Maritime Beer Report - October 30, 2015

Welcome to the Halloween edition of the Maritime Beer Report.

PEI Brewing Company have moved their new bock from the barrels to bottles and wax sealed them. Their newest barrel-aged project, Hell Street, gets released next week.

Upstreet Craft Brewing started selling beer in bottles in their taproom. If you remember from the spring, there is 400 "Islandisms" hidden under the caps.

Hammond River Brewing will be hosting their 2nd Annual Homebrew Competition with details being announced very soon. Oh and this one will be open to everyone in the Maritimes.

Picaroons Traditional Ales are hiring. They are looking for the perfect manager to run the Uptown Saint John Picaroons General store. Interested people should check their facebook page.
They also released Gourd Browny this week. They say "A full and complete Brown Ale that has been tragically hopped with Fuggles and Goldings hops and infused with a special blend of Pumpkin Pie spices whipped up from the fine folks at the Chess Piece Pâtisserie & Cafe in Downtown Fredericton. Only available at the Brewtique while supplies last. Lastly they say it's almost time and it's on its sleigh... ‎Winter Warmer‬ coming in ‎November‬.

Big Spruce Brewing's owner is off doing "research" in Vermont but had time to release their third ever batch of Glenora Whiskey infused The Whole 9 Yards. Available now.

As mentioned last week, Garrison Brewing has teamed up once again with the Federation of Beer to create an Official Star Trek licensed brew: Vulcan Ale - Genesis Effect Red Session IPA. This second limited release in the Star Trek-themed series uses "out of this world" hops like Comet, Galaxy and Warrior for a flavour that defies logic, and conquers thirst in the most calculated way. Very limited but available at the brewery, private stores and select NSLC stores.

Sea Level Brewing ‏has released its Wet-hopped Punkin' Grinner Ale. They say "you can just smell the pumpkin, spice & local honey in the air".

Spindrift Brewing will be opening its doors next Wednesday at 11 am to their retail space and tap room on Frazee Avenue. Get your growler ready Halifax.

Thanks for checking out the craft beer news for the Maritimes again this week, have a safe Halloween and until next week enjoy responsibly.

Maritime Beer Report - October 23, 2015

It has been another great week in local craft beer, here is the news I know.

I was at the Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards on Sunday. Garrison Brewing was the big winner of the night taking three gold and one silver medal as well as Brewery of the Year. The coveted Beer of the Year or "Best of Show" went to Box Cutter IPA from Bad Apple Brewhouse. For the complete list of winners check out my special blog post.

Big Axe Brewery released a new beer today. The "Anaphylactic Ale" is a strong ale brewed with Rooftop Honey from James Joyce. They are also doing the inaugural "Meet Your Maker" tonight at 730 PM at James Joyce. 

Grimross Brewing has a new beer on tap, a Belgian Abbey SINGEL. It is a session beer at 4.8% and would have been brewed by Abbey Monks for their own use, rarely available to the public. It is very dry with a clean malt aroma and crisp light mouthfeel, available now.

Picaroons says there are still tickets available to the Harvest Ale reception & three course dinner with beer pairings at Lion & Bright. They will begin the night with a Harvest Ale reception with Picaroons' Tony Goss hosting to celebrate the return of Picaroons long-awaited Harvest Ale - made entirely with Maritime-grown hops.  He'll be joining for dinner and will tell the stories of all the beers as they go. On eventbrite until noon Saturday.

River Valley Micro released they now started brewing some of their beer recipes for Railcar Brewing Company. This is a side project for now, the shop still remains open and business as usual. 

Garrison Brewing has been super busy. They release Gastronome IPA last night. It is on tap exclusively at Harbourstone Sea Grill and Pour House. They did a soft launch of its Martello Stout this week at the brewery. Look for its roll out soon. lastly the Vulcan Ale Genesis Effect Red Session Ale has been bottled and will be available next Friday in honor of Hal-Con.

Hell Bay Brewing Company released its newest seasonal, High Tide Harvest Ale. They are using 100% locally grown hops from High Tide Hop Farm outside of  Bridgewater. They say it has a rich malty body and peppery notes from the European yeast gives this 5% ale its fall characteristic.
Available at the brewery, Stillwell and White Point Beach Resort.

I popped into the Auctionhouse last night and renovations have begun to have the Georges Island Brewing Company inside the restaurant. Look for beer probably early next year for this one.
Staying with Auctionhouse, next Wednesday's Beer School will be with Breton Brewing.

That is all I have for this week, have a great week end and until time enjoy responsibly.

2015 Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards

The second annual Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards were held over the week end in Halifax. The judging of over 200 entries was on Friday and Saturday at The Old Triangle and the Gala on Sunday evening at The Stubborn Goat. 

Twenty-one breweries and cideries shared the 40 medals awarded in 14 categories as well as three special awards ( To see full medal counts see Table 1 and category details see Table 2). This year the beer categories were reduced from 15 to 12 and 2 cider categories were added. Further, the People's Choice was removed as well as Brewpub of the Year and a new award of Cidery of the Year was added. 

Garrison Brewing was the big winner of the night taking three gold and one silver medal as well as Brewery of the Year. Another notable item was Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault swept the entire Belgian Style Specialty Ales category taking all three medals. 

The two new cider catergories were were dominated by Cider House and Red Rover Craft Cider who also took Cidery of the Year. 

Lastly, the coveted Beer of the Year or "Best of Show" went to Box Cutter IPA from Bad Apple Brewhouse.  

It was another great success this year, it is a real pleasure to join in the celebration of the best of craft in our region.

Table 1 : Medal counts 

Brewery	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Garrison Brewing	3	1	0
Red Rover Craft Cider	1	2	0
Brasseurs du Petit-Sault	1	1	1
Rockbottom Brewpub	1	0	2
Cider House	1	0	2
Uncle Leo's Brewing	0	1	2
Big Spruce Brewing	1	0	1
Moosehead Breweries	1	0	1
PEI Brewing	1	0	1
Propeller Brewing	0	2	0
Paddy's Brewpub	0	1	1
Tatamagouche Brewing	0	1	1
Pump House Brewery	1	0	0
Barnone Brewing	1	0	0
Bad Apple Brewhouse	1	0	0
Sea Level Brewing	0	1	0
Upstreet Craft Brewing	0	1	0
Hell Bay Brewing	0	1	0
Meander River Farm	0	1	0
Acadie-Broue	0	1	0
Breton Brewing	0	0	1

Table 2 : Full Beer Category Breakdown 

North American & European Style Lagers
Gold:    Moosehead Breweries - Hop City Barking Squirrel
Silver:  Propeller Brewing - Bohemian Style Pilsener 
Bronze: Moosehead Breweries - Alpine

German Style Specialty Ales
Gold:    Garrison Brewing - Rise 'n' Shine Hefeweizen
Silver:   Uncle Leo's Brewing - Uncle Leo's Altbier
Bronze: Breton Brewing - Stirling Hefeweizen

UK Style Specialty Ales
Gold:    Rockbottom Brewpub - Bulldog Brown Ale
Silver:   Paddy’s Brewpub - Raven Ale
Bronze: Uncle Leo's Brewing - Uncle Leo's Red Ale

North American Specialty Ales
Gold:    Big Spruce Brewing - Bitter Get'er India Black IPA
Silver:   Garrison Brewing - Ol' Fog Burner
Bronze: PEI Brewing - Sir John A Honey Wheat

Belgian Style Specialty Ales
Gold:    Brasseurs du Petit-Sault - Simonet Hébert
Silver:   Brasseurs du Petit-Sault - La Buckdjeuve
Bronze: Brasseurs du Petit-Sault - Maxime Albert

North American Amber & Red Ales
Gold:    not awarded
Silver:   Sea Level Brewing - Blue Heron Extra Special Bitter
Bronze: not awarded

Fruit & Field Beers
Gold:    Pump House Brewery - Thai Wheat
Silver:   Upstreet Craft Brewing - Rhuby Social
Bronze: Paddy's Brewpub - Smashed Pumpkin

Pale Ales
Gold:    PEI Brewing - Vic Park
Silver:   Hell Bay Brewing - English Ale
Bronze: Big Spruce Brewing x Bar Stillwell - Gimme Citra

Stout & Porter
Gold:     La Vaca Loca - Barnone Brewing
Silver:   Propeller Brewing - Revolution Russian Imperial Stout
Bronze: Rockbottom Brewpub - Oatmeal Stout

India Pale Ale
Gold:     Bad Apple Brewhouse - Box Cutter IPA
Silver:   Tatamagouche Brewing - Deception Bay IPA
Bronze: Rockbottom Brewpub - Fathom IPA

Experimental Beer
Gold:     Garrison Brewing - IPA Gastronome
Silver:   Meander River Farm & Brewery - Surf & Turf
Bronze: Uncle Leo's Brewing - Uncle Leo's Smoked Porter

Wood & Barrel Aged Beer
Gold:     Garrison Brewing - Barrel-Aged Grand Baltic Porter
Silver:   Acadie-Broue - Zirable
Bronze: Tatamagouche Brewing - Rum Barrel-Aged Dreadnot

Standard Cider and Perry
Gold:     Cider House - Ship Builders Cider
Silver:   Red Rover Craft Cider - VeRRy PeRRy
Bronze: Cider House - Stutz Original

Specialty Cider and Perry
Gold:     Red Rover Craft Cider - Fire Cider
Silver:   Red Rover Craft Cider - The Blues
Bronze: Cider House - Stutz Wild Blueberry
#ACBA2015