Welcome to the August 28th edition of the Maritime Beer Report.
PEI Brewing Company says with the return of the Harvest 4-pack comes the return of Harvest Time lager - super crisp, great hop aroma and finish to it. Available in the retail store at the brewery now and soon in the 4-packs to PEILCC and Alcool NB Liquor stores
Upstreet Craft Brewing have released the details on their collaboration with Emily from Boxing Rock Brewing. The new India Pale Lager known as Rumble in the Alley: Round 1 is set to release on September 5th, the day of the Block Party. The Block Party will be on September 5th and is a free outdoor event in their parking lot from 12-8pm, with an after party in the taproom following the event. This party will feature local food vendors, live musical performances, a pop-up barber shop, lawn games, activities, and more. Upstreet will also be doing guided brewery tours throughout the day.
Pump House Brewing tells me that they will be making their Stone Fire Ale again this year, and hopefully every year, on September 3rd to celebrate their anniversary. Look for this beer in the special 750 ml bottles in October. They are also releasing SPCA IPA this fall in support of the animal charity, expect this one to be good and hoppy.
I tweeted this week that Shiretown Brewing has closed its doors. Sad news but the brewer is still working in the industry as a sales rep for another craft brewer.
TrailWay Brewing's two brewers' wives took over for a brew and it is now ready. It is called "Better Half" and is a 4.5% ABV Blueberry Lime Ale brewed with real lime and local blueberries. Sounds like a nice summer beer.
NB Liquor is celebrating the winners of this year’s Canadian Brewing Awards by offering a selection of 38 varieties of beer and one cider from among the medal winners. Participating corporate stores will have the brands available starting on August 31st, I have seen some of these beers already appearing in some stores.
Big Spruce Brewing will be harvesting their hops for a Community Harvest IPA next week, Jeremy assures me it will be a hoppy brew, watch their facebook page for updates. They also announced The 3rd Annual Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge. First, Second and Third Place will be announced in each of the 3 styles, plus there will be a declared overall "best in show" winner. Entrants that place in each of the style categories will each win a swag package, and the Best in Show winner will also be given the opportunity to brew their beer at Big Spruce Brewing for release in January 2016 at the 3rd Annual Craft Beer and Local Food festival put on by Local Connections in Halifax. The selected beer styles for the competition, per BJCP Style Guidelines 2015, are:
1) 21B. Specialty IPA - Red IPA
2) 7B. Altbier
3) 3D. Dark Czech Lager
All the details are available now so get brewing.
The Garrison Brewing collaboration brew they did with Great Lakes Brewery and Metalman Brewing earlier this month has a name. Not So Gentle Tickle IPA is being described as a monster of a IPA. Garrison also announced Hop’n’Brats happening on September 25th from 6 PM until 11 PM. They say breweries from across the province will be there to present their top brands, while enjoying your favorite Sausage themed food with live music. Entry is $16 which includes 5 sample tickets and a souvenir sample cup.
Boxing Rock Brewing and North Brewing were busy this week harvesting and brewing their annual Many Hands collaboration beer. Look for details and release date in the coming weeks on version 3.0.
Gahan House Halifax has a couple of interesting beers to look for. Karen Allen was visiting Emily from Boxing Rock last week and she was kind enough to let her harvest some Cascade and Chinook hops from her back yard. Karen will be doing a wet-hop pale ale with them that will be released the last week of September. Also being released that week will be an Oyster Beer to promote the Oyster Festival on October 4th. It`s fairly experimental, but the plan is for it to be an ultra pale ale with lemon and sea salt. Going to throw a bit of rye malt in there for a touch of spiciness. The plan is for it to pair well with oysters and it will be on tap at Gahan the whole week leading up to Oyster Festival.
Thanks for following along this week and until next time enjoy responsibly.