Beer in the news

[benwedge]

AllNS is reporting that Picaroon's is the rumoured buyer of the Sleeman's brewery, despite having said last month that it was too big for them. They brew 10,000 hL now, the plant is capable of 60,000 hL. They're saying the deal will be "cemented within a week."

[bluenose]

AllNS is reporting that Picaroon's is the rumoured buyer of the Sleeman's brewery, despite having said last month that it was too big for them. They brew 10,000 hL now, the plant is capable of 60,000 hL. They're saying the deal will be "cemented within a week."

saw that too... exciting

[mr x]

wow, diacetyl at industrial levels....

[jeffsmith]

AllNS is reporting that Picaroon's is the rumoured buyer of the Sleeman's brewery, despite having said last month that it was too big for them. They brew 10,000 hL now, the plant is capable of 60,000 hL. They're saying the deal will be "cemented within a week."

I thought that it was Propeller that had said it was too big for them?

[benwedge]

AllNS is reporting that Picaroon's is the rumoured buyer of the Sleeman's brewery, despite having said last month that it was too big for them. They brew 10,000 hL now, the plant is capable of 60,000 hL. They're saying the deal will be "cemented within a week."

I thought that it was Propeller that had said it was too big for them?

They did, but AllNS asked Picaroon's in mid-September and they said it was too big.

[chicanuck]

wow, diacetyl at industrial levels....

Made me laugh.....fucker, and I like Picaroon's.

[jeffsmith]

They did, but AllNS asked Picaroon's in mid-September and they said it was too big.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. That's a pretty big decision swing in a month.

[mr x]

Sounds like somebody showed up with a dumptruck full of money.

[JohnnyMac]

Sounds like somebody showed up with a dumptruck full of money.

Exactly. A shit ton of cash.

[B.A.]

Who/what is AIINS?

[mr x]

All Nova Scotia. Bunch of ex Herald staff IIRC.

[NASH]

I heard that Picaroons bought out Pump House. Time will tell I guess

Transmitted from the hop-phone.

[mr x]

I heard Picaroons robbed a bank.

[B.A.]

I heard the same Nash.

[mr x]

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/10/19 ... tish-brew/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In mid-September, a freighter set out from Southampton, England for Canada, with 39 casks of ale, recreating the 19th-century voyage of beer from Britain to its colonies. This weekend, the casks and roughly 200 of their sisters from across Canada will be tapped at Toronto’s Cask Days festival, which is devoted to beer served the old-fashioned British way — unrefrigerated, unpasteurized, with natural carbonation and still fermenting (or “living,” as its brewers like to say) until it’s served. This is the story of one of those casks.
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The Brewer

Three years ago, Logan Plant, curly maned singer for the London, England-based post-grunge band Sons of Albion, had an epiphany in a Brooklyn barbecue joint. The food and the jugs of craft beer, he says, “got me in every sense — every stimulus.” Having been introduced at an early age into the joys of the English pub garden by his father, Robert Plant (lead singer of Led Zeppelin, and “an avid drinker of a local brewery called Banks’s in the Midlands”), he’d fantasized about starting a brewery for years. He and a friend opened their own barbecue restaurant in De Beauvoir Town in northeast London in December 2011, and brewed beer in the cellar under the name Beaver Town. “The [music] industry is dead,” he says with a laugh, “unless you’re Miley Cyrus, and there comes a time in your life where you have to make certain decisions; that was a really obvious one for me.”

The Beer

Craft breweries are popping up across the U.K. like bubbles in lager, spurred on by tax incentives and inspired by North American brews. In particular the “west coast India Pale Ale” has been influential — a punchy take on the traditional British IPA, using citrusy hops from the Pacific Northwest. Last November, Plant devised a “mongrel” Black IPA, with U.S. hops, malt from England and Scotland, and dehusked, roasted malts from Germany to add colour and smooth flavour. As he brewed his first batch, Ram Jam’s stomping 1977 version of the traditional Black Betty came on the radio. The song has variously been said to be about an 18th-century musket, whiskey, a whip or a penitentiary wagon; the last image particularly appealed to Plant, and it now appears on Black Betty’s label. The beer quickly found adherents — it’s ranked in the 99th percentile of all beers on ratebeer.com. Robert Plant is a fan: “I think he’s more malt-driven,” says Logan. “Hops give him indigestion. It’s a bit like listening to [Whitesnake belter] David Coverdale — too much sometimes.”

The Festival

When Ralph Morana founded Cask Days in 2005, cask ale was virtually unknown in Ontario. The festival has since grown from a little gathering on the patio of Volo, Morana’s Yonge Street beer bar, to a mammoth undertaking at the Evergreen Brickworks with more than 10 times the beer. More than 4,000 people will attend the festival on Saturday and Sunday. “You need to be slightly crazy to do something like this,” says Tomas Morana, Ralph’s son and the director of Cask Days. “There are so many factors that can happen to spoil the beer from the time it leaves the brewery to the time it’s being served.” They decided this year to bring over casks by British brewers, advised by Eddie Lofthouse, co-founder of Harbour Brewery in Cornwall (which brews beer influenced by North American craft, as opposed to what he calls the “brown, boring” beer native to southwest England). Twenty British brewers, including Lofthouse and Plant, will be flying into Toronto, but in keeping with what Tomas calls the festival’s “retro-classic vibe” — DJs will spin vinyl and signage will be hand-painted only — Cask Days will import the beer by boat.

The Journey

Morana bought 41 stainless steel casks from Hereford, near Wales (oak is more traditional, but less stable) and sent them to the breweries. Plant filled a cask with Black Betty, “wrapped it up and gave it a hug,” and put it on a truck to a depot, where it met its sisters; sadly, two of them exploded, victims of high temperature or overpressurization due to yeast and sugar. Black Betty, along with survivors such as Harbour’s British-style IPA, arrived two weeks later, on Oct. 3, in Montreal, where they cleared customs and made their way to Toronto.

“To be honest, it doesn’t really make sense for a cask to travel that far,” says Plant. But IPAs, as 19th-century brewers realized, were suited for long sea voyages (to India, Australia and, on occasion Canada), preserved by their high alcohol content and large amounts of hops. And Plant maintains that “dark beers have more of a shelf life — the aromas are what we push on this one, so hopefully they’ll still be intact and the roast will keep it solid.”

As British craft brewers turn more and more to North American-style kegged beers, Canadian drinkers are being turned on to the new school of old-school brews. “A really well-balanced beer out of cask on its best day would beat any keg beer,” says Lofthouse, “and it’s a really interesting time for you guys.” For the British brewers, it’s a chance to see how their products change as they’re buoyed across the ocean, to explore a new market, and to try some Canadian beer. “230 casks?” says Plant. “Bloody hell, that’s going to be great!”

Weekend Post

[benwedge]

CorneliusAlphonse asked someone at Picaroons directly about both of these. The reply re: Sleeman's was an angel emoticon. The reply re: Pumphouse was "that's the first I've heard of that rumour."

AllNS is a mix of ex-Herald staff, new journalists, and journalists from other publications. It's the authoritative source of business news in Nova Scotia and increasingly throughout the Atlantic provinces. It's all behind a paywall and displayed as images so you can't copy & paste.

[mr x]

Just use snipping tool.

[LeafMan66_67]

It's all behind a paywall and displayed as images so you can't copy & paste.

Or print the page as a pdf.

[BobbyOK]

It's all behind a paywall and displayed as images so you can't copy & paste.

Or print the page as a pdf.

And make sure you're using someone's account that they can't connect you to or they'll suspend your account. They're pissy like that. They can't even stand when reporters run with stories they broke.

[BobbyOK]

CorneliusAlphonse asked someone at Picaroons directly about both of these. The reply re: Sleeman's was an angel emoticon. The reply re: Pumphouse was "that's the first I've heard of that rumour."

Well, that's one way to turn out a lot more Melon Head. But odd given they just announced a new location for their Fredericton production brewery. I wonder if they'll scrap that plan in favour of Dartmouth? Can't picture that going over well with their NB drinkers.

[brufrog]

I just can't believe they can afford to buy that brewery - the Sleeman's one, I mean. Where in the hell would he get the $? The government?

Craig

[benwedge]

I just can't believe they can afford to buy that brewery - the Sleeman's one, I mean. Where in the hell would he get the $? The government?

Craig

They'd be buying the equipment and taking over the lease for the space, rather than buying the building, which cuts the investment down... That all said there isn't a single business our government isn't willing to subsidize, as long as it's not locally owned and currently operating in the province.

[brufrog]

My friends are the architects for their Freddy project, so I'll do some digging.

[brufrog]

According to Sean it is just a rumour. EDIT But then again, he isn't necessarily going to tell me the truth...

[brufrog]

Did anyone see Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visit the GABF on Conan? Hilarious. It was on lats night, with guest Michael C Hall. You can watch on Global or CTV online for free I think. My fave bit is the joke he tells one of the BJCP Judges (Paul Zabat or something). It goes like this:

"A microbrew connoisseur goes into a bar and asks the bartender for their finest pumpkin ale, but something that's not too hoppy. The bartender reaches below the bar, pulls out a bat, and beats the guy senseless while the rest of the bar cheers."