Antigonish Townhouse

[chalmers]

PH lager = Pumphouse?
Sucks about no A/C or fans, the last thing I want to do on a hot muggy day is eat hot food.
But next time I roll through to CB, I will definitely drop by.

[mr x]

There is a small patio out front, but it was raining off and on. Also FYI, there are only 2 parking spots on College St. And no parking on the side streets, so it's the main drag or a lot.

PH is pumphoue.

Sent from my Nexus S

[hogie]

I emailed them to see if they'd be brewing when I'll be there on Nov 3.

Hi Mike,
The reno's are taking a little longer than anticipated due to bunch of extra fire proofing the fire marshall requires. I'm hoping the reno's will be done by then, and brewery set up. I'm not excepting any beer to be ready till december. Everything takes longer than you'd expect, especially trying to run a pub at the same time.
Good things come...

[GAM]

Last week they told me Christmas time. But that may be serving date.

Sandy

[hogie]

Update from their latest newsletter:

Beer Update
What you all really want to know, of course, is what the heck is happening with the beer. Well, Terry is hard at the test brewing. He's about to do his 6th batch, trying out different malt combinations, hops, and slight recipe variations, in search of the perfect brew... The first few batches have been promising, but there is still a little ways to go. The beer will be a pretty classic English Bitter, and we are cask-conditioning it which means putting the beer through a secondary fermentation to produce a natural and gentler carbonation instead of force-carbonating it with CO2. Also known as "Real Ale" in England, cask beer is usually served on an old-fashioned beer engine or hand-pump. We have a beautiful reconditioned Angram hand-pump we look forward to mounting at the end of the bar, and look forward to (literally) pulling the pints from the keg. I know this may not mean a lot to everyone, but it's a big deal in the beer world, and getting to hwe're aiming for sometime in July, but we'd rather have it coming out late and pretty darn close to what we consider perfect, rather than launch something sub-par.

[mr x]

Tried an Uncle Leo's today after the Big Spruce. Something not quite right on that beer. Maybe the water. Big Spruce wins hands down. I mentioned that I'd prefer the ipa even before I ordered it , but Terry thought that Garrison IIPA covered that territory. I disagree. At any rate, we got there at happy hour, and 12oz beers were 4.35, pretty good price.

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[mr x]

Food wise, everyone was quite happy. We split one order of mussels 4 ways as an appetizer, and it was just right. I had the 8oz lamb burger, and Shelley had a salad. Both were very good. Mothers had fish specials, and were happy as well. 1 appetizer, 2 beer, 2 wine, 4 main courses, 2 desserts and a coffee, $160 after tip. Pretty fair deal afaiac. I'll be back.

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[LeafMan66_67]

Looks like a nice plate of mussels!

[GAM]

What are there hours?

Sandy

[mr x]

The mussels were very good quality, and seemed much larger than the last time I was there. Opens at 4, and closes around midnight, but not open all days. Check the blog or Facebook. Happy hour is Tues - Thurs, 4-6. We left around 6, and the place had become fairly full. If I lived in Antigonish, I'd spend a lot of money there during happy hour.

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[chalmers]

I forgot to post this last night, oops.
Their house-brewed beer went on sale for the first time Wednesday. I've emailed them to check that it will now be on all the time, hopefully it is. Local guys and gals, go check it out!
Terry's Bitter, awaiting recipe details.

[mr x]

I'll be surprised if he manages to keep it on all the time with a 10 g system if it's a good beer. HpHunter is going down this week. Might go down as well and check it out, beat Terry on the head some more if Uncle Leo's IPA isn't on tap.

[chalmers]

Good point on the production, though the BrewMagic should scale up fairly quickly if it sells well (bigger kettle to start, then a bigger tun, etc).

HP or X: I wonder if we could get a growler or two for Hoptoberfest? I would love to try it, but have no plans for a CB trip on the horizon.

[mr x]

He could easily scale to 15 gal with some high gravity brewing on the current system (if he isn't already), maybe even 20 depending on gravity.

Is he selling growlers? I'll check it out, but I thought he was just doing handpump serving. Might see if Uncle Leo's will throw in a growler or two.

[mr x]

Myself and Hp were down last night. Had a quick tour of the brewhouse. Good food again. Had a couple Big Spruce beers, as Uncle Leo's was out. Hoppily Married was fairly undercarbed, but the Kitchen Party was quite good.

[HPhunter]

I had the lobster chowder, easily the best I've had outside of making my own. Really creamy and full of meat. More like a stew. Big Spruce pale was very tasty. Service was a little slow but very friendly.

[benwedge]

I was down there just before Christmas. I really enjoyed the mussels. The house beer was a really nice english bitter, though it was a tad on the sweet side. It's served with a hand pump. I was only there for a snack before supper so I can't comment on the curries that my local contacts were raving about.

[BobbyOK]

Is Townhouse selling Growlers? On my way to CB and the website/blog are short on those kinds of details.

[chalmers]

I don't believe so.

[mr x]

Don't think so either.

[BobbyOK]

Thanks guys. I realized after asking that they wouldn't be open when I was going through anyway since they don't open until 4. Might try to stop on the way back on Sunday.

[mr x]

Do not sit at the bar if there's some goofy looking older guys there.

[chalmers]

Do not sit at the bar if there's some goofy looking older guys there.

Hmm, that sounds like a story that needs telling!

[GAM]

There were some real "characters’" in there the last time I was in.

Sandy

[mr x]

Not much of a story. Just don't spend time at the bar if you can avoid it. Sunday is a bit of a pain, as they give up a good chunk of precious floor space for live music.