My Cape Breton Beer Haul

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:37 pm

I grabbed these in Sydney River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia at the NSLC on our family vacation. I only had about 70 bucks to spend so I had to stretch it wisely, I put back a few De Konincks in order to grab a few Picaroons. Pretty decent store. Giant cold room (like a standard size walk through beer store), only the euro imports sat warm on the shelf. The LCBO selection of imports was nicer, a few German and English. Chimay and De Konincks were the standouts.

Here's the rundown:

2 Chimay Reserve
3 Garrison Imperial IPA
1 Picaroon Best Bitter
1 Picaroon Blonde (the only Picaroons they had there)
1 Propeller Porter
1 Propeller IPA
6 Propeller Hefe
1 Unibroue Blanche

I wanted to stop in Drummondville or Montreal on the way back (Epicure Lauziere in Drummondville), but we flew through Montreal at 5 am. Our last stop before the stores closed was in Oromocto, NB and they had no Picaroons, but a shelf full of Orval (go figure). So I grabbed a 6 of Garrison Hop Yard.

There's always next year....

hopaddict · Post by **hopaddict** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:45 am

Nice haul. I am extremely jealous of you for having that propeller London porter; it’s my favorite from them. Enjoy!

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:06 am

hopaddict wrote:Nice haul. I am extremely jealous of you for having that propeller London porter; it’s my favorite from them. Enjoy!

Propeller London Porter is still sold at The Rhino in Parkdale, a large bottle comes to around 9 bucks or so with tax.

Hope the trip was fun, and yeah those 'little' purchases do add up quick don't they? (A number of Bonisoir Peluso bottles in Montreal go for five to eight bucks, not even including the most rare stuff. Doesn't mean they are always great, either but fun to try them.)

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:02 am

Belgian wrote:
hopaddict wrote:Nice haul. I am extremely jealous of you for having that propeller London porter; it’s my favorite from them. Enjoy!
Propeller London Porter is still sold at The Rhino in Parkdale, a large bottle comes to around 9 bucks or so with tax.

Still sold or still on the menu?

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:15 am

No moonshine?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 2:35 pm

Bytowner wrote:No moonshine?

I got that last time I was down, I even divied it up for friends in little mason jars with some tartan on top.

I did have liberal amounts of Glen Breton though.

Spab · Post by **Spab** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:09 pm

I'm just on my last day of a family trip out in Nova Scotia and was struck especially when reading this post by how much I'm going to miss the beer availability out here.

To me the NSLC is basically the LCBO on a smaller level (although having a good selection of Propeller and Garrison beers goes a long way). But the presence of a single private store (I recognize there are 4 total but Premier is practically the only one worth going to for beer - Bobbyok's post here was a great description of the situation) makes a world of difference. I've made two trips into Halifax (and dropped entirely too much money) and gotten so many very good beers from Rogue, Lagunitas, BrewDog, Central City, North Coast, DDC and the east coast brewers. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to bring it all back.

It really makes me think that if some Ontario government would cave at some point and allow even one private store it could make such a difference. I don't know enough about the regulation of beer here in NS, but my impression from my limited time here is that I'd trade their (retail) situation for ours in Ontario. In the meantime I can only wait until my next trip out here.

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:58 pm

Spab wrote:It really makes me think that if some Ontario government would cave at some point and allow even one private store it could make such a difference. I don't know enough about the regulation of beer here in NS, but my impression from my limited time here is that I'd trade their (retail) situation for ours in Ontario. In the meantime I can only wait until my next trip out here.

I can't wait to get back next summer too. Another point worth noting is that at the NSLC and the NBLC, they had at least two to four offerings each from the local micros (Garrison, Porter, Picaroons, and Pumphouse). I would be nice to see more of that here, although shelf real estate probably has something to do with that. The last time I was down here about 2 years ago I remember seeing quite a few different Rogues at the NSLC (again bringing in "multiple offerings" at the same time!) Man, I wish I got through Halifax!

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:34 pm

Belgian wrote:Propeller London Porter is still sold at The Rhino in Parkdale, a large bottle comes to around 9 bucks or so with tax.

Hope the trip was fun, and yeah those 'little' purchases do add up quick don't they?

Not a bad price, I won a bottle as part of a prize from R+R for a photo contest, the bottle was flat but tasted great, I'm excited to try a fresher sample. An amazing trip, perfect weather, lots of things to keep us and the kids busy.