Beerthief

All posts tagged Beerthief

Friday Wrap-Up – PEI Brewing Co Oktoberfest, Picaroons Tap Takeover, Big Tide Pumpkin is back, New Beers from Sea Level and Garrison and much more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-10-25
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Beerthief, Big Spruce Brewing, Big Tide Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Bridge Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Hart & Thistle, PEI Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Railcar Brewing, Sea Level Brewing, Uncle Leo's Brewery. 5 comments

It’s the last Friday of the week, which means it’s time for more Atlantic Canada Beer news!

• This Saturday, October 26th, the PEI Brewing Co. is holding their Oktoberfest celebration at their location in Charlottetown, from 1-6 pm. With no charge for admission, there will be live entertainment and lots of food and beer for purchase; they will also be providing tours of the brewery for half-price. In addition, they will be holding their 1st Annual Growler Challenge! For $10, entrants will have a growler filled with the beer of their choice. All contestants will then hold the full growler at arm’s length, parallel to the ground; the person who holds out the longest without bending their arm wins a $100 gift card from the Murphy Hospitality Group (which can be used at the brewery). All contestants get to keep the growler afterwards, of course!

• Speaking of the PEI Brewing Co., it looks like their popular Lobster Ale from this summer is going to continue to be available through the coming months. While this Saison will still be found in bottles, it will likely start turning up on tap at the brewery and other restaurants/bars in the Maritimes. It’s currently available at many ANBL stores in New Brunswick as well.

• Tonight, Picaroons will be hosting a tap-takeover at Wilser’s Room in downtown Fredericton. Starting at 5 pm, all twelve taps will be dedicated to Picaroons beers, including their latest seasonal release, Harvest Ale, as well as special releases Plaid to the Bone and 104th Regiment. Live music by Nick Ferrio starts at 9 pm.

• And while we’re on the subject of Picaroons, they’ll be releasing their very popular Winter Warmer seasonal on November 1st. Based on the English Barleywine style, it clocks in at 7.3% ABV. No events are planned for the official release as of yet; follow them on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated!

• If you missed Big Tide Brewing‘s Pumpkin Ale brewed with fresh hops last month, good news! Brewer Wendy Papadopoulos has confirmed that a second batch has been brewed, again with locally-grown pumpkins that have been roasted in maple syrup and spices. While there were no more “fresh” hops left to use in the brewing process, Cascade and Hallertau hops were added to the boil; the 5% ABV beer also has cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander and ginger added in the brewing process. Get it at the brewpub (available on tap and for growler fills) before it’s gone!

• Garrison Brewing have released two fall favourites this week: their Martello Stout and Winter Warmer. With notes of chocolate and coffee, the Stout will be available for growler fills and bottles. The Winter Warmer, brewed with cinnamon and clove, and with notes of plums and dark fruit from the dark demerara sugar used, and a little more warming at 7.0% ABV, will be available in bottles only. Both are available now at the brewery, and bottles will be filtering out to the private stores shortly.

• Sea Level has released their fourth wet-hopped beer of the season, their Punkin’ Grinner Ale. This is a new creation for brewmaster Randy Lawrence, clocking in at 5% ABV and amber in colour with a unique balance of spicy and sweet. It features all local ingredients with roasted baby pam pie pumpkins from Sea Level’s own gardens, honey from Cosman & Whidden and Cascade hops grown on the Annapolis Valley floor. It is available now on tap at the Port Pub and in 1 Litre refillable growlers at Sea Level Brewing. Cans should be on their way to Halifax for this coming weekend, at Harvest Wines and Spirits, Cristall Wine Merchants and Bishop’s Cellar. Also take note that this will be the last Sunday that the brewery will be open for the year, so take advantage of the nice fall weather and go for a drive to the Valley this weekend.

• Uncle Leo’s Brewery and Big Spruce Brewing are both taking part in the Swine & Stein event at Pictou’s Palace Theatre this Saturday, 5-10pm. Your ticket ($15 in advance from Uncle Leo’s or Stone Soup Cafe, $20 at the door) gets you inside for a massive pig roast and great entertainment from local artists. The beer is extra, but we know you won’t mind paying for these two excellent breweries’ beers.

• The Hart & Thistle Gastropub will be celebrating brewmaster Greg Nash‘s 29th (again!) birthday in style tomorrow. Starting at 11am, they will be serving up a special burger, pork belly sliders and smoked brisket sandwiches. Oh, and beer too: the currently available Dank & Stormy DIPA, as well as a special 2012 keg of Commissar RIS. It will also mark the tapping of the 2013 edition of Hop Mess Monster, Nash’s ode to hops. This year’s beer clocks in at 11.5% ABV and 533 IBUs (calc), and features hops anywhere and everywhere throughout the brewing, fermenting and conditioning period. The ACBB will be in attendance, so come say hi!

• It looks like Railcar Brewing has finally found a new location for their brewery! After plans fell through to open in Railcar 3 at the Shogomoc site, owner/brewer Mitch Biggar recently announced on his Facebook site that the brewery will be located in the rear unit at 9172 Main St. in Florenceville-Bristol. With 1800 square feet available, Mitch plans on opening the retail store and tasting area by the end of the year, with the brewery hopefully producing beer sometime in early 2014.

• Bridge Brewing will be releasing their fall seasonal tomorrow, a Belgian IPA. The beer clocks in at 6.5% and 60 IBU, from the Centennial, Chinook and Brewers Gold hops. This is a very interesting style, with the spice and fruit character of the yeast blending very well with the hops. And don’t forget that they’ve extended their hours: Open Monday to Thursday 12-7pm, and until 9pm Friday and Saturday, and open 12-6pm Sundays.

• If events in Charlottetown, Fredericton, Pictou, or Halifax aren’t enough to satisfy you, don’t forget about Boxing Rock‘s Grand Opening Saturday in Shelburne. There are still spots available on their free tours, and there will be lots of fun activities, food and beer to celebrate their opening. Check last week’s post for more details.

• Premier Wine & Spirits in Halifax, purveyors of great beer, wine and spirits in Halifax, is looking for part-time clerk people. They are looking for folks to work 15-20 hours a week, and of course a knowledge (or love!) of beer and wine is a big plus. Drop off your resume at the store at 1535 Dresden Row between 10-8.

• The latest offering from the Newfoundland Artisanal and Craft Beer Club (aka Beerthief) is closing this Sunday. The brewery being highlighted this go-around is Muskoka Brewery, after a very successful offering in the summer. Their Dark Ale, Craft Lager, Twice As Mad Tom IPA and Winter Jack (Tennessee whisky barrel-aged Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout) are all up for grabs. To sign up and/or put in a request, contact Tom Beckett.

• Late addition to Friday Wrap-up: A reminder that signup to the Picaroons and New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association Homebrew Challenge is due November 1st. Beers can be dropped off Nov 1-15 at the Picaroons Brewtique on Queen Street. More info is available in our previous post. Good luck to all NB Homebrewers!

Another week with lots going on! Have a good weekend…

Friday Wrap-up – Yellowbelly and Shiretown Brew Harvest Beers, Barnone IPA Will Soon Be Available, More Details on Picaroons’ Harvest Ale

Posted by acbbchris on 2013-09-20
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: BarNone Brewing, Beerthief, Hart and Thistle, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, RockBottom Brewpub, Shiretown Beer, YellowBelly Brewery. Leave a Comment

Welcome to the last Friday of the summer of 2013. It seems like just yesterday that we were kicking off the beer festival season, and announcing the patios opening. But fear not, fearless Atlantic Canadian reader, there is plenty of great beer news and information to guide us into the fall of 2013!

• Details are few, but this week Yellowbelly Brewpub in St. John’s brewed up another batch of their Republic Pale Ale using locally-grown hops. If it’s anything like previous year’s beer, it will be about 6% ABV, and feature a big citrus and pine nose from the hearty Newfoundland hops.

• Shiretown Beer in Charlo has also brewed up a beer with fresh hops, these being some wild hops from Charlo. They brewed up “Runnin’ Down the Road” Amber Ale, and the local hops will give it a spicy aroma, and plenty of bitterness. It will be available in a few weeks. Their Big Brown Ale and Buckwheat Honey Ale are both currently available at the brewery, as well as their flagship Blonde du Quai. And their expansion into bars and ANBLs across the province continues, with more and more stores being added all of the time.  Fredericton, Moncton, Sackville, the list continues to grow.

• BarNone Brewing in PEI will soon be releasing their first IPA since a brief appearance at the PEI Beer Festival two years ago. An unfiltered American IPA, it comes in at 6.5% ABV and is heavily-hopped, both in the kettle and with multiple dry-hop additions, according to brewer/owner Don Campbell. Showcasing several “sought-after” hop varieties, the beer should be available for growler fills at the brewery (every Thursday from 6-8 pm) soon. To keep updated on its release, follow Barnone on their Twitter account.

• BarNone will also be taking part in this weekend’s Kegs, Corks & Oysters event at Credit Union Place (511 Notre Dame St) in Summerside. Their beer will be used to cook and pair with famous Malpeque Oysters as part of this Fall Flavours Festival event. Tickets are $35 (+fees), available at BoxOfficePEI.

• We now have some details on this year’s Harvest Ale from Picaroons, which will be officially launched on Thursday, Sept. 26th. A Pale Ale that uses two-row base malt grown in New Brunswick, it also has a small percentage of Crystal malt which should add some caramel sweetness to the beer. As mentioned before, there will be different locally-grown hops used in each batch, coming from different farmers in Atlantic Canada; this should give each batch separate flavor and aroma profiles. According to Dennis Goodwin, Marketing Director at Picaroons, the farms providing the hops will be Happy Hopyard in Cornhill, NB (showcasing Nugget, Centennial, Cascade, Goldings, and more),  Southern Farms in Wicklow, NB, Wysmykal Farm in Chapman Settlement, NS, and possibly more to be added later. By going to picaroons.ca/myharvest (the site will be active upon the beer’s launch), you will be able to enter the batch number on your bottle’s label to find out more information regarding your beer.
• The newest beer on tap at the Hart and Thistle in Halifax is the Statutory IPA. Weighing in at 7.2% ABV and 52 IBUs, this is a juicy and malty IPA, brewed with Centennial, Cascade, and Columbus hops. It contrasts the TubberRoe Robust Porter nicely, whose flavours are reminiscent of dark chocolate and dark fruit.
• For fans of the Rockbottom Brewpub, and in beer in general, Brewmaster Greg Nash posted a video of a recent brewday for the Broken Down Special Old Bitter. It’s a behind-the-scenes view of what it takes to get from grain to glass at the Rockbottom. And remember that every Saturday at 1pm, Nash taps a special cask of beer, sometimes a different take on a current beer (blackened Fathom IPA), or a completely new one (last week’s was the Deadwood Wheat refermented with 8oz of fresh ginger).
• This coming Wednesday, the 25th, Mike Buhler (Certified Cicerone and co-director of the Beerthief Newfoundland Craft Beer Order Club) will be doing a guided tasting of six beers from the Wychwood Brewery. The event is at 7PM at Bitters Restaurant and Lounge on the MUN campus (216 Prince Philip Drive). For $24, you will receive 100mL of each Wychwood beer, an appertif of Quidi Vidi or Yellowbelly beer, a burger, and chocolate brownie. Mike is a fount of beer knowledge, and lots of fun, so I’m sure the evening will be great. To take part, please reserve your seat by emailing Tom Beckett.
Finally this week, big news from Propeller Brewing! They brewed their first batch of beer at their new Dartmouth location yesterday (617 Windmill Rd, their cold beer store has been open for a few months). It was, not surprisingly given Halifax’s lust for hops, an IPA. We hope to get a look at the new digs soon, and will certainly do a full profile on their expanded system and location. In the meantime, be sure to look for their Nocturne Dark Lager out today, released in collaboration with the Nocturne Art at Night event, taking place October 19th, 6pm-midnight around the HRM.

Friday Wrap-Up: Picaroons’ Easter Keg Hunt, Big Spruce Brewing Opening, and more

Posted by acbbchris on 2013-03-29
Posted in: Atlantic Canada Beer News, Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Beerthief, Big Spruce Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Picaroons cat contest, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Saint John Beer Festival, Shiretown Beer. 1 comment

Hello beer fans! Another busy week in Atlantic Canadian Beer News.

  • Picaroons‘ Easter Keg Hunt is on now! Search around downtown Fredericton, NB for the 4 painted kegs and snap a picture of yourself to win a prize. Check their Facebook Page for more details.
  • Also, with their upcoming Melonhead release, they are looking for a photogenic kitty to grace the label. Email them a picture of your favourite cat, and it could be famous!
  • Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza, NS is ready to open, and is having a pair of parties to mark the occasion. Saturday April 6th 4-8pm at the Bras d’Or Yacht Club in Baddeck, and Saturday April 20th 7pm at The Wooden Monkey in Dartmouth (upstairs at the Alderney Ferry Terminal). Come out to support the Atlantic Provinces’ newest brewery!
  • Last week, Propeller Brewing Co released a new 1L flip-top Growler, for when you only want one litre of your favourite beer. Fill it with their Double IPA or current One Hit Wonder Black IPA (only available in growlers at the Prop Shoppe on Gottingen in Halifax for a limited time).
  • Not to be outdone, Garrison Brewing Co released their own version, a 1L “Growlito” this week. Think of these as a three-pack of beer, for when you have to be up early the next morning 🙂
  • Garrison has released their 2013 Ol’ Fog Burner, as well the 2012 Barrel-Aged version, which spent 9 months in Glenora Distillery barrels. Only 1000 bottles of these available, so make your way to the brewery to pick them up.
  • Following up on a recent post, Mike Buhler has launched Beerthief.ca, complete with forums for chatting about the beer scene in Newfoundland, as well as homebrewing and everything else. Keep up to date with the next offerings from the Newfoundland Beer Club.
  • The Saint John Beer Fest (April 13 at Market Square in Saint John) VIP tickets are sold out, but there are still regular tickets available through the Harbour Station. We are eagerly awaiting the brewery and beer list, and will release our interview with them next week.
  • Shiretown Beer‘s Blonde du Quai is now available in 500mL bottles. Since their move to Charlo in January, they’ve been busy, including “Best of the Fest” at the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival. Congratulations and keep up the great work, Derek and Tim! You’re helping folks in Northern New Brunswick drink great beer.

Stay tuned for more news and profiles as we keep our eyes and ears open. If you’ve got any news or events we should cover, please leave us a note.