Hell Bay Brewing

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Friday Wrap-Up – PEI Brewing Co. Expands Distribution to Alberta, New Beers from Celtic Knot and Hell Bay, Seaport Beerfest Thoughts, and more

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-08-16
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Big Spruce Brewing, Celtic Knot Brewing, Granite Brewery, Hell Bay Brewing, PEI BeerFest, PEI Brewing. 1 comment

Howdy, everyone… here’s a bit of Atlantic craft beer news for your weekend…

• It’s been a long time in the making, but it looks like the PEI Brewing Company is starting to expand to Western Canada. Last week, their Gahan beers (Sir John A’s Honey Wheat, Iron Bridge Brown, Island Red, and 1772 IPA) and Beach Chair Lager officially became available in Alberta. The brewery partnered with Thirsty Cellar Imports, a sales agency in Calgary, to make the beers available in 39 Sobeys Liquor stores throughout the province, as well as some select private beer/liquor stores. For a full list of locations where the beer is available in Alberta, check out the links here.

• While a separate post on the upcoming PEI Beer Festival is coming soon, keep your eyes on our Twitter account for a contest in the near future that will give away two VIP tickets to the festival. We can’t give full details now, but it will involve two things: photos, and… beer!

• While waiting for his Black IPA, “Loki”, to be released at Marky’s Laundromat in Moncton, Bruce Barton of Celtic Knot Brewing has brewed another pilot batch of a new beer that will hopefully be available in the near future. We don’t have many details on the “Dark Passage Oatmeal Stout” yet, but keep it in mind if you’re in the Moncton area and are keen on some new Celtic Knot beer! And remember to ask for Celtic Knot at your local watering hole, as customer demand is what keeps Celtic Knot going.

• The India Brown Ale from Hell Bay Brewing Company that we had mentioned in a previous post is finally available! Described by the brewery as “sweet and malty upfront, lending way to hints of rum and molasses, and finishing slightly dry”, it comes in at 6.8% ABV. Available in growlers at the brewery, it won’t be around for long, so hurry in if you’re in the area. Brewer Mark Baillie is making good use of his expanded brewhouse!

• We had a great time at the Halifax Seaport Beerfest last weekend. The indoor venue had plenty of room (and restrooms), and there were hundreds of stellar beers available. Very strong showing from new NS breweries Uncle Leo’s, Boxing Rock, Big Spruce, and Bridge Brewing, as well as “old” favourites Hell Bay, Rockbottom Brewpub, Rogue’s Roost, Sea Level and Garrison. Great to chat with all of you brewers onsite! Other standouts were Malédiction Stout from Saint-Bock (served with a mini marshmallow), Maine Is. Trail Ale from Rising Tide and Sour in the Rye from The Bruery (still available at Premier Wines).  The Ladies Beer League had a strong showing for their VIP tasting, giving the women a primer on beer styles and it even got them early for the fest.

• With the different regulations and practices of growler filling in Nova Scotia (brewpubs cannot fill growlers during operating hours, some breweries will only sell pre-filled growlers, etc), buying a growler of beer can mean spending a lot of money on glassware, thus reducing the economics and increasing the clutter in your cupboards. Big Spruce in Nyanza and Granite Brewery in Halifax are partnering to make life a little simpler: you can now bring in an empty 1.89L growler from either brewery, to either brewery, and the growler fee is waived. This is handy for folks who travel between Halifax and Cape Breton, but don’t want to worry about having several different growlers with them. We’re really hoping for an NS (or Atlantic Province) Craft Beer Growler, but cooperation between breweries like this is excellent!

Looks like some nice weather coming for this weekend… get out there and enjoy it, along with some of your favorite craft brews!

Friday Wrap-Up – Garrison District Ale House to Reopen in New Location, Hell Bay Releasing New Beer, Seaport Beer Fest Offerings Increase By 40%, and more

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-08-02
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Fredericton Beer Run, Halifax Seaport Beerfest, Hell Bay Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales. 1 comment

Good morning and end-of-week, fellow beer fans!

• For those of you in the Fredericton area (and beyond), you’ve likely been waiting – and waiting – for the Garrison District Ale House to re-open after they were forced to close due to a fire in early January. Progress has been slow due to circumstances beyond their control, but co-owner Doug Williams has confirmed that they will be moving to a new location. In approximately eight weeks, they’ll be opening at the old Mexicali Rosa’s / Back Nine location on King St. With a larger space and larger menu (looks like they’ll be offering more BBQ), we’re extremely happy that things are finally looking up, and we’re eagerly awaiting their grand re-opening!

• Hell Bay Brewing in Liverpool, NS will have a new beer available (albeit in limited amounts) very soon. Being described as an “Indian Brown Ale” (think: American Brown Ale), it will have an ABV of 6.7% and 45 IBUs. According to the brewery, this hoppy beer will also accentuate the malt flavors, along with chocolate and molasses. The beer will be pouring at the Seaport Beer Festival in Halifax next weekend, and should be on tap at select locations in the area.

• As for the Seaport Beer Fest, we’ll be having a separate post on the August 9th-10th event soon. In the meantime, a full list of breweries and beers can be found on the event’s website; with 110 breweries and 267 different beers, there’s approximately a 40% increase over last year’s numbers! Tickets are still available.

• There’s a new beer in the works from Celtic Knot Brewing. Loki, a Black IPA, will have about 70 IBUs and an ABV of 6%. Brewed with three of the ‘C’ hops – Chinook, Centennial, and Citra – it should be available sometime in the not-too-distant future. Keep an eye out for it at Marky’s Laundromat in Moncton.

• As mentioned yesterday, some of the breweries in Atlantic Canada cooked up special beers for National IPA Day. They should still have some leftovers, so be sure to seek these out if you weren’t able to partake yesterday!

• And, just in time for IPA Day, Boxing Rock Brewing’s DIPA, Vicar’s Cross, was released yesterday. According to the brewery, it should be making its way to Halifax today. Look for it in 650 mL “bombers” at the same four specialty stores mentioned in the Friday Wrap-Up from two weeks ago. It will also be available at the Seaport Farmer’s Market, and the NSLC within a couple of weeks.

• Picaroons has been hinting that they will release a special beer in honor of New Brunswick Day (Monday, August 5th). So far, they haven’t provided any information on the beer, but stay tuned to their Facebook and Twitter accounts over the weekend… something will likely be posted soon. Rumors indicate that it may be a re-release of their 506 Logger, a quasi-Kolsch that was originally released last year.

• In other New Brunswick Day news, the Fredericton Beer Run that we reported on will be held on Monday. Tickets have recently sold out; looks to be a great event for those participating!

That’s it for this week! Enjoy your weekend!

Friday Wrap-Up – Picaroons “May the 4th Be With You” Event, Pump House Maple and Braunschweig released and more

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-05-03
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Atlantic Beer Festival, Big Spruce Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Pump House Brewery, Seaport Beerfest. Leave a Comment

– Tomorrow, May 4th, Picaroons will be hosting a tap-takeover at Plan B Bar & Lounge in Moncton. For this “May the 4th Be With You” event, the six taps will include Dark & Stormy Night, Dooryard, Best Bitter, Timber Hog, Yippee IPA, and Feelsgood Imperial Pilsner; the band Gravity Strike will also be providing live music. Tickets are $10, and the event starts at 10:00 p.m.

Also on Saturday, Picaroons is releasing a special beer named JED IPA. This beer is their Yippee IPA “insanely dry-hopped with Galaxy, Comet, Aurora, Delta, Apollo, and Phoenix hops”, according to Dennis Goodwin, Marketing Director at Picaroons. JED IPA will be available exclusively at the Picaroons Brewtique in growlers only, and also on tap at Plan B Saturday night.

– The Pump House Brewery has released two more of their seasonal beers in bottles, just in time for the warm weather! The Maple Ale, at 5% ABV, is described as an amber-colored beer with an aroma that is slightly sweet, yet with a hint of Columbus hops in the background. The taste shows off the maple character, as the beer is “allowed to age upon an ample quantity of pure maple syrup, sourced from locally tapped sugar maple trees”. The second beer is their Braunschweig Wicked Wheat (Braunschweig is the German word for “Brunswick”). Also at 5% ABV, this beer sounds like it’s along the lines of a Hefeweizen, with a golden color, and aromas and flavors of banana and clove. Look for these beers at various ANBL stores across New Brunswick.

– Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza Cape Breton is having a busy time these days, brewing often to keep up with demand in Cape Breton, Halifax, and locations in between. They are looking for a summer student to run their sales counter four days a week, to help move their growlers and merchandise. If you are over 19 and interested, email bigsprucebrewing@gmail.com.

They also have lots of certified organic hop rhizomes available (they grow and use their own hops whenever possible), email them for details. Jeremy will be happy to give you a crash course on growing hops at home!

– Hell Bay Brewing is continuing their move to a bigger and better location, and will be selling out of their Liverpool location (38 Legion St) this weekend (Fri-Sun, 12-6pm each day). They will be having a Grand Opening mid-June to celebrate their move, and we will keep you up-to-date with the details. Congratulations to Hell Bay on their continued success!

– Propeller Brewing is releasing their newest One Hit Wonder beer today. The style is an Imperial Red Ale, and unfortunately is only available in growlers at the brewery on Gottingen. Also, local drinks writer Craig Pinhey has details on Propeller’s expansion into Dartmouth in the latest edition of Taps Magazine.

– Garrison Brewing is also going through a major expansion in downtown Halifax, and we hope to give you some details on this soon. In the meantime, their much-anticipated Sugar Moon Maple beer is being released today at the brewery, and at Premier Wine and Spirits and Bishop’s Cellar this weekend. It will also be available at the ANBL shortly.

– Tickets for the afternoon session of the Atlantic Beer Festival in Moncton on May 25th are still available. Breweries from all over the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario and Maine will be in attendance. We hope to have the brewery and beer list for you soon.

– It’s not for several months, but the Seaport Beer Festival has put out their call for volunteers. The festival is taking place in Halifax August 9-10, and volunteer spots fill up early, so contact them for more details.