THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1765
Issue #1765 – Posted on: 22 – Nov – 2024
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL SUDS STATUS. Bushwakker head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our seasonally available JUST CHERRY BLONDE ALE, POWERHOUSE PORTER, TREPHINATION IMPERIAL IPA and BREW & GOLD DORTMUNTER EXPORT LAGER are currently available. There are also batches of KAI’S MUNICH HELLES, DOUBLE HONEY RED ALE, 30th ANNIVERSARY BLACKBERRY MEAD and MORK’S MEAD (our very first mead) currently working their way through the brewery.
On sale now! This year’s 30th Anniversary commemorative mead t-shirt is a return to our roots. Our very first mead was a straight-up mead made with Lumsden Valley honey, water, yeast and no blackberries. It was called Mork’s Mead. Mork was the loveable cross-eyed Siamese cat belonging to Bushwakker co-founders, Bev & Elaine Robertson. Much thanks to Bushwakker bartender, Trevor Hlushko, for returning Mork to the limelight. Stop by or visit our Mead Pre-order page on our website to get yours!
Just two weeks to go and we will be celebrating with three different meads! Our Bushwakker Blackberry Mead 30th Anniversary Release is Saturday, December 7th! Don’t want to wait in line this year? No problem! Our Online Mead Pre-Order Page is now activated! Just head to https://bushwakker.com/product/mead-6-pack/ to place your order in advance and avoid the Mead Day line-up. Mead pre-orders can be picked up that day from our back entrance between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The parking lot across Cornwall Street will be made available for FREE 5-MINUTE MEAD PICK-UP parking.
To help commemorate three decades of honey wine goodness, we will have three special meads available! The first is the 2024 – 30th ANNIVERSARY BLACKBERRY MEAD. The second is a special THREE-YEAR AGED BLACKBERRY MEAD. A number of mead aficiandos claim the additional aging time allows for a smoother and more balanced mead experience.
And thirdly we resurrected our original mead, MORK’S MEAD. Before there were blackberries, there was only Mork. A straight forward mead made with just water, Lumsden Valley Honey and yeast. A very light gold, soft, sparkling and dry mead. It was named after our late founder’s loveable and ridiculously cross-eyed Siamese cat, Mork. Don’t miss your chance to try the mead that started it all!
If you can’t decide which mead to choose we also have MEAD MIXED SIX-PACKS available which feature two bottles of each mead.
This WEEKEND’S SPECIAL DINING FEATURE for Nov. 22nd & 23rd is CHICKEN MEATBALLS WITH MUSHROOM TARRAGON SAUCE ON SPATZLE. Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL as well as our Monday and Wednesday WINGS & A PINT SPECIAL and Tuesday PIZZA & A PINT SPECIAL are also great value deals.
Our SASK CRAFT GUEST TAP is currently pouring a DRY IRISH COFFEE STOUT from Black Bridge Brewing. Next up is the TWO SUNS IMPERIAL NEIPA from Paddock Wood Brewing.
NOVEMBER PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: This month’s Red Wine feature is DONA PAULA ESTATE HIGH ALTITUDE MALBEC from Argentina. The White is LES FUMEES BLANCES SAUVIGNON BLANC from France. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
Another sold out Bushwakker Single Malt Scotch Tasting is in the books! It was a real group effort this year and much thanks to the many staff who helped bring it to fruition! Next year will be the 35th edition. Any thoughts on what we could do to make it an extra special scotch event? Email us your thoughts to bar@bushwakker.com
BUSHWAKKER 34th SINGLE MALT SCOTCH TASTING RESULTS
Scores out of 50 points
- Lagavulin Offerman Caribbean Rum Cask – 38.34
- Ardbeg Heavy Vapours – 36.26
- Tomintoul Cigar Malt – 35.82
- Roseisle Natural Cask – 34.81
- Isle of Harris – The Hearach – 33.35
- Lismore 15 Year – 31.10
If you missed getting tickets to our sold out Scotch Tasting, there is still a small amount of some of the single malt whiskies on the back bar. Stop by and give them a whirl today!
Bar manager Grant isn’t upset because the Riders weren’t in the Grey Cup. He’s upset because he had to give away yet another free piece of a cheesecake to the first person who found the little “Easter Egg” in a recent edition of our Wakker Wakker newsletter and told him the secret passcode. You too have the opportunity to foil “Old Frugal Frew” by subscribing (and reading) our weekly newsletter at https//:bushwakker.com/wakker-weekly and you may be our next winner!
UPCOMING BUSHWAKKER EVENTS
Nov. 23: BUSHWAKKER WRITER’S CORNER SEVENTH EDITION AUTHOR READING. Join us for this annual event where we celebrate the talents of local authors. This year’s line-up includes; Courtney Bates-Hardy, Jes Battis, Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber, K. D. Kulpa, and Kofoworola Odunjo. This event will once again be hosted by local author Shane Arbuthnott. Enjoy our award-winning pub cuisine and in-house brewed beers as well as our special “writer-inspired” commemorative CARAMEL PEAR CRUMBLE CAKE CHEESECAKE whilst making yourself cozy in the Writer’s Corner area found near the back of the brewpub. 3:00 PM.
Nov. 25: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. THE RON SCOTT GROUP. Folky, jazzy, easy listening veteran artist back for an encore performance. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Nov. 27: Wednesday Folk Night. SCHOOL OF ROCK HOUSE BAND. A great night of musical styles delivered by a number of the program’s senior students. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
MEAD: ROTTEN BEE PUKE HAS NEVER TASTED SO GOOD
ROB MANGELSDORF
Pierre Vacheresse and Jeff Gillham are the humble bros behind Vancouver’s Humblebee Meadery.
It may be the world’s oldest drink, but mead is the newest artisan alcohol trend – thanks in part to the popularity of craft beer, and a certain murder-happy TV show.
The delicious fermented honey drink dates back almost as far as human civilization, with evidence of mead production as early as 7,000 B.C. in Asia. But mead-making declined in the Middle Ages when it was discovered that rotten grapes were a cheaper way to get wasted, relegating it to the dustbin of history, a largely forgotten drink from another time.
For a while, at least.
Like a White Walker from beyond the Wall, mead is back from the dead and popping up everywhere, largely due to it being the bevvie of choice for George R.R. Martin’s (notoriously short-lived) characters on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
According to the American Mead Makers Association’s 2014 annual industry report, mead sales jumped 130 per cent the year following the debut of Game of Thrones, making mead the fastest growing segment of the entire U.S. alcohol market.
“Yeah, that’s a big part of it,” admits Dana LeComte, co-owner of Tugwell Creek Meadery, of the drink’s increased popularity. Tugwell Creek produces more than 10,000 litres of mead annually, and was Western Canada’s first meadery when it opened in Sooke, B.C., in 2003.
“It’s a big part of nerd culture,” agrees Jeff Gillham, co-owner of Vancouver’s Humblebee Meadery. “And nerd culture is hip and cool now.”
But were it not for the popularity of craft beer, mead might never have been given a second look by consumers, argues Gillham.
The “craft beer revolution” has helped drinkers broaden their horizons, and for many, mead is seen as the “next big thing.”
“Craft beer really opened that door, and opened people’s minds about other craft beverages,” says Gillham.
There’s a lot of appeal for the craft crowd. Mead is local, it’s artisan-produced, and it’s even gluten-free.
It’s an ecologically friendly product, too. Mead products support beekeeping efforts, and that helps keep those plucky pollinators in action.
Since mead is essentially any alcoholic drink made from fermented honey, it can come in many different forms, notes LeComte, including the traditional wine style, or the cider-like “hydromel.”
With flavours like “Saffron Orange” and “Green Tea and Kaffir Lime”, Humblebee’s canned offerings are carbonated and are anything but traditional, but that’s kind of the point.
“We’re reintroducing a very old drink for a modern
palate,” says Gillham.
Unfortunately, that’s created some difficulty for the provincial government, whose job it is to tax mead production and sales. When LeComte opened up Tugwell Creek Meadery in 2003, the BC Liquor Distribution Branch had to create a whole new licence, just for mead.
Humblebee Meadery, meanwhile, has been stuck in limbo, waiting for BCLDB approval since September.
“We’re not a beer, we’re not cider, and we’re not wine, so they don’t know what to do with us,” says Pierre Vacheresse, the other half of Team Humblebee. “We’re totally different, but we’re OK with that.”
TIME OUT – The Lucky Mead Drinking Roman
After a good orgy and plenty of mead a Roman citizen hops on his carriage speeding like a madman trying to get home, a centurion noticed him and pulled him over.
”Sir, are you drunk while driving? ”
“That’s absurd, how dare you accuse me! ”
“Alright sir I’ll let you go if you tell me right now how many are these.” The centurion raised two fingers
“Five.”
“Alright you may go.”
Our Bushwakker Mead Bee has taken many forms over the decades. Who knew this year’s mead mascot would be a loveable cross-eyed Siamese cat? Order your 30th Bushwakker Mead t-shirt on our website or stop by today!
