A taste of Regina’s booming beer scene

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/04/2016 (3668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week I went to Regina with my buddy Ben to check out the beer scene there. While Manitoba’s craft beer scene is about to explode this summer with up to four new breweries or brewpubs in the works, Saskatchewan’s scene has been booming for a few years now.

First off, Bushwakker Brewpub is regarded as one of the top brewpubs in the world, according to RateBeer.com — which is quite something in itself, but not that much of a surprise seeing that Half Pints owner and brewmaster Dave Rudge was the brewmaster at Bushwakker’s for several years before starting up his own brewery in Winnipeg 10 years ago. Bushwakker’s most popular tradition is their annual Blackberry Mead which is released every December.

The decor of the Bushwakker Brewpub is a typical Canadian English/Irish style. Instead of banners of beers that they don’t sell (like many pubs), they feature photography of the city from yesteryear, posters for upcoming pub events and a chalk menu of the beers on tap.

The two beers I had were their Ponce de Leon’s Raspberry Wheat Ale, which I found reminiscent of Unibroue’s Éphémère Framboise, as well as their Chico IPA, which I found to be a hoppy, bitter IPA with a moderate spiciness.

Malty National Brewing is Saskatchewan’s newest brewery and opened up just two weeks ago to lots of fanfare. What surprised me about Malty was how compact their brewing space was, but since they aren’t currently bottling or canning beer, their entire stock of beer is draft.

They have a small growler fill station that has their two current seasonals being filled in 32- and 64-ounce formats, as well as kegs for local restaurants and bars. Unfortunately due to Malty National’s liquor licence, they aren’t able to sell pints on site, but they are able to give out free samples of their beer.

One thing I loved about Malty’s location is that they share the location with an awesome coffee shop, 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters, and a small vinyl record and clothing shop. The coffee at 33 1/3 was absolutely awesome to be paired up with the samples of Malty National’s beer. My beer of choice was a Simpsons-themed brew, Monorale India Pale Ale, a mildly hopped IPA with sweet tropical and bitter piney flavours to it.

Before heading back home, we made one last stop to Rebellion Brewing, just a few blocks over from Bushwakker’s. Rebellion Brewing opened up in December 2014 and has already become such a great Saskatchewan success story that they have a hard time keeping up with the demand.

Like Malty National, their beer is only available in draft form, so most of their sales are kegs to restaurants and bars all over Saskatchewan, as well as growler fills at their taproom.

Many of the locals absolutely rave about Rebellion’s Lentil Cream Ale, so I had to try it. I found it was a solid cream ale that would be perfect for our hot Prairie summers, but Ben felt that it tasted too much like lentils.

I had a chat with the folks at Rebellion, and while it’s crazy to think that a brewery that started up only a year and half ago would have products available all over the province, every employee I spoke to was absolutely passionate about beer — about the things that set themselves apart from Labatt/Molson (they install kegs at bars and restaurants themselves), their love for the product and their desire to get even better.

One thing that overwhelmed me about Rebellion’s taproom was the beer selection — they had a beer for everybody. Besides the lentil cream ale, they also had a Bourbon barrel-aged Belgian-style quad ale, a non-alcoholic ginger soda, a typical West Coast style IPA, an oatmeal stout and even a sour ale.

I especially loved the sour ale, which was incredibly sour and had notes of cherry, but the price of $14 for a 20-ounce fill made me think a moment as to whether I wanted to try it. It was worth it!

In a few months, we will have these kind of exciting breweries and brewpubs in Winnipeg with the launch of Torque, Barnhammer and the official opening of Peg Beer Co.

Sure, this is still Bud Light country, but people are wanting to try something different nowadays, and when it happens that the beer is brewed in your own backyard with locally sourced grains, being a beer drinker is getting pretty exciting!