THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1846
Issue #1846 – Posted on: 12 – June – 2026
The 2026 Rider Football season kicks off this Saturday and Chef Mike’s favourite BC Lions are in town for a 5:00 PM start! Be sure to join our “Sea of Green” at The Bushwakker and enjoy our gourmet BC LION BURGER & A PINT special! Come “devour” the competition!
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL BEER STATUS Our seasonally available UPENDI PINEAPPLE PASSION FRUIT SOUR, HONEY THISTLE WIT, CHINOOK E.S.B., BARON BOCK and 35th ANNIVERSARY DOUBLE HONEY IRISH RED ALE are currently available. There is also a firkin of SOUR CHERRY WITBIER working its way through the brewery!
Our FOOTBALL WEEKEND SPECIAL DINING FEATURE for June 12th is a LIONS BURGER and on June 13th is a LIONS BURGER & A PINT. 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!
Much thanks to Tourism Regina for putting together a fun little video featuring some Regina Warehouse District history and the prospects for the future. The drone footage of some of the present day reminders from the Regina Cyclone are particularly interesting! Love the big warehouse shots too. Check it out at https://youtu.be/dctxGu0fKCY?
Shauna is super stoked that the Hop Circuit is back for another year! Pick up your free passport map and take a hike or ride your bike and visit all six participating Regina craft breweries this summer! Collect a stamp at all six locations and receive a free 2026 Hop Circuit commemorative glass! Get out there and enjoy another beautiful Queen City summer with some sensational Saskatchewan suds!
Our brand new Summer Seasonal SMOKED Menu will be released on Monday, June 15. Chef Mike is looking forward to putting his 800 litre converted beer tank smoker, affectionately named, Smoky the Beer, to work this summer! Get ready to savour six sumptuous smoky sensations including: Smoked Brisket on a Bun, Smoked Chicken Enchiladas, Smoked Philly Cheese Dog, Smoked Pulled Pork Pineapple Bun a Weekly Smoked Appetizer Feature and a Smoked Caramel Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake too!
UPCOMING EVENTS
June 13: RIDERS HOST THE BC LIONS. Chef Mike’s favourite team is in town for the first regular season home game of the 2026 Riders football season! Kickoff is at 5:00 PM. Be sure park in the huge free parking across the street and then take the free shuttle to and from the game. Be sure to stop by and enjoy Chef Mike’s kicked-up LION BURGER & A PINT special before, during or after the game. Best of luck defending your Grey Cup Championship title in 2026 Riders!
June 15: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. MURRAY KINSLEY & WICKED GRIN. Ottawa multi award winning roots blues rock band makes their Bushwakker debut. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
June 17: Wednesday Folk Night. LADIES OF THE PRAIRIE & THE MALE ORDER BRIDE. Three part female harmonies, guitar, banjo, steel guitar, mandolin and more! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
June 18: JAZZFEST REGINA KICKOFF SHOW WITH TERRAPLANE! The annual JazzFest Regina jazz festival is back and will open at YOUR Bushwakker with Terraplane. This prominent Regina-based musical quintet is known for blending traditional blues, slide guitar and modern electric improvisation. They are a beloved fixture of the local music scene and a regular mainstay at regional music festivals. The group functions as a tight, collaborative ensemble of friends whose style anchors itself in deep Blues tradition while remaining entirely open to live, on-the-spot improvisation. Tickets are $15 and are available at Bushwakker or at https://jazzfestregina.ca/ Show starts at 7:00 PM. Doors open at 11:00 AM. Rush seating only.
June 20: FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ SHOWCASE. Held in conjunction with JazzFest Regina 2026. This free music event made its debut last year and was so well received we’re doing it again! Enjoy a great afternoon of live jazz featuring some very talented local musicians. Enjoy three groups including; The Campbell Combo Collective, Corey Taylor’s “Hang on Tight” Jazz Trio featuring guest powerhouse vocalist, Christie-Anne Blondeau and popular jazz blues band, Juss Sayin’. This free afternoon of music starts at 1:00 PM so plan to arrive early in order to get a good seat!
June 22: JAZZFEST REGINA CLOSING SHOW WITH THE KRISTIN KORB JAZZ TRIO TRIBUTE TO THE EURYTHMICS. American jazz bassist and vocalist Kristin Korb released her highly anticipated Eurythmics tribute album, Sweet Dreams, in the fall of 2024. Reimagined through a jazz-infused lens, the project strips away the original electronic synthesizer tracks to highlight the deep Blues foundations and powerful songwriting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. Korb seamlessly performs dual roles on the record, delivering crystalline vocals while anchoring the rhythm section on double bass. Critics have praised Korb’s ability to transform 1980’s pop hits into sophisticated, swinging arrangements that retain their original emotional core. Tickets are $25 and are available at Bushwakker or at https://jazzfestregina.ca/ Show starts at 7:00 PM. Doors open at 11:00 AM. Rush seating only.
Game-Day Beers: Pairing Craft Styles with Major Sports Moments
Craft beer showdown: Discover which lagers, IPAs, and stouts are the MVPs for your game-day menu and mood.
By: Beer Blog
Craft beer and sports enjoy a natural synergy—whether you are watching from a stadium, tailgate party, sportsbook, or living room lounge. Choosing the right beer style enhances the sensory and social experience around key game-day moments, turning a match into a full culinary celebration.
Classic Lager or Pilsner
A clean, crisp, low-bitterness lager or pilsner—like a Czech-style pilsner or American lager—anchors the tastes of burgers, pizza, wings, and classic stadium bites. These beers act like palate napkins, wiping away the residual flavours of one bite so your next mouthful and every game moment hits fresh. When watching a long match or multiple innings, the simplicity of light malt and gentle hop character in these lagers and pilsners keeps your sips engaging without exhaustion. That makes them especially good for extended fandom marathons.
Juicy or Hazy IPA:
Fruity aroma and smooth bitterness are brought by juicy or hazy IPAs. They have a juicy hop aroma that blends perfectly with spicy chicken wings, intense cheese dips, or taco flavors. They keep energy levels on the move. At 4-6 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), these high-fashion hazy IPAs bring an aromatic lift, full of goes-with-the-game hop strains of fruitiness with a lighter bitterness to high-intensity runs or buzzer-beaters: Keep up with it!
Fruited Sours and Goses
Fruited sours and goses are sour, bitter, and are frequently full of fruit. They are a fun-loving combination along with citrus salads, cheese platter, and light desserts between the plays. A tart, sour, or gose can be the cream in the coffee once the tension sets in with deeper ph legumes and root vegetables, and you need a respite, something unexpected with a clean, dry finish.
Dark and Roasty Beers
With their dark, malty flavours, Porters and Stouts will handle grilled meats, BBQ ribs, and chocolate desserts with aplomb. Their roasted heaviness holds against a daring, luxuriant diet. Roasty, dark brews excel in the tailgate of the stadium or the post-game and encourage patrons to stay and enjoy without being rushed out the door.
Sessionable Pale Ales and Crisp Lagers
Pale ales and light lagers are the counterparts to moderately strong alcohol, plus an easy-drinking style. They are the tough, enjoyable staple when the viewing experience runs long or when you are engaged in long-running viewing. They go the distance without wearing out their welcome: whether it is 90 minutes of soccer, plus overtime, or basketball in multiple quarters, these beers keep up with the rigorous demands, without growing tiresome.
Active Advocates: Brewers Association Experts
CraftBeer.com and Brewers Association pairing experts supply pairing frameworks—like the five flavour descriptors, clean, crisp, malty, fruity/ spicy, and dark/roasty- that can be used to master beer snacks and sports occasions. That certainty assists supporters in developing purposeful pleasure. With organized knowledge of reputable sources, fans can safely match beers and cuisine to match temperament and ambiance–removing the element of guesswork during game-day beverage selection.
Active Advocates: Food and Beverage Content Creators
Brands such as DrinkedIn, BeerLiever, and Truly Blog draw on the simple principles of the pairing and of complement, contrast, and cleanse to enhance the match-day experience. By threading the yarns of how particular brews complement food, and how food complementary a brew, these folks make pairing feel like a part of the scoreboard and fumblerooski alike.
Active Advocates: Snack Stylists and Beer Cicerones
Grilled food seems to suit light lager when it comes to snack stylists and beer cicerones, as good with spicy wings as with rich meat: maximize palate satisfaction in all the menus. These professionals can adjust pairing signs to smooth and moderate flavours: light to grilled, full-on spicy, and fat to meat. They make sure that every beer complements and enhances the culinary experience against the background of sports stress and chants of victory.
Public Perception:
Everyone would say that a thoughtful beer pairing will only improve the game-day experience. A refreshing light lager or pilsner cuts through the spice, a heavy IPA finishes with a heavy bite, and a rich porter closes out a heavy bite- all confirmed by true beer and sports amateurs. Local craft that includes geographically specific beer, such as IPAs, lagers, or sours, comes into play and is part of rivalry weekend, playoffs, and local pride, generating edible lore attached to the game.
The Beer Connoisseur The Beer Connoisseur The Beer Connoisseur offers insights on how well-paired beers (such as light lagers, hoppy IPAs, and dark porters) complement each other to enhance sensory game-day experiences, refreshing, spicing, or balancing dishes with each other. ChaseBeer.com indicates clean/crisp lagers, fruity/spicy IPAs, and dark/roasty beer combined as cooks of pairability, and guidelines grounded on expert opinion exist so as to match taste and mates with play/game mood. New York Post and Truly Experiences Blog suggest IPAs being juicy or hazy, and their fruit-rich hops aroma and gentle bitterness are perfect with spicy wings, tacos, or a strong dip.
The Times of India highlights the tangy fruit tartness of fruit sours and goses with recommendations to conveniently pair at play with fresh salads featuring citrus, plates of cheese, and light desserts. According to The Washington Beer Blog, the porters and stouts are dark and roasty, and exemplify an alignment to grilled meat and other BBQ items, as well as chocolate desserts, at a tailgate, or afterwards.
Fantasy Football and Beer Pairings.
Fantasy football also comes with its own dimension of intensity when it comes to the day-to-day routine of playing the game, because every draft pick, trade, and playoff roster move is a deciding factor between winning the league and losing. The beverage in your hand also becomes part of a strategy: a clean pint calms nerves in stressful drafts, a cloudy IPA keeps momentum going in a Sunday scoring onslaught, and a roasty stout provides the backbone of late-night waiver-wire skirmishes. Fruited sour beers add vibrant variation on chance wins, and session pale ales pull managers through prolonged watch-parties as the stats come flooding in. The pairing of craft beer with fantasy football makes the virtual gridiron as flavorful as data-driven gameplay can be, balanced with other sensory delights.
To win the game day, the most suitable way to start is by knowing how to pair the beer styles with the energy and the tastes in a game. A clean lager removes the taste and assists in maintaining through the game, a juicy IPA boosts the activities, a fruited sour is a playing merrily taste, roasty stouts settle a reflective moment, a session pale ale supports watching them with long ends, and finally, the use of local craft beers supports your team’s narrative. Armed with the knowledge of experts like CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association, DrinkedIn, BeerLiever, Truly Blog, stylists the world over, endorsement of fans and the press, it is easy to consistently pair the appropriate beer with the occasion to make an appreciable contribution to the playbook of flavour, mood, and story.
TIME OUT – The Little Rider Fan
On the first day of school a first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a BC Lions fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are BC Lions fans. Wanting to impress their teacher, everyone in the class raises their hand except one little girl. The teacher looks at the girl with surprise, ‘Janie, why didn’t you raise your hand?’ Because I’m not a BC Lions fan,’ she replied. The teacher, still shocked, asked, ‘Well, if you are not a BC Lions fan, then who are you a fan of?’ ‘I am a Riders fan, and proud of it,’ Janie replied. The teacher could not believe her ears. ‘Janie please tell us why you are a Riders fan?’ “Because my mom is a Riders fan, and my dad is Riders fan, so I’m a Riders fan too!” “Well,” said the teacher in an obviously annoyed tone, ‘that is no reason for you to be a Riders fan. You don’t have to be just like your parents all of the time. What if your mom was an idiot and your dad was a moron, what would you be then?’ “Then,” Janie smiled, ‘I’d be a BC Lions fan.’
No need to eat pigskin before heading to Saturday’s game. Enjoy Chef Mike’s gourmet Lions Burger & a Pint special. Come “devour” the competition and savour this delicious kicked up burger with any regular Bushwakker brew at a special price!
