Home of the BrewNosers

mr x wrote:Real ale is dead.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... 31-00.html

Maritime Drinker - January 31, 2000
Mon. 31 Jan. 2000
by Jeffrey Pinhey

The Christmas season has come and gone and all we have left are empty bottles, empty kegs, and three less breweries. Picaroons is done and gone, but the assets of the small system, installed in The Whale's Tail pub is St. Andrews by the Sea now belong to Kevin Keefe of granite Brewery fame. Fresh off the opening of a new outlet in downtown Toronto (Beer Street - after the Hogarth print that is Gin Lame's opposite) he "just might" be opening a new Granite Brewery in St. Andrews. This is a great pub, and worth a visit regardless, but if those beers get on tap, with that new golf course, I may have to move there....

The Queen Molly, in Yarmouth, is gone, and I have heard nothing yet as to the fate of the brewery or the restaurant. This was one of the top pubs in Canada, yet how many of you visited?

And, last Wednesday, the Royal Bank (withdraw your funds now) foreclosed on the Maritime Brewing Company. They are running it now as receivers - I wonder what beers they will make (Banker's Imagination Ale - empty bottle selling for twice the price; Snowflake Lager - no two are the same, melts in your mouth, buy just water in another form; Foreclosure Red - well you were in it, weren't you?) I suspect some mid to medium sized operations will be lining up for that bottling line - unless some bigger entity takes it over to brew their Cream, Amber, Lager and Steam.

On the good news front, the Pump House in Moncton is a great place to visit - seek it out, it is just in off Main Street next to a pool hall and indoor golf place - good beers, good pizza.

Also the latest local release is Garrison's Martello Stout - a rich, session stout, of the smooth variety, with lots of chocolate and coffee taste and some (but not too much, even for me) butterscotch. Straightforward, a fresh alternative to Guinness.

Propeller have stopped brewing Tatoo, but have also listed their Pale Ale in 6 packs in the NSLC stores.

The latest series of setbacks to the local brewing scene is probably being greeted with glee in the halls of Labatts/Olands/Keoths/Interbrew and Moosehead, where the sales morons think they make good beer. It is no secret that the big guys viewed maritime as an insect to be squashed, and that they went to extremes to make sure that no competition arose from a Nova Scotia owned company (guess what brewery couldn't get empty bottles prior to the Christmas season, and guess why?). Indeed, Nova Scotians could have recognized that fact and sent a message by buying the beer, but they did not. Just another classic case of the Maritime's "eat your young" attitude towards supporting businesses owned by people who actually live and pay taxes here, and preferring to send our money out of Province. You probably know that I was never a great fan of the beers, but I always buy their products before the big guys'. Particularly Black Pearl, which, on tap, is very respectable. As well, regular readers may recall my noting how well Frosted Frog did against other blue labeled beers in a blind tasting back when it was released.

The effort required now is real public input to the new government that lets them know we want good beer to stay in our Province. The Minister in charge of a lot of this is Roddy MacDonald, a Cape Bretoner who was probably weaned on "Keets". But the best pub in Cape Breton, the Red Shoe, in Mabou, his home town, offers both Propeller beers on tap, so maybe he has some clue about what we are talking about.

Please write him to let him know how concerned you are about the status of small breweries in Nova Scotia. Here are some questions to ask, or jumping off points for rants you might wish to make in your own words.

Why is there no differentiation made between how much a big brewery and a micro brewery pay for their licenses to brew? Should it not be on a per litre basis?

Why are small businesses located in Nova Scotia so poorly treated by our own liquor commission, often to the benefit of foreign owned companies?

Why can't a brewpub sell bottles of beer to take home? ( in other parts of Canada this is permitted)

The best selections of wine and beer in Canada are found in Alberta and Quebec, and in specialty stores, Ontario - the places with beer and wine sales allowed in private stores, or beer is distributed by the industry. The liquor commission cannot compete with the private sector in warehousing and distribution, let alone sales, so why do they maintain their monopoly on what is essentially a food product?

The alcohol content of beer is less than many products found on shelves in grocery stores and pharmacies - why is it regulated the same as 40% alcohol liquors like rum and gin?

Is there any logic at all behind the rules that keep a small business from having their sales person also deliver the beer? (This is really silly - John Allen or Brian Titus can visit a bar to try to get the owner to put their beer on tap, but they are not allowed to drop off the keg when the owner agrees)

Why do breweries owned by non Nova Scotians enjoy the preferred local beer status in the Provincial stores?

When Labatts/Interbrew shuts down the Agricola Street brewery, what will be left of the industry in Nova Scotia? You really don't think the Belgian owner will keep a small, unprofitable brewery like that open much longer do you? Why do you think they are building the new, small one down at the old brewery? Build a brewpub to keep the local presence (placate the local government) and make the beer in a bigger factory brewery closer to the big markets.

When is Nova Scotia going to wake up and join the modern world, and realize that wine and beer are beverages of moderation, and that in the same cultures that spawned ours - England, France, Germany, Ireland and Scotland (for the majority of us) - wine and beer are viewed as food, as a healthy part of life, and as a healthy part of the economy?

Do they not realize that the economic state of taxation on wine and beer has already reached the point of diminishing returns? With every percentage of new tax added, the government collects less net income! This is because the value added sector - bars and restaurants - sell less because people buy it themselves and drink at home (not homebrewing, which is major red herring B.S. propagated by the big brewers and their job protecting unions). The slowdown of the restaurant and bar trade results in far greater loss of government income through entertainment taxes, income taxes, and spin off industry than the new money collected from raising taxes. You would think supposed businessmen-conservatives would have the clues to understand that.

Nova Scotia is not 100% populated by far right christians and prohibitionist extremists, otherwise the liquor stores would not be full at closing time. They make the most noise, but they only get one vote each. For the most part, Nova Scotians drink. I am sure this is a surprise to all of you.

Did you know that the Daily News recently did a two day poll about having wine and beer in liquor stores. Day one - majority far in favour of allowing it. Day 2, the brewery union heard about it and all called in en masse, to undemocratically alter the final results - the DN realized this was crap and did not release the results.

Oh, and welcome to the new millennium.....

Jeff

Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... _ales.html

All About Ales



What is it?
All About Ales is the homebrewing equivalent to the East Coast Festival of Beer. It is a national homebrewing competition sponsored by CABA and hosted by the BrewNosers in Halifax. As the name suggests only ales are accepted.


Where is it?
It is held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.


When is it?
The competition entry deadline was September 4th, 1999.
Entries accepted at Steve's Beer and Wine shop in Burnside Industrial Park. The phone number is 468-WINE (9463).
Saturday September 11, All About Ales awards will be handed out after a full day of talks and brewpub tours. Look for more information in upcoming issues of the CABA Times. for more information contact Jeff Pinhey at (902) 425-5218.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BrewNoser Events/Activities
The BrewNosers are organizing several events/activities Friday, Sept. 10 and Saturday, Sept. 11/99.
Friday Sept. 10/99 ( 7:00 pm )
Friday night meet at Harbourside, in front of the brewpub, John Shippeys Brewing Company. This is at the end of the Historic Properties mall almost on the water.
Mini tours and a talk by Heather Keith and/or her assistant brewer.

Put your name in a draw for a day brewing at Shippeys, learning how the make beer in that tiny brewery way up there.

Graze the high end food court for your own meal, awards from All About Ales competition announced, head out on group or individual pub crawls etc.

Saturday Sept. 11/99 ( 9:30 am - 1:00 pm )
But don't be out too late, cause Saturday morning at 9:30 we start at the Rogues Roost on Spring Garden Road (corner of Sp. Gdn. and Queen)
Introduction by CABA types , admission charged (it will not be much over cost and expenses) includes coffee, donuts, lunch (choice of pizza) two beers, and talks by:
1. Lorne Hart, founder of Hart Brewing Company in Ottawa, and a long time leader in the micro and quality beer brewing movement in canada. lorne is a great speaker, and fun to listen to. Boy does he have some stories to tell. We have asked him to focus some of his talk on the business of contract brewing, one which he is well versed in, brewing six different contract brews at the moment, including Granite's Peculier, and Kingston Brewing Company's Dragon's Breath Ale.
2. Randy Mugford, a partner in the Sharp Angus Hemp Ale a contract beer currently made by Propeller in Halifax. He will be along to talk about the other side of the contract brewing equation - developing the concept, doing a deal for supply, and managing distribution and - hold your breath - working with the NSLC! Scary stuff.

After lunch, you are free to accompany most of the attendees to the afternoons East Coast festival of Beer. Advance tickets for this are $20, and it is $25 at the door. So if you are going there (it looks like fun, and we scheduled this so that you could) buy yours in advance.

If you intent to attend, please let Jeff Pinhey (221-2368) know as soon as you decide. And tell your friends

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... e8-99.html

June 8, 1999 Meeting Summary

Hi all,

For those of you who missed the meeting, I thought I would write a short summary.

We all got a look at the logo. Hopefully it will appear on the web site soon for all to see. Those medals that we had were handed out. We also did some planning for the real ale festival.

The Real Ale Festival is scheduled for July 10th. Current plans are to have six different hand pumps available for dispensing beer. We expect about 75 people (more people than just those from the club are invited). If you are interested in brewing a keg of beer for the event or you want more information, please contact bn-admin@chebucto.ns.ca.

With that out of the way,we got down to the serious business of tasting some beers!

If I'm going to keep writing summaries in the future I'm going to have to take better notes.

Some of the beers we tasted were Creedmore Springs Lager, Sierra Nevada's Stout, Porter, and Pale Ale, some beers that won medals in GCHC, including George's gold medal Stout. We quickly moved into some of Sean's Tripple (an amazing beer, very much like La Fin du Monde) and some stronger beers, including a Niagra Brewing Company Eisbock, and one of Jeff's Barley Wines.

As usual, a great time was had by all.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... t7-99.html

Thurs. 7 Oct. 1999
by Jeffrey Pinhey

Beer Fests and Brewery Scuttlebut
It has been a busy beer season in Atlantic Canada, beginning with the All About Ales competition and mini conference, immediately followed by the East Coast festival of Beer, and then the World festival of Beer. Needless to say, yours truly was in attendance at all these events.
In addition some beer industry rumours and facts are surfacing that we can foment (or do you ferment rumours about breweries?) or pass on.

All About Ales was a success again this year. Over 40 entries were received, spanning the 7 categories quite well. Best of Show was a Trappist Style made by Sean King of Dartmouth. This was essentially a wonderful beer, with high alcohol, all the right esters and life, as well as a dry hoppy nose, and a finish very similar to Orval. I scored it 45, possibly the highest score I have ever given a home brewed beer. Overall the beers were excellent. Category winners included Chris Godwin and Geoff Mullalley, Steve Haynes, Craig Pinhey (yes, my little brother), Greg West (form down in the Valley) and Sean King and Lorne Romano, sharing a barley wine award.

Our guest speakers, who graciously gave of their time to entertain and inform, included noted beer historian Ian Bowering, famous micro brewer Lorne Hart (founder of Hart brewing in Ottawa who make the Granite's Peculiar under license), and one of the creators of the Sharp Angus Hemp Ale, Randy Mugford. The latter two speakers really let us in on the world of contract brewing and beer development, something new to the maritimes, but showing some promise for brewers, business people, and consumers alike.

We then walked over to the East Coast Festival of Beer, and spent the afternoon smapling locally available beers. I say this because, thanks to our backwards liquor laws, and the uncooperative Liquor Licensing Board (you know from previous MD's what my editorial policy is towards that lot) only beers that you could go drink in a bar in Nova Scotia already were available. This meant that nothing new was there to try. Competitioon with the Air Show certainly hurt attendance, as did Saturday's weather.

Highlights of the ECFB include managing to get into the VIP tent and getting free, full glasses of Hoegaarden for the entire afternoon, Dimitri the singing chef and Chris Ludlow serenading us all while we were in the tent and they were in the pouring rain, and the general party atmosphere.

Last weekend, Lorne Romano (Rogues Roost brewer) and I road tripped to Saint John to attend the World Festival of Beer. Now, compared to Nova Scotia's event, this was amazing. It was done right! To begin with, the NBLC set up a special event store outlet, behind a curtain from the trade show type setuyp in the Hilton's main ballroom. There were many many beers brought in to the Province just for the show, and they were all available for tasting in the room, and for sale on the other side of the curtain. Now, let me say that this special store was quite special. On arriving, Lorne and I walked right into the store, and immediately spied Steve Haynes with not one, but two shopping carts full of beer! He had a glazed look on his face that was definitely a "kid in a candy store with Mom's credit card" look. His bill? Over $580. he made excuses that he was buying gor four people. Sure Steve.

It took about three seconds for Lorne and I to realize that we were going to need wheels to help us get the beer to the van. This was the "two kids in a candy store with dad's credit card" frenzy. "look, they have La Trappe!" "And it's the Dubbel!"

"And it's only $2.56 a bottle" "Oh geez, I gotta but a case of that...." And so on.

Let us end this part of the story by concluding that after Lorne and I had finished, the BrewNoser beer bill was over $1000, and I was glad we had Lorne's van.

The fiestval part went well, too. Old buddy Mike Ligas (the yeast guru hisself) head brewer at Magnotta, just north of Toronto, was there with all his immaculately made products (the Alt is sublime) in a booth with Robilan Imports who were pouring Mc Chouffe, La Chouffe, and what seemed like the entire Hughue Family Brewery line from Belgium - this included the Artevelde grand Cru, Delerium Tremens (DT's), and an entire range of flavoured beers from chocolate, to honey, to strawberry, to passion fruit and something called ninkeberry.

The Olands Specialty beer guys were there with gueuze, framboise and kriek from Belle Vue, and with these two booths, it was very evident that there is a market for fruit beers in the Maritimes, if only from the female part of the population.

Other excellent beers at the show were Brooklyn Brewing Co's Amber Lager, Lobkov Pilsener, a Czech pils from a town about ½ way between Pilsen and Budvar, Belfast Bay Lobster Ale and Oatmeal Stout, Chimay Red, Finians Stout and Irish Red ale (this is a new micro from Ireland) Harvey's Thomas Paine Ale, Duvel, and Maisel Weiss, among others.

There were a lot of beers from traditionally non brewing countries, now making large volumes of beer, including Thailand, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Brazil, and Mexico. The crowd favourite among these seemed to be the Zambezi Pils from Zimbabwe.

The NBLC people were friendly, cooperative and somewhat surprised at the interest (basically sold out with line ups). They had the foresight, and service skill to recognize that people who learn more about beer, and sample new beers will become more responsible drinkers. They also gave me the distinct impression that they thought this was a good idea, whereas their Nova Scotia counterparts would consider it a pain in the a&&.

Indicative of their forward thinking attitude was that they allowed the local brewpub, Tapps, to have a booth, and include their beers in the sampling list. In NS this is illegal.

Also quite refreshing was the attitde of the "big breweries". They were there in force, but they seemed to acknowledge that this was a day for experiementing, and fun with beer. The Alpine people were very active, with transfer tatoos appearing all over people, Alpine half-yards hanging form around winner's necks, and lots of hats and shorts etc. Molson had a putting contest going all day (sink a putt win a hat) and the Labatts people were constantly referring people to the Oland s Specialty beer tent, while showing off a display about beer ingredients (including corn and rice).

That night we attended the musical part of the festival, a sold out three band show that featured (for me and Mike Ligas, anyway) Dutchie Mason.

The next day Lorne and I headed back to Halifax with a van full of beer. But this could not be all - no way - a new brewpub was on our route, begging a visit. Calling ahead to local beer enthusiast Chris Lesperance, we arrived at The Pump House brew Pub in Moncton just before Chris and Jim Sellars. We sampled the line of beers here and found them all to be good, with the Blueberry Ale the most innovative (berries floating in the beer) and the Pale Ale to my liking as the best of them. Still, the cream ale, and red ale were very good. The stout was good, if somewhat thin.

I recommend the pizza, made to order in an open hearth oven.

I got a lot of sleep that night.

Now for the rumours part.
Picaroons, New Brunswicks only micro seems to be close to being out of business. They pulled out of both festivals, and the bartender at Churchill's pub in Saint John, (great pub, try the prime rib sandwich) says they can't get the beer anymore. This would be a major loss for beer drinkers in Atlantic Canada, as their bitter is excellent, and if you can find the stout, it is even better.
New Scotland seems to be in some trouble - rumours of Dan Langille's exit as president may foreshadow the reality check of having such a large micro in such a small place.

The Queen Molly, on the waterfront in Yarmouth, and maybe the best place for a beer in NS the past two summers has gone bankrupt - long overdue debts have probably dragged the place down - another brewery that was overbuilt for its market. It was probably doing ok in current cahs flow, but the old debts were large.

The new brewpub/micro that has been rumoured for the Keith's Brewery market has broken ground. The "media" is that it will make Keith's (I doubt it), but I thnk they may end up making Alexander Keiths "Classic" or some other similar bs word to distinguish it from the big brewery stuff. Time will tell. It will be interesting to see if ths is being done to try to grind Garrison and Propeller into the ground. I suspect that, unless they get a lot of government help (i.e. letting them sell kegs to other bars while operating as a brewpub) in this effort, the opposite effect will occur. They will have trouble making better beer that the two local micros do now, but they will raise the mantle of the public's desire for beer that tastes better. The fear is that if they get permission to act as both brewpub and brewery, their famous storngarm sales tactic may see some pubs forced to drop Prop and Garr products "if you want to keep Keith's on tap". This is illegal, so it therefore never, ever happens!

Finally, a reprint/paraphrase from the Edmonton Homebrewer's Guild newsletter:

Overheard at the Great Canadian Beer Festival in BC.

Molson Guy in booth to 20 something male attendee: "Do you want a beer with flavour, or do you want a BEER?"

Attendee, after a stupified pause: "Ahhhh, I want a BEER!"

And after a drink or two: "Now that's the chugalugging kinda Canadian beer I expect!"

Moral: You can fool some of the people all of the time.

Jeff

Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... y6-99.html

Maritime Drinker - On the Road
Tue, 6 Jul 1999
by Jeffrey Pinhey

No, this edition is not about drinking and driving. Recently, I made a couple of voyages to visit both of my brothers, in their new homes, to play golf and, well, sample the local fare.



Saint John New Brunswick
Saint John is a true blue collar town where people want to know which Moosehead beer you drink, and Labatts fight to get your dollar with various disguised labels. Nevertheless, some inroads in the name of better beer are being made, though I understand it is, and has been, a fight. My visit was only brief, but was highlighted by a visit to Churchill's, a nice pub below a steakhouse, right in the downtown. Located down a laneway this pub featured (for me, anyway) Picaroons Red and Stout on tap. Both were excellent pints, and the staff seemed to understand that some people want to drink something other than ice cold factory beer. Although, they did have one of those new fangled super cooled "cobra" taps for Keith's or Bud or something.
We also visited the city's only brew pub, Taps, where we were treated to good beers, (an IPA is well remembered) and I was also able to try a guest beer, Picaroons' Whale Ale, on tap. This place is a must visit for the beer drinker visiting Saint John.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that the best beer in the City was my brother Craig's bitter, on tap in his palacious basement.



Calgary Alberta
A more ambitious visit, both golf and beer wise, I spent 9 days in the land of red necks and blue skies. There has been a long running track record of good beer in Calgary ever since the 1988 winter Olympics, when visitors to the town stumbled on real beer, in the form of Big Rock, and helped turn a marginal struggling business, into a major local brewery. Europeans soon dropped pallid blue-like swill for the more flavourful beers offered by Big Rock. Since then, Big Rock has developed many (too many IMHO) new brands, and has had reasonable success selling beer into the US market. They have recently added a canning line to their operation.
Here is a summary of my tastings of various beers available in Alberta. Note that the liquor distribution system is "semi-private" with the government still controlling the importation of products, but private retailing competing with government retailing. Some stores offer excellent selection, others only stock swill. It has basically turned out to be a boon for those who like wine, but the availability of imported beers is limited - I did not find a store where one could buy, say, lambics or Trappists. I did find excellent availability of micro-brewery products from Alberta and BC, with some representation from Ontario and the Yukon.



Big Rock
McNally's Irish Ale
It is appropriate to begin any discussion of Alberta beers with this, the flagship of Big Rock's operation. Named after founder and owner, Ed McNally, this beer is a full bodied, malt dominated rich red ale, with just enough hops to provide some balance through to the middle of the tasting experience. The beer finishes malty and sweet, but there is enough bitter and roast flavour to make you want more. At 7% alcohol, this can be dangerous. A classic since it was released, the beer is still a winner. It was rated the fifth best beer I tasted on this trip.
Wart Hog
A clean pale ale, low hopping, but enough to cut the sweetness of the malt, this beer, tasted after a round of golf on a muggy day, hit the spot. I enjoyed this far better than...

Traditional
The market leader, apparently, in the Alberta micro industry, this beer was available everywhere, or just about. Locals ask for a "trad". The beer is short on hops, and the clean yeast strain used by Big Rock leaves the drinker with a desire for more complexity. There is a caramel dominated flavour profile that reminds me of a low hopped kit beer (well made, but forgettable). In contrast to mainstream beers, of course, this is far better, I had just hoped (hopped) for more from it.

Grasshopper
A wheat ale (note - not a weizen) was available in many pubs and at the ballfield (Triple A farm team for the Marlins, the Calgary Cannons). Great in the heat, not pretentious, and thirst quenching.

Chinook Pale Ale
A new beer (to me, anyway) promised more than Trad. It is "dry hopped" and has a Chinook Salmon on the label (a nice label too). The beer disappointed, however, tasting like traditional with some dry hopping (very dry) that did not form an integrated part of the beer's overall flavour profile, tasting, instead, like an afterthought, perhaps accomplished using hop extract (like Clancy's Harvest Ale). Again, good beer, but a disappointment.

Kold
It seems Big Rock wish to compete with the "less is more beers", and have released a thing they call "Kold". It is in silver cans and labels (can you spell Coors?) with essentially no hops to cut the malty sweetness, this beer fails in its goal of providing a thirst quencher. Made me reach for the icewater to clean my palate. Lager crispiness does have its place on a hot day, if you can't find a wheat beer.

Other Big Rock Brands
Other Big Rock brands include Magpie Rye, Canvasback Ale, Dark Ale, Lite, and some brewed under contract for certain bars.



Brew Brothers
A new (again, for me) micro in Calgary, Brew Brothers brewing Company offered three beers, of which I have had two. I missed the Tumblewheat (neat name) which my brother Scott recommends. The Alberta Gold, a helles bock was tasted at a recent BrewNosers meeting (thanks Chris) and found to be very good. Prairie Steam, found on tap in two places, and best at the Sovereign House on 14th St. near Kensington (new, so even Calgarians might not know where it is) was excellent, with some of the hops most Alberta beers miss. The fourth best beer I tasted.


Earl's
At Earl's downtown on the walking street mall, they have a custom brew called Albino Rhino, made by Big Rock. I did not try this, but I believe it is similar to Wart Hog. They also has two beers from The Bear Brewing Company, Polar Bear Pale Ale was clean, malty, with some esters and hops making an easy to drink, but "safe" beer. Their Christmas Pudding beer, a porter like creation with cherries, was nice, but needed more fruit to really make its name. That was dessert.


James Warner Brewing Co.
James Warner Brewing Co., another new micro, offered up a couple of beers of which I sampled the Rainmaker Pale Ale. Another pale ale in need of hops, this beer was clean, and good, but offered nothing special for the beer drinker that they cannot get from any number of the other micros in the marketplace.


Okangan Springs
Now a part of the Sleemans growing empire, had two beers available in local stores, the Pale Ale and Porter. The pale ale was basically of the same type discussed above (Wart Hog, Rainmaker, Polar Bear etc ) . The Porter is another thing altogether, with its 8.5% alcohol content, and enough body to match that making it the best Porter in Canada. Not to be missed, the sixth best beer tasted.


The Chilkoot Brewing Company
The Chilkoot Brewing Company in White Horse, Yukon, had three brews in the stores, an amber ale, not tried, a pale ale (tried in a past date bottle, could be better than the local generic underhopped style, but tasted like it was not) and Fireweed Honey Ale, which I liked, the honey providing some estery balance to the malt, still crying for more hops.


The Alley Cat Brewery
The Alley Cat Brewery in Edmonton provided the best beer I tried. Alley Cat Full Moon Pale Ale on tap at Original Joe's was excellent, with a wonderful balance between malt and hops and a fresh hop aroma and easy finish. This beer simply tasted like more. In the bottle it was still great, but the tap version is not to be missed. (Original Joe's is opening another pub on Kensington, currently Panchos, in August). On the other end of the spectrum, Alley Cat's appropriately named "Redneck" tasted like it was made to try to sell beer to rednecks.


Bottlescrew Bills
Bottlescrew Bills pub, attached to Buzzards Restaurant, has a great beer selection, and a custom brewed beer by Big Rock called Buzzard's Breath, which is bottled for export. BB is good, with just enough more hops to give it an edge on the trad. Similar to Wart Hog, but with more caramel.


Tree Brewing Company
Tree Brewing Company's amber ale was a very good example of the style, and with the exception of its benefitting from more hops, exhibited an excellent malt flavour - I think from a British yeast strain, that set it above others of this ilk in the market. (on tap at Original Joe's)


Wild Rose Brewing Co.
Wild Rose Brewing Co. provides keg only beers, including the Wild Rose Brown, a rich chocolatey brown ale, more appropriate for colder weather than I was experiencing, and Wild Rose Raspberry, very appropriate for the weather I experienced. Similar to Garrison's recent Raspberry Wheat release.


Peak Brewing Company
Peak Brewing Company, the new name for Banff Brewing and Bow Valley brewing post merger, have several lager products on the market. When I was in town, there was still some Banff product available called Cutthroat Lager, which was malty, maerzen like beer. The sample I had was a bit funky, possibly due to age (at the Barley Mill, downtown Calgary, a good place to find a beer there).


Nelson Brewing Company
Nelson Brewing Company a BC micro provided me with the second best beer tasted - Paddywhacker IPA had hops and malt, with only a slight imbalance. Great beer, and fearless use of hops.


Brewpubs
Brewpubs visited, included The Wildwood (formerly the Mission) where the stout was good (a bit of diacetyl, but those of you who know me, know that it is probably OK for you) and a great pint of bitter the third best beer tasted , called Bugaboo Bitter. Nice place, downstairs of a popular restaurant, across the street from a very good Indian restaurant.
Also visited was the Grizzly Paw Brewpub in Canmore (post Kananaskis golf) where the Palliser Pale Ale and Rutting Elk Red met with approval, but not with acclaim from those who had been there before. I noted some phenols that suggested a wild yeast problem, and on discussion with the brewer learned that they still use a dried yeast, which may explain the inconsistency described by my fellow patrons, whose previous visit found the beers incredibly good. The place is worth a visit, hope you find the beers in top form.



Summary
In summary, pale ales in Alberta and eastern BC do not reflect the proximity of the hop fields in the Okangan and northwest US. A caramel malt dominated pale ale is the current typical style, most commonly typified by Big Rock Traditional. Those breweries that have ventured outside this envelope attracted me the most, partly because of their being different, and mostly because they used hops, yeast, or roasted malts to achieve some complexity.
As it currently sits, if you only have tie to visit one place in Calgary for a beer, I'd go to Original Joe's. I am told I missed one place (Hop and something, closer downtown), but Original Joes had good selection, folk music, and informed staff. Plus they had the best beer in town, Alley Cat Full Moon, on tap, in addition to a full complement of other micros on tap and in bottle.

Jeff

Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... 10-99.html

Maritime Drinker -- Update 10 June 1999
Last "issue" I ellaborated on what I expected to find at the "Shoe Box" Belgian beer stand. Well, I was half right. The beers they have are the ones I suggested they would, but the level of service is currently being maintained to the standards taught at the Olands Beer School, up in "Trawna".
I visited the bar at 4:30 pm in the company of Elizabeth from work, who was hoping to try the Kriek. Alas, the bar was still under some construction (or repair of damages from the free beer night the day before). Still, one enterprising staff member managed to pour some beer for us/her and she managed to get a half a glass (in the correct glass by the way, as all the beers here are) for no charge.

She left for her hair appointment, or something, and I continued to sample, and discuss the set up with whoever would talk to me. The manager, whose name keeps escaping me, explained that they were still in the learning curve on getting the whole thing working, and it was clear that warm kegs fed into a refridgerated line still resulted in foamy beer. They will soon figure that out, I suspect.

Well, the bar is complete, there are the associated dunking tank with detergent and submarine brushes, the rinse tank, and the rinse touch tap at the dispensing station. The beers that weren't foamy (kegs had been cool for a while) were the Leffe Blonde and the Hoegaarden Witbier. The Stella Artois was foamy but servable. The Kriek, alas was all foam, and remained so the next day when I dropped in on the off chance that it might not be.

The Leffe is served in a great glass, a large bowl and ornamental stem, it is a great beer (6.9% but you don't really notice until it is too late). The Hooegaarden in its typical heavy duty tumbler is perfect for outdoor swilling on a hot summer day. The Stella was far better than I expected it to be, and there were a surprising number of people drinking it. It really did taste very clean, with fresh malt taste and smell and noticeable hopping, albeit of the grassy type of nose associated with fresh Heinekin, Grolsch etc.

Victor Syperek, the owner, and a beer lover himself, went to Toronto with the "trainees" (or should that really say "drinkees" as that sounds like most of what they did up there). His quote for MD is "I love beer". Appropriate and admirable, so I invited him to the Real Ale Festival.

On that note, he tells me he will soon have hand pump dispensed Propeller (dry hopped?!) on tap at the Diamond. Look forward to another issue devoted solely to that.

I'm off to explore Southern Alberta's golf and beer scene, and I'll be reporting on that in July. Until then stay in the shade - the sunlight spoils the beer.

Cheers in Beers

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Br ... e4-99.html

Maritime Drinker
by
Jeff Pinhey
4 June 1999

Well things have certainly been happening around here in beer.

Frist things first - for those of you who don't know, the BrewNosers, Halifax's homebrewing club, successfully defended their Canadian championship status at the Great Canadian Homebrew Competition in Toronto. Adam Mueller, Mark Haynes, Sean King, Greig McKellar, and Mike Kyffin all won gold medals. Chris Godwin, John Robinson and Adam Mueller won Silver, and Steve Haynes and Mike Kyffin won bronze. Sean King's Old Ale won third in the Best of Show Round. We beat out Edmonton and Toronto.

At the GCHC in Toronto, we were invited for an evening at the Oland's Beer School. This place was a contradiction in terms. First there were no Olands beers there. Second there were several excellent Belgian beers, all made by breweries owned by Interbr ew, who own Olands, Labatts and Keiths etc . etc etc. In between serious, informed discussion about Belgian Lambic styles, a sad story about Keith's being an India Pale Ale was thown in, just to let us know that the marketing people still rule the brewers in that organization.

Still, the Hoogarden Witbier on tap was wonderful, as were the Leffe Brune and Blonde. The Belle Vue Kriek on tap was a bit of kool-aid, but still fun. The School place is where bar owners who want to sell these new high end Belgian beers MUST send thei r wait staff to be trained in the "art of the pour", so to speak. In discussion with the brewmaster who was giving the talk, I learned that they had only recently sent the Economy Shoe Shop staff back home full of knowledge on how to do things up right. I understand they don't have the Leffe Br une, predictably, as it was my favourite of the lot.

Now, don't get me wrong, but I am going to be stunned if the people down there ever put into action what they were doing in the school. Here is a "gut-check". To pour the lambic cherry beer (Belle Vue Kriek) the tap is started a little bit BEFORE the gl ass is put under it. The first shot goes down the drain. To a typical Halifax bar owner, this will certainly seem an unecessary waste of perfectly good beer, and I expect to see it be discontinued quickly. I see it as not a bad way to avoid serving protein supplements in the form of fruit flie s in $6 or $7 beers. Time will tell.

The Shoe Shop launched the beers Tuesday night, and was I invited?!?!? Well sort of but I forgot, ....I was playing golf.....my fault.

On to the Rogues Roost, where the special beer is currently a smoked porter. Nice, but could be even more smokey for me. I had a Granite Dry Hop on a Monday at lunch in Toronto, and one at supper in Halifax. Guess who won this time? Halifax, easily. A reversal from last time. Of course at the Toronto Granite, Kevin Keefe's brother Ron is also making a light ale for summ er, a real IPA, and a raspberry beer in addition to the bitter/dry hop/Peculier/Stout menu we have here.

A new brew pub is opening in Moncton (the Pump House) A new brewery in St. John's (Storm Brewing) and rumours of a new brew pub up near Bathurst.

Randy Lawrence is no longer brewing at Paddy's. Anyone had the beer not made by him?

Garrison is still fighting the loyal (to Labatts) bureaucrats in the NSLC to let get their raspberry beer on the shelves some time before the end of the summer. That organization is designed to discriminate against small locally owned producers. Propeller is brewing, under contract, Sharp Angus Hemp Ale. Seems some bozos at the food and drug bureaucracy have told them they can use hemp seeds, but they can't crush them. Huh? Seed cake cannot regenerate, but that is apparently a no no, despite it s use for similar flavouring elsewhere in the country. Ignorance or fear. Or both? It is on tap at Maxwells and in neatly designed six packs in some stores.

The East Coast festival of Beer is being organized by a Toronto promoter for the 11th and 12th of September. It will feature beer tents on the Garrison Grounds (home court advantage to Mr. Titus?) full of different breweries selling their wares. There w ill also be an entertainment stage with the overall intent to be a party, with some beer stuff, but mostly a party. We should all get out and vote for one beer, so that Keiths doesn't win the favourite beer contest voted on by mindless students who happen to be in town looking for apartments. Believe it or not, despite Blue, etc being there, Granite's Peculiar won the crowd fave award at the Toronto Beer Festival last year, organized by this same promoter. (boy were they surprised!) And I understand that Hart Brewing, who make Peculier under license, will be there.

Finally, All About Ales, the homebrewing equivalent to the East Coast Festival of Beer, will be held sort of concurrently with the commercial event. We assemble on the Friday night for dinner and some talks, and awards. The next morning it is off to the Festival. It is destined to be a weekend of beer in Halifax. The entry deadline for the competition is September 4, at Brewing Centres Cole Harbour and Burnside.

Cheers in Beers

Jeff

http://www.homebrewers.ca/homebrew-clubs/
The BrewNosers Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation club came of drinking age in 1991. The club is dedicated to the creation, and the consumption, of better beer. Meetings take place at members’ homes on the second Tuesday of each month, and have done so for 12 years without a miss. OK, sometimes we move the meeting to a weekend for special occasions! Highlights of the beer year include the Annual Christmas Beer Competition, A St. Patrick’s Day Stout Fest, and last, but not least, the (in)famous annual Real Ale Festival.