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Friday Wrap-Up for September 8, 2017- News from Upstreet, Foghorn, Tatabrew, Horton Ridge & more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2017-09-08
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Alexander Keith's Historic Brewery, Big Axe Brewery, Big Spruce Brewing, Escarpment Laboratories, Foghorn Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Graystone Brewing, Horton Ridge Malt & Grain, Loyalist City Brewing Co, Meander River Farm and Brewery, Moosehead Breweries, Moth Lane Brewing, Nine Locks Brewery, PEI Beer Festival, Picaroons, Propeller Brewing, Schoolhouse Brewery, Sunset Heights Meadery, Tatamagouche Brewing, Upstreet Craft Brewing. 1 comment

Well, it’s official…September is here. Unofficially, summer is over, the days of Pumpkin Ales are upon us, and wet-hopped beers are approaching soon! If you’re not a fan of one of these (or both), don’t worry…while this week may be a bit slower in the new beer department compared to the last few, there’s still some interesting brews newly released or coming soon that we’d love to get you caught up on…

• Charlottetown’s St. Paul’s Church will be celebrating their 250th Anniversary in 2019, and they’ve partnered up with Upstreet to have a special beer brewed as a means of fundraising for this important milestone. Head brewer Mike Hogan decided to brew a beer similar in style to one you’d see in England in the 18th century…hence, Red Stone Stock Ale was born. The grist is made up of English Pale malt, Medium Crystal, and Chocolate malt. A 60 L grain-soured starter was whipped up, and added to half of the 30 BBL (3500 L) batch, resulting in a pH drop that gave some, but not too much, sourness. After boiling the wort and hopping it with English Fuggles, this half was then blended with the other, non-soured half (brewed with the same hop schedule), and the resulting wort was fermented. Afterwards, house-toasted PEI oak cubes were added, with the final product exhibiting an “oaky and sharp finish similar to the aged beers of the time”. This brew will be released on September 17th, on tap at the brewery and a few select accounts, and in bottles, with all proceeds going to St. Paul’s.

• There’s a new beer flowing at the Foghorn taproom in Rothesay, an Extra Special Bitter named after its proud brewer, Andrew Estabrooks. Esty Special Bitter is a 5.5% ABV, 38 IBUs beer hopped with three new-to-Foghorn varieties: Challenger, Target, and Olicana. Fermented with, of course, an English yeast strain, expect a dry, slightly fruity brew that goes down easy. Available now for pints and growlers, it’s also popping up at a few tap accounts in Saint John.

• More breweries in our region are working with Escarpment Labs – a company in Guelph, Ontario, that produces liquid yeast cultures for breweries – to develop their own unique cultures for fermenting wort. Tatamagouche Brewing has joined this list, with the release of a new Saison, Edel, yesterday. The grist of this new beer is comprised of 70% Pilsner malt, and 20% raw wheat and 10% raw Rye from Horton Ridge, to 5.2% ABV. Hopped with organic French Strisselspalt to 21 IBUs, the wort was fermented with a special blend of yeast that Tatabrew worked on with Escarpment, that incorporates both a traditional Saison yeast, and a North American Brettanomyces strain. The resulting beer was split into two batches; the first, being released today, was dry-hopped with more Strisselspalt, while the second has moved on into Tempranillo wine barrels and will be getting an addition of wine must this fall (look for this half to be released next spring). Edel is a keg-only beer, so look for it at the brewery for growlers and pints, as well as on tap at both Stillwell locations, and Battery Park. Next spring’s barrelled version, however, will also be released in bottles. We’ll be sure to remind you when it’s available!

• Loyalist City Brewing has released a variety of hoppy beers since they opened last fall, and this week they launched their third American IPA, Point Blanc IPA. This is a “New England IPA” brewed with a blend of Maris Otter in the grist, which provides a “light toasted malt presence” to balance the hop character provided from large whirlpool additions of Citra, Centennial, and Mandarina Bavaria, along with a heavy dry hop of Centennial, Hallertau Blanc, and Mandarina Bavaria. Fermented with the brewery’s Vermont yeast strain, expect lots of citrus and grapefruit, and a high bitterness in the finish. Seek it out on tap at your favourite Loyalist City account!

• Good Robot is bringing back version 2.0 of their Damn Fine Coffee and Cherry Pie Pale Ale today; to remind you, this is the one featuring the addition of Kenyan Nyeri Gatina coffee beans, roasted by Java Blend Coffee Roasters and brewed by Low Point Coffee Co. The resultant cold brew was added to the beer, along with hop additions of Falconer’s Flight and Cascade, giving you interesting flavours of coffee, chocolate, slight fruit, and some acidity. Look for it on tap at Good Robot, and, of course, other GR-friendly establishments in the HRM. Also, next Tuesday’s Beta Brewsday (brewed by Robyn, Heather, and Kelly C.) will be Low Hanging Fruit Milkshake IPA (6.6% ABV, 54 IBUs)- hopped with Mosaic Cryo hops, as well as pelletized Amarillo, Citra and Columbus. It was then rested on fresh Ontario peaches for a week; the fruity notes from both the hops and fruit help balance the slight sweetness from the addition of lactose powder. And finally, note that there will be no Cask in the Sun release today.

• Nackawic’s Big Axe has finally confirmed that they will be expanding their 1 BBL brewery, which has been operating since April, 2014 out of co-owners’ Peter and Tatiana Cole’s Bed and Breakfast under the same name. The Big Axe Brewery and Saloon will be housed in a “wild west-style log home”, built on the banks of the Saint John River in Nackawic. Scheduled to open in April, 2018, the 10 BBL (1150 L) brewhouse is being built by Charlottetown’s DME. With 20 BBL fermentors also being constructed, expect plenty more Big Axe beer, including bottle and can distribution. The two-level saloon will have a wrap-around deck overlooking the Saint John River; food will be served as well. We’ll be sure to update you as their progress continues. Congratulations to the Coles!

• After backing out of their original plan to open a small batch brewery in downtown Saint John early this year, Moosehead has announced that they will indeed be adding a 20 BBL (2300 L) brewhouse and taproom to the company’s original brewery at 89 Main St. West in Saint John. A 3 BBL (350 L) pilot brewery will also be constructed, with the idea behind both smaller brewhouses being experimentation, according to Moosehead. Current plans are for the new location to be up and running in May, 2018.

• And speaking of crafty (and pumpkin ales!), A. Keith’s Historic Brewery has a new batch out of their pilot system. Brewmaster Stefan Gagliardi, a self-proclaimed pumpkin head, perfected this recipe as a home brewer over many iterations and it’s one of his favorites. Ingredients include Vienna and Munich malts from Horton Ridge, pumpkin purée, and pumpkin pie spices including fresh ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Look for malty, toasty and sweet pie crust elements to meet a full body and smooth mouthfeel highlighted by the spices. This is a small batch, with only three kegs going on the growler station at the brewery today.

• Those who have hops growing on their property are surely aware that the time is nigh for harvesting. Hop flowers, or cones, are starting to sound papery when squeezed, are going a little brown around the edges, and smell of the resinous lupulin that contains the essential oils and acids hops are known and loved for. We know that a couple of hop growing breweries in the region, including Meander River and Big Spruce, have already had their picking parties and other producers will no doubt harvest soon if they haven’t already. Most of the hops harvested in our region will no doubt be processed normally: dried with warm, moving air, before being baled or pelletized and stored cold. But some hops are destined for nearly immediate use with a special technique known as “wet hopping”, “fresh hopping” or “green hopping” – adding freshly-picked, undried hops to a batch of beer during the brewing process. For best effect, wet hops have to be as fresh as possible, ideally within hours of picking, so that they do not spoil. Cold storage and shipping, if necessary, should not exceed 48 hours before the hops hit the beer. This gives breweries with their own on-site hop farms a leg up on making wet hopped beers. Using wet hops is much more risky than processed hops; with no laboratory analysis, alpha acid and essential oil levels are completely unknown. Because of this, to keep some control over the result, some breweries will use processed hops with known alpha levels for bittering and will save the fresh hops for flavour and aroma additions. When picked, hops are ideally still roughly 80% water and aren’t nearly as potent as dried, so significantly higher hop amounts must be used in wet hopping, often as much as 5 or 10 times the dried equivalent. Meanwhile, compounds that lose their potency during the drying process are still present and can make significant, and sometimes unwelcome, flavour contributions. Wet hopped beers, at their best, present a different side of hops, earthy and somewhat grassy, with a more subtle presentation of other flavour and aroma characteristics than usual. Look for wet hopped beers, often termed harvest ales to start appearing in the region over the next month or so!

• Speaking of which, if you’ve got hops growing on your property that you’re not planning to use, and you can get them to Fredericton quickly after picking, Graystone Brewing has put out a call for hops to be used in their Harvest Ale. Proceeds from the beer with go towards the United Way of Central New Brunswick’s campaign.

A bit of a quiet week for beer events and event announcements this week:

• A reminder to those in Halifax that Stillwell is bringing one of the big (but little!) guns of American Farmhouse styles for a two-stage takeover this weekend as Maine’s Oxbow Brewing comes to town. Starting at 4 PM today some of the best Belgian-inspired beers you can imagine will be pouring at Stillwell HQ on Barrington Street. And tomorrow starting at noon the party moves on up to The Stillwell Beergarden on Spring Garden Road. The full tap and bottle list is now available for this evening’s festivities and chef Graeme Ruppel has put together a burger-focused menu that’ll melt your butter. If you’ve found yourself going into withdrawal after the Stillwell Belgian Takeover two weeks ago, if you’re curious how American Farmhouse compares to the original, or if you just like really great beer, you owe it to yourself to get out today or tomorrow. No tickets required at either session.

• If you’re in Charlottetown, PEI, or planning to be there in the next 24 hours, and you don’t already have your tickets for the PEI Beerfest (part of the Fall Flavours Festival) at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel, what are you waiting for?! Tickets are still available for tonight’s 6:30 – 9:30 PM session ($48 + taxes & fees) and Saturday afternoon’s 2:00 – 4:00 PM shift ($36.50 + taxes & fees), but tomorrow evening’s session is now sold out! The brewery list is as up-to-date as it’s going to get and the live entertainment is locked-in. A reminder also that Designated Driver tickets ($13.50 + taxes & fees) are available as well to help you arrange to get home safely.

• The Maritime Honey Festival will be taking place in Fredericton in a couple of weeks, and with beer’s popularity continuing to rise, of course it has to take part! On Saturday, September 23rd, the “Bee-R Garden” will be held between 10 am – 3 pm, at the Capital Exhibit Center. At least seven different local craft breweries will be taking part, each of which has been matched up with a beekeeper, and will be brewing a style of beer different from others attending, featuring, of course, honey. Ranging from a “Brett Honey Saison” from Maybee to an “Imperial Honey Porter” from Foghorn, attendees can expect a wide variety of brews! Be sure to check out the link for the list of styles from breweries who have committed to participate. And what honey-centric festival would be complete without mead? Sunset Heights Meadery will be pouring seven different varieties of mead to satisfy your sweet tooth. Drink tickets can be purchased now – $8 for four 4 oz drink tickets, or $45 for unlimited samples – or at the door, where $11 gets you four drink tickets (no unlimited samples option).

And a few last items before you get on with your weekend…

– Garrison‘s Rise ‘n Stein Hefeweizen (5.5% ABV, 13 IBUs) has returned, with this year’s batch being available almost-exclusively in bottles at the brewery and HRM private stores; a limited amount may be available on tap, so keep your eyes open.
– PEI’s Moth Lane has released a new beer, The Gorbine Double Black IPA (8.8% ABV, 85 IBUs), that is available now across the Island at Moth Lane tap accounts, and at the brewery.
– Nine Locks Brewing led the pack this year with the release of their Harvest Pumpkin Ale earlier this week. It’s available now in cans at the brewery and will appear at the NSLC in October.
– Bad news for fans of Picaroons Dark and Stormy Night: due to an ongoing legal dispute with “a big name in the spirits world”, the beer has been discontinued and will not be brewed again. It doesn’t appear that it will return under a different name, so if this is a brew you’ve enjoyed in the past, you may want to grab a bottle or two if you can find it.
– In Cask Friday news, the Propeller Organic Blonde on Yuzu we told you about last week is actually going on this evening at 5 PM. Schoolhouse’s cask today is called Oaked Grog Chequers obviously their Chequers Robust Porter aged on Oak, but what’s the “grog” angle? Stop by the brewery this evening and find out!

Friday Wrap-Up for August 25, 2017 – News from Split Rock, Flying Boats, 2 Crows, Big Spruce, Chain Yard, and much, MUCH, more!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2017-08-25
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, 902 BrewCast, Big Spruce Brewing, Bishop's Cellar, Chain Yard Cider, Flying Boats Brewing, Foghorn Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Lunn's Mill Beer Company, Maybee Brewing, Meander River Farm and Brewery, Mill Street Brewpub, Nine Locks Brewery, OktoberFest des Acadiens, Propeller Brewing, Roof Hound Brewing, Rudder's Brewpub, Saltbox Brewing, Schoolhouse Brewery, Sober Island Brewing, Split Rock Brewing, Stillwell Beer Bar, Tatamagouche Brewing, Tidehouse Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Unfiltered Brewing. 1 comment

We’re entering the last week of August and, assumedly, most of us have our summer vacations behind us. That’s fine, there’s still plenty of gorgeous weather and beautiful beer to enjoy, not necessarily in that order. So grab a pint of your favourite local brew and let’s see what’s going down in the local scene this week.

• Split Rock Brewing has opened their doors at 119 Main Street in Twillingate, NL. Their 500 litre (4 BBL) system has been working overtime, and they are ready to welcome thirsty visitors to the Northernmost brewery in Atlantic Canada. The brewery and Stage Head Pub are open daily 2-11pm (until midnight Friday and Saturday, Sunday hours TBA). They are fully licensed for sample flights, pints, and growler fills of their six beer: Combines Ale, 5.3%; Bluff Head Bitter, 4.6%; Gateway IPA, 6.7%; Red Sky Red Rye, 4.9%; Alli’s Big Brown Ale, 5.6%; Black Island Stout, 6.1%. Keep an eye out for our Profile of them coming next week, and check their FB, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest news. Congratulations, Team Split Rock!

• Shediac’s Flying Boats Brewery has been in operation for a little over two years now, since officially launching in July of 2015. Owner/brewer Marc Melanson has confirmed that the brewery will be expanding in the future, moving from a 2 bbl (230 L) brewhouse in his garage to a much larger brewery in a commercial space in nearby Dieppe. Renovations are currently underway, with the goal being a brewery with an attached taproom for pints and growler fills; a canning line will also be purchased. Other details are being kept silent for now, but stay tuned to their social media accounts for updates. Congratulations to the Flying Boats team!

• After obviously slacking off and only releasing two new beers last week, the crew at 2 Crows is back at it with a bevy of bevvies coming your way. Released earlier this week is Invisible Touch, a 4.9% Brett Saison, a light-bodied beer fermented using a blend of several strains of Brettanomyces yeast. Dry hopped with Azacca and Simcoe, resulting in a citrusy and stonefruit notes to complement the dry body and funky notes from the wild yeast. This small batch is only available at the brewery’s tasting room, so best drop by today (and you can check out what the heck they’re doing with 200kg of peaches!!).

• Promising to hit the taps at 2 Crows today or tomorrow (once a draught line comes clear), is the final keg of Smackwater Jack, an American Farmhouse Ale, conditioned on quince fruit. Featuring a grist of Pilsner malt with Wheat (both malted and raw) and a touch of Oats, lightly hopped with Calypso and Centennial, the beer was fermented with an American Farmhouse blend of yeasts and has sat for seven months on the fruit to allow the farmhouse/barn funkiness to develop. This final keg was allowed to carbonate naturally using Champagne yeast, allowing a tighter carbonation. Keep an eye on their social media for the tapping announcement. Ed note: it was tapped Friday at 1PM, so get down there now!

• And as soon as there are two taps available (we’re guessing late this weekend/early next week, depending on how thirsty y’all are), there will be a pair of brand new pilot brews available.  Pancho and Lefty are both Pale Ales fermented with Brett, with the same malt bill (Pilsner, Wheat, Spelt and Oats), and kettle-hopped with Belma and Simcoe. The specs are also identical, at 6.2% ABV and 23 IBU, but the similarities end there. Pancho was conditioned on whole mangoes, and dry-hopped with Azacca. Lefty skipped the fruit, and was heavily dry-hopped with Enigma. Both beers end up being quite dry and funky with tropical notes, with Pancho taking it to another level with the stonefruit and tangerine flavours, and Lefty picking up berry notes from the Enigma. Again, these will be for on-site enjoyment only, and announced via social media.

• And rounding out the 2 Crows news this week is a preview of their Promiseland Double IPA. Dropping next Friday, Sept 1, this seasonal beer features a Pale malt base (with Oats and Honey Malt), fermented with London Ale III, heavily hopped late in the boil, active fermentation, and then dry hopped with Citra and Simcoe. At 8.3% ABV and 64 IBU, “This beer is a juice bomb!” proclaims Brewmaster Jeremy Taylor. Citrus, stonefruit, tangerine are found throughout, with a soft mouthfeel, moderate carbonation, and smooth bitterness. As with their other seasonals (Fantacity and Midnight Mood), the beer will be available at the brewery in pints, growlers, and cans, and will likely be available at the private beer stores in HRM as well.

• After the success of their first Milkshake IPA, Liquid James Brown, Big Spruce is following up with a new variation of the same beer. For Peach’s Sake! features the addition of, you guessed it, organic peach puree. Generously hopped with Cascade, Centennial and El Dorado, with an addition of lactose powder to slightly boost the mouthfeel and sweetness of the beer, it clocks in at 6.5% ABV and 52 IBUs. Available for pours and growlers at the Sprucetique in Nyanza, you should also be able to find it on tap at Stillwell, Battery Park, and the Saint John Ale House. Look for two more iterations to come in the near future, each featuring a different fruit addition.

• And speaking of Big Spruce, a couple more things to pass on this week: owner Jeremy White sat down with the gents from the 902 BrewCast (happy now, guys?) recently, and the first part of that chat dropped on Tuesday. Learn about the origins of the brewery, from buying the farmstead using a Nicaraguan Phone Call (also a possible future beer name?), their first beers, their homebrew competition, White’s open letter to Nova Scotia (what’s changed and what’s not since its publication 10 months ago), and much more! Listen to the first half now, and prepare yourself for the second half, coming September 5th.

• And as if you need another reason to visit Nyanza, drop by next Saturday, September 2nd, as there will be another screening of the Nova Scotia craft beer documentary Sociable!, at Big Spruce at 7PM. It will be taking place at their new production brewery across the road from their original brewery and beer patio. Filmmakers Helen and Chris will be on hand, and you can enjoy some beer and food while you watch the film. And stay the night nearby, so you can pop back to the brewery on Sunday the 3rd for a Pig Roast, 12-5PM.

• Halifax’s Chain Yard Cider released a new cider blend late last week at their Agricola Street taproom. The Fuzz features their Foundation apple blend at its base, with the final 25% of the volume comprised of cryo-extracted peach wine. For the uninitiated (we count ourselves in that boat!), the cryo-extraction process entails freezing the peach juice to gently remove water, while maintaining the great aromatic and flavour profile and increasing the sugar (aka fermentable) content. And unlike many apple/fruit blends that feature blending of the secondary fruit after fermentation (diluting the cider and adding sweetness), the higher gravity peach juice was fermented first, and then blended and cold conditioned with the finished cider for two weeks. Before packaging, the cider was fizzified first using Nitrogen, and then CO2, with the aim to create a smaller bubble and lighter carbonation level. All of these extra steps result in a smooth 6.5% ABV cider with soft mouthfeel and flavour and aroma of not only peach, but also apricot and pineapple. Grab a glass today!

• Some beer drinkers at the Foghorn taproom in Rothesay have been asking for “the lightest one you’ve got” since the brewery opened, and they’ve now got the perfect beer as an answer! A Kölsch, Leitest Von Veigott (if you don’t get it, say the name with your worst German accent) was brewed with Pilsner malt, and hopped to 18 IBUs with Perle and Magnum. Pale-coloured and easy-drinking as planned, at 5.5% ABV, you can find it at Foghorn for growlers and pints, and at select accounts. Also recently, the brewery introduced Lola, a “Tropical Pale Ale” featuring 90 lbs of mango puree (20% in the boil, 80% in secondary) and dry-hopped with Citra and Vic Secret for even more tropical fruit character. Kegs of this beauty sold out extremely fast, so you may be able to find it on tap if you’re lucky (hint: seen at the James Joyce in Fredericton last night).

• Bottles of Hammond River beer are officially here! Both the Hop Flash IPA and Blood Orange Hefeweizen are now available in 500 mL bottles at the taproom, as well as at the KV ANBL and some stores in Saint John. Don’t worry if you don’t live in the SJ area – a recent delivery was sent out to ANBL stores in Fredericton, Moncton and Sussex, so expect to see these pop up very soon, with this weekend being extremely likely. Look for distribution to expand with time, and other beers will be bottled very soon as well.

• Grimross plans on releasing their newest Belgian IPA sometime this morning at the brewery in Fredericton. After the high popularity of their last Belgian IPA, Scratch #2, they took the recipe and tweaked it. Hopped with Amarillo, Cascade, and Columbus, it was fermented with the Belgian strain used in their Cheval D’Or Saison, resulting in spicy phenolics and fruity esters expected in many Belgian styles, and fruity, tropical notes from the use of American hops. Simply named Belgian IPA, grab some by the pour or growler fill at the brewery, or on tap at any fine establishments where Grimross beers are served. And in other Grimross news, they have started their expansion into the unit next door to othe brewery on Bishop Dr., which means more brewing equipment, a larger taproom area, and a patio space.

• Back in June, Halifax’s Unfiltered Brewing brought us a fruited sour wheat that broke the mold, at least locally, for what kind of weight that style could carry. Originally touted at 6.2% ABV, as of noon today, Sour MFer will be available once again at the brewery and neighbouring tied house Charm School Pub, this time sporting a lab-verified ABV of 6.4%. Still featuring a big bouquet and flavour from aging on tart cherry puree, and still with a super solid body, we expect it to be just as dangerously thirst quenching as the first batch back in early summer. And what better for the dog days of August?

• Lots of action is going on these days up the Eastern Shore of the province at Sober Island Brewery. Firstly, a keg of the 5% ABV smooth and malty Altbier they did up for the Horton Ridge event in May hit the taps at the neighbouring Henley House earlier this week. You’ll have to keep your eyes open on Twitter and Facebook to know when more one-offs like these go on tap. And with limited availability in HRM, for now, anyway, visiting the brewery for a crowler or Henley House for a pint is your best bet to get your mitts on some Sober Island brew. Your next best bet is the Beer Truck, doing the rounds at Farmers Markets, locations in the HRM and elsewhere, its current assignment is also best determined through social media. Hopefully we’ll see some wider availability in the fall, when plans are to start canning beer for distribution, including the private stores in Halifax! And lastly, look for an interesting run of beers to come out of the foraging series now under development; looks like one of the first ones might be a Chanterelle Mushroom-laced Mild. Keep your eyes peeled for these to appear as we move into fall.

• Today, TrailWay is releasing their newest Double IPA, Voyager. This hazy, light-coloured beer was hopped entirely with the Australian Galaxy, a fantastic variety that gives the beer aromas and flavours that are “juicy, pungent, and tropical”. Quite drinkable despite the 7.8% ABV, it will be available in cans exclusively at the brewery taproom as of this morning at 11 am; you can also purchase tasters, pints and growlers there, and it will be popping up at a few TW tap accounts across Fredericton.

• In Good Robot news, they’re releasing The Smashing, the fifth – and last – beer in their SMaSH Pale Ale series. The grist is made up of Golden Promise, a Pale malt from England, and the featured hop is Topaz, an Australian variety gaining in popularity thanks to its light tropical fruit characteristics, as well as resinous notes. Fermented with East Coast Pale Ale yeast to boost the fruitiness even more, it comes in at 7% ABV and 52 IBUs; available at the GR taproom, as always. Continuing on, next week’s Brewsday Tuesday is Virgo Saison, a slightly-stronger-than-planned “Saison/Grisette” brewed by assistant brewer Irene; hopped with Tettnanger, and finishing quite dry thanks to a strong fermentation, it weighs in at 5.5% ABV and 24 IBUs. Finally, today’s Cask in the Sun entry is Corn Chili Sin Carne, which is their Leave me Blue with Yucatan Recado Rojo spice from local coffee shop Cafe Aroma Latino added to the cask, as well as fresh Nova Scotia-grown tomatoes and red peppers from Den Haan Greenhouses.

• Since the release of Cryo Hops – concentrated lupulin powder that gives intense hop aroma and flavour, while at the same time minimizing the amount of beer absorption and loss from the hop additions – breweries in our area have been utilizing them in some recent brews. Tidehouse has added their name to the list with the release of Cryo Me a River. This 7.2% ABV, 35 IBUs IPA was brewed with Canadian 2-row and Wheat malt, and hopped with Mosaic and Simcoe Cryo hops. The brewery describes the Cryo hop character in this beer as having “juicy tangerine, papaya, and pine notes, with a light body and soft bitterness”. It’s available now at the Tidehouse Tiny Tasty Beverage Room only, for growler fills and tasters.

• Propeller in Halifax continues its Friday cask series with a double dry-hopped, cask conditioned Double IPA (whose recently tweaked recipe already features three times the dry hops!) all ready to be tapped today at 5 PM at their Gottingen Street location. Drop by for a pint, and you get to keep the glass!

• If you’re into the live music scene here in Halifax, you probably already know that next week (Aug 27 – Sep 3) is the 8th annual Halifax Urban Folk Fest (HUFF), one of the premiere musical events in this city. This year’s lineup features some absolutely huge names in Canadian songwriting: Ron Hawkins, Art Bergman, Moe Berg (totally an adult now), Skydiggers, and John K. Samson as well as many other local and not-so-local artists curated by the Carleton’s Mike Campbell. As presenting sponsor of this great week of live music, Propeller has stepped up and brewed a new beer in their Gottingen Small Batch Series. The official beer of HUFF, it’s in the Festbier style, the classic beer of Munich’s Oktoberfest. It weighs in at 5.5% ABV and 20 IBU, with a golden colour and deep, malty aroma. Fermented with Czech Pils yeast and given an extended layering, it will have a clean and crisp character for supreme drinkability. You’ll find it starting next week at all HUFF venues, including The Carleton, Timber Lounge, Seahorse Tavern, Marquee Ballroom, Tempo Food + Drink, Stubborn Goat Waterfront, Loose Cannon, The Anchor and Wooden Monkey.

Plenty to do around our region this weekend!

• If you’re planning to be in Truro (the Hub of Nova Scotia!) this evening, you picked a good night! From 4 – 9PM downtown you’ll find an event called BBQ, Beer, & Blues going on at Inglis Place and environs. Featuring eight Nova Scotia craft breweries, each paired up with a local shop, along with BBQ and live music, it’s sure to be a good night. A paltry $15 gets you 8 tickets, each good for a 4 oz sample at any of the craft beer stations. Participating breweries are Nine Locks, Saltbox, Tatamagouche, Sober Island, Meander River, Schoolhouse, Good Robot and Garrison. Even better, 100% of the proceeds will go towards three charitable organizations: the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Wayward Cats Society, and the Colchester Food Bank.

• Attention Belgian Beer Fans!! For those of us who are enjoying the recent foray local breweries have been making into the farmhouse, sour, and wild side of brewing, we would be well served to try the originators of many of these styles from Belgium. We’ve got a hot tip for you that will save you airfare to Brussels: Halifax’s Stillwell Beer Bar has received a pair of pallets of draught and bottles straight from Belgium, and will be holding a Lambic-fest this Sunday, August 27th. From 1PM until late, the twelve taps will be pouring straight and mixed lambics, Belgian Pale Ales, Saisons, and Quadrupels, with a bottle list putting many bars in Brussels itself to shame, with Cantillon, Boon, De Cam, and even some Trappist Westvleteren XII. Check the full beer list here, and prep yourself for Belgian beer and food all day. For those who are keen to get in early and enjoy a few beers in a quiet environment, there were a handful of Earlybird tickets made available. Oh, and stay tuned to Stilly’s (and ours) social media for the details on the Oxbow Tap Takeover at both HQ and the Beer Garden, now happening Sept 8 and 9.

• Bertrand, NB, will be hosting the Oktoberfest des Acadiens next week, Aug 31-Sept 3. Featuring a Grand Tasting by Acadie-Broue’s Patrice Godin on the 31st, and the Oktoberfest itself on Friday and Saturday, it will be a great weekend of beer, drink, and food. Check out the full program here!

A few more beers and news to keep you up to date:

– Bishop’s Cellar was facing an unscheduled issue with a construction crane moving in their area this weekend, but due to the short notice provided to businesses in the area the move has been rescheduled. To when? We don’t know; but we’ll be sure to give you a head’s up when it’s announced!
– Lawrencetown’s Lunn’s Mill has successfully obtained their taproom license and is no longer limited to serving you tasting glass after tasting glass in your quest to cop a buzz. Full pints are now available in their taproom, so head on down!
– Maybee has a new beer in cans and on tap, Owd Bob, a kettle-soured Brown ale (5.9% ABV); we haven’t received any details, but you can grab some cans or a growler at the brewery, and it seems to be popping up on tap at select accounts across NB.
– Mill Street Brewpub in St. John’s has brought back their crowd favourite Hefeweizen, RDF Hefe (5.7% ABV, 25 IBUs); you can find it on tap now at the brewpub on Harbour Dr.
– As we mentioned last week, Digby’s Roof Hound Brewery is ramping up their bottling line (read, home-made filler), and these oversized stubbie bottles are now available to the public. The Average Joe Wheat Beer, Big Stink IPA, and Sweet Little SIPA are all available at the brewery now, and at Bishop’s Cellar in Halifax. Help the RH crew celebrate the launch with some live music at the brewery tomorrow evening, with duo “Just Us” taking the stage at 9PM.
– Yarmouth’s Rudder’s Brewpub has released a new beer this week, Barefoot Sailor Session IPA. The copper-coloured beer was loosely based on the CBANS Collaboration Ale from earlier this year, but lighter in body and hopped up, coming in at 3.7% ABV, and a robust 80 IBU. You’ll have to drop by their Water Street location to find out more!
– Schoolhouse is also in full swing with their Cask Friday event, this week they’ll be tapping a test batch of their forthcoming seasonal Pumpkin Ale at today at 4 PM in Windsor.

Friday Wrap-Up for August 4, 2017 – News from Hammond River, Nine Locks, Tidehouse, 2 Crows, and More!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2017-08-04
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Bad Apple Brewhouse, Brew Ha-Ha, Celtic Knot Brewing, Company House, Good Robot Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Halifax Seaport Beerfest, James Joyce Irish Pub, Loyalist City Brewing Co, Nine Locks Brewery, Off Grid Ales, Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Craft Cider, Saltbox Brewing, Salty Dog Brewing, Schoolhouse Brewery, Tidehouse Brewing, Trider's Craft Beer, Upstreet Craft Brewing. 1 comment

A happy Friday to all the beer lovers in the region; we hope everyone had a happy (and hoppy) IPA Day yesterday! With a long weekend looming in all four provinces, we hope we have the news you need to plan your weekend in the best way possible: around beer and beer-related events!

• After many months in the making, Hammond River Brewing‘s new taproom will officially open today at 4 pm. With live music and food available on site, and seven taps of HR beer flowing for pints and growler fills, can you think of a better way to spend your Friday evening? We can’t either! Congrats to owner/brewer Shane Steeves and everyone else involved in the transition; we look forward to what HR will be brewing up in the near future. And keep your eyes out for the first bottles of HR beer, the first of which, their Hop Flash IPA should be available next week!

• Late last week, Nine Locks released their latest brew, Apricot Blonde, which they’re describing as a “North American Weizen” (read: American Wheat Ale). Flavoured with, yes, apricot, it finishes dry and refreshing, and at a light 5.1% ABV and 15 IBU, is another beer fit for these dog days of summer. The entire batch of this beer was canned, so drop by Nine Locks’ location to grab a handful of cans before hitting the cottage this weekend.

• Halifax’s Tidehouse Brewing has released another pair of beers this week, in order to keep their Farmers’ Market and “Tidehouse Tiny Tasty Beverage Room” (aka on-site 8-seat taproom) customers happy. The first to hit the taps was 2Market2Market, a German Helles beer, featuring a light body and spicy and flavourful hop character from a combination of Perle and Saaz hops. This beer proved to be extremely popular with the patrons at the Tantallon and Hubbards Farmers’ Markets, with it selling out within the past week, but we’ve been assured it will be returning before too long. Hungry Ryes, we can attest, is still pouring and will be available this weekend… A 5.6% ABV Pale Ale, it features a healthy dose of Rye malt for a light spicing, and a blend of Columbus and Northern Brewer hops for a complementing flavour profile. And watch this space, and their social media, for the launch of one or two brand new brews in the coming days.

• Were you a fan of the recent release of 2 Crows‘ Crosswired, their first foedre-aged beer? Hey, so were we! Well, good news, they’ve got another foedre beer coming out tomorrow, and it sounds like a doozy (doozy meaning “good”)! Fandango is a 6.8% ABV, 54 IBU Milkshake IPA that was heavily hopped and dry-hopped with Azacca, Citra and Galaxy. Conditioned in the Calvados foedre for approximately 2 weeks, the beer was then transferred back to a stainless fermenter, where the 2 Crows crew added some lactose powder, whole vanilla beans, 220 kg of mango purée and 30 kg of peaches. Oh yeah, and they dry-hopped it, AGAIN. Hazy, orange-coloured, creamy, and tasting “like pure juice, with a touch of tannin and bright fruitiness from the Calvados”, we’re betting that this one will be popular! Luckily, a full batch was brewed (maybe the 220 kg of mango purée gave that away), and it will also be available in cans, as well as on tap, so be sure to pick some up Saturday from noon! Note: no growler fills.

• As we promised a few weeks ago, Red Rover is releasing their third Summer Series cider today with Barrel Reserve #2. This is a “Bourbon Oaked Blueberry Cider” that was originally entered in the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition in April, where it won 2nd Best in Class in the Specialty Cider & Perry category. RR describes this 7.2% ABV cider as having “lots of vanilla and oak up front, with a fresh blast of blueberry and bourbon on the finish”. As with their other special releases, it will be available at the Cider House today at 5 pm in 750 mL bottles, in a very limited supply, and may pop up at some Farmers markets this weekend as well.

• While on the topic of Red Rover, they also released a brand new cider this week, Siesta. This 7% ABV semi-dry cider was infused with fresh lime and mint, giving some delicious complementary flavours to go with all the hot weather we’ve been having. It’s available now at the Cider House for pints and flagon fills, and should pop up at a few RR tap accounts.

• After initially launching late last year in Harvey, NB with four flagship beers, Off Grid Ales is officially releasing their first new beer, Smooth Sailing Pale Ale. Described by the brewery as light-bodied and mildly spicy, it was hopped with Warrior and Chinook to 30 IBUs, with late additions of Centennial and Mosaic to give flavours of citrus and tropical fruit. It comes in at 5.5% ABV, and will be available in bottles only for the first few weeks, at select ANBL stores. Look for it to follow in kegs by the end of the summer, where it will likely pop up at one or more of the ANBL growler stations.

• Amherst’s Trider’s Craft Beer has brewed up Blue me Away!, a blueberry beer. Incorporating locally-grown blueberries, absolutely no extracts were harmed in the making of this beer. Bluish-purple in colour, and with a subtle blueberry flavour and aroma, it weighs in at just 5% ABV and 14 IBUs. Drop by their Anson Avenue location for a growler fill today, and maybe chat with the folks about helping to fill the Part-Time Sales and Packaging position they currently have open.

• Those Good Robots are up to it again, with the latest, and last (so they tell us!), in their SMaSH Pale Ale series. With all of the Smash Mouth banter within the GR community, it is only fitting that the California-based band actually named the beer, Beer Mouth. At 5.5% ABV and 39 IBU, the Single Malt featured is Marris Otter, and the Single Hop is Wakatu, a New Zealand hop. The straw-coloured beer features a tropical fruit aroma, on top of a lightly herbal and grassy flavour, with a touch of lime. Beer Mouth is on tap now, for pints and growler fills both. Today’s Cask in the Sun is a Leave Me Blue Creamsicle, a sweeter take on their Kentucky Corn beer, and next week’s small-batch BetaBrewsday is Ale for Seaware. Brewed by staff members Pat King and Kelly Costello, this 4.5% ABV Golden Ale features maple syrup in the boil and added after fermentation. A light dose EKG was added for a touch of floral character and offsetting bitterness (low, at 16 IBU). This week’s Brewsday is pushed back to Wednesday the 9th, as many of the Good Robot crew with be on Prince Edward Island to celebrate their Tap Takeover at Upstreet on Monday, August 7th.

• Speaking of Upstreet, massive congratulations to them on achieving B Corp certification! This independent certification recognizes businesses that meet a rigorous standard of social and environmental performance, and using their business to make positive changes in the world. Learn more about Upstreet’s road to B Corp Certification here.

• Halifax’s Propeller Brewing continues to bring out regular entries in their Gottingen Small Batch series. This week, brewer Cameron Crerar brings us a beer named for the Tasman Sea, which lies between his homeland, Tasmania, and New Zealand, home of the primary hop variety used, Motueka. Tasman Pale Ale is 5.2% ABV and 38 IBU, with a hoppy and citrus aroma from the aforementioned hops, hints of malt and caramel, and a crisp and clean finish. You’ll find it on tap at the Propeller Tasting Room for pints by 5 PM today, with growler fills available starting early next week.

• Bad Apple Brewhouse has never had problems with their beers’ popularity, but according to owner/brewer Jeff Saunders, their recently-released Black Currant Gose has been their fastest-selling beer yet! Brewed as a classic Gose – tart and salty – black currants obtained from local farms were also added, and at a sessionable 4% ABV, it sounds like a great summer beer. It’s available at the brewery for growler fills, but probably won’t last through the weekend, so hurry up if you want to grab some! It’s also on tap at a few of the better beer establishments in Halifax.

• Grimross has released the 5th one-off in their Scratch series this morning at the brewery. Scratch #5: Nut’n Abbey is a 7% ABV ale fermented with an Abbey yeast strain, giving this brown-coloured brew some Belgian phenolics and esters to go with the nutty, malty flavours from the grist. Drop by the taproom for a pint or growler, and check out your favourite Fredericton watering hole to see if it’s on tap.

• In Saint John, NB, Loyalist City released a new beer this week to celebrate International IPA Day. Building on the experiences developed through their One Hop Series, this time they’ve made a New England style IPA that features El Dorado, Amarillo, and Mosaic hops. A New England-style water profile aids in big hop aroma and flavour, with citrus, pineapple and mango prominent, a hazy yellow appearance, and a slight sweetness. Dubbed Backslide IPA, it’s loaded with tropical fruit flavours but is still balanced enough to be a refresher on a hot summer day. You should see it springing up at Loyalist tap accounts this weekend and you’ll find it at the brewery from now on, as it’s being added to the regular lineup!

• Earlier this week, a story in the Guardian confirmed that Summerside will be opening its first brewery sometime in the near-ish future. Alex Clark, owner of the OpenEats restaurant in downtown Summerside, is planning to open a brewery in the former train station location (currently the Summerside Rotary Library) on Central St. Many details still need to be ironed out and confirmed, but the initial plan is to open the brewery on its own before eventually adding a taproom and adjoining dining room. Check out the story above for more details, and as always, we’ll keep you updated!

Some notable events for beer lovers are coming up in the region as well, this weekend and beyond!

• A reminder that North Grant’s Half Cocked Brewing is holding their launch party this evening at The Townhouse Pub in Antigonish. From 4:00pm, enjoy their five beers, and meet and chat with owners Greg Oicle and Matt Thompson. And look for HC’s growler days and Farmers’ Market visits to ramp up in the coming weeks. Learn more about Half Cocked in yesterday’s Profile post.

• The Stillwell family is welcoming back one of their favourite (and ours) Quebec breweries to take over their taps this weekend. From noon Saturday at the Beer Garden on Spring Garden, and Sunday at 4:00pm at HQ on Barrington, a total of 22 taps and a handful of bottles from Shawinagan’s Trou du Diable will be available to any and all comers. Saturday’s theme is “Hops & Lagers”, featuring a bevvy of lighter beers and hoppy IPAs, with Sunday’s session leaning “Sour & Strong”. The list is too long (and awesome) to post here, so we encourage you to check it out on their IG page, and rest up for a busy weekend.

• There are still tickets available for next weekend’s Halifax Seaport Beerfest, happening at the Cunard Centre. With Friday, August 11th evening session, and Saturday, Aigist 12th afternoon and evening sessions, there are plenty of opportunities to try some of the 350+ beer and cider that will be available. Grab your ticket to fun today!

• Attention, Fredericton… the sour beers are coming! The James Joyce Irish Pub is hosting Tarte Diem, a sour beer tap takeover, on Saturday, August 26th. Featuring a wide assortment of sour beers (ranging from Lambic-style beers to hoppy sour ales) from breweries across the Maritimes, all you have to do as a beer drinker is show up when they open at 3 pm, and pay by the pint or flight! There will also be three different awards given out during the event: a Best of Show based on the decision of a group of judges made up of individuals from the brewing industry, a Best of Show from “uneducated judges” (their description, not ours!), and a People’s Choice, where drinkers like you pick your favourite sour brew. Check out the link above for an up-to-date list on participating breweries, and which beer(s) they’ll be bringing.

• Also in Fredericton on Saturday, August 26th is Ales for Animals, hosted by the Fredericton SPCA. Held from 3:00 – 5:00 pm at the Picaroons Roundhouse, your $50 ticket will get you a selection of taster beers from Big Axe, Graystone, Grimross, Maybee, Picaroons, Railcar and Trailway. Tickets are available at the FSPCA, Picaroons, Grimross, and at the door. Help support a great cause, and get to sample some local beer at the same time!

Enjoy the long weeked! Before we let you head out of your place of work (go ahead, no one minds!), a couple more quick things to share:

– Celtic Knot has brewed up a batch of their Monkeytown – their 4.5% ABV, 20 IBUs Mango American Pale Ale – on their brand new system; it’s available now at the brewery for growler fills, and should be on tap at your favourite CK licensee. Rounding out their taps today are the Ryetious Rye IPA, Éire Irish Red, and For Shore Session IPA.

– Truro’s Salty Dog is collaborating with local bike shop Bike Monkey to brew up a 7.1% ABV and 70 IBU Double IPA for hop lovers, and they’ve got a contest running to celebrate. You can get in on the draw by filling a growler or buying a can of Bike Monkey DIPA at Salty Dog, or by purchasing a pint at the Nook & Cranny Brewpub or Sauced Wood-fired Pizza. The winner will receive a bike valued at $650 complete with a growler carrier.

– Windsor’s Schoolhouse Brewery has released a brand new beer this week, Recess Pilsner. Details are light at the moment, but we do know that it is currently available at the brewery on tap and in bottles, and bottles should also be available at the HRM private stores in the coming days.

– And speaking of Schoolhouse, we told you a couple weeks ago about two Brew Ha-Ha! events featuring their beer. The first, two weeks ago at the brewery in Windsor, was a great success. Tomorrow night’s event will be at the Company House in Halifax and we’ve got a promo code for you: buy your tickets in advance using the code “GetSchooled” and get $5 off the regular $20 price.

 

– In Mahone Bay this evening at 7 PM Saltbox Brewing will be launching a special commemorative can for their Cream Ale to help kick off Heritage Boatyard Weekend.