THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1816
Issue #1816 – Posted on: 14 – November – 2025
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL SUDS STATUS.
Our annual Mead Day is a comin’! Our Blackberry Mead Pre-Order page is now operational on our website for those wishing to secure their 2025 vintage without worry. Just visit https://bushwakker.com/
Our BLACKBERRY MEAD PRE-ORDER WEBPAGE IS NOW ACTIVE! Don’t want to wait in line outside in the cold? Pre-order your mead and pick it up conveniently in the warmth of our pub back entrance at our Mead Pick-Up Desk! Free parking is available on the east side of Cornwall Street in our building’s customer parking lot. Then just enter through the back entrance of Bushwakker on Mead Day: Saturday, December 6th from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. https://bushwakker.com/
Our Saturday, November 15th Scotch Tasting event is sold out. For those 150 attendees, we have a special scotch-inspired meal which will be available that evening for your consideration. Please note our full menu will also be available. Anyone wishing to dine prior to the tasting event on should arrive by 5:30 at the latest. Our Arizona Room will be open to the general public that evening. However, food service will be suspended in that room over the supper hour while the kitchen focuses on serving the scotch tasting folks first.
Bushwakker 35th Scotch Tasting Optional Menu
Starters
Single Malt Scotch Broth OR
Roasted Chickpea & Kale Caesar Salad with Gremolata Crostini
Main
8 oz. CAB New York Steak with Madagascar single malt scotch whisky sauce, sour cream and aged cheddar mashed potatoes with roasted candied butternut squash. Choice of starter. $32.95
Desserts
Cranachan Raspberry & Scotch Cheesecake OR Sticky Toffee Pudding $11.95
Our AUTUMN SEASONAL MENU is humming right along! Our six sensational decadent delights include: Beef Vindaloo Bowl, BBQ Chicken & Peach Flatbread, Pumpkin Gnocchi, Birria Tacos, Cajun Steak & Shrimp and Pumpkin Pie!
View our limited time autumn menu at https://bushwakker.com/full-menu/autumn-seasonal-menu/
Seeing as the Dewdney Avenue Revitalization Project will be wrapping up this month we thought it is high time we implemented some improvements to our alleyway! A new cedar boardwalk trimmed with 3/4 pea rock makes for a pretty stroll to YOUR Bushwakker. Still a few more days of work to do including trimming floor boards and fixing the garden lighting but hats off to Mucha Landscaping for getting ‘er done!
Office Christmas Party Alert! We have two private rooms available for your upcoming festive gatherings which each accommodate up to 50 people. Our main floor Arizona Room features big windows and lots of plants while our basement Clubroom offers a unique view into the Bushwakker brewery. Contact info@bushwakker.com to secure your holiday room rental today!
Our WEEKEND SPECIAL DINING FEATURE for November 14th & 15th is STEAK BITES PASTA. 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. Please note you can also have a pop, lemonade, sarsaparilla, ice tea or coffee instead of a pint of beer if you wish!
NOVEMBER PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: This month’s wine specials hail from South Africa! The Red is INCEPTION DEEP LAYERED RED (shiraz/petit verdot/mourvedre) and the White is THE WOLFTRAP WHITE (voignier/chenin blanc/grenache blanc.) Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Nov. 15: BUSHWAKKER 35th SINGLE MALT SCOTCH TASTING. SOLD OUT. Get ready for six well-aged splendid scotches, Highland dancing, pipes and drums, an optional Scotch-inspired pre-tasting steak dinner, some fabulous door prizes and a great night of fun. Our main floor side banquet room will be open to the general public that evening. 
Nov. 17: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. A STORRY WITH HUGHES. The largest band to ever grace our stage delivers big band, jazz and swing…loud and proud! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM. 
Nov. 18: SASKMUSIC SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE. This popular Sask singer/songwriter showcase series continues and will see another Tuesday night performance featuring a number of novice and seasoned artists showcasing their talents. Early show – 7:00 PM.
Nov. 19: Wednesday Folk Night. HOTDOG! BLUEGRASS. Channelling the spirit of Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, this is the bluegrass fix you didn’t know you needed.7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Nov. 20: HMCS REGINA MODEL INSTALLATION & FIRKIN TAPPING. The Bushwakker has a longstanding relationship with HMCS Regina and are proud to be the new home of a beautifully restored model of the first HMCS Regina. Don’t miss this formal installation ceremony with sailors dressed in the whitest whites who will present the model for public viewing. A special firkin of Kraken Black Spiced Rum & Oak infused English Brown Ale will be piped-in and tapped to commemorate the event. Plan to arrive early in order to get a good seat. 5:30 PM. 
Nov. 22: BUSHWAKKER WRITER’S CORNER EIGHTH EDITION AUTHOR READING. Join us for this annual event where we celebrate the talents of local authors. This year’s line-up includes; Bruce Rice, Iryn Tushabe, Melanie Schnell, Michael Trussler, and Suzy Krause. The event host will be local author, Shane Arbuthnott Enjoy our award-winning pub cuisine and in-house brewed beers as well as our special “writer-inspired” commemorative PEANUT BUTTER CONFETTI CHEESECAKE whilst making yourself cozy in the Writer’s Corner area found near the back of the brewpub. 3:00 PM.
How Hibernating Yeast is Advancing Cancer Research
by: Ivan Farkas
Beer yeast microbes have a surprising survival strategy up their sleeve to deal with food shortages: they hibernate. As bears hibernate to avoid the stresses of harsh winters and the resultant famine, yeast microbes perform their own version of hibernation to bypass periods of nutrient scarcities. Now, scientists are leveraging this interesting evolutionary adaptation to innovate new ways of researching cancer cells, with the ultimate goal of putting them to sleep—for good.
An Exciting New Discovery
Researchers from the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, in collaboration with Germany’s European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), have made a vital discovery, outlining a “never-before-seen adaptation that helps yeast cells go dormant when nutrients are scarce.” Just as surprisingly, this finding could have essential implications in an important field. No, not brewing, but something even more crucial: cancer treatments. Just like bears and beer yeast, cancer cells go dormant when faced with a shortage of resources, and this feature can be exploited by medical science to open up a new way to fight one of the world’s most dreaded diseases.
Humans and Yeast: Not so Different After All
The study, published in Nature Communications, focuses on an interesting yeast species, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. For a little history, the tongue-twisting S. pombe was originally isolated from millet beer, and “pombe” is Swahili for “beer.” This yeast can also be isolated from arak, a Levantine anise spirit that tastes like licorice. More interesting still, S. pombe is so similar to human cells that it’s scientifically useful as a model for cell division. It’s not exactly a flattering fact for humans, but it certainly shows the surprising sophistication of beer yeast—a fact most aficionados will agree with, if for different (flavor-related) reasons.
How Hibernating Beer Yeast can Advance Cancer Research
Scientists found the mechanism for S. pombe’s hibernating skills begins in the cell’s “batteries,” more scientifically known as mitochondria; some people may remember these from biology class, or memes, as being the “powerhouses” of the cells. Truly, mitochondria power cells (whether beer, bear, or cancer cells) by splitting adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a compound that contains phosphorus—no wonder, then, that matchsticks use phosphorus to blaze a flame. Yet mitochondria can also power down. When yeast cells go dormant, their mitochondria become covered with inactive ribosomes, which are the molecular machines that otherwise make proteins
The exact purpose of this is up for debate, but it may be to protect the mitochondria from self-cannibalization, because when cells run out of resources they begin digesting themselves. Amazingly, the researchers were able to peer all the way down to the cellular level using some, no surprise, incredibly complicated microscopy methods that rely on cryogenic temperatures and beams of electrons. Zooming in allowed scientists to see that the inactive ribosomes attached themselves upside down, which is curious to say the least, and a counter-intuitive discovery that sheds light on these cells’ dormancy.
Putting Cancer Cells to Sleep
In cancer cells, such dormancy, or quiescence, also acts as a biological camouflage that hides them from the immune system. This isn’t a great thing, as these malignant cells can pull off the equivalent of a biological Trojan Horse strategy that sneaks past a patient’s immune defenses. Therefore, the next steps involve further studying the literal ins-and-outs (and upside-downs) of cellular hibernation to ascertain how cells regulate their entry and exit into this quiescent state.
Once researchers have a better handle on the processes controlling cellular dormancy, they can hopefully utilize that knowledge to induce a more profound state of dormancy and help put cancer cells to sleep, permanently. In the grander scheme of future medicine, this beer-based research may help doctors derive new treatment methods for use in healthcare settings across the world. Here’s looking forward to the first person whose life will potentially be saved by beer, literally!
TIME OUT – Conventional Wisdom
Still trying to get my head around the fact that ‘Take Out’ can mean food, dating, or murder.
Dear paranoid people who check behind their shower curtains for murderers: If you do find one, what’s your plan?
The older I get, the more I understand why roosters scream to start their day.
Being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the ‘cool table’ in the cafeteria of a mental hospital.
You know you’re over 50 when you have ‘upstairs ibuprofen’ and ‘downstairs ibuprofen.’
If only vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
When I lost the fingers on my right hand in a freak accident, I asked the doctor if I would still be able to write with it. He said, “Possibly, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise. But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.
Anyone who says their wedding was the best day of their life has clearly never had two candy bars fall down at once from a vending machine.
We live in a time where intelligent people are silenced so that stupid people won’t be offended.
A special HMCS Regina Model Installation & Firkin tapping event will take place on Thursday, November 20th at 5:30 PM! A “Navy-inspired” firkin of Kraken Black Spiced Rum and Oak Infused Northern English Brown Ale will be tapped to mark the occasion!
