Hammond River Brewing

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Friday Wrap-Up – News from Red Rover, Brasseurs du Petit-Sault, Picaroons, Uncle Leo’s, Boxing Rock, Rare Bird and more!

Posted by acbbchris on 2014-02-07
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Brasseurs du Petit Sault, Bridge Brewing, Fredericton Craft Beer Festival, Garrison Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, PEI Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Brewing. 3 comments

Happy Friday, everyone! Yet another chock-full of beer news in our region. Pour your favourite pint and check out the latest info.

• Fredericton, your wait for locally-brewed hard cider is over – Red Rover Brewing has announced that they will be opening their Ciderhouse next Thursday, Feb 13th! Located at 880 Hanwell Rd, Suite 305, the Ciderhouse will have up to four varieties of cider on tap (the “Spring” and “Summer” to start, soon followed by “Fall” and a currently unrevealed style), and lots of merchandise for sale. Refillable, 1-L flagons can be purchased for $6.50; fills of each flagon will cost $12 (prices include tax). The Ciderhouse will be open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4-11 pm. For those of you who are supporters of the brewery, or “Red Roverlutionaries”, there is a special event tonight at the Ciderhouse from 6-10 pm, where you will be able to purchase flagons and fills of the Summer cider.

• And throughout next week, Red Rover is having an online contest for supporters to win a free flagon. Take a picture of yourself “in an interesting location”, wearing your Red Rover t-shirt, and post it on Twitter (#redsciderhouse and #redroverbrew) or Facebook (share to their page).

• For those of you in the Saint John area, don’t forget that Hammond River Brewing will be holding their launch party at the Saint John Ale House on Thursday, Feb. 13th as well! All four of their flagship beers will be on tap – Hop Flash IPA (6.6% ABV), Red Coat India Red Ale (6.5% ABV), Covered Bridge ESB (5.5% ABV), and Back in Black Oatmeal Stout (5.2% ABV). Tickets are $10, and include four samples of the beers; appetizers will also be served. Get down to the SJAH for your ticket, and be one of the first to try some great, new beers!

• Edmundston’s new up-and-coming brewery, Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault, has been looking for two brewers over the last few months. They recently put out a press release saying that they’ve chosen two gentlemen for the positions. Jason Dionne, a Madawaska, Maine native, comes from a brewing position at Kichesippi Beer, a microbrewery in Ottawa. Gavin Anderson is a former scientist with a doctorate in plant pathology. Both Jason and Gavin have a history of homebrewing and – naturally – a passion for beer! With the first beers scheduled to arrive on the market this June, we’re happy to see that the brewery is one step closer to their goal! For more info on Brasseurs du Petit-Sault, check out our Q&A with Marketing Director Mychèle Poitras that we posted in November (French version here).

• With Valentine’s Day fast approaching (that’s right, you only have one week), Picaroons is bringing back their Afterglow Aphrodisiac Ale. A dark beer that is brewed with chocolate, ginseng, liquorice root, and a hint of cayenne, it clocks in at 5% ABV. It should be available by February 11th/12th for growler fills at the Brewtique; look for it on tap at certain beer bars/restaurants in the region shortly after.

• On another note, the Afterglow Aphrodisiac Ale will also be featured as a “welcome beer” at the two Beer & Chocolate Dinners being put on by Picaroons. Both dinners are four courses, “chocolate-infused”; each course will be paired with a different Picaroons beer. The first dinner will be at 6:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 13th at the ANBL Train Station on York St., and will feature Real Food Connections. The second will be two days later, Feb 15th, at The Schnitzel Parlour, also at 6:30 (hosted by local Sommelier Craig Pinhey). Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the Brewtique.

• Good news for folks looking for more Uncle Leo’s in their life: earlier this week, they sent out 360 six-packs of their IPA to the NSLC! The shipment is part of a trial at 35 NSLC locations, and should reach larger stores all over the province (except Pictou, you’ll have to keep visiting the store in Lyons Brook). Plans are also in the works for their Red to be available through the NSLC in April, in 650mL bottles. Be sure to show your Leo’s Love, and grab the beers from your local NSLC. We had a wonderful visit at Uncle Leo’s last week while they were filling the palette-plus order, 2 bottles at a time!! What dedication from the folks at the brewery! And we loved the sausages from The Pork Shop available at the brewery, made with Uncle Leo’s IPA and Smoke Porter (our favourite).

• Speaking of new beers hitting the NSLC, Rare Bird Full Steam Stout will be available beginning today at NSLC locations across the province, from Yarmouth to Sydney, Amherst to Halifax. It joins the Pale Ale already available at the NSLC. We’ve been enjoying the Stout on tap at Stillwell, which has a healthy dose of Full Steam coffee added to the beer in secondary.

• And in related Rare Bird news, they have released a new seasonal, a Pumpkin Ale! While a bit out of season, they’ve been brewing batches of this beer since November, and are looking to spice things up in their lineup for winter/spring (sorry, that bad pun was all Chris). Doug Anweiler gave us some insight into the beer: The base beer is a 5.5%ABV Pale Ale style (with a bit of CaraMunich malt and molasses) with three different hop varieties. The brewery team picked pumpkins and squash from local fields, which were then spiced and roasted at the Harbour Belle Bakery using traditional pumpkin spices. The pumpkin was added twice during the brewing process, starting in the mash. The beer is cold-conditioned before bottling, and is currently available at the private stores in Halifax, as well as a couple of kegs at Stillwell.

• Great news for fans of Boxing Rock Brewing in Shelburne, NS: they recently received a 34 hL (hectolitre, 100L) fermenter from DME to add to their brewhouse. This will effectively double the possible output of their popular beers. Since their launch in July, they have been going all out to keep up with the demand from their fans. With this double-sized fermenter, they can do a double-brew-day of their Hunky Dory Pale Ale or Temptation Red Ale to fill it up, giving them a bit of breathing room in the brewery. Breathing time they’ll use to come up with more excellent seasonals like the Crafty Jack Brown Ale and U-889 Russian Imperial Stout.

• The very popular beer-rating website, conveniently named RateBeer, has released its annual “Best Of” lists, including the Top Beers, Brewers, and New Brewers by Subregion. Winners are chosen by tallying the results from ratings/reviews by RateBeer users, with particular emphasis placed on those over the last year. The Atlantic Canadian provinces results are the following:

– New Brunswick: Top Beer – Picaroons Yippee IPA; Top Brewer – Pump House

– Nova Scotia: Top Beer – Garrison Imperial IPA; Top Brewer – Propeller; Best New Brewer – Bridge Brewing

– Prince Edward Island: Top Beer – PEI Brewing Co./Gahan House 1772 IPA

Unfortunately, Newfoundland is not listed. This, along with certain awards not given for certain categories, is likely due to a particular number of ratings being required… which means we beer-drinkers have to rate beer more often! Congrats to all the winners!

• Our detailed post on the 2014 Fredericton Craft Beer Festival will be coming early next week. This is just one more friendly reminder that tickets are now over 90% sold out… last chance to buy yours! There are also a couple of contests going on right now to win VIP tickets (and more); follow the FCBF Twitter feed for details and updates.

• For those of you looking to step up your brewing game from amateur enthusiast to professional brewer, check out this job listing from Yellowbelly Brewery in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Brewmaster Liam McKenna is looking for a brewer to help him keep the Brewpub, and NLC fully stocked with their beer. Yellowbelly also has a new seasonal on tap (and soon in bottles), a darker “hodgepodge” beer, with several different malts and hops. We hope to have more info for you next week (after a quick visit to the Brewpub ourselves!).

Friday Wrap-Up – Hammond River Brewing Announces Official Launch, News from Picaroons, King Street Ale House, The Lunar Rogue, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-01-31
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Beerthief, Fredericton Craft Beer Festival, Hammond River Brewing, Hart & Thistle, King Street Ale House, Lunar Rogue, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, RockBottom Brewpub, Rogues Roost Brewpub, Stubborn Goat. 1 comment

Another busy news week in our region, including some regulation change in Nova Scotia that will make your life easier. Let’s dive right in!

• Terrific news, New Brunswick! Hammond River Brewing has had their four flagship beers – an Extra Special Bitter, American IPA, India Red Ale, and Oatmeal Stout (infused with Star Anise) – approved by the ANBL, meaning that they can now be sold to thirsty customers! While the beers should start popping up in the Saint John area any day now, the official launch of all four beers will be at the Saint John Ale House on Thursday, Feb. 13th. You will also be able to find Hammond River beers at Bourbon Quarter, The Barrel’s Head, and The Shiretown Publicans.

• If you live in Fredericton, you probably remember the opening of the King Street Ale House in November, and the Smoked Porter, Ember Ale, released by Picaroons exclusively for that location. Well, good news if you’ve been missing it – the KSAH will be tapping a cask of the original brew tomorrow at 3:00 pm. It’s part of their first “Beer, Bourbon and BBQ” event, where they will be featuring exclusive items from their smoker, bourbon, and, of course, beer! Look for future casks to pop up there from time to time; and who knows… Picaroons MAY brew the beer again in the future!

• In other Picaroons news, earlier this week they put a new beer on tap at the Brewtique. A Pale Ale, the beer is the first of four that were brewed before Christmas with different Engineering groups from the University of New Brunswick. Each group paired up with Picaroons Head Brewer Andrew Estabrooks to create a different beer style. Once the Pale Ale is out, look for the three other beers to follow shortly after; they include a Belgian Wheat, a Coffee and Vanilla Bean Stout, and the crowd-favorite, a Maple Wheat.

• And continuing on, the first beer brewed by Picaroons to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Lunar Rogue was tapped on Wednesday night. A Parcel of Rogues has finally been revealed to be an Amber Ale brewed mainly with Mild malt; some Honey malt was also used to add a “delicate sweetness” as described by Marketing Director Dennis Goodwin. A full-bodied beer, the alcohol level of 4.6% ABV keeps it fairly sessionable and easy-drinking. The beer is, of course, limited, so get down to the Rogue to have a pint or two to help them celebrate!

• With only five weeks to go before the 2nd Annual Fredericton Craft Beer Festival on March 8th, the final breweries are now confirmed, and tickets are over 80% sold out. Looks like there’s going to be a great showing from craft breweries in our region; many of these smaller breweries have limited distribution (for now), so this gives a lot of us a terrific opportunity to sample their beers! We should have a list of breweries/beers being served at the festival in the near future – hopefully next week – so stay tuned here for an update!

• Great news for Nova Scotian beer fans: the NS government announced earlier this week that Brewpubs may now fill growlers during opening hours. This means that the pubs will no longer be forced to fill growlers during off-hours, but are permitted to do so on demand. Forget having to call the day before to request a growler, or worry that the pre-filled supply might run out before you visited after work. Different brewpubs will be handling it differently (some will permit you to bring your own, clean growler to be filled, while others will still be exchanging the bottles), so best to call or tweet your local brewpub to confirm. Rogues Roost and Rockbottom Brewpubs had already been selling growlers under the old regulations, and it looks like Hart & Thistle will use the changed regulations to begin to offer them next week.

• Rockbottom Brewpub hosted their first Beer Dinner on Monday, to great praise by those in attendance. Three courses of food paired with three beers, for $30+tax and tip? Seems like a good deal to us! If you enjoyed the first one, or missed out, the next monthly dinner will be held Tuesday Feb 25. Call the pub at 423-2938 to reserve your spot now. Brewmaster Greg Nash will be on hand to chat food and beer. And a reminder that the RB has moved Firkin day to Wednesday, with a pin tapped at 4pm. And, beginning this week, they are whipping up a special dish to pair with the beer. This week’s pairing was Dry-hopped Pale Ale, paired with beer Mac & Cheese. Pop by to see what the mind of Nash has come up with next week!

• The Stubborn Goat is continuing their very popular Cask Friday today, with guest brewery Propeller offering up a pair of special brews. There will be a cask of their IPA, dry-hopped with Citra, as well as a cask of Vanilla Porter. The casks are tapped at 4pm, so get there early to avoid disappointment! Also, congratulations are in order for Propeller, as they celebrated the 100 batch of beer brewed at their new facility in Dartmouth. The expansion more than doubles their potential output, with lots of big fermentation and brite tanks to brew their core brand, and the extra space makes doing special recipes not as much of a drag on the system.

• Over in Newfoundland, the Beerthief and Beckett on Wine are hosting a terrific-looking beer tasting on Wednesday, Feb. 12th, featuring the oldest active brewery in the world – Weihenstephaner, from Germany. After a reception beer from Quidi Vidi, the tasting will begin with the excellent Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier, followed by their equally-tasty Dunkelweizen and Vitus (Weizenbock). Each sample will be approximately 250 mL. Afterwards, they’ll be pouring each attendant a sample of the Belgian beer Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel – yes, it’s difficult to say, but it’s an excellent beer as well! The beers will be accompanied by fresh baguette and cold, rare, sliced roast beef; Beerthief and Certified Cicerone Mike Buhler will lead the tasting. The event will be held in the Hospitality Room at the Quidi Vidi Brewery at 7:00 pm; tickets are $28 each, with 75 seats available. To reserve your spot, send an email to tom.beckett@nl.rogers.com.

Friday Wrap-Up – News and new beers from Hammond River Brewing, Big Tide, Bridge Brewing, Hell Bay, and more

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-01-17
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Big Spruce Brewing, Big Tide Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Bridge Brewing, Fredericton Craft Beer Festival, Garrison Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Lunar Rogue, Noble Grape, PEI Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Stillwell Beer Bar. 2 comments

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s what’s going on in our region these days:

• Back in October we posted about a new brewery, Hammond River Brewing, opening in Quispamsis, NB later in the fall. The official launch of the brewery was unfortunately delayed; however, owner/brewer Shane Steeves has indicated that his first beers should be available sometime in February. We’ll keep you updated when we know exactly when Hammond River’s first beers will be pouring at the official launch at the Saint John Ale House!

• Speaking of Saint John, Big Tide Brewing has a couple of new beers; brewer Wendy Papadopoulos has given us some info on both. Currently on tap is the Crasberry Cream Ale, a still-hanging-on-to-the-holidays Cream Ale brewed with cranberry juice and raspberry extract; it clocks in at 5% ABV. They should also be releasing a Winter Warmer this weekend – this currently unnamed beer is brewed with smoked malt and Caramunich, with some bourbon added for extra flavor, and comes in at 7% ABV.

• Halifax’s Bridge Brewing is releasing a new beer today, a collaboration with Java Blend Coffee Roasters. It is a Belgian Coffee Brown Ale, made with 2 kg of Guatemalan El Injerto Pandora del Carmen beans. The folks at Java Blend did a special roast of the beans, and a 24-hour cold brew, before being added to the beer. Look for it at the brewery and Alderney Market this weekend.

• Hell Bay Brewing, from Liverpool, NS, has released a new beer, the R.I.P.(A) IPA. Over the next few months, they will be releasing several IPAs, and asking for feedback on the beers. At the end of the series, they’ll be having a taste-off to determine the winning style. The first version weighs in at 7.2%, is pale and finishes dry, and is moderately hopped (for an IPA). Look for the beer at the brewery, only available in growlers. The next version will feature even more hops, so watch out for that!

• In other Hell Bay news, consumers in more locations around the province will soon be able to purchase their English Ale at the NSLC. We don’t have all of the details yet (which stores will be participating), but will be sure to pass them along when available. It should be on shelves before the end of the month.

• And finally, Hell Bay has been nominated for a Lunenburg-Queens Business Excellence Award. They are up for the 2013 Small Business Award. The winning announcement will take place February 17th. Best of luck!

• Have you purchased your tickets for the 2014 Fredericton Craft Beer Festival on March 8th? Well, they’re currently having a contest on their Facebook page; like and share the link indicated, and you’ll have a chance to win two tickets to the festival AND the 2014 Fredericton Poutine Festival… that’s a $190 value! The winner will be drawn today at approximately 4:00 pm. Just a reminder… last year’s event sold out weeks before it was held. With about 70% of this year’s tickets already gone, and the event promising to be even better than last year, don’t hesitate much longer! And there are still rooms available at the Crowne Plaza just across the street, at the special Beer Fest rate. Check them out here.

• The PEI Brewing Co. sent an interesting cask to Bar Stillwell yesterday; the “Dry-Hopped, Barrel-Aged, Farmhouse Saison”! This very tart beer (the wort – what beer is before yeast does its thing – was originally destined to be Sir John A’s Honey Wheat) was initially fermented with a Saison yeast and aged in an oak red wine barrel since last summer. After it finally made its way into the cask, fresh yeast was added, and the beer was dry-hopped with Santiam, a European-type aroma hop that has spicy, herbal and floral qualities. With an ABV of ~5%, this sounds like a very interesting beer!

• Speaking of Stillwell Beer Bar, they are holding the Big Spruce X Boxing Rock Tap Takeover tomorrow. Tickets are sold out, however they will be tweeting during the event if seats become available. You might not be able to score one of the slick glasses created especially for the event, but you will be able to try some of the great beers being poured. Look for Boxing Rock’s U-889 RIS with vanilla beans and Crafty Jack Brown Ale, as well as Big Spruce’s Tim’s Dirty IPA and Cereal Killer Sideways (Oatmeal Stout infused with Bowmore).

• A reminder that the “Name The Beer!” competition, Picaroons‘ new beer to honour The Lunar Rogue Pub‘s 25th anniversary, closes today. Post up your favourite name on their Facebook page, and you might just win a tasty prize package, a Draught and Dinner party for you and five of your worthy friends.

• We’ve got a reminder, and some great news for homebrewers who are thinking of entering the Garrison Home Brew-Off competition this year. Noble Grape will be doing an all-grain brewing demo of a Weizen at Garrison Brewery tomorrow from 10-2pm. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and watch the techniques used by more advanced home brewers (and you’ll see it isn’t so tough to do after all!). The great news is that all of the beers entered into the competition will be tasted and judged by BJCP-certified judges. The judging has always been impartial and blind (the identity of the beer or brewer were never revealed to the judges), but having the BJCP judges whittle down all entries to the finale means that the notes and scoresheets back from the competition should offer some insight not otherwise available. If you were on the fence as to whether to enter or not, hopefully this steers you towards YES!

That’s it for this week… have a great weekend!