A good Friday to you all. It has been a good week here with NS Craft Beer Week 2017 wrapping this week end with the Full House event at the Forum. Here is what happened here in the beer world.
Unfiltered Brewing has brought back Warning Label DIPA. The 10% ABV 100+ IBU beer no oak this time around.
Schoolhouse Brewing released its first new brew in its new space. Staffroom Stout is a rich and smooth oatmeal stout, full bodied with a mild coffee bitterness though still sessionable at 5.5% ABV, They added 40 litres of cold brewed coffee from neighbours at T.A.N. Coffee making this beer over 3% coffee by volume. It'll debut Friday at Full House, and at the taproom. They also are bringing back their version of Scratch Plaskett, the electric tambourine wheat Ale created last summer with Good Robot, next Wednesday with bombers, growlers and flights.
Good Robot Brewing is putting on tap today Koji Kondo Sake Beer. A tribute to the composer of some of Nintendo’s greatest video game themes, is brewed with mostly rice, some barley, Japanese Sorachi Ace hops and sake yeast and descibed as a crisp, dry and fruity. The 5.2% ABV and 9 IBU beer used sake yeast but although top ferments like an ale but does but ferments cold.
Don't forget Hangover Triage this Sunday with coffee-beer pairing and hair-of-the-dog shenanigans. Cameron Crerar has been named as Propeller' Brewing's new Head Brewer for both the Gottingen Street (Halifax) & Windmill Road (Dartmouth) breweries. Cameron brings a great combination of creativity and large-scale, production brewery experience. Most recently he brewed with Beau’s All Natural Brewing, one of the fastest growing craft breweries in Canada. Before Beau’s, Crerar served as an Assistant Brewer with MooBrew in his homeland of Tasmania, Australia.
2 Crows Brewing added four foeders 2 Cognac foeders, 2 Calvados foeders (that were previously full of apple brandy for 65 years).
What is a foeder? I grabbed this off of Foeder Crafters of America to give you a little background:
Foeders allow a slow ingress of oxygen into the beer that is easily supervised with the tasting valve. The high beer to wood ratio allows the beer to mature and develop whereas smaller barrels may progress sooner which may lead to acidification before the beer is fully developed. Foeders also allow for greater capacity compared to the footprint barrels take up. Because the beer is coming from one vessel, you will have a more consistent and reproducible product. Foeders will also save on time and labor compared with racking multiple barrels or pulling multiple nails when sampling.
Boxing Rock Brewing partnered up with Lunn's Mill Beer Company in Lawrencetown to make something different for their entry in the Stillwell Open. April, May, Juniper saison actually won its category at the open. Boxing Rock adds Juniper berries are one of the primary botanicals in gin, and has an aromatic profile that pairs pretty well with their favourite French Saison yeast. Look for it on tap at Stillwell, in bottles at private stores and in growlers at the Halifax Seaport Market and Alderney Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Lazy Bear Brewing released Brier Rose last week end. It is a fruit beer made with rose hips collected on Brier Island and featuring 85% Horton Ridge organic malt. The 4.5% ABV beer is available for a limited time.
North Brewing bottled two barrels of Midnight (aged in Glenora barrels with Brett. Q from Escarpment Labs. It is now available at both bottle shops.
Saltbox Brewery are releasing three of their beers in cans. Holy Mackerel, Nun on the Run and Dynamite Trail are being canned to test the market by hitting restaurants and pubs that have keg storage limitations are getting cans and of course at the brewery itself.
Tatamagouche Brewing has its latest Giant out. Two Rivers Baltic Porter is back at the brewery. They say the 8% ABV earthy, dark chocolate Lagered Porter goes down smooth.
Annapolis Cider has announced its latest Something Different. Earl Blue is a sparkling cider crafted from a blend of cool-fermented dry cider made from local diverse apple varieties, including Golden Russet and McIntosh apples, with juice from Nova Scotia grown wild blueberries and freshly-pressed apples. This blend was then cold-steeped with Earl Grey Tea leaves, a black tea, infused with the oil of bergamot oranges, to add tannins and structure. Annapolis says the result is a fragrant, blush-hued cider with aromatic notes of citrus and earthy, wild blueberries that finishes with a hint of bitter from the tea. This cider is 6.8% ABV with $0.50 from each refill being donated to The Wolfville School Playground Fundraiser!
I had a sneak peek at Chain Yard Urban Cidery yesterday. I got to try four of their offerings and they will be open next week. Watch for a preview coming soon.
Have a great week end whatever you decide to do, and remember your Mom on Sunday.
