The Gahan House Restaurant and Brewery Opens in Fredericton

(Fredericton, NB) – Murphy Hospitality Group (MHG) has opened its fourth location of The Gahan House Restaurant and Brewery in Fredericton at 426 Queen Street in New Brunswick's capital city. 
The restaurant features a 120 seat dining room, two seasonal outdoor patios and a 5 BBL DME brewing system. The restaurant will also feature an oyster bar with a variety of fresh, local oysters. The brewery is up and running with Spencer Gallant as brewer.
The Gahan brand, which was established in Charlottetown, PEI in 2000 also operates brewpubs in Charlottetown, PEI, Halifax, NS, and most recently Saint John, NB. A third New Brunswick location is slated to open in Moncton later this year. 

Niche Brewing Opens This Week in Fredericton, NB

Photo from Niche Brewing

(Fredericton, NB) - Announced back in September Niche Brewing have cleared the new brewery legal hurdles will have regular beer releases coming in the new year. That being said they just kegged their first beer, which was the second brewed on their 2 BBL system. Single Origin is a Coffee Sweet Stout is 5% ABV that is described as "a dark beer brewed with lactose powder to give it a lingering sweetness to balance the roast and chocolate character. After primary fermentation, we added freshly-roasted coffee from Jonnie Java Roasters in downtown Fredericton, to really boost the coffee aroma and flavour in the beer."
They hope to be delivering kegs over the next few days, and will post via social media on where you can find them on tap. Niche asks if you’re eating or drinking out to ask if they are on tap, and maybe even requested it if it wasn’t, you’d be doing them a favour to get the word around about a new business.
They will have two other beers ready to package shortly.

Gahan House Restaurant & Brewery Announces Fredericton Location

(Charlottetown, PE) – Murphy Hospitality Group (MHG) announced that they have recently purchased Vault 29 in Fredericton, New Brunswick effective January 1, 2018 and will be bringing The Gahan House Restaurant and Brewery to Fredericton in spring 2018.
The restaurant, which will be located at 426 Queen Street, will feature a 120 seat dining room, two seasonal outdoor patios and a 5 BBL brewing system from DME Brewing Systems. The restaurant will also feature an oyster bar with a variety of fresh, local oysters.
The Fredericton restaurant and brewery will be the fourth Gahan House location, with sister locations currently in Charlottetown, PEI, Halifax, NS, and recently Saint John, NB with the third New Brunswick location is slated to open in downtown Moncton in 2018.
Kevin Murphy, President of Murphy Hospitality Group stated “We are very excited about the purchase of Vault 29 and the conversion to a Gahan House Restaurant and Brewery. Fredericton is a craft beer destination and we very much look forward to being part of this scene.” Murphy added “Fredericton has been very good to us in the support of our beers in the NB Liquor stores. We want to support communities that support us and look forward to giving back to the economy of NB.”
MHG noted that they will be hiring approximately 40 staff prior to the opening in March.

Niche Brewing to Open in Fredericton

(Fredericton, NB) - Niche Brewing is opening a 2 BBL nanobrewery operating out of Hanwell, NB. The brewery is hoping to be open by December with the goal of brewing a variety of beer styles, with an emphasis on sours, Brett, and hops. Their beers will be available for purchase at bars and restaurants in the Fredericton area, and throughout the Maritimes. Shawn Meek and Rob Coombs, who are both well known in the brewing community, are co-owners and will both be brewing in the new venture.

Trailway Brewing releases Seeing Enigma IPA

(Fredericton, NB) - Trailway Brewing released another installment in their "seeing" series - Seeing Enigma. Enigma is a brand new hop variety from Australia that is getting a ton of well-deserved attention and hype. Trailway says there are so many complex aromas and flavours coming from this brew.
Seeing Enigma checks in at 6% ABV and is available in cans or on tap at the brewery.  

Maybee Brewing releases Long Carry Brett Red

(Fredericton, NB) - Maybee Brewing released Long Carry Brett Red in 750 mL cork and cage bottles. If you are new to Brett, or Brettanomyces, it is a yeast that is typically viewed as contamination and the flavours it imparts are considered unwelcome "off-flavours." Certain styles. however, in particular certain Belgian ales it is appreciated and encouraged. The beer that was aged nine months has brett funk and a hint of sourness. Available now at the brewery for $16.50 while supplies last. 

Grimross Brewing Expands to Meet Demand

Grimross Brewing has signed an agreement to to double in size to 8000 square feet at 600 Bishop Drive in Fredericton, NB. Co-owner Stephen Dixon says "This expansion is necessary to accommodate the growing demand for our taproom and need for more space in our brewery and warehouse. Our current space is getting a little cramped as we increase the number of fermenters, which means more grain, more kegs and more cans. 
The new space will allow them to expand their warehouse space and dedicate more space to increasing production.
Dixon explained that the expansion will happen in two phases with phase one focusing on expanding the taproom and warehouse space. He says "We regularly host music talent in our taproom and the new space will allow for bigger acts and more customers. Phase two will see more fermentation capacity and patio overlooking a very scenic marshland." 
Grimross Brewing is a Fredericton, NB based brewery that started selling its beer in July 2013 and is owned by Stephen Dixon and Dawn Vincent-Dixon.

Red Rover Craft Cider Opens New Retail Outlet

(Fredericton, NB) - New Brunswick craft cider pioneer Red Rover has opened The Ciderhouse,  a Taproom and growler fill station at 546 Queen Street in downtown Fredericton. The space is shared Abbey Café & Gallery, a casual quick serve Café and Art Gallery serving coffees, light fare including vegan. 
The Ciderhouse will be fermenting on site by shipping cider by tanker and pumping into the fermenters. The centerpiece is the bar which is constructed from a single tree and boosts an 800 pound bar top. There is also a stage that will offer music in the future.

York County Cider opening March 18th

(Fredericton, NB) - York County Cider are launching this Friday, March 18th from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at 418 York Street in the Chestnut Complex. They plan to have five ciders available with names that are puns inspired by apple references in history and culture. Their ciders are:

• dry - In the Begining
• semi dry - Sweet William
• hopped - An Apple a Day
• ginger - Ginger Snap 
• blueberry - Like an Academic

York will be filling growlers initially, either their own or other ones if they are clean of course. They are open through the week end from Noon to 11:00 PM on Saturday and Noon to 6:00 PM on Sunday. 

In the works they hope to have their bottles in the next couple weeks and will also have t shirts and a couple styles of glassware for sale. Lastly they are beginning the process to be listed at ANBL in the next couple of weeks. 

Fredericton Craft Beer Festival continues to grow

(Fredericton, NB) - The 4th annual festival took place last week end and was the most successful to date. The fest that started in 2013 as a single evening beer tasting with around 550 tickets sold has grown to a week long collection of events leading to the the main events on Saturday that sold more than 1,500 tickets.

The event celebrates the growth in craft beer with many of the 52 current Maritime breweries attending to show off their beer and others from across Canada. It is a coup not only for the beer fans but local business to as hotels and restaurants were very busy feeding and housing the attendees. The Crowne Plaza across the street from the Fredericton Convention Center was completely sold out and equated it to Christmas in March for them.

So what is in store for the 5th anniversary of the Festival in 2017? The organizer Lloyd Chambers says "bigger and better" and he and his team are already working on it. 

Next year's festival will be March 11th, stay tuned for all the details.

Check out my photo album of the event here

Maybee Brewings opens its retail store

(Fredericton, NB) - Maybee Brewing, whose beer started flowing in December, opened its retail store on February 5th. They are between Windoor and Synergy Training Center at at 559 Wilsey Road in Fredericton. They are open Monday to Saturday from Noon until 8 PM for purchases of cans and growler fills. They currently have Roseway Red, Work Horse IPA, and a very limited amount of a brand new unreleased beer, Belgian Tripel.

Gray Stone Brewing finds a home

(Fredericton, NB) - Gray Stone Brewing has announced it found a home in downtown Fredericton at 221 King Street. 

Wes Ward from Gray Stone says they will be starting with a 10 BBL brewhouse and creating american ales and hopes to open in late spring 2016.

They will be joining six other breweries in the capital city as well as two craft cideries making Freddy Beach one of the most exciting craft beer cities in Canada.

Trail Way Brewing announces move and expansion

(Fredericton, NB) After an extremely busy and successful 10 months in business Trail Way Brewing announced they are expanding operations to a 10 BBL Steam Fired Brewing System from PEI's DME Brewing Solutions.
     Partners Jake Saunders and Dan Mason announced they have signed a lease for their new home and will commence work in the coming weeks at 280 Main Street, old Canadian Tire Building, on Fredericton's Northside. Plans are to open the doors to the public in the Spring of 2016 with, in addition, to the brewhouse will also include a retail space and a tasting room.

Trail Way Brewing to open in Fredericton New Brunswick

FREDERICTON, NB - Two local homebrewers, Jake Saunders and Dan Mason, from the Fredericton area are about to open Trail Way Brewing, the city's third craft beer brewery. The brewery, which they hope to open in mid to late December depending how the licencing process goes, will be located off Canada Street in the Devon/Marysville area and situated along the Nashwaak Trail, which is where the name "Trail Way" came from. 

Both Dan and Jake have been homebrewers for several years with most of their experience in all-grain brewing. Jake in addition to his homebrewing obsession is the current President of New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association.

The pair say a lot of the decision timing and the partnership. Both Saunders and Mason had a lot of fun sharing their brews with friends and family but had issues with brewing on a consistent basis. Brainstorming over a kitchen table at a NBCBA meeting the two, who knew each other quite well and enjoyed very similar beer styles, hatched Trail Way Brewing Company. They are excited to share their beer on a larger scale and it was a bit easier knowing they weren't going it alone.

Trail Way is starting with a one barrel electric brewing system. "We’ve pieced it together from various suppliers & manufacturers – we have 7 one BBL conical fermenters and 1 brite tank. At this point nearly all brewing equipment has been purchased and is on-site" they say.

Initial distribution will be in the form of kegs to pubs and restaurants in the Fredericton area and they hope to to start with 2 or 3 accounts and have interest for a couple of places. Once demand is gauged they want to open more accounts if their capacity allows. 

When asked about what they will be brewing up they say "We both tend to brew a lot with American hops, but we also both love to experiment with different ingredients such as spices, fruit, etc.  We’re keeping it pretty broad and will focus on full-flavoured ales. With our homebrewing background, we’re excited to do a lot of specialty beers and one-off batches – possibly experimenting with some casks & barrels as well"

The partners say they are beyond excited to serve their beers in the Fredericton area and look forward to interacting with the public and receiving feedback on their beer. They also want to thank everyone who has helped them get to this point and a huge thank you to theirr significant others Catherine Saunders and Alex Sorensen on their efforts and support. Both of the ladies have been extremely encouraging of our brewing over the years and made this decision to open a brewery that much easier.

Check out Trail Way Brewing on facebook and on twitter and keep a look out for some TrailWay beers in the coming months!