Boxing Rock Brewing Expands to Halifax North End in Unique Partnership

(Shelburne, NS) - Boxing Rock Brewing will expand both their brewing capacity and retail presence in HRM by partnering with the Local Source Market in the North End of Halifax. The unique partnership, “Test Kitchen” is located adjacent to the Local Source catering kitchen & bakery, and a Boxing Rock Bottle Shop is now open in the Local Source Market at 2530 Agricola Street.
"Creating a local food hub has always been the goal of Local Source, says owner Sean Gallagher. “This partnership is an extension of that goal, connecting customers to local quality products and producers. The Boxing Rock retail will offer customers their regular and limited release bottled products, as well as growler fills for seasonal beers and experimental batches brewed in the 1-barrel brewing system. “This was exactly the type of partnership we were hoping for when we looked to expand into Halifax,” says Boxing Rock Co-owner Emily Tipton. “Sean has been a great customer of ours for years through the Lion & Bright Café & Wine Bar. We share similar values around sustainability, growing the local economy and enhancing local food culture in Nova Scotia.” The Local Source Market is now operating on extended “growler hours”, (M-W 9-7, Th 9-8, F 9-9, Sat 10 – 9, Sun 10-6). The grand opening event for the new Boxing Rock Bottle Shop will be held on September 1st with an exciting gift for their first customers that day. 

Propeller Brewing Hefeweizen is Back

Photo from Propeller Brewing

(Halifax, NS) - Propeller Brewing says "by popular demand, Hef is back!" It is their traditional Hefeweizen and they brewed one batch to kick off the summer. It’ll be available starting Friday for growler fills and in 500ml bottles. The notes on this 4.5% ABV beer are "Naturally cloudy, this wheat beer, made with German Nobel hops, features banana and clove flavours, with higher-than-normal carbonation". As an added note Propeller told me they have a variation on the Hefeweizen coming next week, so stay tuned for those details… 

Garrison Releases Three Beers in Cans

(Halifax, NS) -  Garrison Brewing are planning to release three of their brands in 473 ml cans over the next few months joining the trend of cans at Nova Scotia breweries.

Tall Ship Amber has already been released and will be sold in addition to the six pack of 341 ml already in distribution. The cans are currently available at the brewery, private stores in Halifax and will be at the NSLC shortly. 

Seaport Blonde will be out very and will be replacing the 6x341ml Seaport Blonde that they have been doing the past few summers. Seaport Blonde is a light ale with a crisp and refreshing all-malt body with delicate hop aromas.  Purely 2-row and wheat malt. It will be in the NSLC as soon as it’s ready to go as a permanent listing in a 4-pack, in private stores as a single serve, and will also be in NB, PEI and NL as 4-packs soon for the summer.

Their newest beer Juicy! DIPA is going to be a brand new single serve can coming around in mid-July. It will be at the NSLC and private stores (late May/early June) and will follow in NB and NL shortly afterward.  This New England-style Double IPA has a hazy appearance and boasts smooth but intense tropical flavours with Citra, Mosaic, Comet and Ekuanot plus a secret hop Head Brewer Daniel Girard won’t disclose.

Stillwell Brewing Company opening in Halifax

(Halifax, NS) - As a natural continuation of the beers Stillwell has brewed in other breweries Stillwell Brewing Company (SBC) is opening. Their space is in the warehouse at the back of Propeller Brewing on Gottingen Street. Focusing on patient oak fermentation they should be brewing within the next month, but will not have a release until later summer or early fall. 
Christopher Reynolds will be the brewer though he will share brewing duties with Kyle Jeppesen.
They are renting the use of Propeller's brewhouse and possibly a tank or two, they are a fully licensed and independent brewery.
Bottling will be the focus as SBC says "it is the best vessel for saison the same way a cask is the best vessel for an English mild". Draught produced will likely only be at Stillwell and Stillwell Beergarden with retail releases going to some shops across the land. Watch the progress by following them on instagram https://www.instagram.com/stillwellbrewing/

Unfiltered Brewing releases Play with Fire Smoked Imperial Schwarzbier

(Halifax, NS) - Unfiltered Brewing released Play with Fire Smoked Imperial Schwarzbier today. This monster black lager is 8% ABV and 34 IBUs and has tons of dark fruit, roasted malt, and smokey phenols.

Good Robot and North Brewing release Moo Nay Tripel

(Halifax, NS) - Good Robot Brewing released Moo Nay (Tripel), a collaboration with North Brewing Company and is a tribute to the farm that reuses their spent grain. With North's Belgian expertise and Good Robot's experimental flair, they designed and brewed a beer that feels awfully appropriate for the farmers it's named for. They say it is "soft and approachable at the forefront, then hard and boozy at the finish, with a white wine character this province is famous for thanks to the healthy addition of Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand". On tap at taproom and store. It is 8.5% ABV and 30 IBUs.

Garrison Brewing launches new Star Trek/CBS release – Red Shirt Ale

(Halifax, NS) - Garrison Brewing launched their new Star Trek/CBS release – Red Shirt Ale. It is an American Red ale clocking in at 6% ABV and 30 IBUs and will be sold initially at the brewery and private stores and at the NSLC later this month. It is retailing for $6.49 for a 650 ml bottle. Garrison says "Red Shirt Ale was brewed in honor of those brave but ill-fated men and women who donned the doomed red uniform. For them we raise a glass of this strong, other-worldly American Red. This brew boasts a deep copper colour and rich malt flavour, and is exploratively hopped with Millenium, El Dorado and Citra. Celebrate the hopelessly optimistic with a beer worth dying for".

Propeller Brewing Plans 20th Anniversary Festivities Throughout 2017

Propeller Brewing, Nova Scotia's third oldest independent craft brewer, released a press releasing highlighting its plans for their 20th year of business. 

Propeller Brewing Company is making BIG plans to mark 2017 as its 20th year of brewing, packaging, selling, and celebrating craft beer in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
While many details remain in the development phase at this point, the Propeller team is intent on “celebrating its healthy, long-term survival” all year long. When asked to put 20 years of brewing into perspective, Propeller founder and owner, John Allen says, “Tomorrow is never a guarantee in any business — let alone craft beer. You have to keep your head down and do the job. You commit to showing up every day and making beer you’re confident is of the highest quality. That’s been our approach from day one, and beer enthusiasts of Halifax have rewarded us with their loyalty every single day since we opened.”
“We always believed that Halifax would support us if we put in the time and energy, without cutting corners, to make high-quality, consistent craft beer. Styles and tastes can change from year-to-year but quality and consistency never go out of style.”
The first major change in Propeller’s 20th anniversary year will emerge this week as the Gottingen Street brewery will put a hold on tours and tap room tastings for the next 8-10 weeks while the facility undergoes renovations.
Grower fills and retail sales will still be available in the front room throughout the construction but no new private bookings will be available until the new tap room is opened in April.
Beyond renovations to the bricks and mortar, Propeller’s 20th Anniversary year will be marked by a series of extra-special anniversary-worthy One-Hit-Wonder brews, a (slight) branding refresh, a line of limited-edition anniversary merchandise plus a party or two to celebrate 20 years of survival as upstart locals in a tough multi-national industry.
We look forward to celebrating our 20th Anniversary year with you throughout 2017! 

Tidehouse Brewing officially launches in Halifax

(Halifax, NS) - Tidehouse Brewing Company (TBC) officially launches this week end in Halifax with two events.
They'll be bringing their core four beer plus a special "one off" to Bar Stillwell on Friday December 9th at noon and the following day, December 10th, at noon as well to Good Robot Brewing's taproom.
TBC four core beer are:

• Mild Thing - An English style dark mild. 
• The Copper - A dark amber beer with hints of smoke from an addition of beech smoked malt. 
• Golden Glacier - An American pale ale made only using the Glacier hop variety. Grains for this are Horton Ridge Pale and Munich malts. 
• Like A Motorcyc-ale - A black ale (TBC says  "think of a baby India Black Ale") with some dank, earthy hop character. The name is an homage to their friends in the local punk rock foursome Like A Motorcycle.

For the Stillwell event they will also be pouring an India Saison that they say is "a well hopped Saison" and for the Good Robot event they will be bringing a spruced up amber they have dubbed Sprucey The Wonder Beer.
As far as their retail space it is still awaiting a final inspection with hopes of opening with a couple of weeks.

Propeller Brewing Releases Coffee Porter Seasonal

(Halifax, NS) - Propeller Brewing released its new winter seasonal, Coffee Porter, made with Java Blend Coffee Roasters Fog City Coffee. The Porter was a One Hit Wonder last year called Fog City Coffee Porter. The recipe was tweaked a bit but is pretty much same beer, brewed with Java Blend Fog City whole beans and "dry-hopped" with Java Blend Fog City ground coffee.
The 5.9% ABV and 35 IBU will be in 650 ml and growlers at the Propeller Shops on November 2nd and making its way to the NSLC and private stores towards end of the month. 

Tidehouse Brewing to Open in Downtown Halifax

Tidehouse Brewing has announced they are hoping to open next month, if all goes as planned, at 5187 Salter Street in downtown Halifax. Long time friends Shean Higgins and Peter Lionais will be the sole employees with Peter doing the brewing and Shean doing sales and general operations of the business.
They say that the desire to open a brewery comes from both being creative people, wanting to be their own bosses and create something they're proud of that they own. As Shean puts it "If you're going to have to work, and we all have to, why not work for something you love?"
Tidehouse is starting out on a Synergy Brewing 26 gallon system (98 L) that has been modified for electric elements with a plan of running double brew days 4 times a week at least to start.

The brewery will be starting with approachable beers from recipes that the owners have been developing for years and look forward to having fun with some experimental brews. 
The first four beers will be:

Golden Glacier– We both like a lot of the same flavour profiles, but we do disagree on some things too. Its a healthy balance we strike but one hop we've always both been big fans of is Glacier. 

The Copper – A darker amber with just a hint of smoke. The owners like smokey beers, but really like it when things are balanced. When playing with specialty malts they've learned over the years that less is more. 

Mild Thing – A low ABV, malty, sessionable brew.

Like A Motorcyc-ale – A very dark, yet sessionable ale. Inspired by the band Like A Motorcycle. Think a smaller version of an India Black Ale/Cascadian Dark Ale. It is lighter in body, but it parties hard. Just like the band.

The initial lineup of four ales will be pre-filled in growlers and on tap in several local restaurants and taprooms.

Social Media Links 
facebook.com/tidehousebrewingcompany/
https://www.instagram.com/tidehousebrewing/
https://twitter.com/TideHousebrew

Garrison Brewing releases Rye & Ginger IPA

(Halifax, NS) - Garrison Brewing is releasing Rye & Ginger IPA. This quintessential Canadian style IPA, that is 6.4% ABV and 56 IBUs, is described as a deliciously spicy brew perfect for the impending fall season that is brewed exclusively with centennial hops. Light reddish-amber and hazy in appearance, this brew has a combination of ginger candy, toffee, peppery rye malt, and citrusy hop aromas. Tasting will reveal flavours of light caramel, dark fruit, ginger, and a grainy spiciness along with earth and citrus hop flavours. The warming dry finish is a great pick-me-up on a crisp fall night. 

This beer will be available shortly at NSLC stores, private stores, and for the growler program at ANBL beginning September 8^th. It will be available at the Garrison retail location beginning Friday September 9^th.

Keith's Brewing Releases Latest Small Batch Beer

(Halifax, NS) - Brewer Stefan Gagliardi tapped a new beer on the growler station at the A. Keith’s brewery. Fundy Low Tide White IPA is a 5.7% ABV  and 60 IBU bright and slightly cloudy yellow wheat beer. It’s brewed with 50% torrified wheat flakes and 50% Golden Promise malt. This gives the beer a nice bready, wheaty character. They added 7 kg of seaweed provided by Seaboost to the kettle while brewing making the brewery smell like a fresh morning by the ocean. The seaweed is a blend of 50% dulse and 50% sea lettuce harvested during low tide off the island of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. The seaweed provides a mild brininess to the beer as well as salts and minerals that emphasizes the hop aromas of the beer. There is a lot od hop flavour coming from Amarillo, Cascade, Mosaic and El Dorado giving it a beautiful grapefruit rind and sweet melon aroma and taste 

Garrison Releases Two Beers for Canada Day

(Halifax, NS) - Garrison Brewing is kicking off the Canada Day Long Week end with a new beer and and bringing back a gold medal winner. 

Recently Garrison called for its fans to bring in rhubarb to create a community-sourced ale. The "fruits" of their efforts is “It’s Rhubarb Saison!” a summery Saison that comes in at 5.7% ABV.

They are also bringing back Rise 'n’ Stein Hefeweizen that was a gold winning beer at the 2015 Atlantic Canada Brewing Awards. The wheat ale with its straw colour, dry finish and fluffy white head is 5.5% ABV.  

Both will be available at the brewery on tap and the Rise 'n’ Stein in bottles at the brewery, private stores and hitting the NSLC's shelves around July 11th. 

2 Crows Brewing Opening in Halifax this Fall

(Halifax, NS) - A new craft brewer is opening a large brewery in Halifax. 2 Crows Brewing is opening a 20 bbl brewery in the heart of downtown at 1932 Brunswick Street about a block north of the Citadel.

Mark Huizink along with his wife Kelly and Head Brewer Jeremy Taylor will be the key people running the new brewery. Mark trades in a seven year accounting career to come to this passion project and Jeremy comes from Bridge Brewing in Vancouver as the head brewer and brings his MSc. in Brewing from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. 

Jeremy Taylor and his wife Elaine Moody

The brewery intends to create beers that are approachable with a "twist" and will be selling to a few licensees to start, as well as growlers and cans when they open this fall. The brewery is being built as a open concept to the tap room that will have its flagship ales, seasonals as well as guest brews for patrons. 

Mark and Kelly Huizink

Mark when asked why he is jumping into the craft beer scene here he said he loves Nova Scotia and loves great beer and sees opportunity to bring their beer and brewery here. 

Look for 2 Crows to officially open in September if all goes well and there may be a sneak peak in August at the beer fest. Follow along with their progress on twitter, facebook and instagram.

Halifax Beer Bus - Sampling the city's fine beers

 I recently had the pleasure of hopping on the new Halifax Beer Bus Tour. The Saturday afternoon tour took us around to a sample some of Halifax's craft beer scene hitting up several locations while trying some beers and snacks. 

My tour started at Gahan House with a couple of  the house beers while I meet other craft beer fans, our tour leader Susan and the brewmaster. This location is off the menu so to speak for the brewpub's busy summer season but an equally great substitution was implemented. 


From Gahan we boarded our wheels for the afternoon and made our way to Garrison Brewing near the Seaport Farmers' Market. Here we went into the brewhouse to sip two of their beers and have a talk about Garrison and brewing in general. There brewhouse here was their production brewery until last year when their new brewery opened but is still in use. Here we had a little extra time to shop in the retail store. No drinking is allowed on the bus but the have a cooler to store any products you decide to buy. 

Back on the bus we headed north while Susan talked about a few interesting facts to land at Propeller Brewing. In the events room we were treated to our choice of what was available on tap. The refurbished historic building that housed the total operation at one time but now is their specialty brewhouse. Again we had a moment to shop before heading to one of the newest breweries.

We reached our northern most point at the self-described "most questionable brewery in Halifax", Good Robot Brewing. We entered the breweries tap room and were meet by one of the co-owners, Josh Council, who talked on beer, brewing and the brewery itself. Josh is a very entertaining speaker and kept it very light. I grabbed a quick snack here (not part of the tour) while I enjoyed my beer in the tap room.

We got on the bus to head to out last destination, The Stubborn Goat Gastropub. This was the last stop for me as some of chose to end our tour here rather than be returned to out starting point. This stop offered a wide variety of breweries and a slider to wind up the tour.





If you decide to go the tour buy the numbers 5 stops, 10 beers, 3 hours, 1 bus and 1 great time. The tour is geared for tourists looking to sample what the city has to offer but would be a great way to kick off a Saturday evening or an activity for a group of friends.

Propeller Brewing releases new One Hit wonder - Black Heart IPA

(Halifax, NS) - Propeller Brewing has launched its newest One Hit wonder today called Black Heart IPA. The beer is 6.3% ABV and 90 IBU's and sure to make you forget Valentines Day is approaching. It has another great label design as an homage to David Bowie's new album Blackstar cover work.

New store brings NS craft liquors to Halifax Stanfield International Airport

(Enfield, NS) - There is something of interest for NS beer lovers who travel. A selection of  NS made beer, wine, cider and spirits will soon be available for purchase at Halifax Stanfield International Airport (HSIA). Liquid Assets, a subsidiary of Ironworks Distillery, will be opening post-security, on the domestic/international departures level in April, 2016.

It is not a duty-free shop so it will allow travelers coming and going to purchase product. “We are pleased to be opening Liquid Assets at Halifax Stanfield,” say Lynne MacKay and Pierre Guevremont, Liquid Assets owners. “Our new store will feature only Nova Scotia produced wines, spirits, beers and ciders and will be the first store of its kind in an airport. Our location will provide travellers the opportunity to purchase excellent quality products to take with them as a memento of Nova Scotia or share as a gift.”

A bit of history on how this came to be was the NSLC were approached by HSIA about putting a wine and spirits store in, post security, last spring. The NSLC would not providing them with authority to open up the equivalent of an HSIA Private store (like Bishops Cellar for example), but that the NSLC could get on board with a NS products store because/if:

1.   Supporting the local craft alcohol industry is part of their legislated mandate;
2.   Supporting local industry in the retail environment is one of three pillars of the five year strategic plan;
3.   If the company selected was a NS entity that the NSLC has a pre-existing regulatory relationship with;
4.   The store had to be post-security so that the focus is truly on providing brand exposure for local products to consumers from other parts of Canada and internationally and not to serving the general public.

NSLC will treat the permit as an extension of Ironworks current retail store, but this is not an "Ironworks" store, most likely they will treat it as a manufacturers who sells at Farmer’s Markets. The fact that the store is in a regulated and highly secure area that also happens to be one of, if not the top tourism assets from a flow of people perspective, was also a consideration. It also lines up with other Government priorities (leveraging tourism assets to promote NS products). As Heather MacDougall from the NSLC says on this partnership "All in all, a win-win". 

Propeller releases latest One Hit Wonder

(Halifax, NS) - Propeller Brewing has released Fog City Coffee Porter made with Java Blend Coffee. It is 5.5% ABV and 30 IBU's ale and is now on tap at Dartmouth Retail store on Windmill Road and will be on at the Halifax location on Gottigen Street later tonight. They used whole beans in the brew as well as added more during fermentation. Grab your growlers it won't last long.

Good Robot Brewing Taproom Opens

After seven months of operating Good Robot Brewing  are opening a taproom Friday December 18th at 12:00 PM next to the brewery at 2736 Robie Street. The taproom will be open every day of the week except Mondays. There are 12 taps behind the bar that will have their own beer, guest brews, experimental and other breweries. The food options will be from a variety of suppliers and will not be the typical pub fare. 

The room itself is two levels that is open and light. Around the bar was comfy two person chairs with many other tables.The upstairs area I found quiet and cozy.

Coming in the future there will be casks and events until probably late winter but until then enjoy the beer.

The taps will change over time but on opening there will be the available flagship beers as well as:
- Session IPA by Chris McDonald
- Märzen experimental
 - Bad Apple Brewhouse Mosaic DIPA
- Unfiltered 12 Years to Zion DIPA
- Big Spruce Cold Remedy Belgian Wit
- Uncle Leo's Cream Stout
- Shipbuilders Cider
- Stutz Wild Blueberry Cider