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Friday Wrap-Up – Sausage Fest Details and Brews from Boxing Rock, Bulwark, Garrison & Propeller, plus new beers from Big Axe, Big Spruce, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2015-09-11
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: ANBL, Big Axe Brewery, Big Spruce Brewing, Bishop's Cellar, Boxing Rock Brewing, Bulwark Cider, Garrison Brewing, James Joyce Irish Pub, Ladies Beer League, Moncton Beer League, PEI BeerFest, Picaroons, Propeller Brewing, Savoie's Brewhouse, Upstreet Craft Brewing. 2 comments

It’s Friday again! Things aren’t slowing down much in the way of beer news this month, so we might as well get right to it!

This year’s Halifax Sausage Fest is fast approaching, and as a handful of special beers and a cider are being released in its celebration, we want to share the details:

• Boxing Rock Brewing has released Kerfuffle APA, a 5.2% ABV American Pale Ale. It features Magnum, Willamette, and Centennial hop for a bright and fresh hop bitterness and aroma. The hops were sourced from Canadian hop farm Clear Valley Hops, just outside of Collingwood, ON. It is available in growlers now at the brewery, their market stalls at the The Halifax Seaport Market and Alderney Farmers’ Market tomorrow, and on tap at a few spots in Halifax and Lunenburg.

• Bulwark Cider is releasing Hopped Citrus Cider this weekend. The first of its kind in the province, this 6.0% ABV cider uses a special blend of Annapolis Valley apples to complement the hops, and the resultant brew has a distinct citrus character. Cascade and Comet hops make up the majority of the dry-hopping, with some Summit and Hersbrucker as well. The cider is being launched at the Stubborn Goat‘s Sausage & Cider event Sunday (tickets are still available, and will include a pour of the very last keg of Bulwark’s very popular, and long gone, Sour Cherry Cider). Like the Sour Cherry, this will be a limited, draft only release., however, it may return later in the fall in bottles at the NSLC.

• Garrison Brewing is bringing back their Sweet Rye’d Harvest Wheat Ale today, a collaboration with Beau’s All Natural Brewing. Brewed with Munich, Wheat, Rye, and Pale Malt, this copper-coloured beer weighs in at 6.0% ABV, and 40 IBUs, thanks to Citra, Cascade, and Columbus hops. The fine folks at Beau’s sent down a special ingredient for the brew: bog myrtle (Beau’s uses this in a couple of their beers).  Thanks to this plant, which is a very common ingredient in the bittering of gruits, a more herbaceous and spiced character comes through. Catch this Sweet Rye’d at the brewery, private stores, and the NSLC very soon.

• Propeller Brewing has released Wind Swell Wheat, an American-style Wheat Ale. At 5.5% ABV and 20 IBUs, the beer features Cascade hops for a floral, citrus, and spice notes, and the wheat offers a smooth, approachable finish. The beer is available in 650 ml bottles and growler fills at the brewery, and will be on tap around the city as well.

• The co-flagship events for the Sausage Fest are the Sausage Throwdown (11:00 am – 3:00 pm) and Sausage O’ The Night (5:30-10:00pm), next Saturday, Sept 19th. The $51.75 ticket price includes 12 four ounce samples (with more being available for purchase for $2), a Belgian glass to keep, plus $20 in food allowance to spend at the many great food vendors on-site (including T DOGS, Obladee, Getaway Farm and several more). Breweries taking part are: Big Spruce, Boxing Rock, Bulwark Cider, Gahan House, Garrison, Good Robot, North Brewing, Propeller, Sea Level (afternoon only), and Tatamagouche (evening only).

• During the week, Local Tasting Tours will be running a Sausage Crawl each day (2-4pm, Sunday-Friday, Sept 20-25), visiting multiple stops in the downtown area, with plenty of sausages and/or beer at every stop. Tickets are still available.

• The Sausage Fun continues with the Hops ‘n’ Brats event taking place Friday September 25th, as the kick-off to the Halifax Oktoberfest weekend. For the first time, multiple breweries will be taking part in the German fun: Big Spruce, Boxing Rock, Breton Brewing, Bulwark Cider, Gahan House, Good Robot, Meander River, Propeller, and Rare Bird. The Brats will be courtesy of Harbourstone, Scanway and T-Dogs. The event is from 5-11pm at the Sands on Salter location on the Halifax Waterfront, with tickets now available. Your $16 entry includes a sampling cup to keep and five drink tickets (with additional samples available at $2 each). We know of a couple special casks being put together for this event, including a pin of dry-hopped-wet-hops Hefeweizen from Garrison.

• In other new brews from the above breweries, look for the Boxing Rock & North Brewing collaboration Many Hands Pale Ale (version 3.0) out this week. This annual celebration of local wet hops was brewed with this year’s harvest from North brewer Josh Herbin’s Lazy Acres farm in the Valley. More than 35 kilos of fresh-picked Cascade, Chinook, and Willamette organic hops went in at all stages of the brewday, for a floral aroma and mild bitterness. This 5.6% ABV beer is available at the Boxing Rock brewery, as well as both Boxing Rock and North’s market booths, and on tap around Halifax, but for a limited time only.

• Propeller Brewing has released this year’s Nocturne Lager, in celebration of the Nocturne: Art at Night event, scheduled for October 17. A 4.8% Munich Dunkel (Dark Lager), it features rich and malty flavours, balanced with traditional German Noble hops. It is available now at both the Halifax and Dartmouth breweries, as well as the private stores shortly.

• Switching gears from the Sausage Fest, Big Axe has just released a new IPA at their brewery/taproom in Nackawic. Therapy Session IPA comes in at an easy-drinking 5.2% ABV, and is single-hopped with Topaz, an Australian variety that can exhibit characteristics of lychee, tangerine, citrus, and resin. The calculated IBUs are about 50, so expect a firm bitterness in the finish of this deep gold-coloured beer. It should also be on tap at the Saint John Ale House soon, and likely at the James Joyce and 540 Kitchen & Bar in Fredericton shortly.

• Over in Cape Breton, Big Spruce announced the release of a new beer… sort of. Ivana Drinkalot is an American IPA that came into existence quite accidentally, during a planned brew day of Big Spruce’s Crazy Ivan DIPA. Due to a slight miscalculation when scaling up the batch size, the beer came in at a lower OG (original gravity). A bag of Munich malt was also missed in the batch, so owner/brewer Jeremy White decided to roll with it, and completely changed the dry-hop! Details on WHICH hop(s) was/were used here are being kept a secret, but the brewery describes the new beer as “deeply aromatic”, with “lots of gooey hop flavour”. It weighs in at 7.1% ABV and 89 IBUs; it’s available now at the brewery, and should follow soon at Halifax’s Bar Stillwell and the Stubborn Goat.

• Picaroons will soon be releasing their annual Harvest Ale, their 5.5%-ABV British-style Pale Ale that features several batches, all hopped with a different, locally-harvested variety. This year, there are six different batches, all single-hopped with one of the following varieties: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Crystal, Goldings, or Nugget. When the beer is released later this month, each bottle will have a four-digit code that signifies which hop was used, and where the hop was cultivated (farms include three from NB, two from NS, and one from PEI); that info can be obtained online. Look for the beer to be released in 2-3 weeks!

• The PEI Beer Fest begins tonight with a 6:30-9:30pm session, continuing with an afternoon (2-4:30pm) and evening (6:30-9:30pm) session tomorrow. The Fest will feature more than 75 beers from around the world, including several Atlantic Canadian breweries. The beer list can be viewed on their site, and they have encouraged special one-off casks from the local breweries. Upstreet Craft Brewing will be pouring a pair of them: Friday evening, they will be serving Do-Wooder, a cask of their Do-Gooder American Pale Ale, aged with oak cubes for 1 month and double dry-hopped with Amarillo. Citrusy and malty but with a dry finish from the oak. Saturday, they will be serving Poppa Haskap, a pin of their Commons Pilsner, refermented with 5lbs of local Haskap berries. A refreshing, tart beer, but with the colour of a red wine. PEI Brewing Company will also be pouring a few casks during the fest, though the details on those are not yet available.

• There’s a new event coming soon from the Moncton Beer League – the Urban Beer Hike will take place on Saturday, September 26th from 2:30 – 5:30 pm. Featuring a walking tour of several of Moncton’s beer-drinking locations (including Marky’s, Plan b, St. James’ Gate, The Old Triangle, and the Pump House Brewpub), each stop will include two or three 4 oz beer samples, as well as various food items. Tickets ($49 each) are available now on the event page; attendees will be meeting at 2:15 pm at Marky’s to begin the tour.

• In other tasting news, the Ladies Beer League is partnering with Bishop’s Cellar to hold a craft beer and food pairing on Friday, Sept. 25th from 5-7 pm. Tickets are $20 each and are available online. They will be pairing a wide variety of beers with chef-prepared bites.

• The ANBL is marking the one-year anniversary of their growler program this weekend. While they have been hinting at expanded locations for months, it is still only in four locations: Dieppe, Fredericton, Kennebecasis Valley and Sackville. To celebrate, they will be giving away free growlers to the first 100 customers looking for a fill at each of the locations tomorrow. While most brewers we’ve spoken to have had positive experiences with the program, there is much room for improvement. The fact that this week’s offerings at the fill stations are not from New Brunswick, and two of the three are from multi-national brewing conglomerates, illustrate the fact that there are many improvements still needed to the program. Be sure to let the ANBL know your feelings and suggestions for improvement.

Be sure to grab some of the other great new beers out this week. Upstreet and Boxing Rock’s Rumble in the Alley: Round 1 is available now in Charlottetown, as well as the last few kegs of Upstreet’s White Noize White IPA (but don’t worry, there’s more on its way, as it was rebrewed last week). PEI Brewing has released their Vic Park Pale Ale, Citra version in cans, now at the brewery, and at the PEILCC shortly. Coming soon will also be the Rogues Roost IPA in cans, and Hell Street Barrel-aged Doppelbock. Savoie’s Brewhouse is already looking to expand from their 20 gallon system; they’ve built a new fermentation room to increase space, and are hoping to more than double their capacity soon (to 45 gallons). Finally, the James Joyce in Fredericton will soon be expanding their tap selection, as they’re adding another 6 lines to their system, bringing the total to 24! Look for even more NB beers (and beyond) to be available at the Joyce within the next week. And watch this spot for details on the many other wet-hop and harvest beers brewed around our region, including BarNone, Big Tide, Uncle Leo’s, and Unfiltered.

Friday Wrap-Up – News from Upstreet, Boxing Rock, Sunset Heights Meadery, NB Beer Tours, Unfiltered, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2015-08-14
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Battery Park, Big Axe Brewery, Big Spruce Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Brasseurs du Petit Sault, Breton Brewing, Bulwark Cider, Celtic Oktoberfest, Garrison Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Halifax Oktoberfest, Hell Bay Brewing, Jester King, King Street Ale House, Local Connections Halifax, Maritime Hop Growers Cooperative, New Brunswick Beer Tours, North Brewing, Picaroons, Propeller Brewing, Railcar Brewing, Stillwell Beer Bar, Sunset Heights Meadery, Unfiltered Brewing, Upstreet Craft Brewing, YellowBelly Brewery. 1 comment

Good morning! Looks like there’s some hot weather coming our way for this weekend… what better way to cool off than with news about our favourite beverage?

• Last weekend, PEI’s Upstreet Craft Brewing had a special visitor: Emily Tipton, Boxing Rock‘s co-owner and Beer Engineer. Tipton and Upstreet brewmaster Mike Hogan brewed their first collaboration beer on Upstreet’s system, a SMaSH IPL (single-malt and single hop India Pale Lager) named Rumble in the Alley: Round 1. Featuring a grist of 100% Maritime malt, and hopped entirely with Amarillo to 50 IBUs, it was fermented with Upstreet’s house Pilsner yeast and should clock in at about 6% ABV. Islanders can expect to see this one become available before the end of August; look for a couple of kegs to also pop up in Halifax sometime in the future. This should be just the first of many collaborations between these two breweries; they already have a history of working together, including when the Upstreet crew visited Boxing Rock last winter, and ended up lending a hand to help brew Cinnamon Spin.

• The hop plants at Sunset Heights Meadery are growing strong, and owner/brewer John Way already has plans for them! He’s brewed up a single 120 L batch of mead, which will be separated into eight 15 L “mini-batches”, each of which will be wet-hopped with a different variety (including Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Fuggles, Galena, Magnum, Nugget, and Willamette). These small batches will be bottled and sold as 8-packs (200 mL per bottle), allowing the consumer to sample each type. If you’re attending the Autumn Mead Release Party on October 24th (there are only a few tickets left), you’ll have guaranteed access to purchase one set; leftovers – if any – will be available via their soon-to-go-live online store.

• The itinerary has been finalized for the next trip from New Brunswick Beer Tours, which will be held on Saturday, October 17th. The River Valley Tour is actually a rehash of their first highly-successful tour last fall, and includes stops at Petit-Sault in Edmundston, Railcar in Florenceville-Bristol, and Big Axe in Nackawic. The tour bus leaves the King Street Ale House in Fredericton at 9 am, and should return around 6 pm later that day. Beer samples from all three breweries are included, as well as many sampling opportunities on the bus itself, and a box lunch. Tickets are now available;  an early-bird price of $88 (taxes and fee included) will apply until September 1st.

• After opening just a couple of weeks ago, Unfiltered Brewing is releasing their first seasonal today at noon. Daytimer is a kettle-soured Berliner Weisse that has been dry-hopped with plenty of Mosaic, a variety well-known for providing high levels of tropical fruitiness. Combined with the natural tartness of this style and it’s high drinkability at 3.4% ABV, Haligonians should be looking at the perfect beer for hot-weather consumption. And drop by Unfiltered anytime after 3pm today to pair your growler with a dog from the T-Dogs hotdog stand.

• Speaking of dogs (and T-Dogs specifically), details are being released for this year’s Sausage Fest, put on by the Local Connections Halifax crew. A preview of the event is happening tomorrow, during Sausage Fest Roadshow on the pedestrian-only (on the weekend) Argyle Street. T-Dogs will be there to serve up some pizza- and donair-dogs; many other community groups and vendors will be attending as well. Sausage Fest begins in earnest Sept 19th, with a day-time Sausage Throwdown, and an evening Sausage O’ The Night event, with both events hosting at least nine NS breweries and a half-dozen restaurants with their sausage creations. In fact, several breweries will be releasing special brews for the week: Boxing Rock is releasing Kerfuffle APA, a dry-hopped malt-balanced Pale Ale; Bulwark will have Hopped Citrus Cider, an apple cider featuring Cascade and Comet hops; Garrison is releasing Hammerschlagen Brau, a Marzen; and Propeller will be bringing Wind Swell Wheat, a Cascade-hopped American Pale Wheat beer. And on Friday, Sept 25th, the waterfront will host a Hops & Brats event to kick off Halifax Oktoberfest, with many NS breweries in attendance to share their beers to pair with different German fare. And just a note, LCH’s Craft Beer & Local Food Celebration is returning January 14th at the Marriott Harbourfront, and Early Bird tickets are on sale now.

• AND, speaking of Dogs, Dawgs, and Dogg, the folks at Good Robot are hosting a Hair of the Dog event Sunday. Grab your puppy(ies) and drop by after 11am for a dog spa treatment by the folks at All 4 Paws Pet Services; while there, enjoy a custom-made T-Dogs hot dog, grab a pint of GR beer, and listen to some Snoop Dogg. $20 will get you a dog wash, hot dog, and 12oz beer (the music is free). $2 from each combo package will be going to ElderDog Canada. While on-site, grab a taste of their Goseface Killah Gose v1.1, dubbed Sour Soul, which was brewed using more acidulated malt than the first release, for an additional acidic character. And with their Tap Room slated to open this fall, they are now taking applications for servers and bartenders, so be sure to bug Josh while you’re there!

• The Celtic Oktoberfest is returning on October 24th for their second year in Port Hawkesbury. A “celebration of local food, music, and beer”, attendees can expect plenty of all three, with the four hour event featuring beer from ten different Nova Scotia breweries, food from ten Cape Breton restaurants, and live music from many local musicians. So far, Big Spruce, Breton Brewing, Boxing Rock, Garrison, and Hell Bay are confirmed to be pouring, with others likely being announced soon. Tickets are now on sale, with early-bird pricing at $50 (+ fee) available until September 1st.

• The folks from North Brewing and Brooklyn Warehouse have announced plans for their new spot in Dartmouth. Battery Park beer bar & eatery will open in October at 62 Ochterloney Drive in Dartmouth. In addition to the bar and restaurant, it will feature a brewing system on-site, with North’s current 5 BBL (600 litre) brewhouse making the trip across the bridge. Beers brewed in Dartmouth will be special brews available only at Battery Park, or for growler fills at the brewery shop. In its place at North’s Agricola St location, a new 10 BBL (1200 litre) steam-fired system will be commissioned. This brew-house from DME will incorporate a boiler capable of burning biodiesel, taking a big step towards North’s plan of reducing their environmental footprint. As part of the launch of this new endeavour, Battery Park is running a crowdfunding campaign.

• Stillwell Beer Bar will be hosting an exciting pair of out-of-province breweries September 1st. Brasserie Dunham from Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Jester King from just outside of Austin, TX, are two breweries at the forefront of innovative recipes and techniques, both with extensive barrel- and mixed-fermentation beers in their roster. They recently brewed up a collaboration beer, and are meeting again in Quebec for another brew day and the release celebration. Part of the celebration will include a brewers’ visit to Stillwell, where the two breweries will be taking over the taps, as well as bringing a load of bottles. Tickets for the event go on sale today at noon, and will offer first sips of the beers in a 6-8pm session, after which the doors will be open to all. A warning that many of the beers will be in short supply, and some will almost certainly run our during the initial early session. For more information on the breweries and which beers will be pouring, check out Stillwell’s Blog.

• The Maritime Hop Growers Co-op are hosting Open Hop Yard Days this month, giving NS beer enthusiasts a chance to check out a few of the farms growing hops in the province. For the next three Sundays, from 1-4pm, folks can visit Breton Fields, High Tide, Meander River, Wallace Ridge, Wentworth Creek, and Wysmykal Farm hop farms to learn about the process of growing hops, as well as the business of hop growing. For those already growing hops, or looking to start, there is an information session presented by Perennia August 19th in Aylesford, with information on best practices for harvesting and drying hops. With many of the members in attendance, it will be a great opportunity to talk about the opportunities available. The Co-op has been around since 2009, and has 15 farm members (ten in NS, three in NB, and two in PEI). Those interested in more information on joining the Co-op, growing hops as a hobby, or buying hops, should check out their Facebook page.

• YellowBelly Brewery in St John’s has released a new IPA this week, Deep South. Hopped to 60 IBUs with varieties from the Southern Hemisphere (specifically, Pacific Gem from New Zealand and Mosaic from Australia), the beer comes across as “dry and bitter, with serious overtones of lychee and grapefruit”, according to the brewery. YellowBelly decided to ferment this IPA with an American ale yeast, as opposed to their British house strain, which should allow the fruity hop characteristics to shine through even more. It weighs in at a manageable 6% ABV; get down to the brewpub to give it a try!

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend, and keep cool with some good, local beer! Garrison Brewing’s Honey Lavender is back for another year. This 6.3% ABV ale features loads of lavender from Meander River Farms, and honey from Cosman & Whidden; it’s available in 650 mL bottles at the brewery. Stubborn Goat Gastropub has added grunters to their repertoire. This new ability to offer 0.95 litre pours is a continuation of their “social dining” concept, encouraging groups to share a few glasses of several different craft beer options during their meal. Breton Brewing ‏is looking to hire some folks in their retail space, as well as for delivery and assistant brewer positions. Contact them for details. Finally, Picaroons is starting to see some of their new brewery equipment coming in, with the arrival of several new tanks this week in Fredericton. Stay tuned for more updates…

Friday Wrap-Up – News from Grimross, TrailWay, Big Axe, “Tasting NB” Event, North Brewing, Ladies Beer League, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2015-06-19
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 540 Kitchen & Bar, Big Axe Brewery, Big Spruce Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Bulwark Cider, Garrison Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Ladies Beer League, Lion & Bright, Local Source, North Brewing, NSLC, Propeller Brewing, TrailWay Brewing, Wooden Monkey. Leave a Comment

Hooray, another Friday! Which means… hooray, more Atlantic Canadian beer news! Things have slowed down a bit this week, but there’s still plenty of beer-related items to tackle:

• After the release of their Maritime Pale Ale last month, Grimross has released a darker variation of the beer that they’re calling Maritime Amber Ale. Featuring a brand of Pale Malt (sourced from Quebec) with a darker colour (i.e. longer roast), the beer is amber-coloured and features more toffee flavours as a result. That’s not the only difference, however; while the Pale Ale was hopped relatively equally with both British and American varieties, the Amber Ale hopping is skewed more towards the British side, meaning less citrus and more earthiness in the aroma, and more of a “perceived hoppiness”. Like the Pale Ale, it’s still an easy-drinking beer at 5.6% ABV.

• Earlier this week, TrailWay welcomed back their D’Under Pale Ale, and as promised when they first released this beer in early May, the second iteration involves some slight changes. The first go-around, this light-coloured Pale Ale was hopped solely with Galaxy, a popular Australian variety; this time, another Australian hop, Ella, was thrown into the mix. Actually related to Galaxy (half-sister… no, we’re not kidding), Ella is known to be a bit more subtle, and offers floral, spice, and tropical notes when used. The beer still weighs in around 5.5% ABV, but the IBUs have been decreased slightly to around 35, with the high majority of those coming from a whirlpool hop addition at the end of the boil. It’s available on tap now at 540 Kitchen & Bar, and will likely be seen at all of their Fredericton accounts within a week. Make sure you get some of this delicious beer before it’s gone! Also note that their Black IPA, Black Hops One, has returned, and is on tap now at the King Street Ale House.

• Quickly following the successful launch of their on-site taproom, Big Axe has released a new beer: Lizzie Borden Red Ale is an appropriately-named Amber Ale that incorporates a “mixture of Crystal malts” and some Roasted malt to give a “significant malt and toffee aroma”, along with a slight, “roasted-grain finish”. Hopped lightly with English Goldings, it comes in at 5% ABV. You can find it at the brewery for pints and growler fills, and should be on tap at their various accounts in the near future.

• Sticking with New Brunswick beer news, a new festival has been announced for Fredericton this summer. On Saturday, July 11th, the first Tasting NB event will be held from 7 – 10 pm at the Capital Complex downtown. With the purpose of “bringing together New Brunswick craft alcohol producers of all varieties for the first time”, the festival will feature many (if not all) beer, cider, mead, and even wine producers in the province. The full list of participants has not been determined yet, but it looks like a great way to sample what New Brunswick has to offer this summer! Tickets are on sale now; they’re $55.99, and include unlimited 6 oz pours during the event. Afterwards, there will be an after party with live music and a NB Tap Takeover at Wilser’s Room; we’ll keep you updated on the festival as it nears. Get your tickets now!

• Halifax’s North Brewing has brewed up a special beer to celebrate Local Source‘s 10th Anniversary. Hang Ten is a refreshing and sessionable 4.5% ABV hybrid beer. Pilsner malt makes up most of the grain bill (with a touch of Crystal 15 for body), with Amarillo hops added to the mash, and a first wort hop addition of Columbus. Late hop additions in the boil feature Columbus again, along with Wakatu and Amarillo. Columbus and Wakatu were also used as a dry hop during lagering, along with a blast of sweet orange peel. The beer was fermented mid-temperature (between traditional lager and ale temperatures, hence the term “hybrid”), and then lagered for 3 weeks. The beer is being released at Local Source’s Who’s Your Farmer Dinner tomorrow (tickets are still available), a celebration of LS’s local farmers and producers. After the launch, it will be available on tap at Lion & Bright and North’s store.

• Speaking of Anniversaries, the Ladies Beer League is celebrating their Second Birthday with a party at the Wooden Monkey Dartmouth. Next Saturday, June 27th, they will be pouring casks from Big Spruce Brewing (Pump Le Mousse Grapefruit Wheat), Boxing Rock (Rule 42 English IPA), Garrison Brewing (TBD) and North Brewing (also TBD). The $25 ticket includes five 7 oz pours from the casks, along with pizza and cake. Tickets are available online now. They are currently only available to LBL Members (check out the details on becoming a member here), but will open up to the general public this afternoon. Attendees can also sign up for a membership that night, and pick up some LBL swag. And if you post a picture of yourself in your LBL shirt to their Facebook page, you could win one of their newly-designed shirts.

• Garrison Brewing has teamed up with their pals at Bulwark Cider to release a cider of their own! Brewhouse Cider is made from a blend of five Annapolis Valley apples, and weighs in at 5.8% ABV. Available at the brewery now for sampling and growler fills, and on tap at their licensees shortly, it may also be available in bottles in the future.

• The Rare Bird Pub in Guysborough has opened again for the season. While they brew on-site year-round for release on tap and the NSLC, their pub is only open in the warmer months. They are open daily 11:30-8pm at 80 Main Street, where their Full Steam Stout, Red Ale, Pale Ale, and seasonals can be enjoyed at the source. Look for their Spruce Ale to be re-released soon.

• Beginning next Friday, and for each and every Friday this summer, Big Spruce in Nyanza will host “Food Truck Friday”, where they’ll have have food, music, and of course beer at their brewery and tap room. To mark the occasion, the folks from Free Range Bio Farm in Cleveland, CB will drop by in their food truck. They will be serving their own on-farm raised and processed German-style Berkshire pork sausages, complete with sauerkraut and all the fixings. There will be live music, and of course Big Spruce’s beers, including the tapping of a special cask. Check Big Spruce’s Facebook event for more info, and subsequent weeks’ announcements.

• The NSLC has released their Year-End Report for 2014, and while overall beer sales fell by 1.2%, sales of NS Craft Beer sales grew by 25.4% (outpacing last year’s tremendous growth of 22%!). It now accounts for more than $5 Million is sales in the province. NS Cider also saw major growth, rising by 55% to $1.2M. Craft breweries in NS employ more than 300 people across the province, with more jobs coming soon with the new breweries coming online, and expansion for the successful current breweries. Congratulations and thanks to the NS Craft Brewers and Drinkers!

Have a fantastic weekend! If you’re in the Saint John area, Hammond River‘s DIPA, Too Hop to Handle, is back on tap, and Red Rover cider is now regularly pouring at The Barrel’s Head. The Gahan House has announced that they will be at this year’s Cavendish Beach Music Festival (July 10th-12th), with beer for sale, a pop-up restaurant, and beer and food demos. For those of you taking part in the MudCraft adventure race event next Sunday in Gore, good news, Propeller has brewed up a beer especially for you, MudCraft Brown Ale! And they will release their latest One Hit Wonder, Halifornia Common, today, weighing in at 5.2% ABV. As usual, on tap at their two locations for growler fills, and licensees, only.