Wayfarers' Ale to start pouring beer in Port Williams this summer

(Port Williams, NS) - Wayfarers' Ale will be opening in Port Williams at the start of the summer with the completion of a new brewery building on the Cornwallis river.  They have had a huge amount of support from the local community, restaurants and pubs and will be brewing up to ten different beers and lagers on a 20 BBL DME system.  Spokesperson Chris Killacky says "This is very much a community brewery that is designed to support the local area and economy, host local events and the focus will be on good quality beer using some unique recipes in traditional styles".  


Wayfarers' Ale has vertically integrated by associating a 5 acre hop farm, Fundy Hops, that was planted and should produce its first hop crop to coincide with the 2016 opening year and has plans to expand to 20 acres.  

The brewery sprang from the collective work of the Wayfarers' Ale Society, a club for members interested in brewing craft beers.  One feature of the brewery will be its south facing deck and wharf as well at it's closeness to the The Port Pub, Planter Ridge Winery, Sea Level Brewing and Barrelling Tide Distillery which increasingly make Port Williams a destination place to visit and taste unique Annapolis Valley foods, beers, wines and spirits.

Maritime Beer Report - July 24, 2015

Hello and welcome to the Maritime Beer Report for July 24th.

PEI Brewing Company says the next batch of the Vic Park Hop Sessions is in the tanks - this time with Mandarina Bavaria and the Galaxy hop version still available.

Upstreet Craft Brewing is kicking off a new weekly event on Sunday evenings. They have something for everyone, concerts on the big screen, staff prices on beer, and community board games.

Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault is celebrating summer with a brand new seasonal beer. Introducing Lt. Ingall- Summer Edition (dry-hopped and different malt for you beer geeks), available now at Brewtique and soon at ANBL growler filling stations.

Grimross Brewing Company says they recently kegged their Oat Saison, a 100% Oat Malt brewed beer. This is an experimental beer for those who cannot tolerate gluten and anyone else that wants a light summer beer. Their Oat Saison was fermented with a Saison strain of yeast. Aroma has hints of clove, the taste is light and crisp with subtle lemon peel and grass. At only 3% ABV you can have a few!

Half Cut Brewing Company opened today. It is Picaroons Traditional Ales' newest incubating brewery, just like the early days of Grimross Brewing Company, Picaroons is lending long time employee and friend, Matt Corey, the brewing system within The Brewtique to get this new brewing project off the ground. Matt was a Picaroons Sales rep from a few years ago and manager of the Picaroons Brewtique.  He’ll be creating various styles of beer based on how he interprets the style they belong to. The first brew is an interpretation of a Dusseldorf Altbier, a malty German ale that offers a generous amount of hop bitterness with a mild fruity nose. Alter Ego is now on tap at the Picaroons Brewtique.

The Pump House Brewery has released a new seasonal release, Rose Hip Ale, brewed with rose hips and orange peel. It is available at the Orange lane location, soon at all ANBL Stores. It comes in at 4.5% ABV.

Big Spruce Brewing and Jason Spears were working on the Tip of the Spear Spruce Tip IPA. Look for it in August where Big Spruce is served.

Meander River Farms says seventy pounds of fresh cut lavender is on its way to Garrison Brewing. Add some honey into the mix and it could only mean one thing, Honey Lavender Ale is brewing.

Wayfarers' Ale has broken ground in Port Williams on its new brewery. Look for more details on this as we move into fall.

On Thursday  August 6th Bar Stillwell is having Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery take over the taps. Great Lakes is a top tier Canadian craft beer company and the beers are worth trying if you can.

Thanks for joining me again this week and until next time enjoy responsibly.

Maritime Beer Report - November 14, 2014.

Hello and welcome to the November 14th edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

PEI Brewing Company released details on their new Double IPA. They're calling it 8 Cord (as in cord wood), and it's an 8.5% ABV at about 80 IBU's. Colour is deep amber and aromas are pine, citrus, and tropical with a mild maltiness. Brewed with Canadian 2 Row, Munich and Honey malts, hopped with Warrior, Amarillo and Columbus in the boil, and dry hopped - twice of course - with Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade and Comet. Availability will be in PEI only at first in 473 ml cans and on draft at select locations.

Picaroons Traditional Ales are officially a certified B Corporation. A B-corporation is a type of for-profit entity that wishes to consider society and the environment in addition to profit in their decision-making process. It differs from traditional corporations in its purpose, accountability, and transparency. Well done.

Big Spruce Brewing released Statler & Waldorf, an American  IPA brewed with only hops grown on their farm. They say coming to a tap near you and available at the brewery and this weekend at the Cape Breton Farmers' Market. It is 6.4% ABV.

Hell Bay Brewing Company released 'Chocolat' today. It's a smooth chocolate wheat ale made in a brown porter style, rich chocolate aroma and flavour, with hints of roasted coffee and vanilla, along with a slight rum character, that was used to infuse the cocoa and vanilla beans! It is 6% ABV and will be available at the brewery in growlers and in selected bars and restaurants.

Propeller Brewing gave me some hints on their next Lambic release coming around the holidays. They're not certain yet for an exact release date. However, I can tell you it is a Blackberry Version aged in oak barrels from Blomidon Estate Winery. 

Tatamagouche Brewing Company have a new one off. North Shore Lagered Ale. They say they are hanging onto the last taste of fall with this refreshing, lightly hopped brew.

Uncle Leo’s Brewery are releasing a seasonal beer It is a milk stout called Uncle Leo’s Cream Stout. It will be 5% ABV and 23 IBU's.  It's should be available tomorrow at the brewery for growler refills for now. They say they will be brewing it until the end of December.

A new start-up brewery popped up on the radar this week. Wayfarers' Ale is looking to open in Port Williams summer of 2015. I asked to meet them them when they are ready to write a full report. For now this is their description from their facebook page "A company formed to provide a tax efficient way for persons interested in craft beer to invest in the craft beer industry in Nova Scotia. To that end, the company will invest the proceeds received through a public share offering under the CEDIF program in Wayfarers' Ale Ltd., a developing craft brewery, through the purchase of Wayfarers' Ale Ltd. Class A common shares". They have a couple of websites to check out if you want to learn more.

Sunday is the first anniversary of Bar Stillwell in Halifax. They are bringing back some favorites and debuting Red Rover Scrumpy Cider, Bad Apple Boxcutter IPA, their collaboration with Boxing Rock called Merci Bière and their collaboration with North Brewing called Nuppeppo. The Merci Bière is technically a super saison, or a strong farmhouse ale. It uses a portion of beech smoked malt, but the effect is pretty subtle and balanced, as well as dry and slightly tart. Nuppeppo is less subtle, it's a big, spiced black saison. It uses Tokyo Steak Spice, direct from Graeme's recipe book. Both beers are kind of food beers. Merci Biere will be available at the bottle shops the day after the party, and Nuppeppo will be available in growlers from North. In addition there is 4 casks and of course cake. All the fun starts at 4 PM.

Thanks for checking in again this week, until next week enjoy responsibly.