Look at us posting late again. Is it because we were out enjoying all of the lovely beers the region has to offer us? Sadly, no, once again real life intervened. After a lovely week of weather (in Halifax, anyway) looks like we’ll be blessed with yet another rainy spring weekend, as is traditional. So rather than enjoying a cold one or two in the sun while you finish that yard cleanup, maybe you’ll be sipping a couple while you organize your linen closet and wash your walls instead. So it goes. The good news is, there’s plenty of new beers for you to seek out and try this week, so without further ado, let’s tell you about them! Stay tuned to this spot next Friday for some big news from us on the future of the AC Beer Blog.

Big week for Fredericton’s Trailway Brewing, as they release a trio of new beers entering the second half of April. First is the latest in their line of fruit smoothie beers known as The Blend. This week sees The Blend: Mango, Strawberry & Banana hitting the taps and shelves. Each can is absolutely overflowing with more than 200 grams of fruit, pours a thick bright pink colour, and provides all of the vitamins and fibre needed as part of your complete dinner (or breakfast or lunch!). Cans and draught are available at both their homebase and Saint John locations.

Also new on tap and in cans is the bigger sister to the popular Ooz Double IPA… Oozier is the double-dry hopped version, which still clocks in at 8.0% ABV, but has even more hops added after the fact. Look for even more tropical fruit flavors and aromas in the form of mango and peach, coconut and even vanilla! On tap and in cans now. And if you act quickly, you can take advantage of $10 shipping for a 12- or 24-can box, within New Brunswick, as well as Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario. Score! Sorry, The Blend is not shippable due to the fact that it should be kept cold at all times, and neither is the new small batch brew available at the Union House in Saint John, Pilot Project #3, a NEIPA brewed with Cashmere hops. Lucky folks in uptown SJ!

Cornwall, PEI’s Village Green has a pair of new options on draught this week. Released on the weekend was Aussie Haze, a 6.0% Hazy IPA, featuring Australian-grown Ella and Topaz hops (along with a handful or three of Citra). Dank, resinous, and bitter, this IPA has a bit of bite to go with the aromatics and flavour in the glass. And joining it is a return to when things were Fine… This 5.7% Red Ale is a fine alternative to the hoppier side of life, with crystal and chocolate malts reminding us that the grain bill is fiercely important too! On tap, and in cans, so pop out this weekend to get more of the good stuff!

In Tusket Falls, on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, the eponymously named Tusket Falls Brewing is releasing a lager this week. This should not be surprising to anyone who’s been following the brewery as, after hitting the market with a fairly traditional lineup, then expanding their portfolio with a plethora of sours and IPAs (and sour IPAs, natch!), in the last year or so they’ve now doubled down on lager production as well. This latest release is a 4% ABV light German lager, crisp and light, built on a base of crackery Weyerman Pilsner malt and hopped with traditional Tettnanger. Dubbed Industry this one sounds about perfect for your après spring yard cleanup or just a tall cool one after a long work day. Packaged in cans, we reckon you’ll find it both at the home base and at their tap room in Halifax.

Speaking of lagers brewed by South Shore NS breweries starting with the letter ‘t’, up next is a New Zealand Pilsner from Tanner & Co. Brewing in Chester Basin. As is de rigueur for the style, this one comes out with a rich golden color, with a clean malt profile thanks to a grist of local malts, and a hop bill that stresses the wonderful white wine-esque flavors that New Zealand hops are known for. In this case, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin provide notes of lime, gooseberry, and pineapple to balance the malt. Coming in at 5.5% ABV, this one is packaged in cans and is no doubt available both at the brewery and Tanner’s tap room location in Chester proper.

Up in Nyanza, on Cape Breton Island, Big Spruce Brewing is doing that collaboration thing they do so often (and so well), this time pairing up with a pair of local musicians, Rachel Davis and Darren McMullen, to produce Made to be Played, a session IPA. Featuring newfangled experimental hop variety HBC 1019 (the name fairly rolls off the tongue), it boasts light and lively flavors of mango, fuzzy peach, and citrus zest. And at only 4.5% ABV you can safely enjoy a couple while you enjoy some local tunes. Find it in cans direct from the source.

Available new this weekend from Propeller is Prickly Pear Lagered Ale. At 4.8%, the light ale is a perfect blank palette upon which the prickly pear cactus fruit can bring its tart character, fruity ester profile, with a beautiful pink hue. Available on draught at their Prop taps in Dartmouth, Halifax, and Bedford, and in cans there, and soon at the private and government stores too.

Dartmouth’s Burnside Brewing is also releasing a brand new exotic fruit-laden beer this week, in their case melding the musky aromas and sticky sweet tropical notes of pink guava with the stone fruit and citrus tones of New Zealand Wai-iti and Rakau hops for a fruited NEIPA. Athena is hazy and bright, with a firm bitterness of 40 IBU to counter the fruity sweetness and weighs in at a solid 6%. Dosed with pink guava purée for a legitimate blast of fruit, you can certainly expect some tropical punch vibes from this one as you dream of warmer weather. Available now at all Burnside locations, and coming to all the private stores in the HRM in the coming weeks.

Wouldn’t you know it, there’s a third HRM brewery melding fruit and beer this week as Garrison comes at us with Mango Dragonfruit Sour once again. A stalwart summer brew over the last few years, as always it brings real mango and dragonfruit to a sour base built off a grist of Pilsner and wheat malts. At 5% ABV, it’s not going to rock your world with booze, but it might with fruit flavor and a tang. Boasting a rich red-purple color, it’s intended to taste like summer in a can. Look for it in cans at Garrison locations and the private stores in the HRM, and soon at the NSLC, ANBL in New Brunswick and NLLC in Newfoundland as well.

A quick hit from Lone Oak Brewing, who have released Lush West Coast IPA, just in time for 4/20. The first, but probably not the last, of their beers brewed with TERPS, a new strains of yeast from Escarpment Labs, developed to enhance stone fruit and citrus terpenes in the resultant beer. More from Escarpment on the yeast here.

We’re ending the week back on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, where Boxing Rock makes their home. Once fiercely against cans for several reasons, they surprised everyone (or no one) by introducing cans to their portfolio four years ago (coincidentally on April 1st…). Well, they have announced that they are packaging their latest made-for-aging release in the last of the bottles they had remaining in the brewery, so this is your chance to purchase a little bit of history! Clock Work Imperial Stout is big and bold at 10% ABV, featuring rich roast and chocolate notes, and is available in both 355mL and 650mL bottles at both the Shelburne Taproom, as well as their Windsor Street location in Halifax. Keep those eyes peeled for a barrel-aged version to be released at Christmas!

Boxing Rock Shelburne and Halifax also have fresh cans of their Brass Monkey Cold IPA, the winner of their “Legendary Empty Tank” beer competition held in January. This was an “everything but the beer” contest, in that entrants shared their beer recipe, and opined on the beer and its place in the BR line-up, but no actual beers were brewed or tasted. Brad Smith’s winning beer is 6.7% ABV, and can be purchased this weekend!