Maritime Beer Report - July 31, 2015

Hello and welcome to the July 31st edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

PEI Brewing Company says that even though Reanimator Doppelbock is gone for now, look for a barrel-aged version coming this fall.

Picaroons brewed up an Extra Special Bitter made with all New Brunswick malts and hops. The ESB-231 is a moderately malty, moderately hopped, and extremely tasty all New Brunswick beer. This one-off ESB will get tapped this Thursday at the Picaroons Brewtique in Downtown Fredericton as well at the Alcool NB Liquor Growler Stations around the province. Some select bars and restaurants around New Brunswick will also follow suit so keep your ears to the ground.

Savoie's Brewhouse says the day has finally arrived, they are now listed with NB Liquor. The beers are in a few but growing liquor stores in northern NB. Watch for it near you soon.

Garrison Brewing has two completely different tastes of summer. Trop Yard is a radler made with fresh lime and orange juice and Hop Yard making a delightfully tropical fruity yet still bitter radler. It’s 3.4% ABV and available for Growler / Growlito fills and tasters. Fluffernutter is their Nut Brown infused with real marshmallow, it’s slightly sweet and tastes just like it’s namesake. It’s 5% ABV and available JUST for tasters - in a very limited quantity.

The Nook and Cranny will soon have a new beer on tap. They've partnered with their neighbours to bring you NovelTea Passionfruit Ale. Made with custom designed Satya Tea called Berry Bliss, steeped at the Nook with their wheat beer. With hints of hibiscus, chicory root, chamomile, strawberry, and mango, this summer sipping ale is sure to delight.

Unfiltered Brewing  are open for business and have three hoppy brews on. First is Hoppy Fingers APA that is a sessionable 4.8% ABV and 25 IBUs, next is Exile On North Street IPA that is a healthy 6.5% ABV and 65 IBUs and lastly a sippable DIPA called Twelve Years to Zion that is 8% ABV and over 100 IBUs. I asked if that last one was a religious beer and was told it will bring you to your knees. Unfiltered is open Tuesday-Sat 12-8, Sunday 12-6 and closed Monday.

The brewery and beer list for the Seaport Beerfest was released today. There is about 72 Maritime beers available and lots from around North America and Ireland. Tickets for most sessions are still available but choose carefully if there is a particular brewer you want to see as some are only available at certain sessions. 

This New Brunswick weekend the James Joyce Pub will have all 18 New Brunswick Breweries on tap. This starts today at 3 PM and they are here until they are gone.

The Moncton Beer League is having Flights 'n Bites: NS Craft Beer Edition on Friday, 28 August 2015. They bought extra Nova Scotia craft beer so more of you could try it. This event will be out on the deck again (weather permitting) and will feature 5 beers paired with food samples. Tickets are available now via eventbrite.

Thanks for joining me again this week and enjoy responsibly no matter where or what you do this week end.

Maritime Beer Report - June 12, 2015

Hello and welcome to the June 12th edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

Congrats to Maritime Breweries who won medals at ‪the 2015 Canadian Brewing Awards. PEI Brewing Company won Gold in the Brown Ale category for their Gahan Iron Bridge Brown. Red Rover Brewing Company also won Gold for Cider with Herbs/Spices with their Experimental Brew - Fire. Muwin Estate Wines  got Gold in Specialty Ciders for their Bulwark Gold Traditional Craft Cider. Tatamagouche Brewing captured a Bronze for German Style Kolsch with North Shore Lagered Ale. Garrison Brewing also got a Bronze for Barley Wine with Ol’ Fog Burner. Lastly Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault captured a Bronze in European Style Lager  with La Kedgwick. Congrats to all the brewers.

PEI Brewing Company says Island Red is now available in ‪‎Nova Scotia‬ at select NSLC locations. Let me know where you see it. 
They also say Vic Park Hop Sessions brew with the Citra hop variety is on tap now at the brewery - limited quantity - once it's gone, it's gone. This is a 5.7% ABV beer.

Upstreet Craft Brewing offered their first 50 memberships to their Mug Club this week and the went really fast. There is a waitlist to get yours when the start selling again. Their website is live now with beer listings and their first 18 tap accounts. 

Big Axe Brewery's Taproom grand-opening and belated 1 year birthday celebration is tomorrow June 13th at 1 PM. Big Axe taproom will be serving craft ales, cider and mead, the Southern Ukrainian grill  will be open from 5-7 PM and Julio's Garage playing 8 to 10 PM.

Hammond River Brewing says Blueberry Ale has returned this summer. From HRB "Brewed with all real Blueberries, this is one tasty and refreshing beer for the patio!" It is currently on tap at Saint John Ale House, Barrel's Head, and Bourbon Quarter.

Railcar Brewing says it is pleased to announce that in two weeks they will be offering bottles to go for sale at the brewery. Their IPA and Grapefruit Pale Ale will be available next weekend in bottles at the brewery. Listings submitted for Pale Ale and IPA to hit ANBL shelves soon. 
Railcar will be tapping a special keg of Peanut Butter Chocolate Porter tomorrow at noon. Only one keg available get your growler filled ASAP.

A brewery I heard about a couple of weeks ago in the Shediac area went on social media this week. Flying Boats Brewing launched a facebook page this week. They say they are working on the listings and recently kegged a 7.2% ABV Black IPA.

Garrison Brewing Company has their new brewery launch celebration tomorrow at the Back Lot Bash, tickets are still available. Also Seaport Beer Fest are now on sale, this is always a sell out so get them early.

Last week end I helped brew an Imperial Red at Rockbottom Brewpub with the Ladies Beer League. Look for Fizzgig coming to their taps in July.

Looks like after delays Stillwell's Beer Garden on the Halifax waterfront opens today. There was some negative press out this week but I for one think it will be a good addition to the waterfront area.

A little light this week. Thanks to Monica at Lion & Bright for the kind words and support of the blog. Until next week enjoy responsibly.

Seaport Beer Festival 2013 Impressions

This was the second year I attended the Seaport Beer Festival (SBF). It moved to the Cunard Centre this year. In my opinion it lost some of its informal character but gained weather predictability. The admittance to the Centre was well managed and fast. The centre itself is a good venue, it is cavernous and the space was well used but there was a few bottlenecks around the local beer area with a lot of congestion. The only other item was it was way to warm in the building on Friday, I am not sure if that can be remedied.

The beer that were hilights for me that I got to try:
- Big Spruce Brewing Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout
- Boxing Rock Temptation Red Ale
- Garrison Comet to the Moon DIPA (special cask)
- Picaroons Yippee IPA

I tried a variety of other brews from Ontario, Quebec and Ireland. They was some great beers but I like to stick to local. At SBF there was four food vendors The Food Wold, Q BBQ, Bramoso Pizza and Stubborn Goat. I have to say they were all delicious and great offerings in the five dollar range.

I was a bit disappointed, my own fault as it was advertised, that some of the local vendors I was really looking forward to were there on Saturday only. I will have to remember that for next year. Another thing that happened was some of the beers I was looking forward to trying were gone in an hour into a two and a half hour event.

Over all it was a good event anfd I look forward to next year.

MARITIME BEER REPORT - August 2nd, 2013

Happy International Beer day and welcome to the Maritime Beer Report for August 2nd 2013.

Yesterday was IPA Day and several breweries celebrated by having special offerings and releases. 

Greg Nash brewed an Oak-Aged Double Hoppelganger that was served at Rockbottom in Halifax. It was DIPA with a 10% ABV and a calculated IBUs of 305.

Nash also brewed up something special for the Hart & Thistle. An American IPA called the old 87. This one came in at 7% ABV and about 50 IBUs.

Across the Fixed Link the PEI Brewing Co. showcased IPA all day at their brewery in Charlottetown. Their original 1772 was available on tap and in bottles and two special cask versions were available for anyone looking for more of a hop fix.

News of the week 

Hell Bay Brewing will have a new beer coming out soon. The beer described as an Indian Brown Ale, it will have an ABV of 6.7% and 45 IBUs. According to the brewery, "this hoppy beer will also accentuate the malt flavors, along with chocolate and molasses". The beer will will be available in limited quantities but will be at the Seaport BeerFest in Halifax next weekend. It should be on tap at select locations too so be on the look-out.
Hell Bay also announced new hours Sun., Mon., Tues. 12 - 5pm CLOSED Wed.Thurs., Fri. 12 - 6pm and Sat. 10am - 6pm

Seaport BeerFest has their impressive list of breweries and beers on their website; There are 110 breweries and 267 different beers, including 13 breweries and 50 beers from the Maritimes, 17 ciders and 7 gluten-free offerings. This is a substantial increase over last year. I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday night.

The nanobrewerey Celtic Knot has a black IPA in the works called Loki, It is thought to come in about 70 IBUs and have an ABV of 6%. Brewed with Chinook, Centennial, and Citra hops -- it should be available soon at Marky's Laundromat in Moncton.

Boxing Rock Brewing's finally announced the release yesterday of its DIPA, Vicar's Cross. According to the brewery, it should be making its way to Halifax today. Look for it in at Premier, Bishop's Cellar, Harvest & Cristall in its 650 ml bottles. It will also be available at the Seaport 
Farmer's Market, and coming soon to select NSLC stores.

Picaroons is re-releasing 506 Logger in honor of New Brunswick Day (Monday, August 5th). From facebook "In the patriotic spirit of New Brunswick / Nouveau-Brunswick Day, The 506 LOGGER will be ON TAP at THE BREWTIQUE in Downtown Fredericton, this weekend only! 
First keg will get tapped this afternoon (Friday) around 3. Come and get it"

On Wednesday Uncle Leo's said they were sold out of everything. In a statement "We will re-open the weekend of August 9th if not sooner".

Big Spruce stated they "will only be selling Tip of the Spear IPA at the brewery for a couple of days. As we are in peak season for tap demand, we are having to dedicate the majority of our production to thhis component of the business. Our apologies. We are brewing at maximum capacity so as to minimize the effect to our growler customers. Thanks everyone!"

If you have any questions of ideas comment below or email me at toddthebeerdude@gmail.com

Thanks and enjoy responsibly