Rockbottom Brew Pub Kolsch (5.2 percent) Your lawn-mowing sidekick, this crisp, light, laidback brew makes summer chores a breeze. Unfiltered Brewing Daytimer Berliner Weisse (3.4 percent) Day drinking never tasted so right. A lactic-tastic, tropically tart, dry-hopped sour session ale that is both lip-puckering and refreshing. North Brewing Company Summer Saison (5.5 percent) Literally brewed for […]
Whitney Moran
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Tap into fall beer
Post-haunted corn maze Leave Me Blue Kentucky Corn Beer (4.5 percent), Good Robot Brewing Corn is also known as maize. I can’t see any other explanation for a maze made of corn, but let us embrace the season. Lucky for us, Nova Scotia has plenty of terrifying corn mazes to choose from: for the brave, […]
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Port of Wine Festival toasts two decades
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Port of Wines Festival, and they’re celebrating in style. “For the past 20 years we’ve focused on a single country,” says Tim Pellerin, the NSLC’s vice-president, marketing and merchandising, “where about 20 to 25 percent of wine was from the country of origin.” This year, the four […]
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Cerberus’ organic chemistry
“Good brewers conspire; they don’t collaborate,” says Big Spruce Brewing’s founder Jeremy White. This Saturday, May 9, signals the release of Cerberus Organic American IPA. The limited-run, one-off “conspiracy” between Big Spruce, Tatamagouche and Propeller breweries commemorates the inaugural Nova Scotia Craft Beer Week (which runs May 8-17). But it’s also a celebration of organic […]
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Spindrift makes a splash
If you’ve heard whispers of a new brewery opening in Dartmouth, I’m here to confirm that delicious rumour. Spindrift Brewing Company aims to sample its wares at May’s Craft Beer Full House, and hit shelves by July. Partners Andrew Bell and Andy Armstrong are tight-lipped, yet eager to share. “This has been in the works […]
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Greg Nash, no filter
Greg Nash has left his mark on just about every microbrewery and brewpub in the province. So while it’s no surprise Nova Scotia’s undisputed king of hops is finally opening his own brewery, it’s pretty damn exciting. “It’s been something I’ve been trying to do for, like, 12 years,” says Nash over an IPA. “I […]
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Bad Apple does good
Charity isn’t a new concept for Jeff Saunders and wife Kari Smith of Somerset’s Bad Apple Brewhouse. Last year, about 80 percent of the microbrewery’s proceeds went to the Halifax Nova Scotia Down Syndrome Society. In late December 2013, Saunders and Smith’s lives were deeply changed. Their six-month-old son was diagnosed with Mosaic Down syndrome, […]
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Craft club: a Q+A with the Craft Brewers Association
What is the role of the association in a nutshell? The association does two things: we try to promote Nova Scotia craft beer, build the industry and market, collaboratively. We also act as a unified voice for craft beer producers, both provincially and federally. When and why was the association established? There was a loose […]
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Beer in review 2014
Two thousand fourteen was the year of craft beer in Halifax. While pioneers will tell you they’ve been brewing in their basements for years, and their passion began with pints of Granite at Gingers, this year made the city’s love affair with craft beer official. Last October the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia announced […]
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Tis the seasonal brew
The leaves are crunchy, the air is musty and your proclivity for hibernation is now socially acceptable. As the days darken, so does the beer. But it also gets spicier, stronger and full-bodied. A few weeks from now, you won’t need an excuse to stay inside, but this year’s local brew harvest sure helps. Propeller […]
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Digging for brewer’s gold
Brewers are enjoying the fermented fruits of their labour as Atlantic Canadian beer elbows out the competition at liquor commissions and overwhelms private stores, and the “drink local” movement explodes like an over-carbonated lager. Punctuating both the region’s success and unparalleled support of local beer is next week’s inaugural Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards. Funded by […]