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Friday Wrap-Up for January 19, 2024 – News from Truro, Shipwright, Upstreet, Tanner & Co, Trailway, Banished, Breton, O’Creek, Sea Level, Ragnarock, Ninepenny, Stillwell, Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia, and much more!

Posted by acbbaaron on 2024-01-19
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Banished Brewing, Breton Brewing, Brewers Journal Canada, Canadian Brewers Choice Awards, Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia, Foghorn Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Libra Non-Alcoholic Beer, Millstone Harvest Brewhouse, Ninepenny Brewing, O'Creek Brewing, OG Ales, RagnaRock Northern Brewing Company, Sea Level Brewing, Shipwright Brewing, Stillwell Brewing, Tanner & Co Brewing, Tire Shack Brewing, Together We Brew, TrailWay Brewing, Truro Brewing Company, Upstreet Craft Brewing. Leave a Comment

Good day, sweet world! The winter drudge continues as we get further into January and whether you’re just looking to keep warm, or stocking up for sports, there is always beer news to be had. We’ve got some new beers, returning beers and a fan favourite event all detailed below for your reading (and future drinking) pleasure.

Kicking off in the Hub of Nova Scotia, Truro Brewing Company has a brand new addition to their fridge and taplist. Lo/Hi is a Session New England IPA that is “lo” in alcohol and “hi” in hop aroma and flavour. If the name looks familiar to you, there may have been some inspiration from The Black Keys song of the same name. The grist for this is Pilsner malt and oats, featuring hops of Galaxy and the Pink Boots Blend (the 7th Pink Boots Blend, which is a mix of Ahtanum, El Dorado, HBC 638 and Idaho 7). The beer comes in at 4% ABV and is available now in cans and on tap.

Also, the fine folks at the brewery are looking for a part time sales representative for the Truro and New Glasgow area, so if you’re interested, apply through Indeed or email your resume to trurobrewco@gmail.com. 

Sticking in the Nova Scotia Session section of these scribbles, Shipwright Brewing is releasing Back Home. This Session IPA is packed with a grain bill of Golden Promise, Vienna, Munich and crystal malts with some oats in there to boot. Hopped with Pahto for bittering, Cascade and Sabro join the party with their dry-hopping additions. The fermentation comes from Escarpment Labs House Ale yeast which brings it all together with lots of citrus, tropical fruit, coconut, and pineapple in a 4.7% and 37 IBU package. This is available at the taproom for pints, growlers and crowlers!

The staff out of Charlottetown’s Upstreet Brewing have a new release for the people. Every once in a while there are special staff brews and this latest one is Balanced Breakfast, an Oatmeal Coffee Stout. Brewed up by Ryan Cheverie, who is a friendly face seen behind the bar at Upstreet’s Craft Beer Corner (CBC). At 5% this beer uses a Supremo Columbian roast from Caledonia House Coffee to help with the roasted and bittersweet flavours. This beer is on tap and in cans at their Taproom and CBC in limited quantities. It’s also available on Nitro at CBC.  Grab this one today, Islanders!

Mead alert! Our favourite Chester Basin brewery, Tanner & Co Brewing, has a new mead (use that honey, baby!) out with some lovely additions. Blood Orange & Motueka Sparkling Mead uses local honey, blood orange, and Motueka hops, to balance with each other on top of the base recipe of honey fermented mead. The sweetness of honey, zip and bitterness of the hops, and citrus notes from the blood oranges all come together in a punch of sparkling flavour at 5.9%. This one is canned and available from the brewery directly to pick-up at their locations or online for delivery. 

Red alert! Fredericton’s IPA rulers, Trailway Brewing, have a brand new release out now in the form of Answers in Red, a Red IPA. Dark, bready, and slightly fruity, the hops used bring some resin and pine notes for a well balanced 6% IPA. There isn’t a lot of this style around but you can think of it as a slightly stronger and hoppier Amber Ale, like the cousin of an American IPA, but sweeter and darker. It’s canned and available at their Fredericton and Saint John locations.

And fresh off the canning line is a new beer in support of the UNB Student Union Food Bank. Food security is important for all of us, especially young folks during a critical learning phase of life. A portion of the sales of Limeaid is being donated to the Food Bank, but you can also donate yourself at the link above! This 4.8% beer saves you the trouble of putting your lime and salt in your crushable lager, it comes pre-dosed! Zesty, with a hint of salinity, but very refreshing and enjoyable, do some good this weekend and pick up some Limeaid! Like Answers in Red, cans and draught are available at both Trailway locations.

Paradise’s beer options have expanded this week, thanks to the fine folks at Banished Brewing on Maverick Place. Continuing their ode to their homebase, Paradise Town – Italian Plum has hit the shelves, and draught lines, this week. Sweet, tart, and a lovely rosy pink colour, plenty of plum character shines through in this 5.5% ABV beer. You can find it in Paradise Town itself, and hitting the shelves elsewhere on the Avalon any day now!

Sydney, NS, darling Breton Brewing is continuing their own series of beers, as they extend their experimentation in the world of cold fermentation. Breton Lager #3 is the latest in that vein, keeping the Mexican Lager style from version 2, but switching up the yeast strain. The beer remains crisp and light, and above all, drinkable! This beer, as well as Breton Lager #2, are available at the brewery and Home Delivery in both the CBRM and HRM!

O’Creek Brewing out of Moncton has a new Double IPA coming to the people! Living in a Haze is a Hazy Double IPA that is big on the tropical notes and full of juiciness. The beer is 8% but only 25 IBU and features a lovely variety of hops. All added in the whirlpool and back later for dry-hopping is a mix of Mosaic, Sabro, Vic Secret and El Dorado. This is available on tap at the taproom today and will be canned early next week!

New Beer Alert in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley! Sea Level Brewing of Port Williams and Sheffield Mills has a new Asian cuisine-inspired beer on tap today. Thai-PA is 4.6% ABV, and light in colour, but not at all light on flavour! Lemongrass, lime leaves, thai chilies, and ginger. Sounds like the perfect pairing to something you may find available at nearby Noodle Guy, or whatever you want to whip up at home. For those looking for a fun night out at their Millstone Harvest Brewhouse should definitely pop by 7 – 9 PM tonight to enjoy some live music from Sky 45. A reminder that location is at 9146 Hwy 221 in Sheffield Mills, about 10 minutes outside Port Williams.

Look up. Waaaaay up. Ragnarock Brewing out of St. Anthony, Newfoundland has a new light lager. Loki’s Blaze is a canned 4% crispy light lager that is available at The Outdoor Shoppe and Western Petroleum for locals. More deliveries will be coming soon!

Moving south of St. Anthony (most things are south of St. Anthony, really), Ninepenny Brewing out of CBS (Conception Bay South, on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland), has a brand new beer that’s even a new style for them! Seal Cove Stout is an English Stout that is the first stout they’ve ever released! It’s highly drinkable at 5% and features a full body with dark chocolate and roasted coffee notes. This is available only at the taproom for now but will be available at retail stores over the coming weeks. 

Kempt Road’s finest foam friends at Stillwell Brewing have a new, freshly canned batch of their Pale Ale. At 5.3%, this West Coast Pale Ale is classic and delicious. You can check out the history of this beer and all the details back in our September post.

Speaking of Stillwell Brewing, you may have spotted that they hosted the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia Together We Brew brewday earlier this month. That beer will be coming in a few months, coinciding with the festival of the same name, being held April 6th at Pavillion 22 on the Halifax Waterfront. Together We Brew will see more than forty breweries from across the province bringing out their best and freshest beer to share with you! There are two sessions happening that day (afternoon 2 – 4:30 PM and evening 7 – 9:30 PM), with VIP tickets available for each that allow entrance an hour early. Early Bird pricing is on now, so be sure to snag them today!

Congratulations are in order to breweries and brewers across our region on making the shortlist of the 2023 Canadian Brewers Choice Awards. Hosted by Brewers Journal Canada, these awards require nomination, and then are judged based on their stories and the impact they have on the brewery, region, and industry. The Atlantic Provinces have been punching above their weight recently, with Tire Shack Brewery taking home Brewery of the Year and Branding of the Year in 2022, Esty of Foghorn taking home Brewer of the Year, and 2 Crows snagging top honours in New Beer of the Year for Class Maritime Dry Stout. This year’s shortlist includes: Libra Non Alcoholic for Brewery of the Year, Kellye Robertson of Good Robot for Brewer of the Year, Duncan Tennant of Banished Brewing for Young Brewer of the Year, who also is on the list for Community Initiative of the Year for their Paddles Up, Truro Brewing for Branding of the Year, and OG Ales for Sustainability Initiative of the Year. The winners will be announced Jan 31 as part of the MBAA District Ontario Technical Conference in Niagara-On-The-Lake.

Friday Wrap-Up for January 12, 2024 – News from Pump House, North, Dildo, Breton, Party Time, 2 Crows, Sea Level, Boxing Rock, Tata, Sourwood, Banished and More!

Posted by acbbdamian on 2024-01-12
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, Banished Brewing, Bannerman Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Breton Brewing, Copper Bottom Brewing, Dildo Brewing, Good Robot Brewing, Grimross Brewing, Loyalist City Brewing Co, Maybee Brewing, North Brewing, Party Time Brewing, Pump House Brewery, Saltbox Brewing, Schoolhouse Brewery, Sea Level Brewing, Sourwood Cidery, Tanner & Co Brewing, Tatamagouche Brewing. Leave a Comment

Is your January still dry, or strangely wet due to the weather? Unless you’re in certain parts of Cape Breton, New Brunswick or Newfoundland, it has been a weird weather start to the year with more wind and rain on its way this weekend. Look at us, typical Maritimers, always talking about the weather. Let’s talk about our other favourite thing, beer (and beer adjacent drinks, events, jobs, media, news, etc.)!

We’re kicking off this week’s beer news with an oldie but a goodie. While we’ve been celebrating lots of anniversaries and birthdays of breweries over the last few months, Pump House Brewery is celebrating their 25th year! Officially opened in September of 1999, they’re kicking off year 25 with a new beer. If you used to show up to parties or barbecues with that classic 12 pack of bottles from the NSLC/ANBL/NLC/PEILC, there is no doubt some nostalgia you have for this brewery and their big anniversary. Who doesn’t remember their first Blueberry Ale?! While we can’t believe time flies so quickly, their new beer is a far cry from those early days. Evolution is a Brut IPA that finishes clean and crisp, but still packs a lot of flavour thanks to the hop bill of Warrior, Citra, Simcoe and El Dorado. Packaged in cans, it’s 6% for an approachable beer that should appeal to all of their customers over time. Look for this in all Pump House locations and potentially some other retail locations as it rolls out over the next few weeks. 

Last week we highlighted some non-alc options for the people (Dry January or not!) and North Brewing decided to join the party in their own way. More in the category of “low ABV” than “no ABV,” Pocket IPA is an ultra light IPA coming in at 2.5% but still high on flavour and body. This small little buddy is brewed with pale malt, Vienna malt, and oats. For the hops, its single hop star is Mosaic.  With low bitterness, medium carbonation, and lots of hop aroma, this is an anytime crusher that can suit a lot of different purposes and activities, and you can put it in your pocket anywhere you go with its 355ml format. It’s available now at all of the North locations and their online store. 

The winter months are classically the time for darker beers and their associated roastier flavors and Dildo Brewing is leaning into that by releasing a brace of beers in collaboration with their neighbours around the other side of Trinity Bay, Trinity Coffee Company. First up is Cappuccino Stout, featuring oats in the grist for a smooth mouthfeel to pair with the rich cappuccino taste thanks to an infusion of Trinity coffee beans. At 5.4% you could probably go full Italian style and have one for breakfast! On the other end of the spectrum, at least the color spectrum, we’ve also got White Stout, a beer for those who like “darker” flavors but aren’t into the slight astringency that can come with classic roasty stout ingredients. Coming in at 5.8% ABV, it’s got plenty of classic stout flavor, and an additional coffee kick from Trinity coffee beans. Look for both of these new releases at the Dildo merchandise shop and their Water Street bottle shop as well.

The gang at Breton Brewing in Sydney, NS, is taking some time during these cold months to prepare for the warmer ones to come. In this case that means brewing up some small batches of lager to ensure that when the sunny weather starts to hit they’ve got the ultimate light lager to put in your hand (or your beach cooler or your softball kit bag). While version #1, which was released just before the holidays, is still pouring in the taproom, the new one is ready to go on tap and in a limited number of cans. This time it’s a Mexican lager, which usually implies perhaps a bit of corn adjunct as opposed to the rice often used in the American light lager style. Crisp, light, and clean, and weighing a paltry 4.0% ABV, as you sip you can cast your mind forward to summer and how nice it might be to neck one of these after mowing the back 40.

Continuing with the Mexican theme, but switching from lager to ale, Mount Uniacke’s Party Time Brewing has done up a new recipe called Party at Mexi’s, a 5%, 35 IBU amber ale. Haligonians of a certain age may fondly remember the days when “Party at Mexi’s” was an after work tradition on Spring Garden Road. These days Mexicala Rosa’s have relocated out to Bayers Lake Business Park, but they’re still serving some of the longest-running Californian-style Mexican cuisine in the region, and now they’ll be serving a local beer to go along with it. That’s right, Party Time’s latest has been brewed for Mexi’s themselves and they’re hoping to start serving it tomorrow (Saturday, January 13th)! You may also see it also appear at Mexi’s Moncton location in the future. 

Staying in the HRM, downtown on Brunswick Street to be precise, 2 Crows has a new small batch they’ve put together for a special event at the brewery. Sickeningly Sweet was built on a blueberry and lemon sour base with a whole bunch of peaches and Nova Scotia honey added. Sweet, sour, and super fruity, it was developed with local drag star Diana B. Tease as a companion to the Canada’s Drag Race Season 4 Finale viewing party that they hosted last night. If you’re lucky, though, there will still be some of this one pouring at the taproom!

Sea Level Brewing has a new brew that has a fun accompanying video to show the process behind its production. Farmhouse Ale is their latest small batch creation that uses ingredients from their farm (just down the road from their brewery). The beer features hopes indigenous to the area that were discovered by Randy Lawrence who worked with the Harvie family (who purchased Sea Level a few years ago) to continue the use of the hops in Sea Level beer after the sale. These hops were believed to have originated with the Acadian settlers in Sheffield Mills. Additional Centennial hops were used to dial in the right bitterness and flavour. Kveik yeast was used here to bring it all together and stick with the farmhouse style that is hazy with pineapple, tangerine and pine flavours. It’s 4.6% and only available on tap at the brewery. We should note it’s also a small batch as this was the first harvest of the hops after their relocation. Try this one out now and look for it in a larger production in coming years when the hops are producing a larger yield. 

A fun contest of sorts out of Boxing Rock is our event of note for the week:

Down Shelburne way, Boxing Rock has a fun contest going on to mark Dry January’s end. To give everyone something to look forward to, they’re hosting a beer recipe contest! The goal is to design a beer that we can look forward to drinking once Dry January runs its course. 

Here’s the rub:

  1. Craft a beer recipe! (This is due 11:59 PM Atlantic Time on Monday January 15th)
  2. Create a pitch video!  (This is due 11:59 PM Atlantic Time on Thursday January 18th)
  3. Donate what you can to Feed NS. (There is a link on the application form)

If you’re the talented winner, you’ll be invited down for a brew day, given credit on the can, and provided with five cases of the end product to drink, hoard, or share with your beer-loving friends!

Check out all the details at the contest page here. 

Lots of places either need folks now or are looking forward to the busier months of the year; if you’re considering working in beer, peep the below for potential possibilities.

If you’re looking for work for your or someone you know, we’ve got some industry jobs in PEI, NS and Fredericton that we’re helping to get the word out!

  • Copper Bottom Brewing – Montague, PEI. They’re looking for a full-time Canning Line Operator. Check the link here to apply. 
  • Saltbox Brewing – Various Locations, NS. Summer Students come get your beer on. It’s only January, but they’re already looking for people to work their Mahone Bay, Bridgewater, Lunenburg and Wolfville locations for retail, packaging and events in the busy season. Check the link here to apply. 
  • Grimross Brewing – Fredericton, NB. They want a new bartender that can work some daytime hours. If interested, please email resumes to taproom@grimross.com.
  • Maybee Brewing – Fredericton, NB. These fine Freddy folks are in need of a part-time Taproom Server for 2-3 shifts a week, mostly evenings and weekends. You can apply in person at 559 Wilsey Rd, or email your resume to ashley@maybeebrew.com. 

This week we’re going to do something a little different (but something we’ll potentially do again), because there A lot of returning beers this week to breweries across the region. Coming off of the busy holiday season, it’s always nice to see what styles and old favourites are returning to the shelves and taps of our favourite breweries. Here we go with a second list! 

  • Tatamagouche Brewing
    • Apres Cream Ale, 4.5%. After taking home a Bronze at the Canadian Brewing Awards, this beer is back in 355ml cans, but now also in a 12 pack box! Grab this in-store or online.
    • Dusk Schwarzbier, 4.9%. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen this roasty, coffee and caramel-y dark lager and now it’s back in a smaller 355ml canned format! Available at the brewery and online.
  • Sourwood Cider – WABAMO Hopped Session Cider, 4.0%. This crusher is back with a new and improved recipe that is a little lighter in alcohol and acidity. Highly drinkable with citrus and floral flavours and aroma, this is in 355ml cans at Bishop’s Cellar and online from the brewery. 
  • Bannerman Brewing – Shore Leave Dry-Hopped Fruited Sour, 5.2%. Previously available when Bannerman first opened four years ago, this drinkable sour is dry-hopped with Mosaic and conditioned on blood orange and pineapple puree. This is available at the St. John’s brewery on tap and in cans.
  • Tanner & Co. Brewing – 1320 Cold IPA, 6.5%. One of the popular styles of 2023, was something that Tanner has done previously. Using local malt, the hops featured in this one is where the name comes from experimental hop variety YQH 1320 which will no doubt get a trade name in the coming year. It’s known for bringing big flavours of guava, citrus, and pineapple. 
  • Banished Brewing – Mirrors American Lager, 5%. The crushable king returns to cans, as this crisp lager is hopped with Saaz and Hallertau Blanc. It’s available now from the brewery and cans will be going across the province of Newfoundland through the week.
  • Schoolhouse Brewery – Fuzzy Peach Double IPA, 7.9%. A style that’s out of ordinary for the brewery, this big banger is back for a warm, boozy winter with a peach flavour! Grab this one from the Windsor brewery on tap and in cans. 

This isn’t usually something we post about, but it’s always fun to highlight the production and behind the scenes action of our regional breweries. Since Good Robot has been settled into their new Elmsdale location for over a year, they’ve been doing more than just brewing Good Robot beer. Take a look at this YouTube video that provides insight into what they’ve got going on in terms of equipment, canning details and capabilities of the facility.

Saint John residents (Saint Johners? Sea Dogs?) rejoice! Loyalist City Brewing has a new taproom and cocktail bar right above their existing location at 60 Water Street. The Second Story brings an elevated experience for craft beer, craft cocktails, and a very modern and refined space with lovely views of the harbour and port. We can say first hand that it’s a spot to check out if you’re in town. The current hours are 5pm ‘til Midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but extended hours and special events are soon to be announced on their Instagram page. Cheers to good news!

Friday Wrap-Up for December 15, 2023 – News from 2 Crows, Rough Waters, Lone Oak, Burnside, Schoolhouse, Tanner, Nomad, Tire Shack, Trailway, Big Spruce, Bannerman, Propeller, North and Stillwell!

Posted by acbbdamian on 2023-12-15
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: 2 Crows Brewing, 2 Crows Oxford, Bannerman Brewing, Big Spruce Brewing, Burnside Brewing Company, Canadian Beer News, Enjoy Nomad, Lone Oak Brewing, North Brewing, Propeller Brewing, Rough Waters Brewing, Schoolhouse Brewery, Stillwell Beer Bar, Tanner & Co Brewing, Tire Shack Brewing, TrailWay Brewing. 5 comments

‘Tis the season (or saison) as they say, and as it’s only 10 more sleeps ‘til the big day, we’re all busy, busy, busy, hence the later than usual post! As a programming note here, we very likely won’t be doing wrap-up posts the next two weeks, but we are planning to have a special post going up in the meantime. So let’s get onto some quick hits about the beer news in the region for this weekend so you can tackle your to-do lists!

We’ll start out with our friends at 2 Crows opening their second location, 2 Crows Oxford. As we’ve noted before, it’s in the West End of Halifax on Oxford/Cork streets (next to On The Mat and in the former location of 4Cats Art Studio); Yeah Yeah’s Pizza has moved from their Barrington Street location to join them for slices and whole pies, alongside a full taplist. They soft-opened a week ago and have done some industry and newsletter subscriber nights, but this Saturday is their grand opening! The taproom will be open 11 AM until 11 PM with the kitchen open from 2 PM until 9:30 PM. Featuring ten taps from 2 Crows, a Sourwood cider and a Goodmore Kombucha, 2 Crows Oxford has 12 taps to serve the people! There are no reservations at this time, so show up for a slice to go, a slice to stay, a pint to stay, beer to go, whatever mix and match combo you desire!

Here are the ten 2 Crows offerings to start:

  • AC Light Lager
  • Pollyanna – Northeast IPA
  • Classic – Maritime Dry Stout
  • Fantacity – Belgian Wheat 
  • Jamboree Strawberry & Guava – Sour
  • Jamboree Blueberry & Lemon – Sour
  • Perfect Revelation – New England IPA
  • Home & Home – collaboration with Lone Oak – Hazy IPA w/ wine grapes
  • Battery Power – Hazy IPA
  • Letna – Bohemian Pilsner

In Deer Lake, Rough Waters Brewing is celebrating their birthday! Being open for four years is a great accomplishment and we’re happy they’re still around. As a celebration for the season and anniversary, they have a new barrel aged saison, High Tide. For this year it is a cherry saison that was brewed and then hung out for a year in a single malt whiskey barrel. This clocks in at 7% and is in a 750ml bottle. Looking for this in shops around Newfoundland from the east to west coasts of the province.

South we go to PEI’s evergrowing brewery. Lone Oak has a brand new release that is right on point with what the people are drinking. Nocturnal is a German-inspired dark lager. Brewed with German Pilsner malt, this dark lager is 5.2% and has some hints of caramel, while being smooth, dry and easily drinkable. This is available on tap at their three locations (Borden-Carleton, Milky Way and Fox Meadow) and available in cans to go from the Cold Beer Store at Milky Way and the main taproom in Borden. (And if you’re not from the area, like us, Milky Way is the little retail area by the main Cow’s Creamery along the Trans-Canada Highway just west of Charlottetown!)

Continuing south to Nova Scotia, Burnside Brewing (formerly Spindrift, in case you forgot!) has just launched a new small batch series called The Brew Lab. This series won’t be tied to a certain style, but gives the brewery folks a chance to try new flavours and styles and test them out on customers. The first in this series is Hazy Pale Ale and it’s available now. The baby sibling to Sea Glass (Burnside’s New England IPA), this Hazy Pale Ale is 4.5% with a lush tropical and citrusy hop character from Sabro, El Dorado, Citra, Eclipse and Comet. While keeping that strong flavour, the bitterness is medium at 35 IBU. The beer will be on tap at their 3 taproms (Dartmouth, Truro and Antigonish) and will also be available at the three private non-Bishop’s Cellar stores (Harvest in Dartmouth, West Side in Clayton Park and Rockhead on Windsor Street on the peninsula). 

Headed up Magazine Hill and off to Windsor the town, Schoolhouse Brewery has a new release that is also in the IPA Family. Blackboard is a Black IPA featuring Amarillo and Cascade hops. Using a malt bill with a combination of crystal malts, it weighs in on the heavier side at 7% but is still crisp and refreshing with a solid bitterness and bit of sweetness. It will be available on tap and cans from the brewery, on tap at various locations, and cans at the private stores mentioned above. 

The folks from Tatamagouche and their Nomad non-alcoholic brand are back! After a very popular initial run, they’re back with a new style and the launch of Nomad Witbier. All the usual flavours from the Belgian classic, namely coriander, orange peel, and elderflower highlight this refreshing and zesty beer, but in a non-alc 0.5% brew in a 355ml format! Check this one out online or directly from the brewery. 

Tanner Brewing is giving us two new releases before the Holidays. First up is a Hopfenweisse, a hybrid version of a German wheat beer and an IPA. Expect some yeast-driven banana character along with some hop derived tropical fruit and citrus notes with a 5.5% body.  This is canned and available from the brewery’s two locations and online. Second up, is a Baco Noir Sparkling Mead, using local honey fermented on Baco Noir grape skins from Grand Pré Winery. This is a 5.9% sparkling mead with lots of berry and cherry notes, which pair nicely with the sweetness of the honey. Find this in 500ml bottles online for delivery or at their two locations!

Over to New Brunswick where Tire Shack has a new one out in Moncton. If you’re like some of us, December means buying boxes of tangerines and Tire Shack’s new beer is bringing the festivity. Cranberry Tangerine Sour is a new release that uses those two exact fruits in a festive, drinkable sour. This is canned and on tap directly from the brewery. 

A short drive up to Fredericton takes us to Trailway where they’re headed in the other direction with their latest seasonal release. Italian Stout is exactly that! An 11% bold, rich, chocolate and hazelnut flavoured imperial stout. Using additions of both (although for the hazelnuts, it’s just the extract so the typical allergens are removed), this should bring the flavours of those delicious gold foil-wrapped holiday treats that get devoured during this time of year. Rich and decadent, this is a limited release so grab it in cans from their Fredericton and Saint John locations.

A few pieces of beer news out of Big Spruce this week, as they have both a new one and a returning release. Starting with that new-new, Just Shilling is an 80 Shilling Scottish Ale. You may know this style as Scottish Export Ale and it is a very drinkable deep copper, malty sweet, and smooth brew. At 4.8% it’s a lovely sipper for this time of year. Next up is the return of Ykpaïha (we’ll let you figure out the pronunciation on that one!), their Ukrainian Pilsner. It features the Ukrainian Zlato Polissya hop and is a crisp, bitter beer that is floral, herbal and well balanced at 4.9%. Both of these beers are canned and available at the brewery or online. 

Bannerman Brewing has a returning favourite with Aces High. A rice lager, it is a collaboration with Namjim, the Thai dining lads who run the kitchen at Bannerman. This is a 4.5% beer with toasted rice and dry-hopped with Sorachi Ace. It is canned and available at the brewery and around the Avalon peninsula. 

A fan favourite is back from Propeller Brewing today. Revolution is their approachable Imperial Stout that is once again in cans. At 8%, this is a rich, dark, robust beer that has dark fruit, coffee and chocolate flavours and is well balanced with hop bitterness. it is available at all 3 Prop Shops, online for delivery, and Harvest, West Side, and Rockhead. It will also be hitting select NSLC locations. 

Capping off the returning beers is Alloy from North Brewing. A Champagne IPA, this is one of their more popular seasonal releases as the IPA  flavour and body come through with a very dry finish. Using a lovely combination of Vic Secret and Huell Melon hops, the flavours are predominantly pineapple and melon with some herbaceous notes. It’s 6% and available on tap at all three locations and in cans as well, in store and online.

Piggybacking off of Thursday’s Lambic and a Movie fun at the Freehouse…. Stilly HQ is back for its annual Belgianfest! On Saturday December 16th, from Noon until late, Bar Stillwell will be featuring Belgian bottle pours and draft selections from Boon, Del Dolle, De Struise, Fantome, Lambiek Fabriek, Oud Beersel and more. We also expect there to be some treats on the food menu side as well (duck fat popcorn is back!). There are no tickets and no cover for this one, they just ask you to wear some Holiday swag or ugly sweaters to get into the festive spirit.

As we finished drafting up this week’s post, we noticed the social media release from Canadian Beer News. Greg Clow will be shutting down his beloved site and it’s hard to capture in words just how much the industry and consumers have loved (and will miss!) his work. Since 2008, it’s been a completely individual effort from Greg to keep up with the ever-growing and changing industry on a national level. Seeing as a group of us sometimes struggle to keep up with just Atlantic Canada, we can speak directly to how herculean his effort has been. His dedication on a daily basis is something that so many of us have relied on and we often marvelled at how one person could do all that work themselves. Our glasses are raised to Greg and we’ll pour one out for his stalwart site. We also absolutely agree with his parting words: remember to support your favorite independent breweries through the holidays and into the new year; many of them need it now more than ever.