The PEI Brewing Company's Grand Re-Opening

The Mango Wheat

Yesterday was a landmark day in PEI's craft brewing history - it was the official grand opening of the PEI Brewing Company's new location at 96 Kensington Road, in Charlottetown. I was invited, back in April, to have a look at the new facility, and see how things were coming together. I got to add some hops to a brew, sample the first-ever brew from the new system, & have a chat or two along the way. When I left, I was quite keen & curious to see how it'd all come together. If you want to see what it looked like then, have a gander at my co-blogger Chris' post about his visit. He was much more into journalist mode than I was on my first trip.

The Blueberry Ale

The new growler & glass

I stopped by early on in the day yesterday, just to have a gander at the new main room, merch, and see what was available to sip on. I knew there was a blueberry beer coming, but I didn't know it was going to be bottled. I took a bottle & new glass home to have it in (more on that some other day soon). The bottles of Lobster Saison weren't quite ready yet, though, which is too bad. So, a pro and a con. In that vein, and to help me get my little post done, here are some other pros & cons of the day:

Pro - nobody was painted silver to match the brewhouse gear... not today, anyway, thank Ninkasi. What was whoever thought of that thinking? https://twitter.com/PEIBrew/status/335180330954801154
Con - I was hopeful that everything on tap would have been super fresh (but all  weren't)... like the Harvest Gold, or IPA, for example.
Pro - a "surprise beer" - the Mango Wheat! It was a test batch for the blueberry, but, to me, tasted even better.
Con - I don't know if I've ever had a good growler pour from the Gahan Pub or this place. First, there was about 1/4 to 1/5 of just head. Must have been missing about 10 - 12oz anyway. The pourer reassured me it was full, because the neck felt cold. I showed him where I could see the beer level, way below the fill level. Poor guy had no clue. Not his fault. Nobody showed him, I'd say. Someone gave him a hand, and at least filled it, rather flat as it now was. It'll be nice when the counter pressure filler comes back from its use downtown. Maybe that'll help.
Pro - first guy on stage played a couple Big Sugar songs back-to-back. Won over, I was.
Con - the "growing hops" by the waterfall aren't real.
Pro - lots of nice merch to be had
Con - some ridiculous touristy merch like top hats
Pro - the whole place... great concrete bar (although too many bubbles in the edges of it), nice mix of industrial and rural. Dig it.
Pro - just to finish on a double-positive note... the prices! Taxes in, a growler's $13 (not including the vessel itself, which is $5), a pint's $5.50, and a half-pint's $4.

Overall, I had a great early part of the afternoon chatting with staff, checking the place out, and soaking up the interest of the public in this new cornerstone of PEI's brewing scene. It warms the heart just a little when one thinks of what is yet to come for PEI's brewing scene.

Some facts on the new place:

• 25,000 square feet
• 50-hectolitre brewhouse
• will help to meet demand for current markets as well as future ones, including AB and BC, being worked on now
• space includes meeting and hospitality rooms
• when completely finished, it will accommodate up to 700 people in its event space
• retail showroom, bar, and "fresh beer to go" section

2013 Canadian Brewing Awards Results - Atlantic Edition

I took a few moments this morning to check out what Atlantic Canadian winners we have from last night's Canadian Brewing Awards. (you can see the whole list here, sorted by category)

Local winners include:

• PEI Brewing Company's Sir John A's Honey Wheat Ale won a medal again, taking home silver in the "Wheat Beer – North American Style" category
• Acadie-Broue Inc's Tintamarre won bronze
• Halifax's Rockbottom Brewpub won a bronze with its Insidious IBA
• Propeller Brewing Co. won a silver with their Bohemian-Style Pilsener
• Pump House won a silver and two bronze with their Premium Lager, Pail Ale, and Blueberry Ale, respectively
• From Moosehead Breweries - Alpine Lager and Alpine Light each won gold, Moosehead Lager won silver, and Cracked Canoe Premium Light Lager won a bronze

News from the Beach Chair

Due to climate change, we have completely skipped spring and gone into the warmth and black flies of summer. To fight the black fly blues, at least there's "summer beer", and there's a bit of news about PEI's own summer brew.

Beach Chair Lager is now in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and should be available in all major centers.

Also, if 473 ml is just WAY too much beer for you in one sitting, the PEI Brewing Co. have also made Beach Chair available in the smaller 355 ml format, in packs of six or twelve (saw my first ones today, in fact... well, I saw the empty cans a bit over a month ago at the new site, but I didn't want to say anything before it was "official").

So wherever you are, and however thirsty you are, it's getting easier and easier to "grab a chair".

Phillips Hop Circle IPA

Big thanks to Red Hunt from Untappd who brought me some goodies this week, including this.

This brew's a golden shade of orange more gold/yellow than most IPA's I've had. There's not too much head, but there are sticky white patches of lacing all the way down.

The aroma on this was initially awesome. Lots of fruity hops. Then it changes in a few seconds. I don't what the Hell is going on anymore. It's almost nearly something smokey... but NEARLY skunky... but clearly not. It's... almost in the mint family... almost... lemon. What the fun times is going on... Sorachi Ace? A bit of Galaxy? I'm puzzled.

The taste is a bit of a let-down at first given the nose... more muted, for sure. The aftertaste is the winner here. It has this bitterness that borders on some kind of pithy mint feel - really clean, bright, and airy. This is a  really easy-drinker. That bitterness builds a bit, but tastes & feels light. Nice burps. Weird, I know, but... hey... I happen to enjoy the many hoppy returns I can get from a beer. Sometimes it can be the best part!

The body's pretty light, so's the carbonation, and the bitterness is in the mid-range or just above.

Overall, pretty nice.

Gahan's Brew Samples

Today, I had a change in my day-to-day work, and had a meeting in Stratford. I had a splendiferously killer burger for lunch at Phinley's and, after the meeting was over, took it upon myself to kill about 40 minutes @ the Gahan House before I had to pick up some sushi (great food day, really). You know... I don't think I ever did the "tasting samples" or whatever they call it there (although I've had them all at some point) before, so I thought that's what I'd do instead of just having a resurrected Coles' Cream Ale or something I knew I'd like. So... to keep this short, here are my notes from Evernote:

Coles' Cream Ale - little cream, bit of toffee... bit of corn. Tastes pretty nice. Kind of an English bitter. A bit thin and light, but not bad.
Beach Chair Lager - really thin compared to the last time I had it or even the Coles. Nah.
John A. Honey Wheat - fair to good. Same as last time. Bright. Def. honey there. Light citrus/lemon as advertised. 
Harvest Gold Pale Ale - smell light pith/citrus. Pretty nice! A bit thin, light, but nice enough flav / bitterness. 
Red - much better than last time. Decent. Still don't like reds. 
Iron Horse - no smell? These samples are much too small. Light/thin. Roasty. Nutty. Still decent.
1772 IPA - good. Last bottle(s) I had were better. 
Sydney Street Stout - big roasty smell. Choc. Coffee. Light nuts. Maybe the best one. Very nice.

One Fest To Rule Them All...

One week ago, a story came out in The Guardian that PEI's Liquor Control Commission was going to take more control of beer festivals on PEI. You can read the news article here, but, essentially, this is the gist (along with some other notes for the background story):

• Two Septembers ago, Campbell Webster put on PEI's first beer festival. He invited Gahan / PEI Brewing Company, and they wouldn't come. I've heard different reasons from they didn't have enough beer to they were going to have their own Oktoberfest within a month (which didn't happen). The fest was pretty good, although there was some room for improvement. Before and after, Campbell even consulted with myself and other local beer fans for ideas. He was (is) keen to listen and improve upon what he does.
• Fast forward to this past September. Campbell puts the fest on again, in a better venue, and improved upon the previous year's fest in many ways (he lost a brewery or two from the previous year, but gained some, as well). Even though his fest was in mid-September, the PEI Brewing Company put on their own "first annual" PEI International Beer Fest (no more international than the other) at the end of the month, and got it listed as part of the Fall Flavours festival. Rumours went around about some "just business" kinds of things in trying to ensure theirs was the best (or only) fest on the go.
• Apparently, listing all of these new brews for the two fests in the same month must have just about done in someone or some people at the LCC, because for the upcoming year, they say they are going to only approve one fest. From The Guardian article, they said they are, 

"...looking for a contractor to organize, manage and partner with the commission on a new beer festival.

Under the criteria for the proposal, the contractor will organize and supervise the festival, while the commission will provide promotional material and own the event’s website.

The commission will be able to renew the contract with the successful party on annual basis, provided there is a satisfactory performance evaluation.

Under the proposal, the contractor will have to maintain a minimum $5 million in commercial general liability insurance and a further $1 million automobile liability."

• Only Campbell Webster is quoted in the article, and he says he likes the idea and is planning on submitting a proposal. That being said, it would be hard not to bet that the Murphy/Gahan/PEI Brewing Co. group would have deeper pockets for a bigger bid as well as stronger political ties. 

What're your thoughts? Could PEI not support two events in a year, just more spaced apart (Can't we all just get along?)? Should the gov't take control of such an event and limit its existence to once a year (in Sept. / Oct.)? Will this ensure a better yearly festival? Would brewers rather show up for a fest run by a promoter, another brewery, or a branch of the provincial gov't? Why can't I remember that other question I was going to post? 

Discuss!

More Pump House Brews @ Water Street Fish & Chips

Just FYI, there's a nice little place downtown that has good food, and maybe isn't as busy as it should be yet. Water Street Fish & Chips in downtown Charlottetown has been bringing in Pump House brews on tap for a couple or few months now. This week, they've got the S.O.B. and IPA on tap (next time I'm in, I'll ask what others they still have on with them). I snuck in for a quick IPA last night, and I must say it was a pretty nice beer. Good aroma, nice & bitter. Lots of citrus & pith. I feel I must also note that the pricing's great, too - only $5.41 before tax or $6.25 after tax... something along those lines. Good luck finding a decent craft brew in town of a similar size for the same price. It's also worthy noting that, as of now, these are the only craft brews available on PEI other than the Gahan / PEI Brewing Co. offerings.

Next week, Water Street has a burger entry in the PEI Burger Love competition, so I expect I'll be down for a burger and a pint or two some day!