With 25,000 square feet and a 50hL brewhouse, PEI Brewing’s new facility has fermentation and cold storage space, meeting and hospitality rooms, a 700-person capacity event space, a retail showroom and a bar. Now that the new facility is open, the brewery is also offering tours.

“This expansion will allow us to reach our goal of becoming a national beer company,” said Kevin Murphy, co-founder of PEI Brewing, in a statement. “We are now selling Island beer in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and as we speak, we are working on British Columbia and Alberta. We couldn’t possibly have met the demand for our beer without this expansion. We’re excited about the future and pleased to announce that there will be 30 people working out of our new brewery this summer -– with more to come as we continue to expand into new markets.”

Murphy founded PEI Brewing with president Jeff Squires. The brewery has won medals at the Canadian Brewing Awards each year since 2011.

The fourth Vancouver Craft Beer Week is celebrating those who go all in. In other words, those brave few who risk financial destruction for the potential rewards of starting up and operating a microbrewery. Yes, it really can be that financially devastating.

This year, more than 60 breweries will participate in events at more than 30 venues in a “celebration of fermentation.” See what I mean about clever?

As a former Ontarian, I pine a lot for Ontario Craft Beer Week and Toronto Beer Week, but Ontario isn’t the only province doing great things in the realm of beer and beer events. British Columbia sports as many, if not more, breweries and brewpubs than Ontario, and it has managed to make a name for itself on the west coast and across the country as a province for beer geeks.

Sadly, I’ll be missing Vancouver Craft Beer Week, as well. But for those of you who live or will find themselves in the Vancouver area between May 31 and June 8, make sure to check out the website and jot a few events down on your calendar. Tickets are for sale now.

Photo by Arn Keeling. Licensed under Creative Commons.

The conditions? The NWT Brewing Company has to come up with 12 parking spots on the pub’s site. The landlord, though, rents most of the parking spots out to Yellowknife houseboat residents, so coming up with enough parking to meet the conditions could be difficult.

According to a CBC article, the brewery owners are optimistic. Fletcher Stevens, one of those involved in the development of the brewpub, told CBC he is working with the landlord to find 12 parking spots.

Why Yellowknife’s councillors feel it’s in the city’s best interests to ensure parking for those who will be partaking of locally-produced craft beer is beyond me, but perhaps it has to do with zoning regulations.

Stevens seems to have the right idea, though. He wants to encourage customers to use taxis or their own two feet to get to and from the brewpub. Still, parking will have to be found for the brewpub to open. During the winter, that’s no problem. The lake itself can turn into a parking lot. But during the summer? Well, here’s hoping Fletcher and his landlord can find a solution. The North really needs another brewery.

Toronto’s Great Lakes walked away with the Brewery of the Year Award, while at the same time Vancouver’s Powell Street picked up the Beer of the Year Award for its Old Jalopy Pale Ale. Congratulations to all the winners. Here’s the full list of awards presented on Friday night:

North American Style Lager
Gold: Alpine Lager, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.(NB)
Silver: Cool Beer, Cool Beer Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Brewhouse Pilsener, Great Western Brewing Co. (SK)

North American Style Premium Lager
Gold: Okanagan Spring 1516, Okanagan Spring Brewery (BC)
Silver: Moosehead Lager, Moosehead Breweries Ltd. (NB)
Bronze: Yellowhead Premium Lager, Yellowhead Brewery (AB)

European Style Lager (Pilsner)
Gold: Traditional Pilsner, Creemore Springs Brewery Ltd. (ON)
Silver: Bohemian Style Pilsener, Propeller Brewing Co.(NS)
Bronze: Stone Hammer Pilsner, F & M Brewery (ON)

North American Style Amber Lager
Gold: Barking Squirrel Amber Lager, Hop City Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Premium Lager, Pump House Brewery Ltd. (NB)
Bronze: Belle Gueule Rousse, Les Brasseurs RJ (QC)

North American Style Dark Lager
Gold: Waterloo Dark, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Cameron’s Dark 266, Cameron’s Brewing Company (ON)
Bronze: Hermann’s Dark Lager, Vancouver Island Brewery (BC)

Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager
Gold: Alpine Light, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.(NB)
Silver: Laker Light, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Cracked Canoe Premium Light Lager, Moosehead Breweries Ltd. (NB)

Bock – Traditional German Style
Gold: Captivator Doppelbock, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Amsterdam Spring Bock, Amsterdam Brewery (ON)
Bronze: King Bock, King Brewery (ON)

Kellerbier
Gold: King Kellerbier, King Brewery (ON)
Silver: Central City Kellerbier, Central City Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Howe Sound Lager, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Porter
Gold: Harry Porter, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Silver: Breakfast Porter, Indie Ale House Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Black Death Porter, Russell Brewing Co. (BC)

Strong Porter (Baltic)
Gold: Pothole Porter, Half Pints Brewing Co.(MB)
Silver: Okanagan Spring Porter, Okanagan Spring Brewery (BC)
Bronze: Lost River Baltic Porter, Bellwoods Brewery (ON)

Cream Ale
Gold: Begbie Cream Ale, Mt Begbie Brewing Co.(BC)
Silver: Labatt 50 Ale, Labatt Breweries of Canada (ON)
Bronze: Mill Street Portage Ale, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Kolsch
Gold: Lug Tread Lagered Ale, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: St. James Pale Ale, Half Pints Brewing Co. (MB)
Bronze: Arctic Ale, Swans Brewpub (BC)

North American Style Amber/Red Ale
Gold: Red Racer ESB, Central City Brewing (BC)
Silver: Limited Release Irish Red, Granville Island Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Amber Ale, Steam Works Brewing Co. (BC)

North American Style Blonde/Golden Ale
Gold: Northumberland Ale, Church Key Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Amsterdam Natural Blonde, Amsterdam Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Station House Blonde Ale, Shuswap Lake Brewing Co. (BC)

Brown Ale
Gold: Nut Brown Ale, The Black Oak Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Old Boy, Parallel 49 Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Nut Brown Ale, Dead Frog Brewery (BC)

American Style Black Ale
Gold: Black IPA, Brasserie Dunham, (QC)
Silver: Malevolent BIIPA, Nickel Brook Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Insidious IBA, Rockbottom Brewpub (NS)

Scotch Ale
Gold: Amsterdam Vicars Vice, Amsterdam Brewery (ON)
Silver: Iron Duke, Wellington County Brewery Inc. (ON)
Bronze: Stag Apple Scotch Ale, Tin Whistle Brewing Co. Ltd. (BC)

English Style Pale Ale (Bitter)
Gold: Butler’s Bitter, Niagara College Teaching Brewery (ON)
Silver: Distillery Ale, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Pail, Pump House Brewery Ltd. (NB)

North American Style Pale Ale (Bitter)
Gold: Old Jalopy Pale Ale, Powell Street Craft Brewery (BC)
Silver: Crazy Canuck Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Wizard Wolf, Bellwoods Brewery (ON)

Wheat Beer – Belgian Style (Wit)
Gold: Dominus Vobiscum Blanche, MicroBrasserie Charlevoix (QC)
Silver: Mill Street Belgian Wit, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Mons Abbey Witte, Brasserie Belgh Brasse (QC)

Wheat Beer – German Style (Weiss)
Gold: King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Denison’s Weissbier, Denison’s Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Belle Gueule Hefeweizen, Les Brasseurs RJ (QC)

Wheat Beer – North American Style
Gold: Sun God Wheat Ale, R & B Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Sir John A’s Honey Wheat Ale, PEI Brewing Co. (PEI)
Bronze: Grasshopper Wheat Ale, Big Rock Brewery (AB)

Belgian Style Abbey Ale
Gold: Vow of Silence, Parallel 49 Brewing (BC)
Silver: Seigneuriale, Unibroue (QC)
Bronze: Mons Abbey Dubbel, Brasserie Belgh Brasse (QC)

Belgian Style Strong Specialty Ale
Gold: Blitzen, Bellwoods Brewery (ON)
Silver: New World BPA, Nickel Brook Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Dominus Vobiscum Lupulus, MicroBrasserie Charlevoix (QC)

Barley Wine Style Ale
Gold: Legacy Ale, Swans Brewpub (BC)
Silver: Old Cellar Dweller, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Mill Street 2012 Barley Wine, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Stout
Gold: Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout, F & M Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Lighthouse Keepers Stout, Lighthouse Brewing Co. (BC)

Imperial Stout
Gold: Rang 10, Microbrasserie du Lac St-Jean (QC)
Silver: Hellwoods, Bellwoods Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Apocalypse, Les Brasseurs RJ (QC)

English Style India Pale Ale
Gold: Beaver River, Beau’s All Natural Brewery (ON)
Silver: Devil’s Elbow IPA, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Mill Street IPA, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

American Style India Pale Ale
Gold: Karma Citra IPA, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Silver: Lord of the Hops, Parallel 49 Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Cameron’s RPA, Cameron’s Brewing Co. (ON)

Imperial India Pale Ale
Gold: Central City Imperial IPA, Central City Brewing (BC)
Silver: Twice as Mad Tom, Muskoka Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Hop Therapy, Russell Brewing Co. (BC)

French and Belgian Style Saison
Gold: Le Paysan Saison, Nickel Brook Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Dominus Vobiscum Saison, MicroBrasserie Charlevoix (QC)
Bronze: La Tintamarre, Acadie-Broue Inc. (NB)

Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale
Gold: St. Ambroise Maple Beer, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)
Silver: Boréale Dorée, Les Brasseurs du Nord Inc. (QC)
Bronze: Maple Stout, The Cannery Brewing Co. (BC)

Fruit Beer
Gold: Steamworks Pumpkin Ale, Steamworks Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: False Creek Raspberry Ale, Granville Island Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Blueberry Ale, Pumphouse Brewery Ltd. (NB)

Wood and Barrel Aged Beer
Gold: Bourbon Barrel Aged Robust Porter, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Silver: Maverick and Gose, Amsterdam Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Greener Futures Project Burnt Rock, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. (ON)

Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer
Gold: Central City Bourbon Porter, Central City Brewing (BC)
Silver: From East Van with Love, Parallel 49 Brewing (BC)
Bronze: 25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Wood and Barrel Aged Sour Beer
Gold: Yaletown Oud Bruin, Yaletown Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: La Bretteuse- Brassin Special, Microbrasserie Le Trou Du Diable (QC)
Bronze: Co-Hop V, À La Fût (QC)

Gluten Free Beer
Gold: Glutenberg Belge de Saison, Brasseurs Sans Gluten (QC)
Silver: Glutenberg Blonde, Brasseurs Sans Gluten (QC)
Bronze: Glutenberg Rousse, Brasseurs Sans Gluten (QC)

Experimental Beer
Gold: Glutenberg Imperial Sotolon, Brasseur Sans Gluten (QC)
Silver: Série Signature Hopfenweisse, Les Trois Mousquetaires (QC)
Bronze: Winter Brewed Coffee Amber, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. (ON)

Beer of the Year – Old Jalopy Pale Ale, Powell Street Craft Brewery (BC)
Brewery of the Year – Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Again, congratulations to all the winners.

Sometimes a beer lives up its promises. Other times, not so much.

With Yukon Brewing’s Deadman Creek, the brewery set out to create a cranberry wheat ale. Originally launched as a seasonal beer using Yukon-grown cranberries, the company experienced higher demand than expected and had to start sourcing cranberries from outside the territory.

Available in Yukon, Alberta and British Columbia (but limited availability in BC), Deadman Creek is touted as having only mild cranberry flavour and tartness.

Appearance
Found in 341mL bottles, Deadman Creek pours a yellow gold colour with a frothy white head, but it’s pretty clear for a wheat beer. The cloudiness promised was practically non-existent, so that was a bit of a disappointment. As the beer is consumed, it leaves behind a good amount of lacing. Great head retention.

Aroma
A very mild aroma hints at malt with little else. If you concentrate hard enough, you might catch a light whiff of cranberries, but for the most part, the beer lacks aroma.

Taste
Deadman Creek is a malt-forward beer, but even so, it’s weak in the flavour department. The wheat malt doesn’t come through, and the cranberry is barely a hint that would be easily missed without the foreknowledge of its ingredients. There’s a mild hint of cranberry tartness. It doesn’t live up to its promised flavours, I think, but it would make a nice session beer.

Overall
Forgetting about the wheat and cranberry, Deadman Creek is a decent, albeit unchallenging, beer with a few flaws. The aroma needs to be spun up a lot more. With that alone, the beer would improve substantially and would earn a three-star review. But add in the lack of wheat and cranberry flavours, and it’s disappointing.

The beer comes across more as a blonde session ale than a fruity wheat beer. Not bad if that’s what you’re looking for, but not so great based on the marketed ingredients. The brewery does note the cranberry “lurks in the shadow” of the beer, but I’d like to see the flavours ramped up.

I suspect the cranberry flavours may be more evident and pleasing on draught versus in bottle, but it will be some time before I get a chance to confirm my suspicion. Maybe I’ll re-review when the time comes.

Rating:

One of the existing ones that has been gaining in popularity since its inception three years ago is Ontario Craft Beer Week, developed and promoted by Ontario Craft Brewers and its members. Starting on Father’s Day next month, the fourth Ontario Craft Beer Week will kick off, and the buzz has already begun.

And once again, the annual event has grown. OCB announced that more than 30 craft brewers will participate in OCB Week 2013. More than 150 events are currently planned in more than 50 communities across Ontario. Considering when OCB Week started, events were unfortunately limited almost exclusively to the City of Toronto, the week-long celebration of craft beer has come a long way.

Take a look for yourself at the growing list of events. Although it’s still a Toronto-heavy list, events are planned for Guelph, London, Ottawa, Cambridge, Vankleek Hill and others — from cottage country to Niagara. Now, that still doesn’t speak to Northern Ontario, but there aren’t many breweries north of cottage country (but certainly more now than there were a couple of years ago).

Overall, it looks like a good series of events. And with so many things planned for the week, it might be a good idea for Ontarians to start planning ahead now.

Photo by afagen of Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.

According to the university, the new course is causing a fair bit of buzz on campus, but for those interested in taking the course, it may sound like fun, but it also looks like a lot of work. After all, there are a lot of dollar signs behind beer.

The course “will use beer –- and its evolution into a global industry generating billions worldwide –- to examine a range of economic concepts and issues,” according to the university’s website.

“Beer has been ubiquitous in human history, it’s a part of our society, and it’s an important consumer good. The economics of beer is a lens that can be used to study human behaviour and how our society works in general,” said Abayomi Akintola, co-instructor for the course, in a statement.

The goal is to use beer as a reference point to help students get a grounding in economics fundamentals. The course is being taught by co-instructors Akintola, Michael Sherar and Jason Childs — all of the U of Regina Department of Economics.

I wonder if they offer it in a distance learning setting.

Phillips is calling it “the first national beer collaboration,” and it will involve 25 breweries from six provinces. Dubbed the Canadian Craft Beer Collaboration, the beer project will involve breweries from all over the country, as well as ingredients from around the Great White North.

The goal? To brew an imperial witbier called Red and White Wit.

According to Phillips, each brewery is contributing a piece of the recipe. Even though it’s a Canada-wide project, the beer itself won’t make it out of Victoria, I’m afraid. Red and White Wit will be available on draught in the Victoria area by early June.

Proceeds will be donated to a charitable cause, but which one in particular has yet to be determined.

Brewing of the beer will take place on the afternoon of May 10 at Phillips Brewing.

Take a look at the Phillips website to get a full list of the breweries involved. And then look for the beer in Victoria establishments next month.

Creating an international presence as a Canadian microbrewery isn’t easy, and surely this expansion would have been impossible for the growing brewery without the backing of FVI Capital, which agreed back in October 2012 to import, produce, package, use, market, sell and distribute Russell’s beers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“Our partners in China have broken ground on building its test brewery and adjoining brewpub-style restaurant in the city of Hefei,” said Brian Harris, Russell’s CEO, in a statement. “Scheduled to open this summer, the brewery will be the first in the region to offer high-end, small-batch beers to North American craft brewing standards.”

Based in British Columbia, Russell has achieved success in its own province, as well as in Manitoba through its Fort Garry Brewing sister company.

Here’s the list of winners:

North American Light Lager
Gold: Cold Stonewall Light
Silver: Laker Light
Bronze: Stonehammer Light

North American Lager
Gold: Amsterdam Natural Blonde
Silver: Muskoka Craft Lager
Bronze: GLB Golden Horseshoe

European Style Lager (Pilsner)
Gold: Big Rig Champion Pilsner
Silver: King Pilsner
Bronze: Steam Whistle Pilsner

Amber Lager
Gold: Nickel Brook Marzenbier
Silver: Cool Millenium Buzz
Bronze: Hop City Barking Squirrel

Dark Lager
Gold: King Dark
Silver: Big Rig Schwarzbier
Bronze: Waterloo Dark

Bock
Gold: Amsterdam Springbock
Silver: Camerons Deviator
Bronze: Creemore Urbock

Honey/Maple Beer
Gold: Mill St Spring Thaw
Silver: Mill St Royal York Stinger
Bronze: Stonehammer Maple Red

German Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Muskoka Summer Weiss
Silver: Beer Academy Hefeweizen
Bronze: Denisons Weissbier

Belgian Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Labatt Shocktop
Silver: Mill St Belgian Witbier
Bronze: Black Oak Saison

Cream Ale
Gold: Clocktower West Brew
Silver: Camerons Cream Ale
Bronze: Big Rig Gold

British Pale Ale
Gold: Muskoka Cream Ale
Silver: Black Oak Pale Ale
Bronze: Grand River Plowman’s Ale

North American Pale Ale
Gold: Nickel Brook Naughty Neighbour
Silver: Spearhead Hawaiian Pale
Bronze: GLB Crazy Canuck

British India Pale Ale
Gold: Mill St IPA
Silver: Clocktower Wisharts ESB
Bronze: Grand River Curmudgeon

North American India Pale Ale
Gold: Nickelbrook Headstock
Silver: Flying Monkeys Smashbomb
Bronze: Muskoka Mad Tom

Amber Ale (including red)
Gold: Niagara’s Butler’s Bitter
Silver: Clocktower Red
Bronze: Camerons Auburn Ale

Dark Ale
Gold: Magnotta True North Copper
Silver: Get Well Fuggle It
Bronze: Stonehammer Dark Ale

Porter
Gold: GLB Harry Porter
Silver: Get Well Porter
Bronze: Bellwoods Lost Porter

Stout
Gold: Railway City Black Coal
Silver: Sawdust City Skinny Dipping
Bronze: Spearhead Belgian Stout

Imperial Stout
Gold: Muskoka Winter Beard
Silver: GLB Bourbon Aged Russian Imperial Stout
Bronze: Amsterdam Tempest

Fruit Beer
Gold: Mill St Frambozen
Silver: Amsterdam KLB Raspberry Wheat
Bronze: Clocktower Raspberry Wheat

Flavoured Beer
Gold: Black Oak Double Chocolate Cherry Stout
Silver: Sawdust City Skinny Dipping with Friends
Bronze: Sawdust City Red Rocket

Strong Beer
Gold: Mill St Barley Wine
Silver: Mill St Ambre de la Chaudiere
Bronze: Wellington Iron Duke

Gluten Free
Gold: Nickel Brook Gluten Free
Silver: Snowman Top Hat
Bronze: Snowman Who’s That Brown Ale

Barrel Aged
Gold: Amsterdam Order & Chaos
Silver: GLB 25th Anniversary Bourbon Aged
Bronze: Camerons VSPA

Homebrew IPA
Gold: Geoff Conway
Silver: Neal Fuller
Bronze: Steven Mills

The competition in microbrewery-heavy provinces like Ontario is getting fiercer and fiercer. Congratulations to all the winners.

Cheers!