Beer Buzz about Town

Just when you thought it was getting a bit boring, beer has been making news all over. From Bud Light Lime to Nash's SmaSh, beer in Halifax just got a bit more interesting this past month.

I know that I am going straight to hell now that I have admitted to buying, with real money that I earned with my own tiny brain, some Bud Light Lime -or is that Bud Lite Lime?. Is "lite" now the American spelling for "light"? Probably. But I digress.

The limey thing tastes like an insipid beer made palatable for use on a hot day by the addition of some acidity and fruitiness. I am not a beer snob (I prefer geek) and I can handle this drink (is it beer?, well, I guess it qualifies) on a hot day. With my capacity and its alcohol content, it is little more than pop anyway.

But on to more serious beer things. With the upcoming Seaport Beer Festival down at the Port of Halifax (and in Garrison's side yard) some recent moves by personnel and introduction of brands have made things interesting.

The Hart and Thistle pub, recently opened on the waterfront where the Harbourside Food Court used to be, the one with John Shippey's Brewing Company (RIP) in it. I was in attendance at the launch of their first two beers made in the old Shippey's brewhouse. They were made by Greg "Quick Mash" Nash, the former brewer at Shippeys, and, as far as most people knew, the current brewer at the Pumphouse Brewery in Moncton, one of the suppliers to the Hart and Thistle.

Nash has had a hard time staying in one place these past few years. I am not sure exactly why - I can say for sure that his presence at every place he has worked has resulted in a measurable and near immediate improvement in the beers. But Nash is an iconoclast - he does things his way, and most of us like the results. But we are not the person who pays him, or pays for his ingredients. And we are not party to all that happens between an owner and a brewer. We are what we are - Maritime Drinkers. Of course, we cannot comment on the beer knowledge or business acuity of the people he has worked for either.

All I can say is that if I had the money to start a brewpub, Nash would be my brewer, and I'd have him working for points on the profit from the beer. He makes great extreme beers, but in my opinion, the best beer improvement he made in his time at Garrison was with the previously anemic Tall Ships Amber. It is real beer now. So while you all may focus on his extreme brews, I call attention to his stable brews. His versions of Garrison Red and Brown were the best they ever made, and his Stout was great. The current brewer is very good, more analytical in some ways than Nash, but the ales seem to have lost the correct minerality and salt that British beers have - perhaps he stopped adjusting the water the way Nash did?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens at the beer festival. No Nash (unless somehow the H&T gets in late) No Lorne Romano (a juvenile fallout between him and Garrison owner Brian Titus last year nixed that). Without Greg and Lorne, two of the best brewers, and their great beers will be missed. Almost as much as the fun they would have brought to the event.

Propeller will be there, though. After three years, have Propeller and Garrison finally buried the hatchet enough to play well with others? Time will tell. Maybe we'll witness a beer squirting battle on Saturday?

Back to the Hart and Thistle. Co-owner Bruce Keith put on a low key, but still classy introduction of the new brewer, new brewpub operations, and two new beers. The beers were both thrown together in a manner that we homebrewers sometimes do, and not what one would call "planned". But because Nash knows what he is doing, and the fact that Bruce had no problem being a hop-monkey for a while, they ended up with a couple of very interesting, very good, and, yes, extreme brews to sell.

Talking with Bruce, I believe the place will fly. The former operation always seemed to have problems with crusty landlord, Ben MacRae. But Bruce and Heather also own and run O'Carroll's and have the same landlord. They have some mutual respect - Bruce speaks highly of Mr. MacRae - and there is something worked out here, and we beer lovers will benefit from that.

In other beer news, Kevin Keefe and sons Brian and Joe have the brewery running again on Stairs Street, just barely south of Massachusetts Avenue in the North End (you Google Map it, I am too lazy). They are selling growlers of counter pressure filled versions of all their old favourites. For you non geeks, counter pressure filling means they will last longer before opening. The ones I have tried (Barley Wine, Ringwood, IPA, Best Bitter) have all been yummy. My brother recently waxed eloquent over how good the Best Bitter Special was from growler. So I think we now have a good reason to go north.

A recent trip to Rogues Roost found the beers, as usual, in excellent shape. The IPA was outstanding, with an almost perfect balance between fruit, malt, hops and alcohol. Lorne may be somewhat hyper (now there is an understatement) but he makes great beer, consistently.

The Rock Bottom, a FOP (ferment on premise) is making some drinkable beers, but is sadly uninteresting. They need to get some more stuff into one or two of their beers for me to bother dropping in more. And their wine list, still an "all Bishops, all the time" list illustrates a lack of knowledge and effort in providing interesting and varied wine to clients.

Propeller is still selling the weizen, a great hot day brew. I am not sure if there is any Pilsener left, but it is on tap in a few places around town, and much better now after some time to age. I last had it at Minstrels, where the Thirsty Duck used to be. Another blog post is coming on the term "gastropub", so I won't abuse it here too. Their growler sales, averaging about 100 per day, amaze me. A total sea change in how beer is sold in town, and it has slipped by the media, the NSLC, and the Keith's and Molson's sales reps - the ones who REALLY control the beer industry in town.

The Friday Firkin at Maxwell's Plum continues to attract beer geeks, and entertain random tourist drop-ins. Except last week, when no cask appeared. We made do with the recent release of Blanche de Chambly on draft there. A perfect hot day beer, its lemony crisp and complex flavours were really exciting and thirst quenching to boot. Yum. The Stigl draft on tap there is a funny story. It arrived by accident. Now the NSLC are trying to flog it as something special. If you have been to the brewery in Salzburg, you probably ended up missing one of the best beer halls in the world, almost across the street at Augustinerbrau, where monks still make real beer - a Maerzen that is like mother's milk. Stigl is another good euro-lager. Period.

The Henry House had Granite Brewery beers in fine shape the other night. But I have to admit, it all soured when a friend of the birthday girl we were all there to celebrate with brought in a small homemade cake for people to share, and sing "Happy Birthday" over. The sever bolted from behind the bar to demand $10 for bringing in a cake. Huh? What about the 18 people the birthday group brought into the bar? I now have to ask myself - why go there? I can get the beers from the brewery anyway, and that place is the farthest walk from my house of all the places in town. And anyone who comes up with a policy like that is an ASS and does not deserve my business. Nine of those people had never been to the place before, were liking it a lot, and now will NEVER go back. Nice business development strategy.

There are some good recent additions to the imported beer list, but they do not come close to replacing what has been delisted in the past two years. Please, someday maybe the NSLC will have someone who knows something about beer in charge of the category? They have gotten a bit better since the early 90's, but still are that strangest of entities, a monopoly over products about which they know nothing.