THE WAKKER WEEKLY
Issue #1646 – Posted on: 15-August-2022
BREWERY “HOPP”ENINGS: Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports that our brand new LEMON LIME TART ALE, SUMMER WHEAT and KAI’S MUNICH HELLES are currently available on tap, in our offsale and for growler fills too. In addition to taking our beer home in glass bottles and 2 litre jugs direct from our brewpub, you can find a varying selection of 650 ml bottles of Bushwakker beer in a number of REGINA SLGA stores.
Thank you Regina! Of the dozen wins we received in the 2022 Best of Food Regina Awards, the BEST SCOTCH SELECTION was quite exciting. We felt from the very beginning that our customers who appreciated the full flavours associated with craft beer made from only malted barley would similarly appreciate a full flavoured whiskey made from only malted barley. Single malt scotch is our whiskey of choice. The product of one distillery located in Scotland made from only malted barley. We are very excited to announce our 32nd Bushwakker Single Malt Scotch Tasting event will be back on Saturday, November 26th. Six unique single malts complete with a performance from The Regina Police Services Pipes & Drums and The Regina Highland Dance Association. Tickets go on sale in October. Can’t wait!
This Weekend’s August 12th & 13th Special Dining Feature is MOROCCAN PULLED PORK TAGINE for $21.95. Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL will also be available. Our Monday and Wednesday WINGS & A PINT SPECIAL and Tuesday PIZZA & A PINT SPECIAL are also great value deals.
Our SASK CRAFT GUEST TAP is currently pouring the PINEAPPLE WIN! SOUR from Regina’s Malty National Brewing. Next up is the DOWNTIME HAZY PALE ALE from Regina’s Warehouse Brewing. This will be followed by the FRUIT CUP IPA from Black Bridge Brewing.
AUGUST PREMIUM WINE FEATURES This month’s wine features are the GOOD NATURED WINES from Ontario. The red is a Merlot Gamay VQA and the white is a Crisp Chardonnay VQA. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
The Bushwakker LOCAL ARTIST WALL for the month of August features the works of NICHOLAS LOUMA.
The Regina-based artist, Nicholas Louma, is a painter and illustrator with an artistic style that resembles a combination of surrealism and pop art. Growing up in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, he had always had a love of drawing. This led to him graduating with a diploma in Visual Communications from Medicine Hat College in 2003, which was followed by a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2008.
His works contain an imaginative universe consisting of dome-shaped inhabitants, people, pigs, rabbits, and light bulbs that dwell within a landscape of organic buildings and vast flat plains. These works contain a narrative as this is important to Nicholas and a large part of the creation process. It is not important that others see the same narrative that was the inspiration for the work, only that an observer is able to create a narrative while experiencing the artwork. This is in part because Nicholas was heavily influenced by the artwork in comics, graphic novels, and video games when developing as an artist early in life.
Nicholas’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions in Canada and the U.S., including “Mind the Gap,” which toured Saskatchewan; “Don’t Cry Over Spilt Vinyl” at Pravus Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona; and “The Unusual Suspect” at the Owl Acoustic Lounge in Lethbridge. He was also commissioned by Death Fresh Clothing in Born, Netherlands to provide original artwork for the clothing brand, and he created and donated original work for “Shuffle Up & Deal” and “Shuffle Up and Deal Two” to fundraise for Lethbridge’s Royal Canadian Legion and special needs art education.
Enjoy his colourful work all this month!
Our summer Blackberry Mead Release is winding down! Last chance for a mead fix before December! Much thanks to the many summer tourists who have stopped by this month to pick up some bottles of our famous mead.
The Regina HOP CIRCUIT is back for a third year running until the Labour Day Long Weekend. Check out the 2022 Hop Circuit video at Hop Circuit 2022_v5 (vimeo.com) Grab a map and visit all six participating breweries and receive a 2022 commemorative beer glass. Download the free app at Hop Circuit « Tourism Regina to make your experience even slicker!
Aug 15: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. A STORRY WITH HUGHES. Talented acoustic blues guitar duo featuring Jeff Storry and Billy Hughes. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Aug 17: Wednesday Folk Night. JACKIE KROCZYNSKI. North Battleford Alt/Folk artist makes her Bushwakker debut! 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Aug 19: RIDERS VS BC LIONS. The only Rider home game of the month gets off to a late start. Kickoff is at 8:00 PM. Be sure to stop by before the game and enjoy our gourmet BC BURGER & A PINT SPECIAL. Chef Mike is a big Lions fan so this should one decadent burger. Come “devour” the competition!
CURRENT HOURS OF OPERATION AND RESERVATIONS NOTES
We are open Monday – Thursday from 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM. The kitchen closes at 9:00 PM and last call is at 9:15 PM. Fridays and Saturdays we are open from 11:00 AM until 11:00 PM. The kitchen is open until 10:00 PM and last call is at 10:15 PM.
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. Our two banquet rooms are also available for private party rentals. Call Kelly at 306-359-7276 to book either our main floor Arizona Room or basement Clubroom.
The Naming of Beer Styles
As craft beer continues to get more saturated with fascinating and intriguing style experiments, this story explains the way marketing and trends can affect how a beer style gets its name.
By: Thomas Guzowski
Thousands of years ago, human history popped the lid off of one of the greatest discoveries––beer. But despite its ancient origins, the tidy categorization of beer styles is a fairly modern concept. Now, with the rapid expansion of the craft beer industry, the guidelines of what makes a specific style can get hazy––both literally and figuratively.
What is a Style of Beer?
Using modern categories, there are three types of beer––top-fermenting ales, bottom-fermenting lagers and the mysterious-sounding “spontaneously” fermenting ales. But these simplistic groupings only satisfy a non-imbibing researcher. For the rest of us, we look to the hundreds of different styles branching from these three pillars. But prior to Charlie Papazian, the founder of the American Homebrewers Association, there was no such map. This made judging and critiquing homebrews a difficult endeavor. Therefore, Papazian enlisted beer expert Michael James Jackson to develop a list of distinct beer styles in the 1970s. Jackson delivered a list of over 70 styles of beer.
Today, you’ll find a variety of style guides, including ones developed by the highly respected Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and Brewers Association (BA). Most styles are incorporated into the guidelines based on “historical significance, authenticity, or a high profile in the current commercial beer market”, according to the BA. This highlights a critical concept about understanding beer styles––they’re apt to change each year as a result of market forces. These aren’t regulatory principles after all––they’re a group of experts documenting what they see, smell and taste.
The Hazy Evolution of Beer Styles
“Beer design decisions are usually made at the brewery level based on what the brewery thinks will sell, how it reflects the company brand, and based on what the brewer feels like making”, explains Paul Gatza, Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division, Brewers Association. This type of ingenuity, not to mention incredible influence on beer styles may be best told with the invention of the IPA. This craft beer favorite was originally developed in the 1700s, but it wasn’t until 1975 when Anchor Brewing released their interpretation called “Liberty Ale,” that the style would be fully defined as what we know today as the American IPA. Two decades later, brewers experimented again and pushed the boundaries to invent the “Double IPA.”
In the early days of these new variations, they were noteworthy for their pronounced bitterness and bouquets of piney and floral hops. And of course, they were relatively clear in appearance. A significant deviation from this and it may have been classified as an “experimental style” or even “flawed.” But then another twist in IPA history occurred in 2004.
A Vermont brewer named John Kimmich riffed on the American IPA style––using a special yeast strain, high-protein grain bill and intense dry-hopping. This new brewing technique, when done effectively, unleashes a vibrant haze and creaminess similar to tropical juice. The unique experiment was a huge hit and kicked off a rush for brewers and marketers to get this unnamed style to consumers. This led to an assortment of names such as “New England IPA” and “Juicy IPA”, along with various levels of quality. But the markets quickly caught up and so did the beer style guides. In 2018 and 2021, respectively, the BA and BJCP listed the beer as an official style called “Hazy IPA.” Of course, they include the characteristics that make this beer a showcase example.
Beer Lawyers With Style
While the Hazy IPA is a style of recent innovation and marketing success, the California Common traces its history to the 19th century. Clever West Coast brewers used lager yeast at warmer than normal temperatures, resulting in a unique ale-like lager. But this style is also known as “Steam Beer.” The origins of this name are foggy, but Anchor Brewing Co. actually trademarked the term in 1981. Since then, they have actively litigated against other brewers who use the term, occasionally without success.
As a result, you won’t find steam beer referenced as a style in the BJCP. Rather, you’ll find it listed as a California Common noting in the comments, “This style is narrowly defined around the prototypical Anchor Steam example, although allowing other typical ingredients of the era.”
A Stout or a Porter––It’s a Marketer’s Choice
Hidden in the dark opacity of stouts and porters is the truth defining what makes these two similar beers unique from each other––sort of. Originally explained by Beer Connoisseur, the difference was once defined by strength. The term “stout” was commonly used as a descriptor in the early 19th century. In fact, many recipes from this time made their porter and stouts using the same recipe––the only difference being its alcohol volume. But WWI levied restrictions on beer production. Brewers began to produce dramatically lower-alcohol stouts and porters since it requires less grains. Over time, Guinness Extra Stout went from a near 8% ABV to a meager 4.4% by the 1930s. Today, brewers and beer marketers are left to choose from a wide timeline on what they want to call their porter or stout because, in reality, there is no longer a difference.
Innovation Happens with Hazy Rules
For anyone seeking clarity, defined rules, and adherence to tradition, you won’t find it at the bottom of a pint glass. Beer has continued to flow and innovate regardless of any effort to restrict it––including the German Purity Law of 1516 (the Reinheitsgebot) and Prohibition in the U.S. in 1920. And as brewers, marketers, and consumers seek something new, expect many more new styles as well as plenty of changes to old ones. But as long as our glasses are full, there is no reason to worry.
TIME OUT
I don’t recycle because it makes me look like a huge alcoholic to my garbage man.
My doctor told me to watch my drinking, so now I drink in front of a mirror.
My body is not a temple…..it’s a brewery with legs.
I was drinking at the bar last night, so I took a bus home…That may not be a big deal to you, but I’ve never driven a bus before.
I want my last words to be “Hold my beer and watch this.”
A man’s got to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another beer.
Life is too short to drink cheap beer.
This pub sidewalk sign may spark some debate. A solution is defined as: “a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances” Alcohol alone would not constitute a mixture of multiple substances and would therefore not be a solution. But in English the word “alcohol” is also commonly used to refer to many recreational drinks containing ethyl alcohol in addition to other types of molecules. There are common examples of alcoholic beverages which are solutions in the scientific sense that would make the pun valid, such as liquor, wine, or most importantly, beer!
