Tatamagouche Brewing

All posts tagged Tatamagouche Brewing

The 2024 Canadian Brewing Awards & Conference is in the books and this year’s awards ceremony saw a very strong showing for Atlantic Canadian breweries, one we believe is the best we’ve ever seen from the region. A total of 25 medals are being brought home from Hamilton by some very proud brewers, amongst those are 7 gold, 10 silver, and 8 bronze spread across all four provinces, with seven from New Brunswick (3G/2S/2B), two from Newfoundland & Labrador (1S/1B), twelve from Nova Scotia (4G/6S/2B), and four from Prince Edward Island (1S/3B).

The biggest story for Atlantic Canada, and Nova Scotia in particular, is the 3 golds and the “Brewery of the Year” title won by Shelburne’s Boxing Rock. This is the first time since 2012 when Picaroons won, that a brewery from this end of the country has taken home the biggest prize. A huge congratulations from us to Emily and Henry and their entire team at Boxing Rock who will have something extra special to celebrate at their 11th Birthday Party in July.

Other multiple winners included Fredericton’s Grimross, Halifax newcomers The Brewery by Quinn’s, Mahone Bay’s Tanner & Co, and Tatamagouche Brewing. The full list of our region’s winners appears below. You can also view the entirety of the results at the CBAC site (check out the rad map link if you’re planning a beer-drinking trip this summer and want to sample some bangers!)

Big ups all around to all the breweries who brought home hardware to our little corner of the world and to those who stuck their noses (and wallets) out to participate. We suggest you celebrate all of them with a beer! No word yet on the location for the 2025 Awards & Conference, but we’ll keep you in the loop once we hear!

New Brunswick

Newfoundland

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

ps. We’re thrilled to be back and publishing, and have some Profiles in the works for the region’s expanding beer, cider, and mead landscape! Chat again soon!

We’ve known you all of our lives, at least that’s how it seems… Since Canadian Beer News had their last post in December, the fellows here at ACBeerBlog have been hemming and hawing around how much longer we can do these Friday Wrap-ups. With so many breweries in the region and ourselves with kids, family, and life, we needed four people to keep this going the last few years and recently we’ve gone back down to three. We all love beer (still!) and we all love the friends, memories, trips, and community we’ve found thanks to beer across Atlantic Canada and beyond. From reading this blog, to writing for this blog, our families probably still have no idea what we’re talking about, but we are grateful for our readership and the ability to be part of this community.

Our thanks to everyone who helped us in one way or another over the last decade. Greg Delaney for starting this mess, Shawn Meek for his years of writing (even when he had a day job and a brewery side hustle), and Devon Gillis for his couple of years of contributions. All of the brewery staff who we bugged over the years for “the nerdy info”, often at inopportune times, and especially those who probably didn’t have “marketing and communications” in their job description. But especially the readers, of course; although we honestly have no idea how many people actually were reading, we had to assume there were at least a few, and that’s why we kept doing it.

What will we do now, at least on Thursday nights and Friday mornings? Probably a lot less typing. And frantically scanning social media. And complaining about how many beers 2 Crows released that week (Happy Birthday Jeremy, you made us quit! 😘). And telling Chris to, “stop looking now, we’ve got enough dammit!” The blog site isn’t going away, but you’ll probably find it gets a bit of an overhaul in the coming weeks. At the very least we’d like it to remain a record and a resource for folks going forward. We’ve also talked a bit about writing some of the pieces we never found the time to write; things about the industry, trends, opinions, brewery profiles (‘member those?!), etc. We make no commitments whatsoever, though, of course. Our social media accounts will remain, at least Instagram anyway, so if you’re looking for us, that’s probably the best way to go. Now, on to the news!

When Tatamagouche Brewing takes on a style they haven’t done before you can generally rest assured that they’re going to do it well, and we have every reason to suspect that such will be the case with their latest foray into Continental beer styles with Altbier. A classic German style, “alt” in fact translates to “old” as in, “this is the beer we used to make (before we started making lager).” Consistent with the style, you should find Tata’s version to have plenty of malty character, with biscuit and graham cracker leading the way thanks to generous use of German malts, balanced with enough hop bitterness and character from local Styrian Goldings hops to keep it from being cloying. Cold-conditioned to ensure a crisp finish, this 4.9% mahogany beauty is available in cans and will no doubt make an appearance on tap at better beer bars. Couple that with a “fresh” release of their Solitude Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, and you’ve got a full meal of Tata to enjoy this weekend!

Copper Bottom Brewing, hailing from Montague, PEI, also has a beer this week based on a traditional style that will hopefully usher in the warmer weather. Pursuit is a 4.0% Kolsch, a style that hails from Cologne Germany, and is the basis for many “Lagered Ales”. In a time that the concept of lagering and bottom-fermenting yeast was taking hold in the country’s breweries, those in Cologne were made to swear an oath to stick with the traditional ale yeast, which is top-fermenting. To compete with the crisp and clean lager beers available, however, the resourceful breweries would ferment with ale yeast, but then lager, or “keep”, the beer to keep the fruity ale character in check. Much like in 17th Century Cologne, Copper Bottom’s is also supremely drinkable, light, refreshing, and crisp. The Hallertau Mittelfruh and Saaz hops lend a touch of Old World character to the clean base of Pilsner and Vienna malts. On draught and in cans at the brewery now, and making its way across the province this weekend!

Straight outta Rothesay, Foghorn has a brand new release to satisfy your need for a summertime thirst quenching hazy IPA. Sundog is a New England-style IPA that brings all the hazy and tropical vibes you want for the summer. The malt bill for this is a blend of 2 row and Pilsner along with some oats for a smooth and beefed up body. The hops are a mix of Citra, Eclipse and HBC 1019 and the New England Ale yeast brings it all together. The beer will be available in 473ml cans on the shelves at ANBL for the next few months but they already have plans to brew it again as spring turns to summer. It’s 6% and 20 IBU, so look for it if you’re in New Brunswick for the summer!

Terp alert! With April 20th in the not so distant past, Landwash has a new dank beer called Best Buds. That could describe your blog boys, too 🙂 This beer is a very dank west coast IPA with some earthy and pine notes from CTZ, Cascade and Bru-1 hops. This beer features an addition of Pineapple Express terpenes which have a tropical, pungent, pine and fruit aroma. There are no THC or CBD products in this beer, but the flavour and aroma should be right on point! The beer is 6% and available in cans from the brewery. 

In Charlottetown, PEI, Upstreet Brewing has a new beer from their Staff Brew series of beers that are conceived by members of their staff. This time it’s Ace who’s responsible, a friendly face at both the taproom and Craft Beer Corner. Described as, “jam in a can,” the simply named Raspberry Beer is a 5.0% light pale ale dosed with raspberries for an ideal sunny summer afternoon tipple. Find this one pouring at both Upstreet Island locations and also available in cans to go.

Bannerman Brewing, of Duckworth Street in downtown St. John’s has a brand new dark beer with a twist for us this week. Nine Lives is a porter that was brewed with the cats of the Bannerman staff. (Those of us who have cats know that their contribution was probably watching in disinterest and occasionally knocking something off something else) Starting with oats for mouthfeel and chocolate malts for roastiness on top of a traditional barley malt base, this one saw some aging time on blueberry and dark currant purées that contributed notes of dark fruit and berries to complement the chocolate and biscuit malty notes. Find this 4.8% gem in cans and on tap for pints and fills at the brewery and taproom.

Across Conception Bay from St. John’s we find Bay Roberts and Baccalieu Trail Brewing Co, who have a new malty one of their own to mention. Clock Tower Munich Dunkel is, well, a Munich dunkel. For those unfamiliar, it’s a dark lager style, built on a base of largely Munich malt, lightly hopped, and generally fermented cool with a Saccharomyces pastorianus strain of yeast. In this case the team at BT added a single decoction mash to bring a little extra magic to the proceedings. Named for the clocktower bells to which historic brewers would sync their mash times, this one provides the yin to the yang of Baccalieu Trail’s lighter Helles or High Water Munich helles. At 5% you’ll find there’s plenty of opportunity to consider the malty flavors, low bitterness, and crisp finish. Grab it in cans from the brewery and, we expect, anywhere else you find Baccalieu Trail beers.

North Sydney’s Breton Brewing is back with another fruited sour beer in their Let’s Jam series. Let’s Jam Cherry Lime Sour is… well… a 4.0% sour that pours a lovely pink hue, and is bursting with flavours of cherry and lime. Tart, light, and refreshing, cans and draught of LJCLS are in the taproom now, with home delivery an shipping province-wide from their website.

If you’re out and about in Halifax’s North End tomorrow, you will definitely want to pop in to the Stillwell Freehouse to check out their tap feature from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. This excellent Japanese- and Czech-inspired brewery rarely makes it this far east, so you should take advantage when the opportunity presents itself! Open from noon, there will be seven Godspeed beers pouring, including the debut of their Kiri, a 5.1% Belgian Witbier. 

After recently opening ticket sales for the Newfoundland Craft Beer Festival, Banished Brewing has also announced that they will be hosting Banished Fest in July. On July 12th and 13th, the taps will be featuring breweries from across North America on the go, with beers from Badlands, Dunham, Lone Oak, 2 Crows, Trailway, Stillwell, Other Half, and half a dozen more. Each brewery will have a dedicated tap or two during the event, and as one keg kicks, it will be replaced by another beer from the same brewery, and will be rotated between sessions, so that there will be a new roster each time. Those in the Golden Growler club will have the opportunity to fill up on any leftover beer at the end of the weekend (should there be any!). Tickets for the three sessions are now available, grab them quickly before they disappear!

Though they’re still probably best known for their hoppy stuff, Trailway Brewing in Fredericton has very much diversified their offering in the last few years and their Czech Pilsner Yada Yada has been a big part of that. Those who love it can rejoice as it’s back in the fridges and back on the taps, with biscuit-y malt, lively carbonation, and a balancing bitterness in a 5.0% ABV package.

Big Spruce has three…Three…THREE beers returning for your enjoyment this week. Canadian Tuxedo is their 6% haskap berry-infused sour ale, this time with some additional funk from some swimming time with Brettanomyces. Blursday is a favorite hazy IPA of many, coming in at 6.6% and bursting with mango, papaya, and lychee. Wrapping things up is What Could Possibly Go Wrong, an organic double IPA at 8% based around the relatively new Nectaron hop known for imparting passion fruit, stone fruit, and pineapple characters. These are all available in cans from the source and elsewhere you get your Spruce fix.

On Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Tanner & Co. Brewing is re-releasing their Kuitbier, a traditional Dutch style of beer from the 16th century. Made with oats, wheat, and barley, much of it local, it’s got a smooth malt character paired with subtle herbal notes. Canned and ready to go from Tanner retail, it’s 4.7% ABV.

A business lasting fifty years is something to be celebrated, and Port Rexton is doing just that with their release this week. Their 5.0% Golden Ale, released seasonally, is sporting a new label designed by the folks at St. Michael’s Printshop, an artist-first print studio in St. John’s, celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year. Their facilities include studio and exhibition spaces, printing and lithography services, for both established and emerging artists. Support two local businesses that support their community, with one tasty beer! Available now in Port Rexton and at their St. John’s Retail Shop, with cans and draught further afield real soon!

Thanks for reading this far, and for following along over the last twelve years of near-weekly posts! Remember, this isn’t goodbye, it’s, “We have confidence you can find a great locally-made beer near you, now go out and grab it!”. We’ll still be coming to your inbox, and the blog site, with brewery Profiles and other news on occasion, so “See You Later” until then! Aaron, Chris, and Damian

What will we talk about to open up this post? The weather, of course! Spring has sprung and with beer events around the corner and new beer releases continuing, we are all here for local craft beer to spring eternal. Join us on a journey as we welcome the season of renewal with a pint in hand (while watching some March Madness basketball too). Honestly the NCAA Women’s Tournament may be better than the Men’s this year!). But not all news is good news, so let’s get into it.

After finishing last week’s post with sad news, we unfortunately need to start this week’s in the same way. This week Brightwood Brewery announced that they will be closing the doors of their taproom on Sunday, March 31st. This isn’t necessarily the end of the business, as they are committing to an attempt at restructuring, but it does mean that possibly your last chance for a pint at their well-loved spot on Portland Street in downtown Dartmouth is just over a week away. As has been the case with other closures, retail sales have been down over the winter; in Brightwood’s case, they also faced forced price increases at the NSLC and the loss of two of their three listings there. Between inflation, the recent influx of ready-to-drink products, and a general trend away from alcohol consumption, small producers have the deck stacked against them these days. While galaxy-brained folks are quick to shout, “It’s just proof that we had way too many breweries, it wasn’t sustainable!” we beg to differ. The state of Maine (amongst others) has a much higher breweries per capita than any province in Canada let alone Atlantic Canada. But breweries there have more options for retail channels (although we’re sure folks still complain a little about their distro system). They don’t have to deal with the same kind of constant regulation, especially as pertains to pricing. Given the state of the post-COVID economy, everyone knew it was probably somewhat inevitable that there would be a contraction of brewery numbers in our region. But the way it’s been shaping up over the past little while, we’ve got worries that the craft breweries that are going to survive are the big ones that can withstand losses for a longer period. The smaller, more hyperlocal ones, the ones that have built vibrant tap rooms and vital communities, are the ones that are most at risk. No offense to those brands that have built themselves as (or built themselves up into) going concerns, with lots of NSLC/ANBL/NLC/PEIBC listings and maybe even out-of-province sales, but it’s the neighbourhood breweries we think folks will miss the most. So we say again, as we have said before, and yes, with full understanding of the economic climate we say it in, support your local brewery if you can, folks, they’re probably riding a knife edge right now. We also say best of luck to Brightwood: they had a great story of going from basement/garage to downtown taproom; we hope to hear of their resurgence in the not-too-distant future.

Pals from way back, the owners and brewers of Moncton’s Happy Brewing and Fredericton’s Half Cut recently got together in the Hub City to brew up a beer appropriate for this time of year… a Cold IPA! Space Case started with a base of Pilsner malt, with the addition of toasted flaked rice to help it ferment dry and keep the body light (and true to the Cold IPA style). Lager yeast kept just a touch warmer than usual means the bugs fermenting the beer keep their aromatics in check while chomping away, allowing the bitterness and big flavour from NZ-grown Nectaron to shine through in the form of pineapple and lychee. This 6.3% beer is on tap at both of the Main Street Fredericton and Main Street Moncton locations today, and will be in cans in early April in both cities (and perhaps better can shops across the province too!).

Up in Newfoundland, Dildo Brewing has brewed a special brew to celebrate a special crew. The Newfoundland Highlanders Pipe Band is celebrating 50 years of piping tradition and Dildo has produced a traditional Scottish Wee Heavy Ale to mark the occasion. Featuring a classic mahogany color and a creamy tan head, you’ll find toffee and caramel aromas leading to flavors of dark fruit and some earthy bitterness. Sip carefully, though, the “heavy” part of the name is no joke, with the beer coming in at 8.6% ABV. If you’re in Newfoundland, at least the St. John’s area, you can experience the Newfoundland Highlanders this Saturday at 7:30pm playing alongside the Royal Newfoundland Regimental Band at the Salvation Army Temple. Admission is free, but they ask that you bring a donation for local food banks. As for the beer, it’s been canned, so no doubt you can find it at the brewery and their St. John’s Water Street Bottle Shop, but also likely through retail channels in the coming days.

Speaking of big ol’ beers, we turn back to New Brunswick, where Trailway has a monster of their own that’s been some time in the making. Smoke & Mirrors is both a local and international brew, featuring malt from Distillerie Fils du Roy Malthouse along with Scottish peated barley. This 11.1% imperial smoked stout was aged for twelve weeks in whisky casks from Distillerie Fils du Roy, it picked up additional layers of flavor including more smoke and malt character as well as some oak notes. With a soft carbonation, this thick beer boasts warming alcohol that complements the smoky profile and finishes with subtle vanilla and oak. Find it in at the Trailway taprooms in Fredericton and Saint John, and cans will also see distro to ANBL locations in the coming weeks.

Monctonites! Get ready to reunite with a returning variant from Tide & Boar Brewing. Their Sour Otis series of sour ales features different fruit additions and flavours, and this week Sour Otis: Watermelon Dole Whip is back in cans. If you’re unfamiliar with Dole Whip, it’s a Disney theme park staple that featured pineapple juice and chunks, that is dairy free and and like soft serve ice cream. Available in a few flavours now, folks make this at home and the watermelon version from T&B brings a great blend of acid and sweetness, like a slightly sour watermelon candy. This is canned, 6.0% ABV, and available now from the brewpub!

There’s one other one from T&B to tell you about and this one will tickle your tastebuds in a different way. Melting Mountains is a new Triple IPA that is big and hazy. Featuring the hop trio of Citra, Mosaic, and Idaho 7 it is big on citrus and drinkability in a 10% body. Check this one from the taproom!

TataHeads (or fans of Tatamagouche Brewing, which is everyone) have a full year of enjoyment ahead of them as the brewery slow rolls their 10th anniversary celebrations over the year. On social media they’re going to be running polls for the next week in their own March Madness style showdown. They’ll be posting 16 beers from the Tata Brew Archives and followers will have a chance to vote on what beer makes a triumphant return. Check their Instagram stories and post for a little trip down memory lane. We certainly have our favourites, so go check out the contest and vote with your heart!