The Harbour Brewing Company Opens in Musquodoboit Harbour

(Musquodoboit Harbour, NS) - The Harbour Brewing Company will be opening for business on July 28th August 1st at Noon at 7955 Highway 7 in Musquodoboit Harbour. Chris Downey, who you may remember from Nine Locks Brewing and Spindrift Brewing, has opened his own brewery.
They decided to open the 1 BBL nanobrewery in Musquodoboit Harbour because "that's where we live and because they are no breweries between Dartmouth and Sheet Harbour". 
They are starting out with an all ale lineup with the focus on first brewing our beers well before expanding the variety. Downey also adds "Our philosophy is to serve the local market, work with local suppliers and businesses when we can and produce beers the Eastern shore can be proud of".
The brewery is in the former Bear Den Cafe and will be serving beer on the deck as well as selling growlers and merchandise. 

Hop To It Brewing : More than Just the 19th Hole

A small craft brewer north of Moncton is currently serving a single customer in Irishtown but hoping like others to grow. I recently got to ask owner and brewer Luke Rasmussen of Hop To It Brewing a few questions about his operation and plans 

MBR: What made you want to open a brewery?
HTIB: I started getting into craft beer and wondered about the process of making it. I spent a few months researching equipment and how to use it effectively until I decided on what I want to try and do. The plan was to build my own electric brewing system and just brew for fun as a home brewer. After about 5 months of sourcing, buying parts and assembly, I had a mostly functioning brewery.
The subsequent months were spent making all manner of different beers as I tried to learn everything I could about the brewing process. The golf course across the street got word of my little adventure and offered a tap if I could get a license to sell.

MBR: "How hard could it be to get a license?"
HTIB: About 8 months of red tape hard.

MBR: How big is your brewery?
HTIB:The brew house is 21 Gallons and I have 2 different fermenters. One is 42 Gallons and the other is 14 Gallons each with a matching brite tank.

MBR: Do you plan on selling your beer beyond golf courses?
HTIB: Definitely, the seasonal nature aside, most average golfers are not going to a golf course to experience craft beer. It's just a bonus for a few that happen to enjoy both. Once I have a steady production schedule, I'd like to be on some of the rotating taps in the Moncton area.

MBR: When did you open?
HTIB: September 5th 2017 is when I poured my first commercial beer.

MBR: What styles of beer are you planning to make?
HTIB: Currently I make a kolsch-like beer and a pale ale with plans to make an IPA and a smokey beer in the near future.

MBR: Anything else you would like to add?
HTIB:I'm hoping to move to town sometime soon so I can have a constant water supply. Currently storing city water in 7 gallon jugs
I'm also looking into the possibility of canning some of my beer, although I will need some larger storage tanks first.

Thanks Luke for your time and you will find Hop To It on tap at Maplewood Golf & Country Club

Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse Coming to Dartmouth

(Dartmouth, NS) - Upstreet Craft Brewing is coming to Dartmouth and hoping third, or is it fourth, time lucky at 612 Windmill Road. They have teamed up with Bill Pratt of Chef Inspired Group, founder of Cheese Curds: Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie and Habaneros Modern Taco Bar to name a couple, to create Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse. The new BBQ restaurant and brewery will be opening in September and they say to expect awesome authentic BBQ with Upstreet beer brewed in-house and, of course, the Upstreet experience that they have become known for. 

Uncle Leo's Opens Quayside Beer Garden in Pictou

(Pictou, NS) - Uncle Leo's Brewery have opened up a Craft Beer Garden in Pictou Nova Scotia called Quayside Beer Garden. It has spectacular views of Pictou Harbour on the pier next to the replica of the Ship Hector. It has 8 rotating taps of Nova Scotia Craft Beer and Cider as qwell as  Red and White wine from Jost Vineyards.  The beers for Quayside are posted on Social Media on its its own Instagram and Facebook accounts.

New Scotland Brewing Opens in Dartmouth

(Dartmouth, NS) - New Scotland Brewing opens Saturday July 14th at 91 Alderney Drive in the heart of Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Kevin and Scott Saccary, of New Scotland Clothing, as well as Mike Gillespie are the driving forces behind the new brewery. Mike will be the brewer on the 5 BBL onsite system and plans a wide range of beer styles to be available on their taps. The space will host a bar with 10-12 taps of their beer as well as other NS beer and cider producers, a retail section for merchandise as well as cans when they become available and a stage as music is very important to the owners, so expect lots of local talent there in the evening. 
They will have a Kolsch, IPA, Grapefruit APA, Scottish Ale and Stout available for opening as well as a very limited small batches of Strawberry Peppercorn Mead and Blackberry Chai Mead. The will also have live music Saturday with Willy Stratton. 

Lake City Cider Opens in Downtown Dartmouth

(Dartmouth, NS) - Lake City Cider opened its tap room, production and retail space at 35 Portland Street in the former Nieforth Furniture building. The bright clean space offers cans and bottles, a sampling bar as well and 1 litre swingtop growler purchases. 
The ciders are all made from Nova Scotia apples and currently have three ciders available, District 5, Nieforth Original and Darkside Dry. District 5 is a crisp clean cider coming in at 6 % ABV and available in 473 ml cans, Nieforth Original is a semi-sweet cider and is 6.8% ABV and is in 750 ml bottles and also in a 750 ml is Darkside Dry coming in at 7.5% ABV.
Lake City joins a thriving rival of Dartmouth's downtown following many restaurants and shops. Lake City Brewing will be joined by Brightwood Brewing in the same building later this summer making a unique partnership and space. 

Nova Scotia Craft Beer Full House Beer Fest [VIDEO]

The crew from NSLIVE.tv asked me to talk to a few brewers at the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia's Full House. Here is a playlist of the the afternoon in three videos. Watch it with the whole family or listen to it like a podcast. 

Garrison Brewing releases “This Beer Is Toast!”

Photo from Garrison Brewing

(Halifax, NS) - Garrison Brewing released “This Beer Is Toast!” Saison, a unique brew made with day-old bread from various local, independent bakeries in support of Feed Nova Scotia. They used 250 lbs of plain, rye, multigrain & pumpernickel bread was donated by Birdies Bread Co., The Old Apothecary and Smith’s Bakery. Garrison partnered with Feed Nova Scotia because of their work with food insecurity in the community with $0.50 from each bottle sold being donated as a result.
“This Beer Is Toast!” is a 5.4% saison-style ale, deep gold with light fruity apple and bread-dough flavours and a refreshingly dry finish. The beer is available at Garrison Brewing and next week at private liquor stores.

2 Crows Brewing Releases Dandy - First in Barrel-Aged Series

(Halifax, NS) - 2 Crows Brewing are releasing their first ever bottled beer and the first beer in their barrel-aged sour series. Dandy is a gin barrel-aged sour that is conditioned on burnt citrus.

Photo from 2 Crows Brewing

2 Crows says the beer was "Brewed with Pilsner malt, spelt, wheat, and oats, and hopped lightly with Calypso and Bramling Cross. Soured with a mixture of lactobacillus cultures, and fermented in gin barrels with a blend of saccharomyces and brettanomyces yeast. After conditioning in barrel for several months, the beer was transferred to stainless where it was further conditioned on the burnt zest of lemons, oranges, limes, and grapefruit. Finally, the beer was bottle conditioned with champagne yeast for a lively carbonation."
Dandy is limited quantity but there is no bottle limit and will be available on Saturday July 7th at the brewery as well Bishops Cellar said they were bringing a few in.
Tasting notes are "Bright, tart, lightly funky, with juniper, citrus, oaky tannins, a subtle burnt/smoky character and a firm minerality" and it is  5.1% ABV.

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… 

Bore City Brewing Adds Grand Monk Artisan Ales Brand

(Moncton, NB) - There have been many changes at Bore City Brewing since their opening in 2015, from their brewer to their beers and with the recent expansion to a 3 BBL system they thought it fitting to introduce a fresh branding to their beer. 
Corporately they will remain Bore City Brewing but their beer will now be branded Grand Monk Artisan Ales and will be available in bars and restaurants throughout New Brunswick.The expansion will still offer no retail space but with a much larger capacity, they hope to be available at more ANBL locations for growler fills and plan on bottling by this fall. 

Roof Hound Brewing Releases Vandal Hound Lemon Meringue Doughnut IPA

(Hillgrove, NS) - Roof Hound Brewing has never shied away for experimental beers especially when it comes to adding unique flavours into ales. This week they release Vandal Hound Lemon Meringue Doughnut IPA. The  6% ABV beer comes from the mad minds of Roof Hound Brewing and Vandal Doughnuts in Halifax. Described as "It’s sour, it’s sweet, it’s hoppy", it was brewed with real vandal doughnuts, lactose, toasted sugar, house made lemon pie filling and dry hopped with Lemon Drop hops.
You can try the new creation at on July 5th from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Stubborn Goat Beer Garden on the Halifax Waterfront with Free doughnuts with the first 100 pints or at also on the 5th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at WestSide Beer Wine Spirits in Clayton Park for samples, fills and bottles. There is also a Launch of the beer at Roof Hound on July 6th from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM with music from David Chamberland.
It is a very limited release so grab some fast.