The LCBO’s popular Brewery Feature program, which has spotlighted specific breweries such as Dieu du Ciel!, Fuller’s, Nørrebro Bryghus, and Rogue, returns on January 29th with Garrison Brewing of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Garrison Brewing, which has seen their Imperial I.P.A, HopYard Pale Ale and Oktoberfest released over the past couple of years through the LCBO, arrives with a set of five special seasonal beers in this release.

The Brewery Feature will offer the following Garrison beers, available from January 29th to March 30th, or while stock lasts:

• Black I.P.A., $4.25, 500mL, 6.2% alc./vol. (Gold medal winner at 2012 Canadian Brewing Awards)
• Winter Warmer, $5.25, 500mL, 6.8% alc./vol. (Silver medal winner at 2009 Canadian Brewing Awards)
• Spruce Beer, $5.25, 500mL, 7.5% alc./vol.
• Grand Baltic Porter, $5.95, 500mL, 9.0% alc./vol. (Gold medal winner at 2011 Canadian Brewing Awards)
• Pils, $4.25, 500mL, 4.7% alc./vol.

Last month I mentioned a few new breweries opening this year, but then Hoyne Brewing actually managed to get a few growlers out the door before Christmas! Now they’ve got their Pale Ale and Pilsner bottled, and it’s starting to hit the Private Liquor Store shelves.

Old Yale Brewing has entered into a new partnership and moved to a larger location. Canadian Beer News is reporting that kegs and bottles of the Sasquatch Stout and Sergeant’s IPA are currently available, and we’ll start to see cans of the IPA and Old Yale Pale Ale in February. It’ll certainly be great to have some more hoppy brews available in cans!

Lighthouse Brewing Company has their 6th limited release from their Big Flavour Series. The official press release says this 9% “Belgian Black is fermented with a Belgian Ardennes yeast strain. Enjoy the rich malty features of plum and dark cherry backed with subtle spicy notes”.

Mission Springs Brewing Company is releasing another special brew in bottles on January 30th. “The Strongman Ale” is an 8% Cascadian Strong Ale… this should be interesting.

Phillips has iced a barleywine, pushing the alcohol up to 12%. Thankfully, this so-called Mass Extinction is available in (reasonably-sized) 341 mL bottles.

Granville Island’s Imperial IPA will be on tap next week, and hopefully we’ll start to see some bottles again soon!

Tree Brewing’s Hophead Double IPA is currently available at the brewery. Many Bartowelers will be happy to hear that it just shipped to Ontario as well! You can expect to see it on the LCBO shelves by the end of February. In the mean time, Ontario will have to get their west-coast hop fix from the regular Tree Hop Head, or perhaps Central City’s Red Racer, which just hit the shelves again.

Tomorrow is the Brewery Market‘s second event of their winter series, entitled Brew Year’s Day.  The event promises to celebrate winter in style, featuring only stronger alcohol beers from Great Lakes Brewery and Cheshire Valley Brewing.  The beers on offer range from 8.5% up to 12% and include some brand new brews.  The complementary food will continue, which includes Buddha Dogs, vegetarian chili, chili dogs, artisanal marshmallows and hot chocolate. And that’s not all, there will even be live music for the first time, with local artists Amy Nostbakken and Adale Dahli.

The Brewery Market runs from 1-5pm on Sunday, January 15th at The Stop’s Green Barn at the Wychwood Barns, located at 601 Christie Street, just south of St. Clair West.  You can stay on top of the latest updates by following the Brewery Market on Twitter.

Based upon a post by Stephen Beaumont about who was his pick for brewery of the year in Ontario, this resulted in a poll right in our own Bar Towel Forums, which has led to further commentary by Troy Burtch on his Great Canadian Beer Blog.  Give a read and be sure to join in the conversation at the forums.

CANADIAN BEER NEWS DINNER #2:
GREAT LAKES BREWERY and CHEF HOWARD DUBROVSKY
at L.A.B. RESTAURANT

Canadian Beer News is pleased to present the second event in the Canadian Beer News Dinner Series, an ongoing series of dinners that bring together some of Canada’s top breweries and beer importers with outstanding chefs and restaurants to create unique and exciting beer and food pairing experiences.

For this event we’ll be celebrating the art of experimentation, as the adventurous beers of Great Lakes Brewery – including several special one-off brews – will be paired with the unique ‘cucina moleculare’ crafted by chef Howard Dubrovsky in the kitchen of his L.A.B. Restaurant.

Only 20 seats will be available for this dinner, so those interested in attending are encouraged to act fast!

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 – 7:00 PM
L.A.B. Restaurant, 651 College St., Toronto

6 course menu with beer pairings
$95 per person including tax and gratuity

Call L.A.B. at 416.551.5025 to reserve

Founded in 1987 and independently owned by the Bulut family, Great Lakes Brewery is Toronto’s oldest craft brewery. After almost 20 years of producing exclusively lagers, the brewery launched Devil’s Pale Ale in 2006, and has since added a number of seasonal beers to its portfolio – including Green Tea Ale, Orange Peel Ale, Pumpkin Ale and Winter Ale – as well as a constantly growing list of limited edition and one-off beers, many of them served at the “Project X” open house events held each month at the brewery.

Known for his appearances on CBC’s Gill Deacon Show and other media, chef Howard Dubrovsky opened his restaurant L.A.B. (Live And Breathe) in Toronto’s Little Italy in 2010, and has gained rave reviews for his experimentation with what he describes as ‘cucina moleculare’: a new style of cooking where classic Italian fare is recreated with a modern, yet familiar style of molecular gastronomy.

Canadian Beer News is a website and news blog dedicated exclusively to coverage of Canada’s beer and brewing industry. Presenting news and information with minimal editorializing, CBN features announcements of new beer releases, brewery openings and closures, news about festivals and events, and other information from breweries all across the country.

It was another great year for brewing in BC. This year our brewers managed to take home 1/3 of the Canadian Brewing Awards!

Howe Sound took home 7 awards (more than any other brewery), while Driftwood’s Fat Tug IPA was named ‘Beer of the Year’. Congratulations to all the winners. Here’s the list from BC:

Gold:
Fat Tug IPA, Driftwood Brewing Co.
Hermannator Ice Bock, Vancouver Island Brewery
High County Kolsch, Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.
Sea Dog Amber Ale, Vancouver Island Brewery
Belgian Wit, Granville Island Brewing Co.
Hill’s Special Wheat, Yaletown Brewing Co.
Thor’s Hammer, Central City Brewing Co.
Sap Sucker Maple Porter, Fernie Brewing Co.
Pepper Lime Lager, Dead Frog Brewery
Serendipity #3, Tree Brewing Co.

Silver:
Hermann’s Dark Lager, Vancouver Island Brewery
Navigator Doppelbock, Lighthouse Brewing Co.
Porter, Okanagan Spring Brewery
Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale, Nelson Brewing Co.
Scotch Ale, Swans Buckerfields Brewery
Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Hoppelganger IPA, R&B Brewing Co.
Red Racer Imperial, Central City Brewing Co.
Cypress Honey Lager, Granville Island Brewing Co.
Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Singularity Russian Imperial Stout, Driftwood Brewing Co.
Yaletown Oud Bruin, Yaletown Brewing Co.
Megadestroyer Imperial Licorice Stout, Howe Sound Brewing Co.

Bronze:
Overboard Imperial Pilsner, Lighthouse Brewing Co.
Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale, Tree Brewing Co.
Brewmaster’s Black Lager, Okanagan Spring Brewery
Captivator Doppelbock, Tree Brewing Co.
Howe Sound Lager, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Analog 78, Phillips Brewing Co.
Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Pandora Pale Ale, Swans Buckerfields Brewery
East Side Bitter, R&B Brewing Co.
Woolly Bugger, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Citra IPA, Dead Frog Brewery
Hop Head Double IPA, Tree Brewing Co.

The BC brewers did well in a couple of international competitions, in addition to receiving a number of readers choice awards from the North West Brewing News:

Best IPA: Driftwood Fat Tug IPA
Best Barley Wine: Central City Thor’s Hammer
Best ESB: Central City Red Racer ESB
Best Herb or Spice Beer: Saltspring Island Heather Ale
Best Cider: Sea Cider Rumrunner

Yeah, I know the Reader’s Choice Awards are a bit of a popularity contest, but consider the U.S. population in the Pacific Northwest… now consider some of the brews in that region. BC took BEST IPA and Barleywine! Clearly the people of British Columbia are impressed by their brewers!

If you’ve been following the monthly BC Beer Releases here, you’ll know there’s been a heck of a lot this year. The craft beer industry is certainly healthy in BC. A number of Brewers are expanding distribution into Ontario, and there’s continued growth here as well.

In 2012 we’ll finally see the new production facility for Central City Brewing, along with at least 4 brand new starts: Townsite Brewing in Powell River, Firehall Brewery in Oliver, Hoyne Brewing in Victoria, and Parallel 49, which is affiliated with St. Augustines in Vancouver.

It’s GREAT to be here!

As the Winter Solstice is upon us, we’ve got a number of seasonal brews. The Christmas Beeracle has returned from Dead Frog, and this year they’re donating a portion of the proceeds to the BC Children’s Hospital. This bomber is a great little stocking stuffer, supporting an excellent cause. Dead Frog’s Winter Mixer is also back again in BC, but it’s also making its debut in Ontario. It’s currently available at the LCBO, as well as a few of the self-serve Beer Stores. These mixers are great to have on-hand for entertaining and introducing friends and family to the diversity of craft brews.

Whistler Brewing has released a new Winter Dunkel that’s brewed with chocolate and orange rind.
Mission Springs has released their new Mr. Brown’s Mashing Pumpkin Winter Ale in bottles as well.

Russell and Storm Brewing have done a collaboration brew, the “Big Smoke Ale”, which is brewed with 10% (a relatively large amount) of peat-smoked malt. Once again, the Vancouver Beer Blog has an excellent writeup.

Driftwood’s seasonal Blackstone Porter is back on the shelf, along with their Old Cellar Dwellar. Phillip’s Trainwreck Barley Wine is back again as well.

Hoppy Holidays!

The Brewery Market is returning this Sunday, December 18th with a very special event to celebrate winter and the holiday season.  Entitled ‘Twas the Beer Before Christmas, they will be welcoming back the Indie Alehouse as the featured brewery, and Indie is bringing a brand new beer brewed exclusively for the Brewery Market: Christmas Spiced Porter.  This beer is brewed with gingerbread spices and will be delicious for the season.  Accompanying this new brew will be Indie’s Breakfast Porter, Belgian IPA and Hoppy IPA.

The food lineup strays from the usual pizza with a Chinese Hot Pot, hot dogs by Buddha Dog and fire-roasted artisanal marshmallows.  This, alongside blankets to keep warm and the beer should make for a great event to celebrate the winter.  The Brewery Market runs from 1-5pm at The Stop’s Green Barn at the Wychwood Barns, located at 601 Christie Street.  For more information visit the Brewery Market’s site and follow them on Twitter.

The Driftwood Brewery has just released the first of their Bird of Prey Wild Ale Series. This Flanders Red “spent a year conditioning in a mix of American & French oak wine barrels. Tart & funky, this beer can be aged for a very long time, but will be enjoyed now!”

The Anceint Forest Alliance was selected as Phillips Benefit Brew for 2011. Some of our old growth forests are truly remarkable {pics}, and this worthy organization will be receiving the proceeds from the Phillips Ancient Brown Ale. So drink up! Phillips is also introducing a Root Beer Style Ale called Old Sarsaparilla, as well as their Mash-up Baltic Porter, which they brewed in collaboration with Garrison Brewing (after doing the Belgian IPA on the East coast).

Christmas is coming and there’s a few seasonals back on the shelf. Look for Dead Frog’s Christmas Beeracle and Tree Brewing’s Spiced Reserve Ale.

If spices aren’t your thing, R&B Brewing has their Auld Nick Winter Ale. This unadulterated Scottish Wee Heavy weighs in at 6.5% abv, with a restrained 18 IBU from the East Kent Golding hops. It took home a gold at the 2011 BC Beer Awards, besting the excellent Cannery Squire and Russell Wee Angry Scotch ales.

Following on the heals of the controversial IPA day (August 4th, 2011), we now have an International Stout Day. No it’s not St. Patrick’s Day, it’s actually November 3rd, 2011.

Some of the brewpubs in BC offer a fine stout, but if you’re looking for a locally-produced, widely-distributed stout, your options are a fairly slim. Although both excellent, there’s only the Nelson Blackheart and R&B Darkstar Oatmeal stouts. The seasonal Maple Stout from Cannery Brewing is also currently available in BC Liquor Stores, as well as the LCBO.

But BC does get a few other world-class stouts. There’s the St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, which was the only brew to receive a perfect 4 stars from Stephen Beaumont in “The Great Canadian Beer Guide”.

If your feeling a little more International on this day, BC gets Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, and there seems to be a few Brooklyn Black Chocolate and North Coast Old Rasputin stouts kicking around as well.

Then again, if you’re REALLY LUCKY you might just have a Driftwood Singularity or Howe Sound Megadestroyer tucked away in your cellar.

Are there any plans for February 2nd, 2012? I propose International Barley Wine Day!

Sláinte!