THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1793
Issue #1793 – Posted on: 06 – June – 2025
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL SUDS STATUS. Bushwakker head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our seasonally available PONCE DE LEON BLACKBERRY RASPBERRY ALE, KAI’S MUNICH HELLES, ENIGMA PALE ALE and CYCLONE BARLEYWINE are currently available. There are also batches of BOMBAY IPA and DOUBLE HONEY RED ALE currently working its way through the brewery.
2025 HOP CIRCUIT! The most popular Regina Craft Brewery Event is in full swing for another Saskatchewan summer! Grab your free map and take a hike or your bike and visit all six participating Regina craft breweries. Collect a stamp on your map at all six locations and receive a free 2025 Hop Circuit commemorative glass. This one is bigger and better than ever!
Boy oh boy! Nothing like a little social media post regarding the progress of the 32 million Dewdney Avenue upgrade to get the fur flying! Over 100,000 impressions certainly demonstrate just how passionate people are about this improvement project. Feel free to join the fray by visiting https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1389718346025238&set=pb.100049612574594.-2207520000&type=3 and get your two cents in there!
Our WEEKEND SPECIAL DINING FEATURE for June 6th & 7th is CHICKEN MARSALA. 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.
JUNE PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: The Red is the SILK & SPICE – SPICE ROAD INTESE RED BLEND (Alicante Bouschet/Shiraz/Touriga Nacional) from Portugal and the White is the LYV (Sauvignon Blanc) from France. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
UPCOMING EVENTS
June 6: FIRST FIRKIN FRIDAY – SPECIAL ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY D-DAY EDITION. To help commemorate 81 years since the allied forces landed in Normandy, France, members of the HMCS Queen will be dressed in their finest whites to help unveil a special Navy-inspired firkin of Pusser’s Navy Rum and Oak – Infused Regina Pale Ale. RPA is the Bushwakker beer which was served on tap aboard the HMCS Regina. Get ready to raise your glass to a couple of traditional Navy toasts. The ceremony begins at 5:30 PM.
June 9: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. THE CAMPBELL COMBO COLLECTIVE. Talented young group return for another polished performance. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
June 11: Wednesday Folk Night. RON LOOS. As the warmth of another Saskatchewan summer returns, this talented guitar-plucker will share his favourite compositions revealing the frailty of manhood as one faces yet another season closer to the grave…and a few AC/DC covers too! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
June 16: Monday Night Jazz & Blues – special JazzFest 2025 Warm-Up Show. BREAKING CURFEW. Jazz Festivals around the world don’t just feature jazz acts. Sometimes they shake things up with a little rock, country and pop to get people up and dancing! Breaking Curfew is a talented group comprised of seasoned musicians and a powerhouse female vocalist who will kick off the 17th annual JazzFest Regina with a bang! Rush seating tickets are $20 and are available at Bushwakker by calling 306-359-7276 or online at www.jazzregina.ca or at the door. Plan to arrive early in order to get a good seat! Note the earlier 7:00 PM start time.
June 17: SASK SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE PRESENTED BY SASKMUSIC. This third edition will be a special Tuesday performance featuring three exciting artists of various musical styles showcasing their talents. Early show – 7:00 PM.
The Rum Ceremony (The Tot)
By Hal Pottle for the Royal Canadian Logistics Service Association
From its earliest days the Royal Navy issued beer, wine and spirits in place of tea, coffee and cocoa and even water on its ships. Starting in 1745, beer and spirits were issued for each watch, on alternative days, and in 1831 all issues except rum were ceased. By 1824 the issue had been reduced from half a pint to two and a half ounces (a “Tot”) of neat rum, and in 1850 the issue was reduced from every watch to once a day at noon.
The formation of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910 saw many of the Royal Navy traditions carried over, and the daily issue of a tot was perpetuated, and continued until 1972. At six bells the Bos’n would pipe “Up Spirits” and the OOD (Officer of the day), the Supply P.O., the Master at Arms (Jaunty), and the butcher (usually a large sized Marine, or “Boot Top”) would assemble at the door of the spirit room. The Jaunty would then unlock two heavy padlocks and the party would file into the dimly lighted room where the butcher would tap a cask, insert a siphon pump and draw off the day’s ration for the ship’s company. Neat tot’s would be issued for the Chiefs and PO’s, and the remainder transferred to a small cask or breaker which would be padlocked and carried to a prominent location with a large oaken rum tub with shining brass hoops and the inscription “The King (or Queen) – God Bless Him/Her”. The Breaker would be left there in the care of the sentry and, after “Rum Call” was played on a bugle, the breaker would be unlocked and the rum emptied lovingly and gently into the oaken tub. The PO would carefully consult his ledger and call out the number of tots to which each mess is entitled, the messes would be served, and any residue poured down the scuppers while the OOD looks on dolefully (In smaller Canadian Navy ships during WWII this ceremony was much less formal, usually issued by the Cox’n and supervised by the OOD). The part of the ceremony in which the Cox’n disposed of any surplus – invariably about a quart – was a class act. The Cox’ns were past masters at making about three drops of Grog look like half a gallon, and made a grossly exaggerated performance of sloshing the residue into the scuppers as the supervising Officer looked the other way (He might later be invited for a tot in the Chiefs and P.O.’s mess where the entire spilled surplus, would mysteriously find its way).
The daily rum tot was an important part of social life on the lower deck, but it also had utilitarian uses, with the rum becoming a medium of barter or a way of paying favour or paying off a bet – standing a watch, doing a shipmates dhobi (laundry), or loaning tailor-made trousers or a jumper instead of pusser’s issue for a run ashore. There were standard currencies to the tot for such occasions, with a “Sipper” (a small sip) being the smallest. A “Gulper” was one (but only one) big swallow; and a “Sandy Bottom” drained what was left of a tot offered by a shipmate. 3 Sippers equalled a Gulper, and 3 Gulpers a tot.
A further utilitarian use for Pusser’s rum was related to its alleged use as a substitute embalming fluid. Supposedly the great naval hero Nelson had expressed a wish that, if he was killed in action or died away from his beloved England, his body was to be conveyed home preserved in a cask of rum. His wishes were honoured after his death at Trafalgar, and both the cask and Nelson’s body arrived intact, but that the rum had disappeared, the cask purportedly having been tapped and the rum drunk by the men of HMS Victory.
The signal hoist for “Splice the Main Brace” is BRAVO-XRAY. The Main Brace was the largest and heaviest of all the running rigging of sailing vessels, and its splicing, particularly when a ship was underway in heavy weather, was one of the most arduous tasks onboard, a task whose completion merited the issue of a double ration of rum. Since 1773, this signal has also been ordered to mark a royal birth, a visit to a ship by a Monarch, a victory, or (in days of yore) before a battle. The last time this particular call was heard was at 6 bells in the forenoon watch of March 31, 1972 when the RCN brought an end to a tradition that had endured over 300 years in British and Canadian ships.
TIME OUT – Navy Rum Truth
The first mate on a ship decided to celebrate an occasion with a “little” stowed-away rum.
Unfortunately, he got drunk and was still drunk the next morning. The captain saw him drunk and when the first mate was sober, showed him the following entry in the ship’s log: “The first mate was drunk today.”
“Captain please don’t let that stay in the log,” the mate said. “This could add months or years to my becoming a captain myself.”
“Is it true?” asked the captain, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, it is true,” the mate said. “Then if it is true it has to go in the log. That’s the rule. If it’s true it goes into the log, end of discussion,” said the captain sternly. Weeks later, it was the first mate’s turn to make the log entries.
The first mate wrote: “The ship seems in good shape. The captain was sober today.”
Our June 6th D-Day edition of First Firkin Friday will see members of HMCS Queen tapping a Pusser’s Navy rum and oak-infused firkin of Regina Pale Ale. RPA has been previously available on tap aboard Canadian forces frigate, HMCS Regina.
