Good Robot Brews Unity Beer

(Halifax, NS) - Good Robot Brewing's brewer Giovanni Johnson has worked with a group of BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color) Nova Scotians in the food and beverage industry to create the Change is Brewing Collective. He says, “The Change is Brewing Collective is coming together for BIPOC people in Nova Scotia to honour the Black experience.” 

Their first brew as a collective is a blackberry pale ale called Blackberry Freedom. The beer is a challenge to other breweries in Nova Scotia to consider how they can be more inclusive for Black, Indigeonous, and People of Colour in their communities. 50% of all proceeds of the beer will be donated to BIPOC youth and community groups. 

Blackberry Freedom will be available in cans or draft on Good Robot’s online store at https://www.goodrobotbrewing.ca/  or at their taproom and retail space at 2736 Robie Street in Halifax on July 11th.

Craft Beer Shines as NSLC Announces 2019 Q1 Results

(Halifax, NS) - NSLC Announced Q1 results for April 1st to June 30th and saw sales rise to $174.9 million an increase of $18.1 million or 11.5% primarily due to cannabis. Beverage alcohol sales were $158.8 million and recreational cannabis sales were $16.1 million.
Nova Scotia ready-to-drink products had a strong quarter with sales increasing by 107.7% to $3.3 million with this strong growth primarily driven by coolers and ciders. Beer over all decreased 2.6% to $70.5M or 40.3% of sales over all with Nova Scotia craft beer sales growing by 17.8% to $4.9 million. The Ns craft beer sales now attribute to 6.95% of the beer category. The NSLC now lists products from 30 local breweries, about half of the breweries now open, up from six breweries just six years ago.

Boxing Rock Brewing Opens New Taproom in Shelburne

(Shelburne, NS) - Boxing Rock Brewing opens its newest location today at 218 Water Street in Shelburne. The original location on Ohio Road will remain dedicated to production and packaging and the Test Kitchen in Halifax will remain brewing small batch projects. 
The new taproom will have about 70 seats inside and another 30 on the patio. The 10 taps at the bar will have one cider and one guest tap in addition to their own line up. 
Production onsite will be dedicated to expanding Boxing Rock's barrel program as well as their product line. Kitchen to open later this fall but until then food provided by the Finest Kind mobile kitchen, who have been at the Ohio Road brewery since 2017. The new tap room will also have a space for live music.

Bad Apple Brewhouse Releases Allie’s Fearless IPA

(Somerset, NS) - A little over a year ago, Jeff Saunders from Bad Apple Brewhouse started chatting with Dale Jollota about creating a beer to honour her daughter’s memory.  Olivia Jollota passed away in 2012 at the age of 15, her mom Dale has created The Olivia Jollota Memorial Trust and has continued to honour her daughter by creating a high school scholarship at Prince Andrew High as well as many community donations for those in need, be it people or animals.  

With all of Olivia’s friend now in fourth year at university or four years in their new career, it seemed appropriate at this time to create a beer that was similar to her personality to share with her friends and public.  

This IPA has been brewed in dedication to Olivia (A.K.A. Allie).  It represents her fun loving, fearless, adventurous, spirited and larger than life personality.  This American style IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style.  Wet hops from GroupofSe7en give this IPA a big juicy, herbal, citric and fruity character.  Light bodied with a mild bitter finish. Jeff Saunders stated that the nose of the beer “was just like Five Alive” which is fitting as it was one of Olivia’s favorites.  

This is a limited release with only 400 custom screened bottles to be filled. These will be sold for $7.50 per bottle.  There may be a few kegs as well at select bars including Stillwell and Jamieson’s Irish Pub, with Jamieson’s donating $1.00 for each glass poured to The Olivia Jollota Memorial Trust. 

Breton Brewing Introduces Signature Series

(Sydney, NS) - Breton Brewing introduces Signature Series and the first beer Wild Bretton. Breton Brewing along with Brathair Brewing have teamed up once again to create something special. The winner of the 2018 Stillwell Open and the first in their barrel aged Signature Series, Wild Bretton is a Belgian Witbier co-fermented with Amalgamation Brett and aged in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wine barrels.
This beer conveys a light body and a tart lemony finish while offering complex yet refreshing characteristics. Brewed with coriander and orange peel, Wild Bretton will be sure to capture your attention and comes in at 5.0% ABV  and 14 IBU.
The beer will also be available as part of the Breton Brewing Christmas Gift Bags. There are only about 500 bottles of each available, so quantities are limited. 

Propeller Releases Bourbon Barrel Aged Baltic Porter

(Halifax, NS) - Propeller Brewing Releases it's second in their Barrel Aged Series, Barrel Aged Baltic Porter, after releasing it's Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout earlier this year. The Bourbon Barrel Aged Baltic Porter is dark and complex, with roasted coffee and toffee aromas and hints of raisin and dark cherry. After a lengthy stay in oak bourbon barrels, its has aromas and  flavours of vanilla and caramel that are accentuated along with distinct bourbon influence. 

North Brewing Announces Major Expansion

(Halifax, NS) - North Brewing announced that it is expanding to a larger production facility at 899 Portland Street and will include a 5000 sq foot production space and 100 seat taproom with a full kitchen. 
In addition to a new space North Brewing is launching the “North Brewing Co. Conservation Initiative” (NBCI), a fundraising effort to acquire and protect ecologically significant land in Nova Scotia in partnership with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. North Brewing is launching the NBCI with a beer named ‘Blanc’. “Blanc is a grisette fermented on Sauvignon Blanc grape skins from our friends at Benjamin Bridge,” said Josh Herbin, co-owner of North Brewing. “It’s a unique and beautiful beer.  We’re excited for people to try it and to learn more about what we are working to achieve with the NBCI. Fifty cents from each can of Blanc sold will be donated to the Nature Trust to kick off our larger fundraising efforts” said Herbin.
Construction at 899 Portland St. is scheduled to begin in December and the North Team is targeting a late spring/early summer opening for its taproom. North Brewing will be closing its Agricola Street production space and retail store in the winter/spring of 2019.  
Josh Herbin owner and head brewer said: “We will dearly miss working in the neighbourhood that raised us as a business, but are beyond excited to outfit a new space that will allow us more capacity and flexibility in production moving forward. When people come into our current location and see how little room we have to work, they are always amazed by the volume and quality of beer we are able to produce. Our new production location and adjoining taproom will allow us to consistently keep our core brands in stock, while satisfying our unending desire to experiment with one-off brews, wood-aged beers, and wild fermentations. We can’t wait to see you all there!”

Spindrift Announces Bottle Series and Brand

(Dartmouth, NS) - Out of the Hold is a new family of brands under the Spindrift Brewing corporate umbrella. The releases will always be bottle conditioned, often barrel aged/fermented with bottle sizes varying some between releases with the most common size being 500 ml. Each release will have it’s own name and label and some of which will return in subsequent years and others just being one offs. Single releases will range from 400 to 2000 bottles to start. They will always be available at the brewery and often Halifax's private stores. The Out of the Hold program will begin to focus on relevant flavours, styles and brewing techniques, ranging from Imperial Stouts, to Sours, to Saisons. 
There are two releases tomorrow November 1st, two more on November 15th, and another on December 1st. The series will really kick into action in the new year when they are able to adhere to a true production schedule for the program.

Photo from Spindrift Brewing 

Releases tomorrow are 'Cherry Brett Beer' and 'Golden Brett Beer'. Both use our Pils as a base and have been aged extensively in French oak barrels previously used for red wine. Cherry Brett Beer was fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis, and conditioned on dark sweet cherry puree for many months. Golden Brett Beer was fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis Vrai. Both are carbonated to give elegant effervescence, they are great showcases of the two brett strains used.

Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse Opens in Dartmouth

(Dartmouth, NS) - The exciting PEI brewer Upstreet Craft Brewing in partnership with Chef Bill Pratt, Founder and Director of the Chef Inspired Group of Restaurants, opened Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse at 612 Windmill Road. The restaurant will be a traditional Southern BBQ experience including in-house smoked meats and jackfruit as well as pub fare and of course Upstreet beers brewed in-house. So far they have brewed Upstreet's 4 flagship beers including Rhuby Social, Commons, Do Gooder, and White Noize that are available as well Major Tom Sour will be available today and Neon Friday Tropic IPA tomorrow. They have the flagships on tap, plus a few more Upstreet beers, 4 flavours of East Coast Craft Soda, and a few guest taps as well.

Boxing Rock Brewing Expands to Halifax North End in Unique Partnership

(Shelburne, NS) - Boxing Rock Brewing will expand both their brewing capacity and retail presence in HRM by partnering with the Local Source Market in the North End of Halifax. The unique partnership, “Test Kitchen” is located adjacent to the Local Source catering kitchen & bakery, and a Boxing Rock Bottle Shop is now open in the Local Source Market at 2530 Agricola Street.
"Creating a local food hub has always been the goal of Local Source, says owner Sean Gallagher. “This partnership is an extension of that goal, connecting customers to local quality products and producers. The Boxing Rock retail will offer customers their regular and limited release bottled products, as well as growler fills for seasonal beers and experimental batches brewed in the 1-barrel brewing system. “This was exactly the type of partnership we were hoping for when we looked to expand into Halifax,” says Boxing Rock Co-owner Emily Tipton. “Sean has been a great customer of ours for years through the Lion & Bright Café & Wine Bar. We share similar values around sustainability, growing the local economy and enhancing local food culture in Nova Scotia.” The Local Source Market is now operating on extended “growler hours”, (M-W 9-7, Th 9-8, F 9-9, Sat 10 – 9, Sun 10-6). The grand opening event for the new Boxing Rock Bottle Shop will be held on September 1st with an exciting gift for their first customers that day. 

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. 

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… 

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.