Half Pints Oktoberfest

October 30 saw Half Pints rock out Winnipeg again this year. Punk N Fest is an event they hold where three different punk bands play and the brewery taps their pie spiced Oktoberfest lager.

A great event. Below is a link to the Angry Dragons rockin' out Half Pints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XMg7mBiItY

http://www.halfpintsbrewing.com/

Bushwakker Great Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale

According to the Weekly Wakker, October 30th will see the Great Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale on tap. The pub is having a Halloween party and what great excuse to have one of Mitch's creations.

With pumpkin and nutmeg aromas it smells great and you can only get it on tap in Regina. What else you doing that night in Regina?

Big Rock - Getting Cool

In what broke on Twitter this week - very cool that this happens, I think - it was thought that Big Rock was bringing back Magpie Rye Ale. A cool endeavour. Clarified on Canadian Beer News (though still unofficially, I guess) Tevor Naish explains that:

"at Big Rock. They are using the new Kaspar Shulz system to make small batch beers available only in draft. They have a catelogue of 10-12 draft only beers and are looking for 10 Calgary draft accounts to choose 3-4 to rotate as a regular Big Rock tap. Beers include Magpie, Alpha Dog, Dunklewiesen and Scotch. These beers have been added to Ratebeer.com. Also there is a new recipe for the Pale Ale to make it an IPA again."

Thanks Trevor, we'll have to wait and see. http://twitter.com/BigRockBrewery/status/27357427789

Unity Brew - finally

The Alberta Unity Brew is finally available in bottles. You can get it at most breweries (Big Rock, Alley Kat, Wild Rose, Brewsters). The money goes to the kidney foundation - as if you needed a reason to try a cool beer.

Fall issue of TAPS is out west - finally

I know it always takes a while for TAPS - Canada's Beer Magazine to get to the west, but the fall issue is here. The newer look TAPS is very professional looking and is full of great articles. It's interesting to read about the beer culture from coast to coast and from such great Canadian beer writers as Troy Burtch, Craig Pinhey, Mirella Amato, and Stephen Beaumont. I personally love the wester section from James Burla and this issue is highlighting the Big Rock Eddies and beers of Montana.

There's even a cool interview with Rick Mercer! Pick one up.

http://www.tapsmedia.ca/

Brew Brothers Amber Ale Cask

Brew Brothers is now offering cask conditioned brews at the District on Thursday's. The week just got a lot better. This Thursday, enjoy their Ambush Pale Ale, dry hopped with Cascades.

District's a great beer place, a great Canadian beer place and the only place to Brew Bother's casks.

http://www.brewbrothers.com/

http://enjoydistrict.com/about-2/our-beer-2/

Wild Rose Cherry Porter

The WR holiday seasonal has once again been tapped at the Quonset. Wild Rose's Cherry Porter, according to the press release is: "rich and sensual, the flavour of this local brew is reminiscent of Black Forest cake with sweet chocolate notes and a slightly smoky character from roasted malts.

Released this Friday - October 29

http://www.wildrosebrewery.com/

Hop N Brew now has Tree

Hop N Brew - Calgary's great craft beer stop has just put on TREE's hefeweizen. According TREE's twitter account (we're such beer geeks, I know) this is only one of two kegs of the stuff even getting into Alberta. Head to Alberta, head to Calgary and head to the Hop N Brew (unless you're coming from BC - then that's just a waste of gas.

http://hopinbrew.com/beer/

Brew Brothers new website

After many months of waiting, BrewBros, in Calgary has re-launched its website. That's good news on many fronts. What that means to me is that they are brewing at a higher rate again and according to the website you can find their beer at a few places around Calgary.

Definitely worth the search, but with the new site, your search won't be difficult

http://www.brewbrothers.com/

Brewsters Barley Wine

As if we didn't already give you enough reason to hit a Brewsters, they've given you another one. Their Blue Monk Barley Wine is in season again:

It’s Barley Wine season again! October is the time of year when the temperature gets colder, the leaves change colour and Blue Monk Barley Wine returns to the Brewsters craft beer lineup. Our legendary Blue Monk Barley Wine is a strong winter favourite.

Brewster's Seasonal

According to their website, Brewsters' Oktoberfest is out an about. You need to get to one of the restaurants to enjoy this reddish gold, malty lager, but what a great excuse to go out and eat. There's a lot of Oktoberfests out there right now, why not try this one?

SHA-BAM

The SHA-BAM Alberta beer and art festival is on this weekend in Edmonton. There is live music (Kevin Hearn - very cool) as well as cool beer. In fact this year, in support of the kidney foundation, the festival is where the Alberta Unity brew will be launched. A great opportunity for cool music and cool beers.

Mayfield Inn convention centre

Rocky Mountain food and wine on

This weekend the Rocky mountain food and wine festival is in Calgary and many breweries and beers will be represented. Among these from the Prairies include: Wild Rose, Big Rock, Grizzly Paw, Half Pints and Yukon - well not totally prairie but very cool.

There will be many other B.C, Ontario and U.S beers - might be worth a look

The festival will be in Edmonton in November and later this year in Banff.

Big Rock Winter Spice Back

Do we ever love this time of year. The leaves change (or fall off in Calgary), the air gets a little crisper (until a Chinook) and the beer industry really takes off with tasty seasonals. Big Rock is no different and according to their blog site ... Winter spice is back.

Winter Spice Strong Ale is a beautifully balanced strong amber ale. Brewed with both pale and caramel malts, it gives off a warm amber glow and upon first sip the depth of flavour is revealed: notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and a hint of ginger. This seasonal brew has an alcohol content of 6% and is sure to warm your heart – and cheeks!

This is a spicy and delicious beer. A favourite of ours this time of year.

Alley Kat Anniversary Apple Wit

Alley Kat's newest seasonal celebrating it's 15 years is an apple wit.

The fourth in Alley Kat's 15th anniversary series of beers is a celebration of fall and the apple harvest. Wit beers are traditionally brewed by adding orange peel and other spices to the boil and fermenting with a special yeast. Our version omits the spices and orange peel, adding ridiculous amounts of Granny Smith apples to the fermenter and conditioning tanks instead. We fermented it using a traditional wit yeast. The result is a crisp, refreshing, bottle conditioned wit with overtones of cider. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed brewing it.

Wild Rose Royal 100

WR is helping to celebrate Mount Royal University's 100 year anniversary with a special brew - Royal 100.

Royal 100 - Now Available!

Royal 100 is a celebratory beer that was brewed by Wild Rose specifically for the Mount Royal University Centennial. With a reddish hue and a well balanced flavour, this beer is sure to be a highlight of the celebrations. Brewed with Canadian malted barley and wheat, Royal 100 has been perfectly dry hopped with … you guessed it, Centennial hops! Now available in 1L bottles at Calgary Co-op Liquor stores.

Wild Rose seasonal

Welcome Oktoberfest!

WR launched their Oktoberfest seasonal October 1. Taken from the press release ...

OKTOBERFEST: Roll out the barrel!

Made using the best Canadian barley malts available – Superior Pils, Superior Pale, Vienna and Munich – Wild Rose Oktoberfest has a rich malt flavour. The complex sweetness from these specialty malts is well balanced with two Noble hop varieties – Tettnanger for bittering and Saaz for aroma and flavour.

Along with this, the taproom has announced an Oktoberfest night. It's October 19 and tickets are available at the taproom for $30. Get out the lederhosen

Beer Pairing Nights

Crowfoot Liquor store held their first Belgian Beer and Food pairing last night. I was in attendance and I think they did a bag up job. We had five courses with five different beers and the pairings matched perfectly.

If you're thinking about doing something like this, at any of liquor store or wine markets, I highly recommend it. Great Night.

http://www.crowfootliquor.com/