THE WAKKER WEEKLY
Issue #1559 – Posted on: 14-December-2020
BREWERY “HOP”PENINGS! Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our seasonally available Blackberry Mead, Ponce de Leon Blackberry Raspberry Ale, Premium Pale Ale and Chinook ESB are currently on tap. Our brand new Orangerine (Orange & Tangerine) Ale is currently available in our offsale and will be on tap soon.
Our first ever online pre-order curbside/takeaway Mead Day is in the books! Thanks to all our customers and staff who helped make it such an enormous success! All the mead bottles on hand were sold that day. We truly appreciate your enthusiastic support during these very challenging times.
BUSHWAKKER GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR SASKATCHEWAN BREWPUB LOVER!
Commemorate the strangest Mead Day in Bushwakker history by picking up a “Bee Safe” Mead t-shirt or face mask for the mead lover on your list! Our “Craft Beer Pioneer” t-shirts and classic Joe Fafard designed t-shirts are a timeless gift which are uniquely Saskatchewan. Bushwakker Growler Gift Boxes include your choice of a glass or insulated black stainless steel Bushwakker Joe Fafard growler, two pint glasses and a gift certificate redeemable for a growler fill. Our Christmas Variety Six-Pack features some of our seasonal and specialty offerings including bottles of Blackberry Mead and “Missile”tow Christmas Ale (available December 12th), our ornate fancy Hop Handle Growler Christmas Package with two pint glasses and a growler fill gift certificate is also back…and you can’t go wrong with a Bushwakker gift card available in $25, $50 and $100 denominations. GIFT CARDS CAN NOW BE PURCHASED ON OUR WEBSITE!
Last Chance for a bottle of Blackberry Mead! Our BUSHWAKKER CHRISTMAS VARIETY SIX-PACKS will be released on Saturday, December 12th at 11:00 AM. In addition to our famous mead, it also contains a bottle of our extremely limited “Missile”tow Christmas Ale, our Ponce de Leon blackberry raspberry ale, Chinook ESB and two other popular flagship Bushwakker brews.
DECEMBER PREMIUM WINE FEATURES. The red is Carmen Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon Single Vineyard from Chile. The white is Toasted Head Chardonnay from California. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
This weekend’s Special Dining Feature for December 11th and 12th is CHICKEN & WAFFLES for $19.95. 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.
Enjoy one, two or even three goblets (new limit this year!) of Blackberry Mead in the brewpub this holiday season. Just be sure you have a safe ride home!
NOTHING FOR NEW YEARS 15 is still going ahead on Thursday, December 31. Say “good riddance” to 2020 and celebrate the arrival of a fresh new 2021 with our famous slow roasted AAA Black Angus Prime Rib and Jumbo Yorkshire Pudding! Make your reservation for in-house dining by calling 306-359-7276 or order your Prime Rib for takeaway by visiting our website next week. Our signature Chocolate Malted Cheesecake will also be available. Deadline for online orders is Monday, December 28th. Limited quantities available!
The Bushwakker LOCAL ARTIST WALL for the month of December features the works of TRACY BJORGAN. Tracy is an abstract painter from Regina. She started experimenting with acrylics on canvas in 2015 and quickly discovered her love for painting bold and dramatic abstracts and floral paintings. Tracy’s paintings are in numerous private collections. Her paintings have been featured in the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan yearly fall gala live auctions and she has had paintings used on the movie set Welcome to Nowhere filmed in Regina in 2017. Tracy has been the featured artist on the Bushwakker local artist wall in 2017 and 2018 and has had numerous paintings in Anex Interiors. Tracy’s work is now available at the Ripplinger Art Gallery in Regina. She can be contacted through her website www.tracybjorgan.ca. Enjoy her bright and colourful works all this month!
BUSHWAKKER “NEW NORMAL” NOTES
Our Hours of Operation are Monday to Thursday from 11:30 AM until 9:00 PM and the kitchen closes at 8:00 PM. Fridays and Saturdays we open at 11:00 AM and close at 10:00 PM. Kitchen closes at 9:00 PM. We are still closed on Sundays at this time. Our takeout food and beer services will continue to be made available.
Reservations are accepted and encouraged. We accept reservations as late as 6:00 PM from Monday to Saturday. Call at 306-359-7276 to secure your table. Please note under the new provincial guidelines the maximum number of people who can be seated at the same table is now limited to four. Larger reservations must occupy more than one table and maintain three meters of 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 open back UP!
Although our mead bottles are sold out, you can still commemorate the strangest Mead Day in Bushwakker history by picking up a “Bee Safe” Mead t-shirt or face mask. Makes a fun and practical Christmas gift for the mead lover on your list!
What Is a Barleywine?
By Mike Pomranz
Editor’s note: This year’s “Missile”tow Christmas Ale release will be a bit different from previous years. Due to our brewery being shut down for a number of months during the spring lockdown, the supply of our holiday barleywine has been dramatically reduced. A small amount will be on tap starting Saturday, December 12th. The bottles will be released as part of our annual Christmas Variety Six-Packs. One bottle of “Missile”tow will be in each six-pack. For those of you who are not familiar with this incredible rich beer style, the following article should provide some insight as to why it is such a popular holiday brew.
Strictly from a naming perspective, few beer styles are as interesting as Barleywine. In some ways, the name immediately conveys everything you need to know about the style; in other ways, the name couldn’t be more inaccurate and misleading. The designation is equal parts on the nose and tongue-in-cheek, lending the style, and the beers within it, to discussion. And Barleywines – as one of the biggest and boldest styles out there – are definitely discussion worthy.
First, the inaccuracies: Barleywines are definitely not wines. Wines are fermented juice, and as anyone who has ever tried to juice barley can attest to, the grain is pretty liquid free. Barleywines are very much beers, made of sugars extracted from grains.
So why call them “wines?” Well that’s the cheeky part: The style earned its name based on these beers’ strength and complexity – two things that definitely show similarities to wine.
Though there are now a lot of high-alcohol beers, traditionally, Barleywines have been some of the strongest beers on the market with ABVs ranging from as low as about 8 percent and going up to 12 percent or more. Keep in mind that before IPAs and Imperial Stouts took over the American craft beer scene, the vast majority of brews fell somewhere in the 4 to 5 percent ABV range, making the alcohol level on Barleywines much closer to what the average consumer would find in a wine instead of a beer – thus the “wine” name. And speaking of that big ABV, those high alcohol levels also mean that Barleywines are one of the few beers that handle aging extremely well – again, like a fine wine.
To get to such a high ABV, brewers have to pack more malt, typically barley, into the beer to ratchet up its “original gravity,” basically the amount of sugars available to be fermented. All that malt increases sweetness, meaning Barleywines also need an extra helping of hops to keep them balanced. That massive combination of malt, hops and alcohol turn Barleywines into extremely complex beers. Though the type of complexity found in the style certainly differs from the kinds of notes you’d discuss with a wine, the extent to which this complexity can be analyzed and discussed is certainly similar to wine, creating another association between Barleywine and its fruit-made namesake.
So what are those complexities? Well, Barleywine is typically described as coming in two different forms: the hoppier American-style and the mellower and more balanced English-style. The Brewer’s Association describes both versions as featuring “flavors of bread, caramel, honey, molasses and toffee.” As the name Barleywine suggests, these are dark, malty beers, elevated by additional alcohol complexity. Unlike many other styles, hops and yeast play a far more supporting role allowing malt (aka “barley”) and alcohol (aka “wine”) to shine.
Those looking for an introduction to American-style Barleywines can start with one of the founders of America’s craft beer movement—Sierra Nevada. Since 1983 the classic California brewery’s Bigfoot Barleywine has encapsulated a hopped up take on the style. Meanwhile, if you want a “traditional English-style barleywine,” but with one of the best American pedigrees available, see if you can hunt down a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Barleywine which gets even more kick and complexity from aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels.
TIME OUT – Scotch & Water
A lady went to the bar on a cruise ship, and ordered a Scotch, with two drops of water. The bartender gave her the drink, and she said, “I’m on this cruise to celebrate my 80th birthday, and it’s today.”
The bartender said, “Well, since it’s your birthday, this one’s on me.”
As the lady finished her drink, a woman, to her right, said, “I’d like to buy you a drink, too.” The lady said, “Thank you, how sweet of you. OK, then, Bartender, I want another Scotch, with two drops of water.”
“Coming up,” said the bartender.
As she finished that drink, a man, to her left, said, “I’d like to buy you a drink too.” The lady said, “Thank you very much, my dear. Bartender, I’ll have another Scotch, with two drops of water.”
“Coming right up,” the bartender said.
As he gave her the drink, this time, he said, “Ma’am, I’m dying of curiosity. Why the Scotch with only two drops of water?”
The old woman giggled, and replied, “Sonny, when you’re my age, you’ve learned how to hold your liquor. Water, however, is a whole other issue.”
