THE WAKKER WEEKLY

Issue #1550 – Posted on: 12-October-2020

BREWERY “HOP”PENINGS! Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our seasonally available Upendi Pineapple Passion Fruit Ale, Fleck’s Czech Dark Lager (aged for an incredible seven months), Premium Pale Ale and Two Sons Milk Stout are currently on tap. There are also batches of Chinook ESB and Blackberry Mead working their way through the brewery.

Our OCTOBER PREMIUM WINE FEATURES are from Spain. The red is Las Hermanas Monastrell which is both organic and vegan. The white is Gerberas Macabeo. Both are $7.95 for a glass and $21.95 for a half litre.

This weekend’s Oktoberfest Special Dining Feature on October 9^th & 10^th is SAURERBRATEN VEAL SHANKS with bacon leek mashed potatoes and root vegetables for $21.95. We will also offer GERMAN MEATBALLS in LEMON CAPER SAUCE with potato and veggies for $18.95. Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL for $21.95 will also be available.

In addition to taking our beer home in glass bottles, 2 litre jugs and growler fills direct from our pub, you can find a varying selection of 650 ml bottles of Bushwakker beer in ALL SIX REGINA SLGA stores, as well as METRO LIQUOR REGINA.

BUSHWAKKER GIFT CARDS are available in $25, $50 and $100 denominations. Give us a call at 306-359-7276 or stop by to get yours. They work very well with all dine-in or takeout food and craft beer desires!

Bushwakker Executive Chef, Mike Monette, brought back his famous Prime Rib for one weekend only in early October. He plans to offer his delicious prime again on certain select weekends in the future.

Our final proposed regular 2020 season gourmet Burger & a Pint Special will be offered on October 23^rd and 24^th. The late Bushwakker co-founder & president, Bev Robertson, always humourously referred to this one as our TABBY BURGER & A PINT! Enjoy for only $19.95.

Bushwakker Oktoberfest Week: October 5^th – 10^th. The official Oktoberfest in Munich has been cancelled due to the pandemic but the Bushwakker week long Oktoberfest celebration will go ahead. Enjoy a variety of unique German-themed meal specials all week long as well as a one litre stein of our special order Hacker Pshorr Munich Gold German Lager. This is one of the six official Oktoberfest breweries. Prosit!

The BUSHWAKKER LOCAL ARTS WALL for the month of October pays tribute to the late Regina artist ROGER ING. Much thanks to David Wirth and Jack Severson for curating this collection.

Many years ago, several blocks west of The Bushwakker Brewpub sat The New Utopia Café at 3018 Dewdney Avenue. Its proprietor and resident artist from 1971 to 1993 was the late Roger Ing. In a publication titled, “Regina’s Secret Spaces”, I presented an essay on my discovery of what I consider the most interesting and inspiring artist and art studio in this city and beyond. Roger’s most prolific period was from the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s when, unfortunately, the city forced Roger to shut The New Utopia Café down.

Roger was born in China in 1933 and came to Canada when he was eighteen years old. A natural gifted artist in a traditional Chinese style, he became enamoured with the modern art of North America and so merged the old with the new. Roger died on July 22, 2008 but his wonderful art lives on.

Jack Severson

If you like to know more about this unique Regina artist, view this documentary video at the follow link:

https://youtu.be/oh-AaJhKetE

Enjoy this selection of his vibrant and colourful works all this month!

BUSHWAKKER “NEW NORMAL” NOTES

Our weekend hours of operation will be changing beginning on Friday, October 2^nd. Fridays and Saturdays we will open earlier at 11:00 AM and close later at 10:00 PM. Kitchen will close at 9:00 PM. Our Monday to Thursday hours remain unchanged and are 11:30 AM until 9:00 PM and the kitchen closes at 8:00 PM. We are still closed on Sundays at this time. Our takeout food and beer services will continue to be made available.

Please remember that reservations are accepted and are encouraged for any time and on any day so give us a call at 306-359-7276 to secure your table. Please note under current guidelines the maximum number of people who can be seated at the same table is limited to six. Larger reservations must occupy more than one table and maintain physical distancing between each table.

Please continue to practice safe health and social distancing practices. Remain connected to one another and to us! In addition to this weekly newsletter, we are very active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Check-in with us often as we navigate these continually evolving times together. Try to support local businesses whenever possible. Be vigilant in your resolve to protect yourselves which in turn will protect others. Please don’t let your guard DOWN so the province can continue to open UP! Bring on Phase 5!

Atlantic Provinces Jump, Ontario Sags: A Statistical Look at Breweries Across Canada

By Jason Foster

Take a bow New Brunswick. You officially (according to me) have the most breweries (per capita) in Canada. New Brunswick and its neighbouring Atlantic provinces have witnessed the biggest brewery boom in the country over the last two years. The number of breweries grew in every province but the largest growth was found out east, in Alberta and in the Territories. Relatively speaking, Ontario lost significant ground recently.

These findings are calculations made based upon a database of breweries in Canada I maintain (gathered from a range of reliable sources). I had been doing this statistical update annually but my hiatus in 2018 led to the database falling out of date. It took A LOT more work than anticipated to get it back up to speed. The last post was in June 2017, so a lot has happened in the interim.

I will throw the fine points of methodology, accuracy, etc. in a footnote at the end of the post to prevent boring everyone. One significant change I should highlight is that I have stopped tracking contract breweries, so they have been dropped from the analysis (don’t worry the data is still comparable as I had always reported them separately). It became just too challenging to keep track of their comings and goings so I look at bricks and mortar breweries only. It is not a statement on whether contract breweries are a legitimate segment of the industry. It is simply a pragmatic issue of data collection.

Independent Beer Still Growing Across Canada

The big news is that in every province and territory, craft beer continues its march upward. Canada now has over 1,000 craft breweries, up from 770 a couple years back. That is a 36% growth in about three years.

In raw terms the big four (B.C., Quebec, Ontario and Alberta) made up the bulk of the increase. Saskatchewan was the quietest province, gaining only two new breweries in that time, while Manitoba started to pick up its pace by almost doubling it brewery contingent. In percent change, the Atlantic provinces stand out, with Newfoundland almost tripling its number. The table below summarized the changes.

The results show quite clearly that Alberta has joined B.C. Quebec and Ontario in the first tier of provincial beer industries, a rapid shift in the past five years. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are making an argument for the existence of a second tier.

Province	Breweries 2017	Breweries 2020	Percent Change
B.C.	125	209	67%
Alberta	50	112	124%
Saskatchewan	17	19	12%
Manitoba	9	17	89%
Ontario	239	312	31%
Quebec	154	229	49%
Nova Scotia	41	60	46%
New Brunswick	29	57	97%
PEI	4	8	100%
Newfoundland	5	19	280%
Territories	3	6	100%

If we shift our focus to per capita the Atlantic provinces surge ahead. Using both total population and over 15 years (the closest Statistics Canada gives us for the legal drinking age population) their numbers are eye-popping. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI are the top three provinces.

On the other end, Saskatchewan and Manitoba remain the only provinces with less than two breweries per 100,000. Unexpectedly, Ontario drops to ninth in per capita breweries, despite continuing to have the largest number of breweries.

Per capita calculations show a different tier structure. The first tier are the small population jurisdictions, including the Territories. The second tier is harder to discern. My interpretation is the second tier consists of B.C. alone, with Alberta and Quebec in a third tier. The challenging case is Ontario. Is it a trailer in the third tier or a leader in the final tier with Saskatchewan and Manitoba? We will need to watch where this goes.

TIME OUT – Dumb Things Finance People Say

“They don’t have any debt except for a mortgage and student loans.” OK. And I’m vegan except for bacon-wrapped steak.
“Earnings were positive before one-time charges.” This is Wall Street’s equivalent of, “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
“Earnings missed estimates.” No. Earnings don’t miss estimates; estimates miss earnings. No one ever says “the weather missed estimates.” They blame the weatherman for getting it wrong. Finance is the only industry where people blame their poor forecasting skills on reality.
“It’s a Ponzi scheme.” The number of things called Ponzi schemes that are actually Ponzi schemes rounds to zero. It’s become a synonym for “thing I disagree with.”
“He predicted the market crash in 2008.” He also predicted a crash in 2006, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1992, 1989, 1984, 1971…
“We’re cautiously optimistic.” You’re also an oxymoron!
“We’re neutral on this stock.” Stop it! You don’t deserve a paycheck for that.
“We’re trying to maximize returns and minimize risks.” Unlike everyone else, who are just dying to set their money ablaze.
“Our bullish case is conservative.” Then it’s not a bullish case. It’s a conservative case. Those words mean opposite things.
“We’re waiting for more certainty.” Good call! Like in 1929, 1999 and 2007, when everyone knew exactly what the future looked like. Can’t wait!
“The Dow is down 50 points as investors react to news of [X].” Stop it! You’re just making stuff up. “Stocks are down and no one knows why” is the only honest headline in this category.
“We’re constructive on the market.” I have no idea what that means. I don’t think you do, either.
“We expect more volatility.” There has never been a time when this was not the case. Let me guess, you also expect more winters?
“He was tired of throwing his money away renting, so he bought a house.” He knows a mortgage is renting money from a bank, right?
“This is a cyclical bull market in a secular bear.” Vapid nonsense.

This gent has nothing on our staff. Our 106 year old hardwood floor is very beautiful but has quite a few dips and swells which makes the art of table shimming a big part of a Bushwakker server’s job!

THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1550