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Friday Wrap-Up – Burgers n’ Beer Events Planned for NB, Brews and News from Garrison, Propeller, Sea Level, Rockbottom, Bad Apple Brewhouse, and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2014-03-28
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Bad Apple Brewhouse, Burgers n' Beer, Celtic Knot Brewing, Garrison 2013 Home Brew-Off Challenge, Garrison Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Hammond River Brewing, PEI Brewing, Propeller Brewing, Red Rover Brewing, reLiSH, RockBottom Brewpub, Saint John Beer Fest, Sea Level Brewing, Stillwell Beer Bar. 3 comments

Happy Friday, and end of March! Don’t worry, the snow has to start melting sometime soon… right? Regardless, here’s what’s new for craft beer in our region this week:

• Despite just wrapping up the 2014 Fredericton Craft Beer Festival earlier this month, organizer Lloyd Chambers is bringing another beer idea of his to fruition… Burgers n’ Beer! Partnering with reLiSH Gourmet Burgers, there will be three small events throughout New Brunswick. The first will be held on Tuesday, April 15th in Fredericton from 8-10 pm (at the new uptown location), and will include six reLiSH sliders paired with six 8 oz pours of craft beer and cider. The tentative brewery list includes Grimross Brewing, Red Rover, B.C.’s Central City Brewing (with their Red Racer IPA representing), and Celtic Knot and Hammond River Brewing, both in Fredericton for the first time for this event! A custom 8 oz tasting glass is also included, and Adam Clawson of Red Rover will be doing a small presentation on all three of his ciders pouring at the event. Tickets are $45, taxes and fees included, and can be purchased online here. Future events are also planned for reLiSH locations in Moncton (April 29th) and Saint John (tentatively May 9th).

• Garrison Brewing has just released last year’s Garrison Home Brew-Off winner. Saint Peter’s Belgian-Style Strong Ale, a Belgian Blond Ale, was brewed with the winner of 2013’s competition, homebrewer Peter Welton. Coming in at 7.5% ABV and 24 IBUs, the beer is described as having a “hazy but vibrant orange color and a fluffy white head”, and exhibits a “smooth, spicy, and fresh aroma with notes of vanilla and banana, with the juicy flavor matching the aroma and finishing with a lingering warmth”. Look for the beer in bottles at the Garrison retail store, and at private liquor stores and NSLC stores throughout the province.

• Returning this week from Propeller Brewing is their popular Double IPA. A “heavily dry-hopped” Imperial IPA, it packs a punch at 8.2% ABV, with 85 IBUs. The brewery describes the beer as having “a huge amount of piney, floral, and citrusy hop aroma and flavors, balanced by sweet malt flavors”. You can find the beer in bottles and growlers at the Halifax and Dartmouth Prop Shop locations, and in bottles only at NSLC and private liquor stores in the province.

• Hot off the recent release of their El Rojo Diable Double IPA (which is just about gone, by the way), Sea Level Brewing is releasing another new beer. New World Alt is a Düsseldorf Altbier brewed from a recipe given to Brewmaster Randy Lawrence from a brewer friend of his in Düsseldorf, Germany. Described as a “clean, medium-bodied ale” with a background hop presence provided by the Hersbrucker hop, the beer is lagered for three weeks at zero degrees before packaging; it comes in at a very drinkable 4.8% ABV. New World Alt should be available at the brewery sometime next week, and will follow shortly afterwards at their regular outlets.

• The Rockbottom Brewpub in Halifax recently provided details on their next beer dinner on their Brewer’s Blog. Starting at 6 pm on Monday, March 31st, the three-course meal looks spectacular as usual, and features beers from brewer Greg Nash that includes Balticus, Fathom IPA, and Wreckoning RIS. Tickets are $35 and can be reserved by calling the brewpub.

• Meanwhile at Rockbottom, Nash has released some early details on two new beers that he’s brewed recently. The first is a Double IPA that is fermented with “Conan”, a well-known yeast strain in the brewing world as it is the one used by The Alchemist brewery in Vermont in their world-famous Heady Topper DIPA. The original yeast was cultured from a can of Heady Topper by one of the members of the Brewnosers, and Nash continued to grow this yeast until he had enough for a full-sized batch. Dry-hopped multiple times, the beer’s ABV will come in around 8% with 130 IBUs (calculated). The other beer is a SMaSH (single malt and single hop) India Pale Lager. Brewed with Pale Ale malt and Galaxy hops, the beer is fermented on lager yeast at cool temps, and then lagered and dry-hopped with more Galaxy. Look for this one to finish somewhere between 6.5-7% ABV, and with 80 IBUs. Both beers should be available at the brewpub sometime in the near future!

• Details are still very slim, but we can report that Bad Apple Brewhouse has brewed a new DIPA. Supposedly bigger and hoppier than the crowd-pleasing Conception DIPA that was pouring at the FCBF this month, this should be one heck of a beer! Stay tuned for more details as the beer approaches completion/packaging.

• The PEI Brewing Co. has started a new “Cask Program” run by brewer Karen Allen. We’ll have some more details in the near future, but for now they’re sending three pin casks to Halifax early next week to be tapped at Stillwell sometime soon. The first cask, Cherry Blaster, is the same sour, barrelled Saison that’s been served before, but instead of dry-hopping this one, they’ve added a tart cherry concentrate. The second cask is Business Lunch IPA, a “sessionable pale ale” dry-hopped with Mosaic and Cascade. Finally, Spray Tan Imperial IPA is a DIPA that has been double dry-hopped; first with Cascade and Falconer’s Flight, and then with Centennial in the cask. Keep up-to-date with Stillwell’s tap list on their Twitter feed.

• And a reminder that the 2014 Saint John Beer Fest is fast approaching! This year’s event is once again being held at the Market Square Atrium in downtown Saint John, on Saturday, April 5th. It was just reported this morning that all tickets are now sold out (including regular admission and VIP). The brewery/beer list has recently been posted on their Facebook page linked above. We hope to have a more detailed post on the festival sometime next week!

Friday Wrap-Up – Fredericton Craft Beer Fest VIP Ticket Winner Announced, New Brews from Bad Apple, Red Rover, and more!

Posted by acbbchris on 2014-03-07
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Big Axe Brewery, Boxing Rock Brewing, Granite Brewery, Hammond River Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Ladies Beer League, Pump House Brewery, Quidi Vidi Brewery, Red Rover Brewing, Shiretown Beer. 2 comments

Happy Friday, one and all! Yet another busy week in our region, so let’s get right to it.

• Over the past week, we’ve had a contest going to win two VIP tickets to tomorrow’s sold out Fredericton Craft Beer Festival (FCBF). Thanks to all of you who entered the contest by taking a photo of a beer, there were some very creative ones, and we wish we could give you all prizes. However, the winner (chosen by random chance) is @jacalyn_norrad. Congratulations! Please email/tweet the FCBF to claim your prize!

• A reminder that the Golden Growler fundraising auction is going on until midnight. Submit your bids for one of the twenty limited edition growlers via Facebook, Twitter or email, and if you are a winner, you can pick up your growler at the Fest (or make other arrangements).  You will receive a charitable tax receipt, and the highest bidder will receive their growler filled with Red Rover Cider!

• One of the Nova Scotian contingent to be attending the FCBF is Bad Apple Brewhouse, from Somerset. They recently updated the list of beers they’ll be bringing to the fest: their very popular Russian Imperial Stout, and a new beer, Conception Double IPA. Brewed mid-February to commemorate the future arrival of Jeff’s newest brewery assistant, this beer weighs in at 8.5% ABV, and over 100 IBUs. Thanks to generous hopping from six different hop cultivars, and being very light on crystal malts, it’s been described as “a bouquet of hop juice with a strong finish”. Sounds like a winner to us, congratulations! Besides at the Fest in Fredericton, and on tap very limited at Stillwell in Halifax (who have also been restocked with the “Falcon Teamwork” IPA), the Conception DIPA will mostly be served fresh in growlers from the brewery in Somerset.

• In other Bad Apple Brewhouse news, they are also debuting a special apple cider this weekend. Very dry, and weighing in at 6.7% ABV, the cider was produced using Valley apples from Boates Farm. The cider  has a very effervescent mouthfeel, with a very sharp/dry finish, and like their beer, is unfiltered. It spent three months aging in a 12yr old Glenora Barrel, giving it a unique flavor profile and appearance. Look for it on tap at Stillwell, and at the brewery in multiple refillable options including the new Squealers.

• Finally in BAB news, they are debuting their Squealer today. A 750mL refillable container with standard growler cap, it is the perfect format for some of the higher alcohol brews they’ve got available. The deposit for one of these is $5, and a fill of their Conception DIPA is $7.  In other glassware news, their 20oz English Pub glasses are now in stock, too, perfect for a bottle of their beers or cider.

• Red Rover Brewing Co. has added a third cider to their current line-up: Fall Brew is now pouring for flagon fills at their Ciderhouse location. Coming in at 7% ABV, it is a spiced cider, giving some cinnamon, clove, and other spices in the aroma. Slightly bitter, it has a “warm follow-through” according to brewer/co-owner Adam Clawson. It will also be available for tasting pours at the FCBF tomorrow.

• Interested in supporting one of New Brunswick’s newest up-and-coming breweries? Big Axe Brewery, located in Nackawic, is now selling a few items, including logoed hats ($22 each) and men and women’s T-shirts ($25 each). If you’re interested in purchasing either/both, but don’t live in Nackawic, you can contact the brewery and get a quote for the price of shipping to your area. Look for them at the FCBF tomorrow, as well. Drop by and say hello!

• Less than 4 weeks after their official launch in Saint John, Hammond River Brewing has already purchased some more equipment to allow for an expansion! Owner/brewer Shane Steeves has confirmed that he has doubled fermentation capacity by adding two 40 gallon fermentors to his brewery. Hopefully this means more Hammond River beer in the Saint John area (and beyond?) in the near future!

• Last fall, Shiretown Beer brewed up a Honey Wheat Ale, and they’ve just re-released the beer with a slight change to the hop bill. Coming in at 5% ABV, the beer is brewed with local Buckwheat honey from the Charlo Honeyhouse. It is a light-golden color, and very lightly hopped with little to no bitterness in the finish; an easy-drinking beer. No plans for this beer to be bottled yet; drop by the brewery in Charlo to pick up a growler full!

• The Pump House has released a new beer on tap at their brewpub location in Moncton. The “Easy” Amber Ale is a moderate-strength beer at 6% ABV; pouring with a deep amber color, it has “flavors of caramel and toffee”, with a medium bitterness in the finish. Like the other Pump House one-off beers, it probably won’t last too long, so get down to the brewpub for a pint while you can!

• Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, the Granite Brewery in Halifax has brewed up a batch of their Keefe’s Irish Stout. A Dry Stout with an ABV of 4.6%, the beer is brewed with Roasted Barley malt to give it its black appearance and roasted qualities, and Fuggle hops. With the classic long-lasting, creamy head, the brewery describes it as a “true Irish Stout”. Look for it in growlers at the Granite Beer Store, and on tap at the Henry House, Lion’s Head, Maxwell’s Plum, and the Antigonish Townhouse.

• Speaking of the Antigonish Townhouse, after a short break for some small renovations and a trip to Dublin (jealous!), it is open for business, and ready to keep the town full of great beer, food and cheer! As per usual, their pub is busy every night of the week with guest musicians, their Irish Music Sessions each Sunday, and of course Terry’s Bitter, brewed right above the pub. Be sure to drop by and pull up your regular stool at the bar.

• Looking for a chance to win some extra beer money, AND help support a deserving charity? Well, now’s your chance! Local participants of Team Diabetes are selling tickets ($10 each) for their “Beer for a Year” drawing. The person with the randomly-drawn ticket will receive fifty-two $25 ANBL gift cards to be used at their discretion. You can buy as many tickets as you like; the winning ticket will be drawn on April 10th. Tickets will be sold at the FCBF tomorrow; if you’re not going to be at the festival you can contact Jerri McCallum. All proceeds will be going to Team Diabetes.

• Quidi Vidi Brewing is getting ready to re-release a seasonal beer in the near future – their Continental Pilsner should be released sometime over the next couple of weeks. This award-winning beer (it took home a Gold Medal in the Pilsner category from the 2012 World Beer Championships in Chicago) is described as having a “bright golden color”, “vegetal aromas of honeyed artichoke and peppered kale”, and flavors that include “roasted corn and orange sorbet”. This 5% ABV beer will be available in bottles and on tap at all of Quidi Vidi’s seasonal accounts.

• Hell Bay Brewing has released a Dunkelweizen this week, which is available at the brewery in growlers, as well as on tap at The Argyle and Stillwell in Halifax. Dunkelweizen is the darker cousin of the Hefeweizen. Well carbonated, with a light body, it is lightly hopped, with hints of banana and clove, and complex malty flavours ranging from chocolate to caramel. This beer is unfiltered and slightly hazy as traditional wheat beers are meant to be, and desirable for the style. The beer weighs in at 6% ABV and 16 IBUs.

• Hell Bay will also be releasing a pair of other beers in the coming weeks, as well. The R.I.P.(A) ver.2.0 has been brewed, and is conditioning now, and should be out by next weekend. This is the same recipe as brewed in January, but with three times the hops! However, it doesn’t have an overwhelming hop bite to it, but a nice clean hop flavour and dryness. They have also brewed up another batch of their very popular Wee Heavy, which will be available in a few weeks.

• Today’s Friday Firkin at The Stubborn Goat will be Boxing Rock’s The Vicar’s Cross Double IPA. “Beer Engineer” Emily Tipton tells us that this is their regular recipe of Vicar’s Cross, however it was cask conditioned for a smoother mouthfeel and finish. Be sure to drop by for a pint, the cask will be tapped at 4pm.

• March 8th marks International Women’s Day. In the UK, a group of brewsters have organized a worldwide collaborative brew for that day, to celebrate women in the beer industry. Our Ladies Beer League proposed a collaboration brew day with Emily from Boxing Rock to take part in the fun, and they will be one of only two Canadian breweries to participate in the event (the other being Spinnakers Brewpub in Victoria, BC). There are guidelines for the beer recipe (suggested here), however a lot of wiggle room is allowed for breweries around the world to come up with their own unique take. The Boxing Rock X LBL collaboration, named “Alewife’s Revenge”, will feature local cranberries, and lots and lots of hops (think of it as an India Session Ale).
Due to time constraints, the brew will actually be taking place next weekend, with the LBL Board of Directors visiting Boxing Rock in Shelburne on the 15th. We are able to announce that the release party for the beer will be held at Stillwell in Halifax on April 17th, and part of the proceeds will go towards the Pink Boots Society, and Shelburne County Women’s Fishnet. As an aside, the Pink Boots Society is a great international resource for women in, or looking to get into, the beer industry. If you fit into that category, please check them out!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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