Canada is celebrating its 150th year of confederation this year. It’s something that (most) Canadians are celebrating in a big way – from national campaigns, to events being hosted by smaller businesses it seems likes everyone is getting involved somehow. One of our favourite ways we’re seeing people get in to the spirit of things is a nationwide collaboration of craft brewers being hosted by Red Racer (of Central City Brewing) in Surrey, British Columbia.
This mass collaboration includes twelve beers, each brewed to represent a specific province in Canada. To really find those flavours that epitomizes each region, Central City reached out to breweries around the country. They hoped that through working with each brewery, not only would they be able to create a beer reflective of each province, but that the collection would showcase what makes Canada so unique, while celebrating a flourishing industry and our history of diversity.
There are four breweries representing the Atlantic Canada: PEI Brewing Company, Picaroons, Quidi Vidi Brewing Company, and Garrison.
“We wanted to use craft beer to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday and show the unique flavours that come from every corner of our country,” says Dustan Sept from Central City Brewing.
“This is the first time that we have been able to partner with breweries from the Maritimes and it is amazing to see the differences in flavours come through.”
While having breweries from the Maritimes involved in a nationwide collaboration is exciting, there is something conspicuously missing: Nunavut, but Central City provided a good reason for a lack of Canada’s newest addition.
“When we started this project, there was no brewery operating in Nunavut.” Sept says that Nunavut now has a brewery in the works and that they hope there’s an opportunity to work with them in the future if there’s ever a repeat of the project.
Cases will be made available across Canada in early May of this year. While some provinces will be getting the full twelve pack, other can expect to see six packs divided breweries by Eastern and Western Canada. No information has been made available on which brews were chosen for each province.
The full list of breweries involved in the collaboration include:
Picaroons Traditional Ales, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Garrison Brewing Company, Halifax, Nova Scotia
PEI Brewing Company, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Quidi Vidi Brewing Company, Saint John’s, Newfoundland
Four Winds Brewing Company, Delta, British Columbia
Half Pints Brewing Company, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Beau’s Brewing Company, Vankleek Hill, Ontario
Le Trou Du Diable, Shawinigan, Quebec
Black Bridge Brewery, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Yukon Brewing Company, Whitehorse, Yukon
NWT Brewing Company, Yellowknife, North West Territories
Last Best Brewing & Distilling, Calgary, Alberta