I'm going to be in NS for most of December. Anything new and good within an hour or maybe two of the Wolfville/Windsor area? I'll definitely be visiting Meander River in Ashdale (out by Smiley's Provincial Park). There's Schoolhouse Brewery in Falmouth, but they're not open to the public. Apparently you can get their beer once a month at the Wolfville Farmers Market, but I don't think I'll be there the right week for that. So far I've had beer from: Sea Level Brewing (Port Williams) Boxing Rock Brewing (Shelburne) Hell Bay Brewing (Liverpool) North Brewing (Halifax) Propeller Brewing (Halifax) Garrison Brewing (Halifax) Rogues Roost (Halifax, RIP) Rare Bird Craft Beer (Guysborough) Picaroons (Fredericton, NB) Pump House Brewery (Moncton, NB) Is Saltbox worth a trip to Mahone Bay? Is their beer available elsewhere? Any beers in particular I should keep an eye out for when I make it to a liquor store? Where are the best beer stores? I think I've only been to Harvest Wines and Spirits in Dartmouth and Cristall Wine Merchants in Sunnyside Mall in Bedford. Bishops Cellar? I mostly only care about selection of local beers, not anything from outside NS, since I have a better chance of getting that stuff where I live.
I haven't had their beer yet, but Nash is legendary... http://unfuckingfiltered.com/ Also, and old friend of mine recently did a documentary on the craft scene. Check out their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sociablefilm/
I've heard from Schoolhouse that they're hoping to be open at their new location in Windsor in some form while I'm there. Looking forward to trying their beer. My Dad has decided we have to go visit Boxing Rock, even though it's over two hours away and their beer is pretty widely available in NS. We might tour the brewery, or we might just stop in for a growler fill.
Hey, For what it is worth here is what I would visit or seek out beerwise in Nova Scotia. Unfiltered - I don't buy into the legend, they handle hops very well. They have some good to great offerings. Bad Apple - Box cutter ipa is one of my go to ipas. Their RIS is also really good. Tatamagouche - They make a wide range of good to pretty good beer. Like most breweries here they have consistency issues. Cellar slammer, their session ipa is one of my favourite session ipas. Big Spruce - Lots of good stuff, their BA RIS just won best of show at the ACBAs. They do have some consistency issues. Uncle Leo's - Good to great smoked porter, good alt, solid kolsch. Granite brewing - The second oldest craft brewery in Canada. English styles. On cask always at the Henry House in Halifax and usually at Stillwell. When they are good they are very good, when they are not... well... Hellbay - Their dark cream is a pretty solid mild. Their english ale is an ok pale. Boxing rock - Largely meh. Sometimes they make something good. Breton Brewing - Very well made if sometimes slightly boring beer. They make a very good brown ale and a very good hefe. I also enjoy their IPA from time to time. They make an Irish red ale... gross. Roofhound - I thought these guys were going to suck and they I tried their ipa. It was good. Kinda like a slightly sweeter boxcutter. Townhouse pub in antigonish - They always have on a cask of their own bitter. Quite good. Nine Locks - They are ok. You could buy worse. Solid beer. Spindrift - Largely a lager brewery. Not great lagers but they are the only ones really making lager here so.... Their pils is ok. Their india pale lager is ok. I like their swartz. Propeller - Long running craft stalwarts of the NS beer scene. Their pils is often good. Saltbox - is not great. is not really even good. What they have going for themselves is that they are in mahone bay. I would skip schoolhouse, good robot, rudder's, sealevel, rarebird and garrison. I can post a pub guide to Halifax if you want.
Well said. There are a lot of folks making good beer, not a lot of great beer (though better than NB). So that being said, I would try as much as possible but not lose any sleep over whatever you missed. Stillwell is a must-visit. I am a big fan of Propeller, although I don't love their IPA (even though it's highly regarded), I think their basic Pale Ale is "the Maritimes in a bottle"....like a craft version of Moosehead Pale Ale. I think most everything from Gahan/PEI Brewing Company is at least solid, some of it excellent, so I would also try to visit their location on the Halifax waterfront for a few pints and some grub.
This is a fairly good map of what there is beer-wise: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...S&ll=47.61373879403775,-63.45329559248643&z=5 If you're going to be staying in the valley, then a stop into Paddy's Pub is always on my list. The new brewer always has several seasonals on the go, and her blueberry ale is one of my faves (if you like fruit beer). There's also Annapolis Cider in Wolfville that's fairly new. Lazy Bear brewing has some okay offerings from what I've heard, but their food is top notch if you're willing to drive out that way. The NSLC always has limited selection, so if you're heading into Halifax your best bets for bottles are Bishop's Cellar and Rockhead. If you do make it into Halifax, visiting Stillwell is a must. They actually have a couple of tap takeovers in December. Though not local, they have Bissell Brothers + Orono coming on the 10th and Mikkeller on the 17th. There's also Battery Park in Dartmouth that has occasional local tap takeovers. Their next one is with Big Spruce on the 1st.
^^ I'm sure Capt Murphy meant Roof Hound, not Lazy Bear, as RH is the brewpub, while LB is strictly a brewery. As others have said, come to Hfx and go to Stillwell. Especially on Dec 10 (Bissell Brothers/Orono Tap Takeover) and Dec 17 (Mikkeller takeover). Give us a heads up, and I'm sure a few of us could meet for beers. Def go to Bad Apple, top 3 brewery in NS very close by.
I didn't hear from you, hope your trip to our humble province was a good one! Would be cool to hear your report, to see how it stacked up to the West Coast's offerings.
I'm here for another couple weeks. Haven't made it out of Hantsport a whole lot so far. Currently enjoying a Boxing Rock Next Chapter Rye IPA at my folks' place. Last night Dad and I went to Schoolhouse Brewery in Windsor for flights and pizza - they did a two day opening in their new location. I was expecting their beer to be on par with Sea Level's (meh), but I was pleasantly surprised - really enjoyed the Vice Principal Pale Ale, and the other stuff was decent too.
Glad that you made it to Schoolhouse, Cam and Co are doing well in that part of the Valley! Be sure to make a trip into Halifax and grab a stool at Stillwell, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what our province can offer.
I'm now back home in Vancouver (and super excited to try the new local releases here that came out while I was away!) and wanted to post an update. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative on days I wanted to go do things, but I did make it to Schoolhouse, Unfiltered, Good Robot, North, the Port Pub/Sea Level (where I tried a couple beers from Wayfarers' Ale Society and nothing from Sea Level, since I'd already tried their stuff), and Rockhead. I'm hoping to make it to Meander River and maybe Stillwell on my next visit, and I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to go back to Good Robot or Unfiltered. I'd say they were the beer highlight of my trip. Here's the list of Maritime beers I got to try while I was in NS: Big Spruce Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout Shame On You IPA (collab with Boxing Rock) Boxing Rock Hunky Dory Pale Ale The Next Chapter Rye IPA Shame On You IPA (collab with Big Spruce) - loved this one Sour Mash Cranberry Wheat Ale Sunken Ledge Porter Vicar's Cross Imperial IPA Boxing Rock was my first good NS beer last time I was here, so I thought Tmappin was nuts for calling their beers meh, but once I got back to NS I remembered that that's accurate for a lot of it. Strange how a brewery can have such a mix of really good (U889, Vicar's Cross...) and totally mediocre (Hunky Dory...). Breton Sons of Hector Brown Ale - I do love a good brown ale. Gahan 1772 IPA Blueberry Ale Iron Bridge Brown Ale Island Red Amber Sir John A's Honey Wheat Ale These were all pretty meh, I thought. For some reason, my father thought I should try them all. Garrison Double Jack Imperial Pumpkin - decent imperial pumpkin Good Robot The 4th Chamber Gose Dave & Morley Coffee Brown Awesome Beer, Great Job! - despite the name, this was the only one I didn't love Tom Waits for No One Stout I loved the mix of beers available here, and the taproom was fun. Nine Locks IPA - not great North Headline Milk Stout Priority Pale Ale Stillwell 3 Saison (I think this was brewed at but not by North?) Wiley Bros II Black Saison I tried several beers from North on my last visit (August/September 2015) and I have to say, I liked what they were brewing then more than the current stuff. Picaroons Winter Warmer Propeller ESB Rare Bird Full Steam Stout Spindrift The Abyss Schwarzbier Riptide IPL I could happily drink these again. Tatamagouche Deception Bay IPA Smorter S'mores Porter I didn't love either of these but they were pretty good. Uncle Leo's IPA - another good one Unfiltered Daytimer Berliner Weisse Hoppy Fingers Pale Ale Twelve Years to Zion Imperial IPA Double Orange Ale Imperial IPA Flat Black Jesus Stout I can see spending a lot of time here were I (still) a local. I expected to love the hoppy beers more than I did (they weren't bad, but I was underwhelmed after the hype), but the stout was the real standout. Upstreet Black Tie Affair Vanilla Cranberry Stout Rhuby Social Strawberry Rhubarb Witbier Wayfarers' Ale Society Hellene Blonde Ale The One-Eyed River Hog IPA
Just curious, what's the legislation around brewery tasting rooms in NS? I note that Good Robot and Unfiltered have them, but North does not. Here in Vancouver, it was only a few years ago that breweries were allowed to open tasting rooms on premises. Since then, they're really taken off.
Not sure of the actual legislation, but you do need an extra license to serve samples, and another license still to serve larger than 4oz at a time. You'll note that Good Robot and Unfiltered's tap rooms were separate locations (though adjacent to their respective breweries). Due to space constraints at North, they did neither. Though their Dartmouth location is in Battery Park, where they do not have a brewery tap room, but at least folks can drink some beer (usually North, definitely other breweries) before/after a visit.
