Food + Drink

In England, they refer to a pub that has an exclusivity agreement with a brewery as a tied house. Although many breweries would dream of deals like this, it’s illegal in Nova Scotia to tie a bar to a brand of taps. The Port, a gastropub—a pub that serves high-quality food—on the red banks of […]

For the diehard beer hunter always looking for a new taste, there is a decent selection of blended house beers poured out in bars and restaurants across the city. Propeller currently has the most specialty blends on tap in and out of the city. “It’s not practical to do a single batch of beer for […]

The bartender tells me Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights. People drink lots, ’cause they are doing the karaoke. Laurie the Guy hosts 300 karaoke shows a year; he’s done it for 18 years. His first time onstage, at Big Leagues, he was totally sober—a sure indication he was born to sing in front […]

T om’s Little Havana (5428 Doyle) is the coziest downtown pub and always wins a Coast award for Best Place to Drink Alone. It’s a welcoming, well-lit bar and there’s booths in back for a tete-a-tete. Then there’s Freeman’s (6092 Quinpool), open till late, with high, well-worn old Naugahyde booths. Sure, your butt might stick […]

Daniel Girard darts about the Garrison Brewery plant, sliding down the rails from the top of his kettle, a large steel vat nearing the end of a long boil. He then bounds over to a hose that has a tiny window through which he observes the rushing liquid, making sure it’s darkening in colour. His […]

“We sell more Keith’s at the Lower Deck than on the island of Cape Breton,” Mike Condy, the Lower Deck’s general manager, says proudly. Who wouldn’t brag? At 35, it’s one of the oldest beer halls in town. A lot of that is Keith’s, he says, because he is hands-down Labatt’s best customer in Halifax. […]

“Last year, during the Latvian Festival,” Dave Page, bar manager of the Economy Shoe Shop, told me, “we brought in Zelta, and we pretty much had to buy a pallet in two shipments.” One pallet of beer holds 72 two-fours. He just sold off his second shipment of Zelta last week. Importing beer is a […]

At home: The best way to improve the taste of a cheap beer is to mix it with a quality beer. Take Fruli, the Belgian strawberry beer, and put a shot in a king can of Alpine Max. It becomes alcopop. Likewise, add strong ginger beer or a dash of lime cordial into some Wildcat, […]