Lake City Cider

All posts tagged Lake City Cider

Friday Wrap-Up for June 9, 2023 – News from Jym Line and CBANS, Garrison, Trailway, Banished, Tanner & Co, North, Breton, Annapolis, Mauzy, Upstreet, and plenty more!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2023-06-09
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Annapolis Brewing Company, Backstage Brewing, Banished Brewing, Bogside Brewing, Breton Brewing, Candid Brewing, CBANS, Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia, Gahan House (Halifax), Garrison Brewing, Hardisty Brewing, Horton Ridge Malt & Grain, Jym Line Glassware, Lake City Cider, Mauzy Cidery, North Brewing, Paul G Hammond, Serpent Brewing, Tanner & Co Brewing, Tapestry Beer Bar, Tatamagouche Brewing, Think Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Two Islands Brewing, Upstreet Craft Brewing, Yarmouth Craft Beer Festival. Leave a Comment

Happy Friday y’all! We hope those who attended the Canadian Brewing Awards and Conference in Halifax enjoyed their time here, and went home with some hardware in their carry-on. And that the hangovers didn’t make this week too unbearable! There was a decent enough showing from the AC breweries (summarized here), and we can all work together to have an even better showing in Hamilton next year!

In light of the devastating fires that have been burning in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for the past two weeks, Jym Line Glassware, provider of glasses and growlers to many Atlantic Canadian breweries, has launched a fundraiser with the Craft Brewers of Nova Scotia to launch Together for NS. At participating breweries, you can help by donating a minimum of $20, and in return you’ll receive a specially-branded glass and a large sample of beer to say thanks! All of that donation will go to the Canadian Red Cross and their Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canadian Fire Relief, with both the provincial and federal governments matching that donation as well! That one sample is worth at least $60 to those looking to rebuild their lives, with the goal to sell all of the glasses to raise more than $150,000. More details on the participating breweries is here (and is growing), there should be one in your neck of the woods!

One beer launched last weekend for the CBAC, but after blog publishing, was the Nova Scotia collaboration Fer ‘Fax Sake!. Garrison Brewing welcomed in breweries from around HRM and beyond to take part in this “Welcome to Nova Scotia” beer, with Backstage Brewing out of Stellarton, Antigonish’s Candid Brewing, Colby Village’s Hardisty Brewing, Spryfield’s Serpent Brewing, and Two Islands Brewery from Parrsboro. This 5.0% Pale Ale was formulated to be juicy and quaffable, and features plenty of late-usage hops, with Apollo, Citra, Eclipse, Idaho 7, and Simcoe filling the bill. Think tropical, with mango, papaya, and lychee notes throughout. Grab this in small cans, perfect for packing in and out on a hike, at the host brewery’s retail locations!

Fresh off of some new awards from the CBAs, Trailway Brewing has two new releases. No rest for the winners… First up is a new iteration of The Blend, their Smoothie Sour series. This one features pineapple, passion fruit and black currant, with each can having about 200 grams of pure, real fruit. With all smoothie sours, keep these cold and try to drink as fresh as possible, and a little rolling beforehand won’t hurt to even it out. There is lots of real fruit to chug down in a tasty 5.3% package. Get this in cans only, and available at Fredericton and Saint John locations.

Second up is a brand new release with a cool label that may seem familiar. Sunny C is an Orange sour made with orange juice concentrate. The concept here was a brunch beer, sort of like a mimosa. The sour style works well with the citrus and orange, pairing nicely with the tartness. This is 3.5% and totally crushable. This is available now in cans from both locations. 

Paradise’s Banished Brewing is celebrating some vibrant new artwork in the brewery this week, as their long-time artistic collaborator Paul G Hammond unveiled a massive mural named Astral Puffins’ Paradise. Check out the Making Of video, as well as the finished product! And what better way to celebrate than with a new beer, and PGH label, release?! Paint With Light does just that, featuring a painter working on a canvas. When first grabbed from the freezer or backpack, the canvas is blank, ready for anything the painter (or drinker) may wish to fill in. But when brought into sunlight, the canvas springs alive with colour, thanks to the UV-activated photochromic ink used. A beautiful and fitting tribute to this relationship, named thanks to Jason Normore and his attitude towards photography. The beauty does not stop with the label, as the beer inside the can lives up to the high bar set on the outside. A 6.0% Hazy IPA, double dry hopped with Loral Cryo and the Cryo Pop blend, both offering plenty of tropical aroma with very little hop material to increase yield. Think citrus and floral, pineapple and stone fruit, both on the nose and on the tongue. Available at the brewery on tap and in cans, and coming to local retailers real soon!

Chester’s Tanner & Co Brewing is wading into the Cold IPA style, a bit of a tongue-in-cheek amping up of the traditional West Coast IPA style, and rebuff of the juicy/hazy IPAs of the past several years. Conceived as a clean IPA with a pronounced bitterness, featuring a bit of corn or rice in the malt bill to reduce the sweetness of residual sugar, keeping it crisp and easy drinking. And decidedly not hazy/thick, and not just another name for an India Pale Lager! For a fun treatise from the originators of the style, Wayfinder Beer out of Portland, OR, check this out. Back to Nova Scotia, and Tanner is rolling out 1320 Cold IPA, at 6.5% and about 50 IBU, it fits right in the pocket of the style. The name is inspired by an experimental hop, YQH-1320, which has imparted flavours and aromas of guava, grapefruit, pineapple, and even a hint of coconut in the beer. Malt from Horton Ridge is in the glass too, supporting our local malting company to boot! Cans of 1320 are available at both Tanner locations (at the brewery in Chester Basin, as well as their taproom in the town of Chester), as well as their online shop for local and HRM delivery.

North Brewing is releasing a beer this week that is of its time but also a reflection of history (but fairly recent history). It’s safe to say that IPA is still a dominant style in the craft beer world these days, but it’s also fair to say that many, if not most, of the IPAs on the market these days would be well-nigh unrecognizable as such to a craft beer drinker from, say, 2004 (although, to be fair, the opposite might be true as well for those who started drinking craft after 2015 or so). North Brewing’s new Let’s Go! IPA is a bit of a throwback to the darker, clearer, and more bitter standard that many of us cut our teeth on. Featuring pale malt, Munich, and some crystal malt for flavour and colour, they leveraged four different hop varieties (probably at least a couple of which begin with the letter ‘C’) across both the kettle and the whirlpool, yielding a well-rounded hop character. Carefully keeping the bitterness in check to ensure it’s not too foreign to the modern palate, the team is quite happy with the way it turned out. You can grab this 6.1% beer in cans at all North locations and it will also hit the shelves at the NSLC next week.

We’ve got a limited release out of Breton Brewing this week and its return to bottle-conditioned form! Stirling Hefeweizen is a core brand in cans, but like last year, Breton is featuring a limited run of 500ml bottles that have undergone a bottle conditioning process for several weeks, staying true to the style’s European roots. The recipe is their same authentic German Hefeweizen style and features the big lovely banana and clove flavours you would come to expect. Still staying at 4.6% and very delicious, this is available today from the brewery and online for delivery in CBRM and HRM. 

In Annapolis Royal, the folks at Annapolis Brewing are the latest to ask an online “AI” (ChatGPT in this case) to produce a beer recipe and produce the result. As always, we recommend reserving judgement on the concept as long as the beer is good. Produced on their one barrel pilot system, the beer is a classic APA, with a full malty body and a balancing hop character. Dry hopped with a touch of Centennial that, full disclosure, wasn’t part of the recipe as written, subtle hints of pine and spice pair with citrus for an easy drinking pint. Due to the small batch nature of this one, ChatGPT Pale Ale is only available on tap at the brewery on St George Street in downtown Annapolis Royal.

The gang at Mauzy Cider, operating out of Banished Brewing in Paradise, NL, have a new release this week, and let’s just say there’s a lot going on there. Forest Farmer’s Piquette is, as is right in the name there, a piquette, meaning it is primarily made by adding water to previously pressed fruit, macerating for a period to pull out the remaining sugars, and then fermenting the result. In this case, as Mauzy is a cidery, the pomace was from apples, namely William’s Pride, Liberty, and Honeycrisp from Jefford’s Orchard in Kelligrews and additional Honeycrisp from Mt. Scio Farm. Local Paradise water (“the essence of life!”) provided the rehydration. Giving the product a bit of extra kick were Centennial hops from Jenning’s Farm, which were co-fermented in the primary. Once primary was done, a secondary fermentation was undergone that featured lees from Mauzy’s Dolgo crabapple cider and De Chaunac grape skins from Fixed Farms. Lastly, at packaging, Baccalieu Trail Honey was used to bottle condition the result, which comes in at 4.6% ABV. Only 60 cases of 341ml bottles of this ultra-local product were produced and we’ll be honest, we’re a little jealous of the folks who are going to get to try this one. Expect a refreshing and spritzy, but also slightly funky experience, with a touch of salinity to encourage that next sip. Look for it at Banished, but also at a few other places around the area, including Bar Brewdock, Chinced Meats, Papillon Cocktail Bar, Portage Restaurant, and Toslow.

From one island to another, Upstreet Brewing comes to you this week with a new iteration from their Neon Friday IPA series. This new release, in the NEIPA style, is a big tropical bomb packed with as much hops as their system can handle. Featuring big amounts of flaked wheats and oats, the hop bill features as much cryo Idaho 7 and cryo Mosaic as could be handled in the whirlpool. The hop part doesn’t stop there, as Idaho 7 and Azacca dry hopping rounds out the beer. There are big peach, pineapple and mango flavours. This one is for sale at the taproom and Craft Beer Corner and PEI Liquor stores for the summer. It may be available in Dartmouth later this summer as well. 

We’ve got two beer festivals in Nova Scotia going on this weekend, check at least one of them out…

If you’re from down that way, you know exactly what the LCLC is! The South Shore Nova Scotia venue is hosting a craft beer and cider festival on Saturday, June 10th. Tickets are about $50 and the show will feature bevvies from Annapolis Brewing, Annapolis Cider, Big Spruce, Boxing Rock, Bulwark, Burnside, Breton, Firkinstein, Libra, Lunn’s Mill, Propeller, Saltbox, Sourwood, Tanner. Get your tickets here. Oh and the LCLC is the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre and it just rolls off the tongue!

And for those even further down the South Shore, the Yarmouth Craft Beer Festival is also being held tomorrow, June 10th. The Rodd Grand Hotel on Main Street will be hosting breweries, cideries, and wineries from across the province, including Boatskeg, Casa Nova, Coldstream, Corberrie, Heritage, Lunn’s Mill, Maison Meuse, Nine Locks, Rudder’s, Saltbox, and Tusket Falls. Grab your tickets now!

Gahan is hosting a cool event at their Halifax location in the Nova Centre (is this another chance to link to our CBA award winners post since Gahan is just next door). On Thursday, June 15th, at 6pm, they’re hosting a Behind the Brew event where they’ll discuss recipe design, brewing process and beer and food pairings with Gahan Nova brewer Ryan Shirtliff. This is a $40 event and you can buy tickets here. 

Looking to get in the beer biz? Look no further!

Love beer and live in Montague? Love beer and want to live in Montague? Bogside Brewing has a great opportunity with an assistant brewing position. With a full-time, salaried position, the successful candidate will be helping with brewing, packaging, cellaring and logistics. Check the link here to apply. 

Those looking to sling some great Nova Scotia beer in Lower Sackville, heads up! TAPestry Beer Bar is hiring! They are looking for someone to take on 3 or 4 shifts per month to start, and ramp up as things get busier. Of course, knowing beer is a big plus, as is experience already in the bar or brewery serving world. Check out this post and pop-by for a chat with Ian today!

A few more newsbites before we release you for the week!

We’ve got two returning releases from the two-headed calf brewery. Tatamagouche Brewing brings back a pair of Berliner Weiße buddies in Buddha’s Hand and Guava Heist. First up, Buddha’s Hand is a type of citrus fruit from Asia that is zesty and is quite similar to lemon. This is 3.8%  and with some floral notes on top of the lemonade type flavour in a thirst quenching summer hit. Guava Heist adds real guava to the Berliner Weiße base, with the base beer aged on organic guava. Big guava flavour comes through here in a really refreshing package. These are both available from the brewery, online and will likely show up at some private stores around HRM. 

Short and sweet (or tall and sweet, if you’re talking about the cans!) update from Lake City Cider. Watermelon is a brand new release from the Darkside cidery (Darkcidery?) that is a blend of their apple cider, blueberry and watermelon. It’s a bit dry, but also sweet, with a great punch of watermelon flavour for the hot summer ahead.  This is 6% and available at the cidery on tap and in 473ml cans (and online, too!).

Now to a returning beer with some wider distribution for Spryfield’s finest. Serpent Brewing’s Townie Overpass Syndrome NEIPA and is the second product of Serpent’s to hit the NSLC shelves and will be available in 40 locations as of next week. As a reminder for this beer, it’s basically a Belgian New England IPA, using Belgian Witbier yeast with their New England IPA recipe. The hop bill features large helpings of Mandarina Bavaria, Amarillo, and Ahtanum. This is 6.3% and 40 IBU and if you want to try it now, you could get it from the Serpent brewery.

In other news, we are joining the celebrations for Think Brewing who are moving to a new and larger space in Moncton as of June 1st! They’ll be adding a new beer release to their core lineup and are moving to bigger and better things. There will be more news to share with Think in the future, so stay tuned here and on their social media pages.

Friday Wrap-Up for April 28, 2023 – News from Lone Oak, Good Robot, Tanner, Half Cocked, Trailway, Island Folk, Propeller, Landwash, Annapolis and plenty more!

Posted by acbbdamian on 2023-04-28
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Annapolis Brewing Company, Bootleg Brew Company, Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia, Discovery Centre, Good Robot Brewing, Half Cocked Brewing, Horton Ridge Malt & Grain, Island Folk Cider House, Lake City Cider, Landwash Brewery, Lone Oak Brewing, North Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Shipwright Brewing, Tanner & Co Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Uncle Leo's Brewery. Leave a Comment

It’s the last week of April, and you know what that means, breaking out your favourite Justin Timberlake memes for the start of May. Also, May is a month of celebration! Cinco de Mayo leads us into Mother’s day, Fredericton and Bluenose Marathons, May two-four weekend and the Canadian Brewing Awards will be in Halifax before you know it. May is when things really get going here in the Maritimes and our favourite beverage purveyors are ramping up for the homegrown locals and visitors from away. We’ll do our part and keep track of all the new brews, availability, events and more, and you can do your part and read it, and share with a friend or ten. Onto the news!

Let’s start our week on PEI, at Borden’s Lone Oak Brewing. They teamed up with an Ontario brewery for a collaborative brew to introduce that province to the great beer-making ingredients grown in our region. Matron Fine Beer, located in Prince Edward County, ON, has roots of their own on PEI, and chose to feature Shoreline Malting Pilsner malt and New Brunswick-grown hops in the Islander Pils. At just 4.4% ABV, the pale lager features a solid bitterness from the Saaz used, on a crisp and clean base. As part of the collab, LO has been able to pour draught of Islander at both their Borden and Milky Way locations, but sadly no cans available for sale. However… MFB is one of those progressive breweries that will ship Canada-wide, so we suggest grabbing some buds and placing an order on their website (we’re good for eight if you do!).

Also available now at both Lone Oak’s Brewery and Brewpub locations is Table Beer, a small fruited saison. Look for this to be a full-time summer beer, which is just what we’re into. Light-bodied (closer to a Grisette), with a gentle spritziness, along with present but not overpowering field berry notes from the blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries in the glass. At 4.0% ABV, the inaugural batch of this beer is draught only, with subsequent releases also coming to cans. And keep your eyes peeled for announcements of their Fox Meadow location in Stratford, opening veeeeery soon.

Out by the airport in Elmsdale, or maybe in the heart of the peninsula on Robie Street, Good Robot has another entry in their Perfect Storm series, this one dubbed Category 7. Featuring a mix of new-school and super-new-school hops in Mosaic, El Dorado, and HZH-101, it’s maybe a little less “NE” and a little more “American” IPA than the other entries in the series. That said, it’s still hazy and golden in color and boasts tasting notes of pineapple, stone fruit, and lime with an overall dank and grassy presentation. You’ll find this 7% beauty in cans at both GR locations, and no doubt pouring on draught on Robie; and if you’re in a comparing mood, note that Categories 4, 5, and 6 are still available as well!

Down in Chester Basin, NS, Tanner & Co. have a couple of new things on the go for us to try. First up is Belgian Saison, a beer made with a grist of primarily Shoreline Malting Pilsner, but with a touch of Munich malt, along with some oats and malted rye. Fermented with a combination of liquid and dry yeasts (White Labs WLP565 and Fermentis BE-134 for the bacteria nerds in the audience), it was additionally dosed with black pepper and orange peel post-fermentation. Expect plenty of yeast character, along with some phenolic spiciness and a hint of citrus in this refreshing 7.2% and 25 IBU beer. Also on the go is Raspberry Licorice Root Sparkling Mead which is one of those “does what it says on the tin” kind of things. Coming in at 5.9% ABV, it was made with local honey from The Little Bee farm near Bridgewater. In contrast to what is usual for beer, but which is much more normal for mead, the raspberry puree was added pre-fermentation. Meanwhile, the licorice root (from World Tea House in Halifax, natch), was added after the mead had fermented dry. Look for Tanner’s usual style of subtle and balanced flavors as opposed to a fruit bomb. You’ll find both of these lovely liquids available in cans from the source and we suspect pouring at Tanner’s taproom in Chester.

Further up the mainland, Half Cocked is releasing Good Stuff, a kettle sour brewed with organic peach and raspberries. The result is a 5% sour with subtle fruit character and a dry finish. If you’re thinking of grabbing some, why not drop by this Saturday evening for trivia night at the taproom, starting at 7:00 PM.

Sticking with fruited sours, Trailway is releasing its newest version from their smoothie sour series. The Blend Smoothie Sour – Strawberry Kiwi incorporates over 200 grams of strawberries and kiwis, and per the style, pours thick, with the consistency of an actual smoothie. Cans of the 5.3% beer are available now. And with the temperature starting to pick up, don’t forget that these beers must be stored cold because of the unfermented sugars from the fruit, present in the final product (unless you want a fruit explosion all over your vehicle). 

Cape Breton’s Island Folk is releasing Lil Besties, a banana and coconut cider (we can confidently say a first of this style on the blog). The first step involved peeling and pressing hundreds of organic bananas, which were then fermented into a high ABV banana wine. It was then blended with Island Folk’s signature cider before seeing an infusion of toasted coconut. The result is a lightly carbonated, off-dry, 8% ABV cider with notes of pineapple, marshmallow, banana and coconut. Bottles are available now at the taproom in Sydney and for cross-Canada shipping through their online store.

Kicking into summer, Propeller has had a great track record of seasonal beer releases and they’re bringing us a new one today. Yutopia is a Summer Ale packed with natural Peach and Yuzu flavours. This is a 5% ale that boasts the strong citrus and zesty punch of the East Asian fruit, along with juicy white peaches. Low on the bitterness, but high on summer vibes and refreshment, this one is available in cans from the Prop shops and online today. 

The folks at Landwash are big doggo fans and they’re highlighting a new dog and a new employee to the Landwash fam. Cry Havok is a new dry stout from Landwash, coming to you from their new Production Manager (Jason) and a beer he made and named after his Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Havok! This is a 4% Dry stout that has a deep chocolate colour, with a bit of malty sweetness with some richer notes of espresso and dark chocolate. Light and approachable, just like the pup! This is available on tap on Nitro and in cans from the brewery and the local haunts around the Avalon.

The Crows have a call out to join their busy (and amazing) team, looking for a delivery driver and packaging assistant to start in the middle of May. This is a full time seasonal Summer job that has a possibility of staying on after the summer. This job runs through the Canada Summer Jobs program, so check out the link here for all of the details on the job and how to apply.

The jovial machines at Good Robot are really ramping into the summer, opening a new location adjacent to the Halifax Commons, and getting into gear at the other two locations. With positions in Halifax and Elmsdale, they’re hiring managers, servers, bartenders, cooks and more. Check out all of their postings here to see what may be a fit for you or someone you know. 

If you’re looking for some other work that is adjacent to beer adjacent, Picaroons is looking for full time (or part-time, and flexible) General Maintenance Workers that includes deliveries, warehouse work, cleaning, and maintenance. The jobs have competitive wages and benefits packages and it’s a great place to work if you can do a bit of driving, physical labour and maintenance. Apply by email to beerguy@picaroons.ca with the subject line: General Maintenance Position and include details/resume. Or you can drop off a resume in person at the brewery. 

Across the bay in the Valley, Horton Ridge Malthouse is hiring a bartender to join the team! This place gets busy in the summer with lots of music events, pop-up dinners, and more. They’re looking for someone with some experience with craft beer, service and flexibility. Shoot them an email with your details and interest!

A Dartmouth Duo has teamed up to bring back a local twist to a classic British mix. Last seen about a year ago, Burst: Snakebite is a take on a Snakebite (traditionally equal parts Lager and Apple Cider) but using North Brewing’s BYOB (a 3.5% light ale) and a blend of Lake City Cider’s Blueberry and Black Currant cider. It’s tart, refreshing and has a good pop of fruit flavour. This is available in cans at all the North locations, Lake City’s taproom and also online from North. Disclaimer: this is not gluten-free!

Quick trip to Corner Brook where Bootleg Brew Co has teased a collaboration with the nearby Tlacuache Mexican Restaurant on the corner of West and Main. Flare Up is a Mexican Chocolate Stout, so expect plenty of chocolate, roast, and maybe even a bit of spicing and heat in the can. Details are a bit light now, but keep an eye on their IG page for details on a collaborative launch party soon!

We’re leaving you with a bit of sad news this week, as Uncle Leo’s Brewery of Lyons Brook, NS has announced that they will be closing after 10 years in operation. Since opening in late June 2013, Uncle Leo’s has won awards both locally and nationally for their ales and lagers, from Smoked Porter to American Pale Ale, to IPA and Altbier. In this Instagram Post, they indicate that their retail shop and online store will be closing at 6PM Saturday, so be sure to drop by today or tomorrow and/or reach out on that post to show your love. No word yet on the exact reasons for the closure, but we wish Karl, Rebecca, and the entire Uncle Leo’s family all the best!

Friday Wrap-Up for April 14, 2023 – News from Lone Oak, Banished, Yellowbelly, Landwash, Tire Shack, CAVOK, Good Robot, Lake City, Serpent, and plenty more!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2023-04-14
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Banished Brewing, Bines and Vines, Bootleg Brew Company, Canadian Brewing Awards, CAVOK Brewing, CODA Ramen, Euston Park Social Beer Garden, Godspeed Brewery, Good Robot Brewing, Half Cut Brewing, Lake City Cider, Landwash Brewery, Lone Oak Brewing, Portage Restaurant, Propeller Brewing, Seaport Social, Serpent Brewing, Spindrift Brewing, The Stillwell Freehouse, Tire Shack Brewing, YellowBelly Brewery. 1 comment

It’s the weekend folks, and we’re totally being teased with a bit of summer. While we’re not in the Big Smoke with the dome open watching the Jays, we have had some 15ºC temperatures and sunny days that pair perfectly with April patio days. We’ve got news below from all four of our Atlantic provinces and some Canada-wide news too. Take a read, share with a friend and don’t be a stranger on our Twitter and Instagram!

Starting our week on PEI, Lone Oak has a small-batch cider release to kick off the fun. Starting from freshly- pressed Cortland and Mac juice from Red Shore Orchards, the Lone Oak team added a hybrid of Saison yeast and Brettanomyces, and allowed the little beasties to do their thing! Taking the low, slow, and hands-off route, the yeasts chewed away until very little residual sugar was left, resulting in a dry, lightly funky, and flavourful cider that has been bottled still (no carb). No burps or bloating, nice! Due to its small scale, the 6.0% ABV Farmhouse Cider is only available from Lone Oak’s Borden-Carleton Brewery and Milky Way Brewpub locations.

Over in Paradise, Banished Brewing has just celebrated the opening of their taproom (open Wed-Sun), and have followed it up with the release of a collaboration with downtown St. John’s Portage Restaurant. Melding minds with Portage’s Ross Larkin and Celeste Mah, they have developed a supremely food-pairable Czech Pilsner, Portage Světlý Ležák 12°. When designing their brewhouse, the folks at Banished wanted to be able to brew a wide variety of beer styles using the proper techniques, which paid off in spades for the Pils, as they were able to use the traditional decoction techniques believed to bring out the complexity of the Pilsen Malt from Czechia. Of course, they also sourced Saaz grown in Czechia, and fermented cool with Isar Lager from Escarpment Labs. Pale in colour, full of character, and ready to take with you on your canoeing adventures this summer! Thanks to the folks at Bines and Vines, to celebrate the launch the Czech Ambassador to Canada, Bořek Lizec, visited the brewery and celebrated the strong ties between Canada and Czechia. Portage is available on side-pull now at both the restaurant and brewery, as well as good beer bars and retailers (cans) around the city.

We’ve got a very cool release coming straight out of George Street! Yellowbelly Brewery has a new release named after the famed pub in downtown St. John’s (which they are part owners of). O’Reilly’s is a Lagered Ale dry-hopped with Cashmere that brings big notes of citrus, melon and peach. Packaged in 500ml bottles with an O’Reilly’s themed label, this very drinkable 4.7% ABV beer is available now in wide release at certain NLC Stores (cans) and at the source (pints and fills).

Up the road to Mount Pearl we find Landwash Brewery, who have teamed up with Andersons Butcher located on Water Street St. John’s. Butcher’s Brew is a 5.0% Vienna Lager, which is a style known for a hint of malt, but still being crisp and clean. Great with a cold cut sandwich or backyard BBQ, we figure! Landwash’s take on the style started out in last summer’s BBQ Mixed Pack, and has graduated to stand on its own. Grab it at the brewery this weekend.

Also new from Landwash is Field Day, their first foray into a Wheat-forward beer. Inspired by the Belgian Witbier style, this unfiltered wheat beer was fermented with an appropriate yeast to give a hint of phenolic spiciness, enhanced by the coriander, as well as orange and grapefruit peel added to the brew. The resulting beer is bright and refreshing, and at 4.8%, a nice complement to your day exploring the fields near you! Available at the brewery and their regular retail partners shortly.

Moving to Moncton (something you may actually hear people say!), Tire Shack Brewing has a brand new beer to pair up with the warming weather. Dry-Hopped Sour is exactly what you’d expect, but trying to bring those IPA flavours to a tart and sour beer. Soured with a Lactobacillus strain, and subsequently dry-hopped with Simcoe and Mosaic, expect the sour and tart flavours of fuzzy peaches, blueberries and a subtle aroma of bubble-gum. It’s an easy drinking sour with an ABV of 7.1% and is available now in cans and on tap. Also, this weekend at the brewery, there’s a 2pm to 8pm pop-up kitchen from Euston Park both Saturday and Sunday for a beautiful weekend! Ed note: this paragraph was left out of the original version of this post. Sorry!

Staying near Moncton (which you don’t hear a lot of people say), Dieppe’s CAVOK Brewing has a brand new big release that’s been aged to perfection. E-CLIPSE is a bourbon barrel-aged stout that spent its time in a Buffalo Trace barrel for 6 months. Featuring complex flavours with a smooth bourbon flavour of vanilla and a bit of molasses, this is 10.8% and packaged in 750ml bottles. Bottles are limited (145 or fewer!) and it’s also available on tap at the brewery right now!

The fine folks at Good Robot are continuing to up the intensity with this week’s new release, Tropical Storm Category 5. The 2nd release in the Tropical Storm series, this is an IPA that aims to tone down the bitterness from typical IPA’s and up the fruity flavours. Using a hop bill of Falconers Flight, Sabro and Vic Secret, these hops bring notes of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, and coconut. Expect a hazy, tasty 5% approachable IPA available online, and at both Good Robot locations. 

Also new in Robot news, Uncle Giggles has a new entry on its family tree. Great Uncle Giggles is a new pale ale release that both maintains and changes the recipe from the original Uncle Giggles. Since moving brewery locations to Elmsdale, the Robots have started using a piece of equipment called a Hop Egg that can handle yeast pitching, mixing, adjunct blending, dosing and other cellar additions, but which also works great for dry-hopping, as it eliminates the need to open the tanks for additions. Aiming to keep the clean, orange citrus and crisp flavours, they’re leveraging the hop egg for this new beer. This is the only recipe Good Robot has that uses hop oil and they’re trying to get this beer staying fresher for longer. It comes in at 5.1% and it’s available online and at both Robie Street and Elmsdale locations. 

Over in Spryfield, Serpent is releasing a Belgian inspired take on a NEIPA with Space Cadet. The Belgian influence comes via a Witbier yeast, leading to lots of fruity esters. A generous dosing of Ahtanum, Amarillo, and Mandarina Bavaria hops adds some additional citrusy notes. This one comes in at 6% ABV with a moderate bitterness of 45 IBUs. Cans are available this weekend at the brewery. And if beers aren’t your thing, they’ll also be releasing their first seltzers in cans and on tap this weekend.

There’s a few beery events coming up in the next month and a bit to tell you about, including one of the beeriest events in the Canadian Beer Calendar:

Another reminder that Halifax is hosting the Canadian Brewing Awards Conference June 1 – 3, and there is still time to take part! Tickets are available to purchase now, and they are still putting out the call for volunteers to help keep everything moving smoothly. There are lots of opportunities for those looking to take part, all day and evening Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, at the Halifax Convention Centre. Registration of attendees, prepping swag bags, set-up of rooms, bar service, preparing trophies, and much more! We probably don’t need to tell you that there are lots of beery perks to this gig! If you are interested and available, contact Megan to sign up!

A little sooner than that is a Brewer’s Dinner at Seaport Social, located in the Westin Hotel at the South end of Hollis Street. On April 30th, Jeremy Taylor of 2 Crows will be leading a tasting menu of dishes prepared by Chef Jason Townes and his team. Five courses will be served, with beers to complement and/or contrast and the stories behind them all. As this is a special event, reservations ahead of time are required. Please call 902-240-7608 to grab a seat at the table!

The week before that, you should be at the Stillwell Freehouse for a Trio of Powerhouses, as Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery and CODA Ramen take over the taps and kitchen on Agricola Street April 23. Look for well-crafted European-inspired lagers and flavourful broths and dishes, all in a relaxing atmosphere. Reservations will be required, look to Stilly’s IG feed for details when they go live, later today.

A couple last quick mentions to inform your beer buying for the weekend!

It’s not just the weather that’s been feeling the siren call of summer, a couple of HRM-area breweries are already bringing back their summer après softball crushers.  Propeller’s Lime Lite is back, baby, and so, too, is Toller Lime from Spindrift. Both are crisp, clean, and refreshing with a touch of extra thirst quenching citrus. The former can be found at all Prop shops and online for Canada-wide delivery. The latter is available, of course, at Spindrift’s locations in Burnside and Antigonish for pints to stay and fills or cans to go. Both are available at Harvest Wines, Rockhead, and West Side, with Toller Lime also expected to be at Bishop’s Cellar. Maybe grab some of each and A/B them, or at least figure out which one will be your go-to for summer electrolyte replenishment!

Fredericton’s Half Cut Brewing has something freshly canned for your weekend pleasure. Fanny Pack is an India Session Ale, coming in at a light ‘n lovely 4.5% ABV with plenty of hop character. Only available at the brewery for now, it sounds like an ideal beer for hopheads on a sunny weekend in April.

Bootleg Brew Co in Corner Brook has a new tiny beer available in cans, and on draught soon, at their retail shop. The 2.8% ABV Near Near – Boot Lite is sometimes exactly what you’re looking for in a beer: cold, wet, and close to water.