dropped again, this time to long-term lagering temperatures, where it stayed a full 8 weeks. The result is crisp and dry, with some saison spice and fruitiness. This one will be on sale to the general public next Thursday, December 2nd at Noon, but newsletter subscribers will already have received an email with a special code allowing them to get it early by ordering online for delivery or pickup. If you’re not a subscriber, but would like to get access to new beers from 2C before everyone else does, you’d best be signing up right here.

Those of you who remember a little show called The Raccoons, raise your hands. Haha, you people are old! For the rest of you, this beloved Canadian animated show debuted in 1985, and was about the exploits of several raccoons in the wilderness and their run-ins with a local greedy industrialist, uh, aardvark… wait, what was the point of that show, again? Either way, it was truly loved there for awhile (even if it IS still difficult to get this news story out of your head, from long after the show ended), and Propeller has teamed up with their EQUALLY-beloved Propeller Arcade for a collaboration beer brewed in honour of this Canadian treasure. The beer is named Run With Us (go ahead, hum it, we won’t judge), a 4.8% “Watermelon and Cherry Sour”. Fermented with Escarpment Labs’ Lactic Magic – a wild, sour yeast strain – the beer has flavours and aromas of, yes, watermelon and cherry, complemented by some tartness. This refreshing brew is on tap exclusively at Propeller Arcade, with 500 mL bottles also available at all three Prop Shops (and online home delivery). 

We’re used to seeing collaborations between North Brewing and Benjamin Bridge; these beers have covered a wide range of styles, and sometimes some of the releases are brewed again, so that we have another chance to experience them with some light changes. This week, they’ve brought back Musqué DIPA, an 8% DIPA that is re-fermented with Chardonnay Musqué grapes from BB. This year’s batch also features some more hop varieties than last time, with Vic Secret being joined by Galaxy, Callista, and Enigma. Expect lots of tropical fruit qualities, balanced by a “delicate acidity” thanks to the grape skins. You can grab some bottles at all of the North locations (remember, there’s three of them now!); save some for Christmas gifts, and some for drinking all by your lonesome!

It’s a big weekend in Chester, as the Chester Village Christmas weekend kicks off over the next three days, Tanner Brewing has a few things on the go. On Friday, they’re releasing their annual barrel reserve beer in store on Friday. The brewery got some fresh barrels from Ironworks and this will be a taproom release on Friday and available all weekend. This year it’s Oak Aged Porter with Berries releasing in Chester and available for delivery. They used their usual recipe for their hour Porter but fermented on black currant and blueberry puree. After fermentation, they used the fresh Ironwork dark rum barrels to age through the fall and summer. Ths beer, available in 500ml bottles is 6.2% ABV and 25 IBU. They’ll also have Cove FM on-site Friday evening with Trip Hazard broadcasting in the taproom. On Sunday, their usual friends from The Old Black Forest little German restaurant will be doing a pop-up for a nice Sunday dinner. 

As Cape Breton and the Northern part of Nova Scotia still recover from the storm earlier this week, Breton Brewing is hoping to bring some Caper pride to the region. Partnering with Cape Breton University, CBU Lager is a light and crisp lager in honour of the whole CBU alumni and family. A portion of the sales from each beer is donated towards student programs and scholarships at the university. At 4.0% and 20 IBU this is crispy and refreshing and available in 473ml cans. Today (Friday) may be the last day you have to get this delivered or online, otherwise, you’ll have to check the brewery and also the Pit Lounge on CBU campus. 

Breton has another limited release available now with their first offering from their holiday lineup, Transatlantic IPA is a blend of English and American IPAs, trying to balance the malt and hop flavours, yeast flavours and bitterness for a full bodied, delicious ale. Using English ale yeast and a complimenting hop aroma, this clocks in at 5.8% and 50 IBU. This is available now in 473ml cans and pints in the taproom, but also home delivery via the online Breton shop. 

Bannerman Brewing just keeps on pumping out the new beers, with this week’s release moving away from the hoppy stuff with Rise or Shine, a Coffee Bock. Taking the standard Bock – a dark, strong Lager – and adding lots of coffee to it sounds like a perfect match to us! Speaking of the coffee, its Heritage, the signature roast from Pilot Coffee Roasters, and it’s giving Rise and Shine “notes of toffee, honey, chocolate, and coffee”, all complemented by a lovely, full body. You can find it on tap and in cans at Bannerman, very soon. 

Back in Halifax, Garrison has a very cool release for the holiday season. If you’re a fan of the classic chocolate minty, chocolatey and delicious After Eight chocolate mint thins, the team at Garrison is brewing you, After Dark, a mint chocolate porter! Using natural mint additions, real chocolate powder and cocoa nibs, you should already have a (delicious) expectation of how this should taste like! Using a malt blend of Pilsner, Munich, Chocolate and Crystal, Magnum hops join the party to balance it all out. This should be a perfect balance of dark chocolate sweetness, slight bitterness and mint freshness and bite. At 5.0% and 18 IBU this beer is available now in 473ml cans at the Oxford taproom and the seaport Garrison HQ, and check out their website for delivery right to your door!

In the wonderful world of cider, Sourwood has a delightful-sounding beverage out now, that you may want to seriously consider adding to your large assortment of beers for the weekend. Juicehoney is a cider aged on Cabernet Franc skins for three months, and was then packaged (in June, 2020!) with raw honey. Naturally carbonated and weighing in at 6.6%, they’re billing this beauty as a pure lactic acid experience: “Think Warhead candies and smooth creamed honey at a rave” was how they started the description… that should give you an idea, no? Only one way to see for yourself, so drop by Sourwood this weekend and grab some cans!

The fine Dieppe folks at CAVOK are hitting us with Reduced Visibility, a brand new New England IPA. Bringing a nice aroma of pineapple and floral notes, leading into a delicious flavour of tangerine, lime and mango with a bit of spice on the finish. With a base of Foggy London yeast to bring it all together and keeping the smooth mouthfeel, a hop profile of Azacca and Idaho 7 to bring the 6.0% IPA to fruition. Available on tap and in 473ml cans at the brewery, this will also be available at ANBL locations across the region. 

We’ve got a treat from Mount Pearl’s Storm Brewing, as they have Newfoundland & Labrador IPA (NLIPA) available now. A bright, bitter and dry-hopped IPA, strongly features homegrown hops from Storm’s our hopyard, they’re calling them Veva hops. Bringing subtle floral, and vibrant pine, citrus aroma and flavor. Bright, bitter and brilliant, this is available in 650ml bottlesat 5.5% this is available at Caine’s, Hallidays, Needs on Miltary and Urban Market.  

Whether it’s an actual Black Friday special or not, you can’t deny a good deal, especially when it comes to beer. Greenwich’s own Delta Force Brewing has got such a deal with the Oak Trio 3-pack, allowing you to grab a 500 mL bottle of each of three of their newest barrel-aged brews for $25 (that’s a savings of $5). Included in this little package is Barrel-Aged Wessex, an English Barleywine that was aged in a mixed culture barrel; Operation Forge!, a Stock Ale that was brewed with invert sugar and aged in a fresh barrel with Brett; and Quercus, a mixed-fermentation, barrel-aged “Super Saison”. Send your order requests to deltaforcebrewing@gmail.com to set up your delivery in the HRM.

Here’s your quick hits on the way out the door!

Grimross’s Abbey Dubbel is making its annual return to Fredericton residents (and across NB, as well) this week. This 7.2% Belgian Dubbel, featuring “strong dark fruit and intense brown sugar flavours” arrives just in time for the holidays, and is available in cans and on tap across the province, and directly at the brewery.

In the Annapolis region of Nova Scotia, Lunn’s Mill has a familiar beer available, SOMA, is a Single Malt and Single Hop IPA, full of juice and double-dry hopped. Using Mosaic hops and Maris Otter as the malt, this is a flavour bomb at 6.6% and 82 IBU. This is available in cans directly from the brewery. 

Tusket Falls is back with one of the tastiest treats you can imagine, as Once Blind, Now I See Clearly is back on tap. This is a Czech-style Pilsner lagered for 90 days and back and tasting better than ever. Crisp with Saaz hops and perfectly balanced at 5.0%, this is available on their side pull tap for that nice, pillowy and soft texture in both their brewery taproom as well as their Halifax location on Gottingen.

One last thing before we send you off this week. Kyle and Tony of 902 BrewCast have released not one, but two episodes this week, as they dig into their fridges and cellars to enjoy some recent, and not-so-recent, beers from North Brewing and Bad Apple Brewhouse. Grab the episodes in your favourite podcatcher, or direct from the website. Congratulations on 5 years, fellas! Here’s to another five! 😘