Brightwood Brewery opens Brewery and Beer Garden

(Dartmouth, NS) - Brightwood Brewery has branched out with a satellite brewery and beer garden on the Dartmouth waterfront at Alderney Landing. Onsite will be their 1/2 Bbl Robobrew system that will be used for test brews. 

They will be selling their own beer on 6 taps as well as cans and a cider they collaborated on with Chainyard. Also because it is a brewery licence they can sell beer to go.

They have no food options but encourage everyone to grab some local eats at Evans Fresh Seafood and Port City Cafe and come out and enjoy the view. The new beer garden is dog friendly, so bring your best friend. Grand opening is Thursday, July 16th with the hours being 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM. 

MOOSEHEAD BREWERIES AND MOONSHINE CREEK DISTILLERY COME TOGETHER TO SHOW THEIR ‘COMMUNITY SPIRIT’

(Saint John, NB) - Moosehead Breweries and Moonshine Creek Distillery have announced a one-of-a-kind collaboration. Pre-sale begins Wednesday, July 15, for Community Spirit, a rye lager virgin oak barrel aged whisky inspired by the work the two New Brunswick companies did together to produce hand sanitizer at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As COVID-19 started to make its way into Canada in mid-March, Moonshine Creek wanted to support efforts to keep the community safe by producing hand sanitizer - but the family-run small business didn’t have the ingredients required to produce significant quantities. Moosehead had the same goal, but lacked product with the high alcohol content required to make hand sanitizer. And so the companies came together and throughout the early weeks of the pandemic, Moosehead shipped a total of 24,000 litres of beer to the distillery to be used in the production of sanitizer. 

Once the sanitizer production was complete, the companies saw an opportunity for further collaboration. They decided to craft a unique whisky by blending the workable materials, known as heads and tails, of the distilled Moosehead Lager into the second distillation run of a rye spirit, which was then blended with maple tree water.   

While the spirit itself is currently in a three-year aging process, 500 certificates for bottles of the whisky will be made available for sale on Wednesday July 15, at 9:00 a.m. ADT at moonshinecreek.ca. 

Certificates are $100 each, and 100% of proceeds from every sale will be donated to New Brunswick Food Banks - a $50,000 donation, assuming all certificates are claimed. Consumers from anywhere in Canada can make the purchase and will be able to redeem their individual certificate for their 750ml finished bottle in June 2023.

“As a family-owned and operated business, all of us at Moosehead are so proud to have partnered with Moonshine Creek - not only on our first-ever craft spirit collaboration, but also on the project that started it all: the development and distribution of hand sanitizer for our community,” said Andrew Oland, President, Moosehead Breweries. “And we’re proud that this project will continue to give back to that same community, by supporting food banks across New Brunswick.”

“This unique collaboration really demonstrates just how much we can accomplish when we come together,” said Jeremiah Clark, Co-Owner, Moonshine Creek. “Community Spirit was born out of a literal sense of community spirit and we hope that in three years, when Canadians open and enjoy the finished whisky, they’ll remember how Canadians worked together in a time of crisis to better us all.” 

For more information on Community Spirit, or to purchase one of 500 limited-edition certificates, visit: www.moonshinecreek.ca. 

Good Robot Brews Unity Beer

(Halifax, NS) - Good Robot Brewing's brewer Giovanni Johnson has worked with a group of BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color) Nova Scotians in the food and beverage industry to create the Change is Brewing Collective. He says, “The Change is Brewing Collective is coming together for BIPOC people in Nova Scotia to honour the Black experience.” 

Their first brew as a collective is a blackberry pale ale called Blackberry Freedom. The beer is a challenge to other breweries in Nova Scotia to consider how they can be more inclusive for Black, Indigeonous, and People of Colour in their communities. 50% of all proceeds of the beer will be donated to BIPOC youth and community groups. 

Blackberry Freedom will be available in cans or draft on Good Robot’s online store at https://www.goodrobotbrewing.ca/  or at their taproom and retail space at 2736 Robie Street in Halifax on July 11th.

Rock Bottom Leaving and Nine Locks coming to Spring Garden Road

(Halifax, NS) - After ten years on Spring Garden Road Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery has announced its permanent closure. It was a great place in a great spot but never really found the success it should have had. The space will be taken over by Nine Locks Brewing. The new second location will have all available Nine Locks Beers on tap as well as retail for take away and the brewhouse will be used to brew beers for Your Father's Moustache (YFM) and act as a test brewery for new and different beers. The food choices will be scaled back and be a limited selection from YFM. Look for it to open late summer.

While I was chatting with owner Shaun O'Hearn, He mentioned changes coming to YFM as well, the last renonvations bumped the taps behind the bar to 30 which carried Nine Locks Beers and a variety of Molson products, he says they are going to still have Nine locks showcased but will be adding craft beers from around Nova Scotia, The Maritimes and beyond, hoping to have special beers not available elsewhere in Halifax that you can enjoy in their restaurant. YFM will be reopening in a couple of weeks with the changes coming soon.

New website supports local craft alcohol producers during COVID-19 crisis.

(Fredericton, NB) - DrinkNB.ca launches zero-contact craft alcohol delivery through web service to maintain social distancing efforts whilst supporting local businesses.

A new online store launches today in Fredericton with the goal of providing customers with a solution to the issue of how to maintain social isolation and/or social distancing whilst supporting all local craft alcohol businesses. At DrinkNB.ca customers can shop for all their favourite craft alcohol products and have a single order delivered directly to their home using a zero-contact protocol.

Adam Clawson, owner of Red Rover Craft Cider, came up with the idea for DrinkNB.ca following the recent announcement that many businesses would begin closing to the public in the effort to fight the spread of covid-19. He explains: "Breweries and other small alcohol producers are struggling to reach customers, many of whom are now practicing social isolation for the safety of themselves and their communities. The DrinkNB service allows them to support their favourite craft alcohol businesses without leaving their homes and maintains social distance for everyone involved."

The website at launch will offer:
● Over 40 unique products.
● Items from ten local producers including Flying Boats, Graystone, Grimross, Long Bay, Maybee, Red Rover / Coastliner, Trailway and 3Flip with more to come.
● Twice weekly delivery schedule in Fredericton and the surrounding area.

The project was able to come together rapidly, with only a few short days from concept to today's launch. Clawson notes: "Everyone I contacted about drinknb.ca was enthusiastic about the idea. It couldn't have gone live so quickly without the support of others in the industry."

Drinknb.ca is operated by Red Rover Craft Cider in Fredericton, NB. Red Rover is New Brunswick's first craft cider producer and a founding member of the New Brunswick Craft Alcohol Producers Association.

Broue du Païen Opens in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, NB

If you have been in some ANBL stores in southeastern New Brunswick you may have seen Bouctouche Pale Ale on the shelf. Broue du Païen started up after new years and I got to ask owner and brewer a few questions. 

MBR: Who is behind Broue du Païen? 
BDP: My name is Maxime Sonier, I’m 30 years old and I do everything from the brewing, the canning and the delivering of the product. It’s pretty much a one man operation thus far plus the occasional volunteer helper. 



MBR: What is the significance behind the name? 
BDP: Païen is a word that, when growing up in the Acadian peninsula, I would hear a lot to describe someone who could be considered a ‘’small town hick”. When I decided to leave my job as a mechanic and take on brewing full time, I grew out my beard and my wife started jokingly calling me a Païen. I wanted to pick a name that would be representative of my heritage, but also light-hearted and comedic. Broue du Païen just translates to ‘’Païen’s Brew’’ but I’m also happy to have anyone refer to it as ‘’BDP’’. Seeing as the beard helped inspire the name, I included it on the can. I have plans on changing up the ‘’Hops Beard’’ on the can to represent the IBU of each style (i.e. the Païen character on the can will be sporting a Mustache for a Lager and a long Gandalf beard for a DIPA). 

What made you want to open a brewery? 
I had been making Home Brew for about 9 years. I started off with a cheap Mr. Beer kit, moved up to partial mash kits and kept modifying the kit instructions to improve on them. Couples years after I decided to go all grain and start making my own recipes from scratch using the BeerSmith software. After multiple successful recipes I decided to take the plunge and try doing this professionally. I have always been a beer fanatic and my goal was to make beer that everyone could enjoy. To this day, I still brew for the people and not for myself. Nothing makes me happier than seeing someone enjoying my creations.

How big is your brewhouse? 
I currently have a fairly small brewhouse using a 2bbl Blichmann System, 4x 2bbl Conical Fermenters and a single 2bbl Brite Tank from Stout. As of now I’m limited to around 4000 Cans a month but I’m already looking into adding an extra 2 bbl Unitank. 

How do you plan on just selling your beer via ANBL or will there be kegs?
At the moment I’m just focusing on can sales through ANBL since I don’t have much volume but I’m not turning down the idea of potentially doing keg sales. If the demand is there, I will have to look into it. 

What styles of beer are you planning to make beyond the pale ale? 
I have lots of ideas and tailored recipes I would like to release, but realistically, it can’t all happen at once with my small set up. I’d love to have an Irish Red, IPA/Session IPA and possibly a nice crisp Lager out within the next year. I want to name each style after an Acadian Town. I started with Bouctouche seeing as it’s the nearest town to me with an ANBL. 

Anything else you would like to add? 
ANBL just provided local vendors with a letter on January 22nd indicating that they will be applying Sale Targets and Thresholds for Local products as of April 1st 2020. Some local businesses could end up off the shelves as a result of this, especially ones just starting out. It will be more important than ever to support your favourite local breweries, wineries and distilleries. Being such a small start-up business myself, I sincerely hope that this change will not affect my growth potential and my ability to try out new recipes and products. I am incredibly grateful to all who have supported me so far and hope I can continue to do what I love!