A Toast: To New Brunswick’s “Hopping” Beer Scene!

Each of the three major cities boasts a microbrewery. The oldest of these is award-winning Picaroons Traditional Ales (www.picaroons.ca) found in Fredericton. Picaroons is known for having fun with different styles and flavours, and will often brew up special batches for local festivals or special occasions, including their wildly popular “12 Beers of Christmas” – featuring a different festive flavor of beer each day for 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Not to be outdone, Moncton has the Pumphouse Brewery (pumphousebrewery.ca), best known for its award-winning Blueberry Ale.
When you order this one in the brewpub, if comes complete with real berries floating among the suds! Also of note is Big Tide Brewing (bigtidebrew.com) of Saint John, sold exclusively at their brewpub on Princess Street.

Nanobrewing is becoming a macro-business in New Brunswick as well, with seven nanobreweries currently in operation and more on the horizon, including Acadie Broue (www.facebook.com/pages/Acadie-Broue) in Moncton, Shiretown Beer (www.shiretownbeer.com) in Charlo , Hammond River Brewing (www.facebook.com/hammondriverbrewery) in Quispamsis, Railcar Brewing (railcarbrewing.com) in Florenceville-Bristol, Big Axe Brewery (www.bigaxe.ca) in Nackawic, Celtic Knot Brewing in Riverview(www.facebook.com/CelticKnotBrewing) and Grimross Brewing (grimross.com) in Fredericton all bursting onto the scene in the last couple of years.

Add in several annual festivals such as the Atlantic Beer Festival (www.atlanticbeerfestival.ca) in Moncton, the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival (www.frederictoncraftbeerfestival.com) and the Brewer’s Bash (brewersbash.picaroons.ca)hosted in Fredericton and featuring craft beer from across the country, and it is easy to see that New Brunswick is the place to be for suds-lovers from all walks of life!