THE WAKKER WEEKLY
Issue #1614 – Posted on: 03-January-2022
Although the new Covid variant brings yet another wave of uncertainty to the hospitality sector and many others, we pause to reflect on the enthusiastic support we have received from our legion of Bushwakker fans once again this year. Much thanks to you all for without you, we would not be here. All the best to you and yours in the new year! The new variant may disrupt our services in the immediate future if the government makes any announcements regarding restaurant lockdowns or capacity reductions. If this happens we will have to temporarily suspend our event programming. Because of this potential threat, we have decided we will not be presenting our annual Robbie Burns/Bushwakker Birthday party in late January. But let’s focus on the positive and plan for the January calendar below coming to fruition and everyone keeping safe.
Bushwakker Holiday Hours
Fri. Dec. 31: Nothing For New Year’s 16. Our famous Prime Rib & Jumbo Yorkshire Pudding returns for one night only. Reserve your table now.
Sat. Jan. 1: Closed. Happy New Year!
BREWERY “HOP”PENINGS! Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our famous Blackberry Mead is still available in our offsale but is no longer available on tap. Our new Orangerine Fruit Beer is on tap and in our offsale!
Last chance to get our specialty brews for New Year’s Eve! Yes, there are indeed bottles of Blackberry Mead and our 30th Anniversary Barleywine in our offsale cooler.
Our GUEST TAP is currently pouring the SCOTTY THE T-REX DOUBLE NEW ENGLAND IPA from Swift Current’s Black Bridge Brewery. Next up will be the MODERN IPA from Nokomis Craft Ales.
In addition to taking our beer home in glass bottles and 2 litre jugs direct from our pub, you can find a varying selection of 650 ml bottles of Bushwakker beer in a number of REGINA SLGA stores.
JANUARY PREMIUM WINE FEATURES. This month’s featured wines are from the Trapiche Winery in Argentina. The red is a Reserve Malbec and the white is a Reserve Pinot Grigio. Both are $7.95 for a glass and $21.95 for a half litre.
Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL will be back next week. Our Monday and Wednesday WINGS & A PINT SPECIAL and Tuesday PIZZA & A PINT SPECIAL are also great value deals.
BUSHWAKKER “NEW NORMAL” NOTES
We are open Monday – Thursday from 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM. The kitchen closes at 9:30 PM and last call is at 10:15 PM. Fridays and Saturdays we are open from 11:00 AM until Midnight. The kitchen is open until 10:30 PM and last call is at 11:15 PM.
The government of Saskatchewan announced that the Mandatory Masking and Proof of Vaccination mandates for all pubs and restaurants would remain in place until the end of January. Please be sure you are wearing a mask upon entering and leaving Bushwakker and even if you just need to get up to use the washroom. Masks are not required when you are seated and are eating or drinking. If you forget to bring a mask, we can provide you with a new one. Proof of Vaccination is also required for offsale beer purchases.
Reservations are accepted and encouraged. We accept a limited number of reservations as late as 6:00 PM every day except Fridays. Fridays we accept reservations as late as 3:00 PM. Call us at 306-359-7276 to secure your table. We are now also able to accommodate larger groups. Our two banquet rooms are also available for private parties. Call Kelly at 306-359-7276 to book either our main floor Arizona Room or basement Clubroom.
Please continue to practice safe health measures. 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.
Dec. 31: NOTHING FOR NEW YEAR’S 16. Our most popular non-event of the year is back again! We’re celebrating this New Year’s Eve by bringing back Chef Mike’s famous slow roasted AAA Black Angus Prime Rib and Jumbo Yorkshire Pudding for one night only! $35.95 for an 8 ounce cut and $39.95 for a 10 ounce cut. Call 306-359-7276 to reserve your table. Two seatings available: 5:00 PM – 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM. Don’t delay and book your table today!
Jan. 1: Closed. Happy New Year!
Jan. 3: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. TDC INC. Jazz, blues and a little rock from this group of fine, distinguished gentleman. 8:00 – 10:00 PM.
Jan. 5: Wednesday Folk Night. TOMMY JOHN EHMAN DUO. Country/alt-country/roots/ Canadiana and a little folk music too!
Jan. 7: FIRST FIRKIN FRIDAY. The first of hopefully many First Firkin Fridays in 2022. Enjoy the piper, the procession and the pomp and circumstance as a guest volunteer is selected to wield The Mighty Firkin Wakker and attempt to tap the firkin in one mighty blow. Beer shower almost guaranteed for the guest tapper and those in the immediate vicinity! 5:30 PM.
The Beerification of Mead
By: Clayton Schuster
For decades, people around the United States had paltry options available for mead. Even when it could be found, those options were largely limited to expensive sickly-sweet honey wines that slicked around the palate like an oil spill or homebrews that pinballed between underwhelming and rocket fuel.
Mead culture, if it existed at all, was diffuse. Pre-Internet, folks had a hard time connecting to share their successes and build that sense of camaraderie and friendly rivalry that fuels innovation.
“Every great beer brewer had a great beer, got training in beer brewing, and then began brewing great beer,” says Ricky Klein, head brewer at Groennfell Meadery and Havoc Mead in Saint Albans, Vermont. Groennfell and Havoc are sister companies, with more traditional flavors housed by the former and Klein’s experimental fare usually under the latter. “Every great meadmaker heard a story about mead and thought, ‘I want to make that stuff.’”
Klein and meadmakers like him are evolving mead away from the cloying honey-wine iterations of recent memory toward a product that resembles craft beer. As such, the smaller-scale, higher-qualities meaderies that have cropped up in recent years are producers of what can be called craft mead.
There is no consensus of what craft mead can or cannot be. “A lot of what we think of as common knowledge about mead and meadmaking hasn’t been rigorously tested yet,” says Klein.
Still, the meads available at Groennfell and other producers suggest a kind of evolving sense that craft mead could have some shared values with craft beer. These include an alcohol-by-volume at around 7%, pronounced effervescence, and a bold brewing philosophy open to trying out beer-like styles and off-beat flavor combinations.
For Klein, especially, craft mead is also about cost. Mead of the last few decades was sold alongside wines at a premium price (the industry can easily see products marked up by 700%). Klein bucks at that idea and believes craft mead can best thrive at a much more affordable price point.
TIME OUT
A wobbly man comes inside a bar and says, “Happy New Year everybody.” and the waiter says, “We are in June you drunk man.”
And the man says, “Oh my god my wife is going to kill me I have never been so late in my life!”
One of the many possible consequences of staying at home! All the best to you in 2022!
