Friday, April 24, 2015

Maritime Beer Report - April 24, 2015



Hello and welcome to the April 24th edition of the Maritime Beer report

Barnone Brewing announced a music event at the Brewery. It is a Music/Beer Pairing of the 'Island Sol' collaboration. It is $15 admission at the door and they say come early 7:00+  and 1st come 1st seated.

Big Axe Brewery and Hammond River Brewing had a collaboration Brew Day this week in Quispamsis. The result is a India Black Ale weighing in at 7% ABV and 77 IBUs. It will be available in both the Saint John and Fredericton areas in a couple of weeks.

I had a great chat with Andre from Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault. Loads of great plans from the brewery. A few things to tempt your palate, look for their birthday party in June, their IPA returning, a new pilsner and perhaps a barrel aging program.

Trail Way Brewing Company says that after a nice long dry hop their collaboration brew "Sensible Nonsense Double IPA" is now in the bright tank. They also filled a couple special release casks. They added some bourbon soaked Spanish cedar to one cask and did a second dry hop in the other cask. Release date and further details will be announced early next week.

Big Spruce Brewing did a three way conspiracy this week with Tatamagouche Brewing and Propeller Brewing on a big new beer for NS Craft Beer week. Look for it May 9th.

Boxing Rock Brewing Company one-upped the last collaboration with a four way with Sea Level Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing and Gahan House Halifax's Karen Allen. Look for details on this one next month.

Garrison Brewing Company says Rum-barrel aged Grand Baltic Porter is back. Now in a 650 ml bomber bottle, It is $16.95 at the brewery and private stores now but is in very limited quantities.

Propeller Brewing Company says the launch for their next offering in the Lambic Style Series at Stillwell will be postponed until a future date. This unique bottle conditioned brew is dependent on nature and nature says it's not ready yet.

Tatamagouche Brewing Company released Sunrise Trail India Session Ale. It is 4.1% ABV beer that is amazing aroma and very refreshing. It will be available in growlers and 650 ml bottles.

Uncle Leo's Brewery says Vohs Weizenbier will be making its spring debut next week. This is a gold medal winner and one of my favorites from last year. 

This is the last report I will be mentioning Wrought Iron Brewing Company. The boys are changing their company name, logo and branding. From now on they will be know as Good Robot Brewing Company. They also introduced the first of their beers, Tom Waits for No One stout will be available on tap at The Brooklyn Warehouse next month and in 64-oz growlers and 32-oz grunters beginning on Saturday, May 9th.

It was a week of uber tank deliveries. New tanks arrived at Upstreet Craft Brewing, Breton Brewing Company,  Schoolhouse Brewing Company and Spindrift Brewing. Spindrift also released its branding and facebook page. 

That is all for this week. Thanks for your continued support and until next time enjoy responsibly. 

Friday, April 17, 2015

Maritime Beer Report - April 17, 2015

Hello and welcome to the April 17th edition of the Maritime Beer Report. 

I love beer and I love food trucks, Upstreet Craft Brewing decided to follow other breweries and marry the two. They are looking for food trucks serving interesting locally inspired food to park at Upstreet Craft Brewing. Whether you, or someone you know, is currently looking for a space or looking to relocate to a new high traffic location, please contact them. 

Big Axe Brewery has their popular Maple Wheat Amber Ale available now. Brewed with 100% pure maple sap provided by Stone Family Maple Products from the historical Pokiok Sugary. Big Axe also turned one this week. They would like to invite everyone to celebrate with them in June,with the opening of our new Tap Room! 

Hammond River Brewing repeated as Gold People Choice Award at Saint John Beer Fest. Shane has a lot of hardware for a small brewery.

Picaroons Traditional Ales reminds people to send their high-res cat pictures in to their melonhead contest, deadline is one week away on April 24th. Dooryard Summer Wheat Ale is due to be released on Earth Day, April 22nd, look for it in all the usual spots. Picaroons decided to jump on the "ISA" train and have just finished brewing The Brick ISA, Imperial Scotch Ale that is. It is a low-hopped malt-forward brew with fruity esters all the while being blanketed by a subtle smokiness and alcoholic warmth. It is now on tap at the Brewtique in Downtown Fredericton while supplies last‬ 

Railcar Brewing Company is having a Craft Beer and Chocolate Pairing on Saturday, May 9 at 6:00pm in the tap room. Detail on facebook.

Trail Way Brewing Company seems to have a never ending new beer releases. They have a Black Hops One Black IPA they have kegged. The East Coast Beer Nerds have got credit for naming it. 

Big Spruce/ North Brewing/ Uncle Leos's/ Wrought Iron Brewing jointly brewed British IPA this week. The batch will be delivered to the "Race The Kegs" NS Craft Beer Week event in Halifax by sail boat. It was brewed with organic Pale Anglais micro malted barley from Malterie Frontenac, and heavily hopped with East Kent Goldings hop.

More details on the Boxing Rock Brewing and The Ladies' Beer League International Women's Day collaboration brew. Cinnamon Spin is a Robust Porter with a pile of cinnamon and molasses. Boxing Rock says it is "Big, dark, malty and roasty, with notes of coffee, chocolate, with the teensiest bit of fruitiness in the background, this is everything a Robust Porter should be, including its 6.5% ABV strength. We added two big forward features to this palette. Cinnamon and molasses. The combination is quite complimentary of the porter, and we think it's a winner." Because this beer was brewed in observance of International Women's Day, Boxing Rock are donating a portion of the profits from this beer to the Shelburne County Women's Fishnet bursary program and the Halifax Sexual Health Centre. It is going to be launched at Stillwell Beer Bar on Saturday April 18, at 6:30 pm. with bottles bottles and growlers available in the usual spots

North Brewing Company is expanding again with their biggest tank yet at 2400 L. This will help with better supply of their beers.

Propeller Brewing Company has a couple of beers out. They have a new One Hit Wonder called "All Tapped Out" with 6 hop varieties,  72 IBUs and  6.9% ABV. Available in growlers at the Prop Shops. They have a new seasonal out, Rye IPA hit the shelves at both Prop Shop locations this week in 650ml bottles and comes in at 6.8% ABV.

Rogues Roost release a new Double IPA this week. Not a lot of details but I am sure it is great.

Rudders Brew Pub released that Lager beer will be back on tap at Rudder's this summer. Lighthouse Lager 2.0 is in the fermenter and should be out in June.

Schoolhouse Brewery has a cool project planned. They say "We have seen our beer production from grain to glass now we are going to see our beer go from field to glass." The Southfield project says "one field one beer". They are using a two acre field to produce barley and hops for an authentic Bluenose beer.

Tatamagouche Brewing Company also expanded this week by adding more tanks in time for summer.

New brewery alert in New Brunswick, Scared Men Brewing is now getting financing together and will give more details this summer. They have a fundraiser going on Friday, May 15 at 7:00pm at the Pub Down Under in Saint John, New Brunswick. More details soon.

News for the waterfront, Stillwell Beergarden will be opening around the end of May to provide beer and food with a Nova Scotia angle. Look for details to come forward over the next month.

There are all kinds of events popping up for Nova Scotia Craft Beer Week, look for a wrap up in two weeks of all the events I can find.

That is all for now, until next time enjoy responsibly.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Maritime Beer Report - April 10, 2015

Hello and welcome to the April 10th edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

Big Axe Brewery had a truck full of barrels delivered this week and asked "What does Big Axe Brewery have planned for June 6?". Sounds intriguing.

Grimross Brewing Company's new ‎Serendipity Series‬ Abbey Ale has a name, it will be called Monks Choice. They name came from Ryan Jacobson. This is a fitting name as Monks Choice is a lower alcohol Abbey beer and this is the beer the Monks would have kept to drink themselves, offering the stronger Dubbels, Tripels and Quads for sale to the public.

Picaroons Traditional Ales has a new experimental beer out this week. It is a Belgian Scotch Ale It is on tap at the Brewtique and is described as a little malty sweetness and a tiny bit of smoke, blanketed by a clove-y and spicy Belgian yeast.



Trail Way Brewing Company collaborated with Adam Jones and Roger Ringuette to create Trail Way's newest offering, "Sensible Nonsense" Double IPA. Look for this on tap in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for a couple special Sensible Nonsense cask releases with a Spanish cedar aged cask for launch.

Big Spruce Brewing announced it will once again will be taking over the taps at Lion & Bright Cafe Wine Bar for Spruce Up the Planet! Earth Day Celebration on Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00pm. Last year was a great time and I expect this year will be no different.

Garrison Brewing Company says for the month of April when you get a taster paddle, buy 4 samples and the 5th is on them. It is part of the ‪#‎SpringForLocal‬ campaign.

North Brewing has a beer dinner in the works for Dartmouth during NS Craft beer week. It is in collaboration with Brooklyn Warehouse and will be in the Two If By Sea Cafe on Ochterloney Street. Look for more details in a future blog.

Propeller Brewing's next Lambic release will be on April 25th at Bar Stillwell. All I know currently is that it is not a fruit one. These have been extremely popular and this one will be no exception.

Sea Level Brewing’s next seasonal release is one of Brewmaster Randy Lawrence’s favourites, the recipe given to him from a friend who makes this beer in Düsseldorf, a master brewer at the Brauerei im Füchschen, Germany. The New World ALT is a clean medium bodied ale with a background hop presence provided by the Hallertau Saphir hop and comes in at 4.8% ABV. It is now available in kegs, and in cans. Will be on tap soon at the Port Pub, and in 1 L growlers at our retail shop.

Unfiltered Brewing has opened sales on its club. It has three levels that has various rewards and varies from 250.00, 1000.00 and 5000.00. Check out the blog on their website to see details and ask to join.


Ladies Beer League collaboration beer, Cinnamon Spin, with Boxing Rock Beer is going to be released on April 18th at 6:00 at Bar Stillwell. It is a robust porter with cinnamon. No tickets required and there will be a cask at 6:30.

Last item tonight, on the heels of Nook & Cranny's announcement, four partners are opening Trestle Brewing in the Truro area this fall. Not a lot of details yet but I will let you know as soon as I do.

Thanks for joining me again this week and until next time, enjoy responsibly. 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Maritime Beer Report - April 3, 2015




Welcome to the April 3rd edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

Barnone Brewing has been very busy, they released a fresh Sessions asking if we remember the Solstice last year and this one has Citra. They also had Black Eye IPA, Pale, IPA, and some American Wheat last night and was brewing 'La Vaca Loca' Milk Stout.

Gahan House Pub in Charlottetown has released Angus Ale in conjunction with its burger week. Angus Ale is an unfiltered pale ale, dry hopped so lots of citrus aroma. It is 5% ABV and an 25 IBUs.

PEI Brewing Company says Reanimator is available in 473mL cans in their retail store. In case you forgot it is a 8.1% ABV Bock.

Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault released its  Lancaster KB882 amber lager this week in growlers. It is a 4.6% ABV lager. I mentioned this before as they honor a Lancaster bomber that has been in the town for 50 years.

Grimross Brewing Company introduces the Serendipity Series with its first offering of an Abbey beer. From Grimross "As a brewer, exploring new ideas and new recipes is half the fun of what we do. This is what our Serendipity Series is all about. Whenever the opportunity arises we will try new recipes, new ingredients, new techniques and processes in order to explore the world of beer and brewing... and we want to share them with you." For the first one they experimented with a new Malt from a micro-malterie in Quebec and a new Abbey yeast. It is a single Abbey beer, meaning it is lower alcohol and the ale the Monks would save and drink for themselves. Grimross ran a naming contest so we will see a name for this soon.

Hammond River Brewing as I reported, brewed their last batch of Breakfast stout for the season but put some of it on an oak barrel for aging, look for this barrel aged beer in a few weeks.

Picaroons Traditional Ales is once again asking for your cat. Cat picture that is, they are once again getting the Melonhead label ready and need your hi-res picture that they can use. Get all the details on their website and the deadline is April 24. There is also a special Easter treat at the Brewtique on Saturday April 4th. They have a keg of Irish Red dry-hopped with Golding Hops, a keg of Man's Best Friend dry-hopped with Tettnang hops, a keg of Blonde dry-hopped with Cascade hops and a keg of Yippee IPA dry-hopped with Amarillo hops.

The Pump House Brewery announced tickets for the expanded Atlantic Beer Fest are now for sale. Tickets are 55.00 for the Friday or Saturday evening session and 45.00 for the Saturday afternoon session. The oldest festival in the Maritimes grew from 600 beer fans in its inaugural year to 3000 last year with 60 breweries from across Canada, the USA and beyond. New this year is the Friday evening session and plans on adding a Belgium pavilion that will feature hard to find Belgian Beers along with Belgian food and all patrons of the festival will get a chance to win a once in a life time beer vacation to Belgium that includes visits to centuries old Trappist breweries.

Hell Bay Brewing Company celebrated its 4th birthday this week and say as a special thanks they will be sending Dark Cream Ale to a NSLC near you in early May. 

Meander River Farm says Ashdale Honey Brown is brewing and Lunch Box and Shack Wacky cider will be on tap this weekend in addition to a few growlers of Smokey Chipotle Porter left. They are open regular hours this Easter weekend.

Propeller Brewing says its latest One Hit Wonder, Peated Scotch Ale, is available for Growler fills right now. I hear it is quite good and at  7.1 % ABV it will warm you up on these cool Spring nights.

The Townhouse Brewpub & Eatery are closing for a 10 day break (April 4-13) while the owners get some R&R and explore Real Ale in the UK. Follow their adventures on facebook and stay tuned.

One last item, I see Bar Stillwell have a new beer out called Crush. It is an unfiltered lager with Nelsom Sauvin hops that comes in at 6.1% ABV.

That is it for this week, enjoy what is a long week end for most of us and until next time enjoy responsibly.