THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1862
Our annual OKTOBER-SCHNITZEL-PUMPKIN-FEST WEEKEND is here! Celebrate autumn with German-themed meal specials including our incredibly popular schnitzel dinner! Enjoy big one-liter steins of famous Bushwakker beer too! Saturday will be the official release of our Great Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale on tap as well as in big 650ml glass bottles! Brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh ginger, vanilla and cloves, our small batch autumn offering tastes just like pumpkin pie in a glass!
BUSHWAKKER SEASONAL BEER STATUS. Our seasonally available UPENDI PINEAPPLE PASSION FRUIT SOUR, CHINOOK E.S.B. and BARON BOCK are currently available. Bottles of our famous BLACKBERRY MEAD are still available in our offsale as part of our 2026 Summer Mead Release but they are almost gone! Batches of CARA CARA ORANGE ALE, GREAT PUMPKIN SPICED BROWN ALE and a firkin of CRANBERRY ORANGE VANILLA WHEAT (for the October 2nd edition of First Firkin Friday) are working their way through the brewery.
End of Summer Sour Power Sale! Hang onto those waning warm weather days a bit longer and enjoy our quenching Upendi Pineapple Passion Fruit Sour and save! Offsale two-litre jugs are now $6 off and pints are available at Happy Hour prices!
Our RIDER HOME GAME WEEKEND FEATURE for October 2nd and 3rd is a STAMPEDERS BURGER & A PINT and our Oktoberfest Weekend Feature is a BRAISED SMOKED PORK HOCK DINNER. 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!
Final weekend for delicious house- smoked cuisine! Our Summer BBQ Menu wraps up this weekend and our brand new seasonal menu will be launched on Monday, October 5th. Get ready for some cool weather comforting cozy dishes!
Our Arizona Room private banquet room is now once again available for private party rentals. The room seats up to 50 people and features plenty of Chicago style warehouse character with large windows, a pressed tin ceiling and plenty of plants too! Contact info@bushwakker.com to secure the room for your next gathering today! A little more work will be required to get our basement clubroom ready for event space rental following the massive summer city water line break which severely flooded our basement. We hope to have it operational for holiday season bookings. Stay tuned!
OCTOBER WINE FEATURES: This month’s spooky wine features are the CASILLERO DEL DIABLO (Devil’s Cellar) wines from Chile! The Red is their Cabernet Sauvignon and the White is their Sauvignon Blanc. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half-litre.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Oct. 2: FIRST FIRKIN FOOTBALL FRIDAY! Yes, another firkin tapping on a home Rider game day! Don’t miss our decades-old Bushwakker monthly tradition. A piper from The Regina Police Services Pipes & Drums leads a keg (the firkin) of special ale throughout the pub in a procession. A guest volunteer tapper is selected to wield the handmade wooden maul affectionately named, The Mighty Firkin Wakker, and attempts to tap the keg in one mighty blow! This month’s autumn/thanksgiving/Calgary Stampeder-inspired firkin offering is a CRANBERRY ORANGE VANILLA WHEAT! The suds-soaking spectacular takes place at 5:30 PM. Come “quaff” the competition!
Sept. Oct. 2 & 3: OKTOBER-SCHNITZEL-PUMPKIN-FEST WEEKEND! Celebrate autumn with German-themed meal specials including our incredibly popular schnitzel dinner! Enjoy big one-liter steins of famous Bushwakker beer too!
Oct. 3: ANNUAL GREAT PUMPKIN SPICED BROWN ALE RELEASE. Although the “pumpkin craze” is not as powerful as it once was, there are still a number of die-hard pumpkin fans out there who love our autumn specialty brew. It will be on tap as well as in offsale bottles at 11:00 AM sharp! Brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh ginger, vanilla and cloves, our small batch seasonal offering tastes just like pumpkin pie in a glass!
Oct. 3: Bushwakker Writers Corner 9th Edition Reading. Presented by the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild and The Bushwakker Brewpub. Join us for this annual author’s reading in the Bushwakker Writers Corner, a space dedicated to celebrating recent works of Saskatchewan-published authors. Enjoy readings from a half dozen local authors including: Chelsea Coupal, Dr. Norma Dunning, Kat Guilks, Céleste Grimard, Lili Zwart, and host, Wanda Gronhovd. It has become very apparent that local authors love Bushwakker desserts so a special Saskatchewan Writer’s “Fabulous Fall Cheesecake” dessert feature will be available that afternoon. 3:00 PM.
Oct. 5: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. JUSS SAYIN’. Great jazz and blues act featuring vocalist and guitar player, Jan Seitz. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Oct. 7: MONTHLY ALES HOMEBREWING CLUB MEETING. This month’s presentation topic will be An Introduction to Brewing Equipment and Oktoberfest Beers. If you are interested in getting into the art of home brewing or would like to improve your skills, come to the Bushwakker Arizona Room at 7:00 PM and discover what the ALES Club can offer you. New members are always welcome!
Oct. 7: Wednesday Folk Night. AUTUMN SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE. Abby Kaitlyn, Trent Leggott, Baron & Neil Child, Cassidy Flaman and Joel Alberts are back for a return engagement, whereas Elle Grace will make her Bushwakker debut! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Oct. 10: TICKET RELEASE DAY – 36th SINGLE MALT SCOTCH TASTING. One of our biggest events of the entire year! Tickets go on sale at 11:00 AM sharp. Last year eager whisky fans were waiting in line 75 minutes before they went on sale and they sold out quick. Only 150 tickets will be available. Enjoy six fine Scottish whiskies, pipes and drums, Highland dancing and lots of door prizes too. This year’s whiskey line-up includes: Glenmorangie “A Tale of Spices” 2025 Release, Cambus 34 Year Old 1990 Single Cask Single Grain, Edradour Micheal Eppan Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Finish, Teaninich 8 Year Single Grain Cask Strength 2025 Release, Singleton of Glen Ord 17 Year Special Release and Lagavulin 12 Year “Grain and Embers” Cask Strength 2025 Release.
Oktoberfest Is Going Non-Alcoholic this Year
As demand for NA beer grows, breweries are giving one of fall’s biggest beer traditions, Oktoberfest, an alcohol-free makeover with new versions of classic märzen.
By: Stasia Brewczynski
Happy Oktoberfest season to those who celebrate. If you shop the beer aisle, you’ve likely noticed the arrival of one of fall’s premier beer traditions, as brewers have flooded the market with special releases tied to the world’s biggest folk festival. But more and more, that also includes non-alcoholic (NA) specialties.
In its first week of its direct-to-consumer launch this year, NA beer maker Best Day Brewing’s new Oktoberfest märzen delivered 1.6 times the dollar sales of Best Day’s previous brand launch average, according to the brewer. Boston Beer Company’s popular Samuel Adams Octoberfest märzen, which impressed our editors in a recent taste test, also has a new nonalcoholic sibling this year.
Consumers and retailers are requesting Oktoberfest-style NA beers, says Tate Huffard, founder and CEO of Best Day Brewing in Sausalito, California. The brewer created the new alcohol-free Oktoberfest by request from Whole Foods Market, one of the brand’s top retailers.
“As we build Best Day’s portfolio, retailer perspectives have become imperative to our business, as they ultimately support the effort of getting a new beer in front of key in-store audiences,” says Huffard.
Huffard says that seasonal releases play an important role in the Best Day portfolio.
“Our core beers drive consistent growth, while seasonals give us an opportunity to create excitement, bring new people into the brand, and show what’s possible in nonalcoholic beer,” he says.
Huffard says that this year, Best Day’s seasonal releases have outpaced the company’s overall growth about sixfold, and its seasonals outpaced the entire nonalcoholic category nearly tenfold.
“For a while, our founder, Jim Koch, strongly believed that Boston Beer would never make a nonalcoholic beer,” says Shelley Smith, a Master Cicerone and associate director of research and development at Boston Beer Company.
Then, she says, the team “cracked the code” on how to brew quality nonalcoholic beer with Samuel Adams Non-Alcoholic Hazy IPA. The flood gates then opened.
Since then, Smith says that Koch has become a “believer in the massive opportunity non-alc beer presents.”
This helped drive the decision to create a nonalcoholic version of Samuel Adams Octoberfest, which has been the brand’s best-selling seasonal for more than 30 years.
“We are the leader of the pack when it comes to Octoberfest and know what makes consumers get excited for the season to start,” says Smith. “It’s natural that we’ll also lead the pack when it comes to the NA version.”
To achieve its complex caramel and roasted malt notes, Smith says the NA version is created through a slow, gentle removal of the alcohol from the original Sam Adams Octoberfest.
“This process allows us to create a non-alc product without sacrificing the taste,” says Smith, who calls the process challenging and rewarding. “We’re excited to be able to help even more people discover the legend that is Octoberfest by now offering this non-alc version.”
Huffard says a big part of Best Day’s mission is to ensure that people can enjoy a great beer as part of traditions like Oktoberfest.
“I went to Oktoberfest in Munich in 2007 and was completely blown away by the spectacle of it all,” he says. “More than anything, it was one of the most formative experiences I’ve had in seeing beer’s unique ability to bring people from all walks of life together around a shared moment.”
Huffard says that feeling stayed with him. He says it felt both natural and important to create a nonalcoholic beer that “gives more people the ability to say yes to those kinds of celebrations.”
TIME OUT
Little Johnny was in bible study one morning. Sally was sleeping in front of Johnny.
The teacher asks Sally who is our Lord and savior. Little Johnny pokes her in the ass with a pin and she yells, “Jesus Christ!” and falls back asleep.
A little while later the teacher asks Sally who created our world. Johnny poked her in the ass again with a pin and she screams, “My god!” and falls back to sleep.
Later the teacher asks Sally what Eve said to Adam after they had their fourth child. Johnny pokes her in the ass with the pin again and Sally screams, “if you stick that thing in me one more time I’m gonna break it!” The teacher faints.
You can “fuel-up” on big one-litre steins of any regular Bushwakker beer as part of this weekend’s Oktober-Schnitzel-Pumpkin-Fest celebration!
