THE WAKKER WEEKLY
Issue #1680 – Posted on: 10-April-2023
BREWERY “HOPP”ENINGS! Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports that our seasonally available TWO SONS MILK STOUT, ARCTIC DARK MUNICH DUNKEL and brand new CHERRY LIME ALE are currently available. There are still some bottles of the amazing THREE-DOWN BOHEMIAN PILSNER in our offsale cooler. A batch of BARON BOCK and SASKADIAN BLACK IPA are currently working their way through the brewery.
The biggest day of the year for our Fish & Chips falls on the April 7th edition of First Firkin Friday! Enjoy a pint of Chocolate Milk Stout from the firkin with some delicious fried Alaskan Cod. Carrot Cake Cheesecake and Chocolate Mini Egg Cheesecake will also make their annual return. Take out orders for fish and cheesecakes can be placed starting at 9:00 AM on Good Friday. There will be a maximum limit of takeout orders which can be accepted for each 30 minute time slot so call early. Due to the pomp and circumstance associated with First Firkin Friday, no take out orders will be made available between between 4:30 and 7:00 so the kitchen can focus on our dine-in customers during that time.
Less than half of our tickets remain! After a four-year hiatus, we are very excited to bring back our signature Bushwakker event which showcases the talents of both the kitchen and the brewery! Tickets to our April 22nd Bushwakker Brewer’s Dinner are on sale now! $89.95 each. Each course utilizes beer as an ingredient and is paired with a half pint of beer to accentuate the flavours of the food. Don’t miss our most decadent dining experience of the entire year!
BUSHWAKKER BREWER’S DINNER 2023 – MEXICAN BBQ
1ST COURSE: BOCK BRAISED SMOKED PORK EMPANADAS
Baron Bock braised smoked pork and monterey jack empanada on a bed of Mexican slaw with pickled red onion salsa fresca, ancho bbq sauce and cilantro crema, paired with Harvest Oktoberfest Lager.
2ND COURSE: TROPICAL CEVICHE LAGER TOSTADA
Northern Lights Lager, ahi tuna, shrimp and tropical fruit ceviche, paired with Three-Down Bohemian Pilsner.
3rd COURSE: DUNKEL BISTEC ASADO
Slow roasted Arctic Dark Munich Dunkel and citrus marinated beef tenderloin with smoked pepper salsa verde, ancho mole sauce, roasted poblano and Oaxaca cheese mashed potato and sweet corn succotash, paired with Saskadian Black IPA.
PALATE CLEANSER: NIEVE DE LIMA made with Mexican Lime Radler
4th COURSE: DULCE DE LECHE CHICO CHURRO TARTA
Chico IPA churro cake topped with dulce de leche ganache, Mexican hot chocolate sauce and a Blackberry Mead paleta on a bed of ground almond brittle, paired with Chocolate Two Son’s Milk Stout.
This menu was thoughtfully designed by Bushwakker kitchen team members, Andrew Calibaba and Amber Colbourne.
This Weekend’s Special Dining Feature for April 7 – 8 is PAN-FRIED TILAPIA for $21.95. 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.
Our SASK CRAFT GUEST TAP is currently pouring the 600 CITRUS PILSNER from Regina’s Malty National Brewing. Next up is KRRRISPY RICE LAGER from Swift Current’s Black Bridge Brewery.
APRIL PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: Our April Wine features pay tribute to the iconic rock band and proudly hail from Canada! The red wine is HENRY OF PELHAM BACO NOIR VQA and the white wine is GRAY MONK PINOT GRIS. Both are $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre.
The Bushwakker LOCAL ARTIST WALL for the month of April features the works of CRISTIAN BARRENO. Cristian was born and raised in Guatemala, a country known for its deep roots with the Mayan Culture. This rich heritage has influenced and inspired Cristian since he first started painting using oils and acrylics back in the mid-nineties. Thanks to the help of his brother, Cristian moved to Canada in 2002 and pursued a Bachelor in Business Administration. Since his first weeks in Canada he continued developing his passion for painting and drawing. His themes and colors have constantly evolved, maintaining vivid colors, nonetheless. In each work he tries to achieve story telling or at least provoke a happy smile. During the past few years his wife Addy has been a great comrade in developing new ideas on blank canvases. He is very honoured to see the recognition he has gained in Regina, and plans to continue exploring this skill and encourage others to try creating art. Enjoy his big, vibrant, colourful works all this month!
The 2023 “Best of Food Regina” nominees have now been selected. There were a number of category changes made this year which should make things interesting. Thank you for nominating your Bushwakker in 11 categories including BEST: Local Beer Maker, Pub, Warehouse District Restaurant, Warehouse District Pub, Pub Food, Burgers, Veggie Burger, Fries, Wings, Beer Selection and Pub For a Date!
Be sure to turn those nominations into wins by voting in the easy and fun multiple-choice ballot. Just head over to prairiedogmag.com or click the link below. Voting is open only until May 1st, so don’t delay.
Best of Food 2023 | Best Restaurant | Best of Food 2023 | Prairie Dog (prairiedogmag.com)
UPCOMING BUSHWAKKER EVENTS
Apr. 7: FIRST FIRKIN FRIDAY! Enjoy the pomp and circumstance of this longstanding 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 firkin offering will be a CHOCOLATE MILK STOUT! The suds-soaking spectacular takes place at 5:30 PM.
Apr. 7: FESTIVE FISH GOOD FRIDAY. The biggest day of the year for our number-one selling Stubblejumper Pils battered fish served with our award-winning fries and house-made tartar sauce. We are very excited to see the return of our Alaskan Cod now that proper supply chains have been reinstated. Enjoy an order in-house or call early (starting at 9:00 AM) at 306-359-7276 and get it to go! Takeout orders will not be available between 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM due to First Firkin Friday. And remember if you were unable to secure an order of our famous fish on Friday, you can always get an order on Saturday!
Apr. 10: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. JAKOB BJORNSON – CHLOE JACKSON-REYNOLDS DUO. Bassist and Tenor sax/flautist deliver classic jazz in an exploratory vein. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Apr. 12: Wednesday Folk Night. TOMMY JOHN EHMAN DUO. Country/Alt-Country/Roots/Canadiana and a little Folk music too from this talented act. 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
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 midnight. The kitchen is open until 11:00 PM and last call is at 11:15 PM. Closed Sundays.
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.
Federal Excise Tax Won’t Have a Huge Impact on Hamilton Craft Brewers
The dreaded federal excise tax will take effect in just a couple of days, however, not everyone is sweating over it. Hamilton breweries say that although they aren’t thrilled about the implemented tax hike, it won’t have a huge impact on their product.
Ram McAllister, owner and head brewer at Fairweather Brewing, said the proposed tax hike will hit the small brewer with an additional 20.8 cents to 41.8 cents per 100 hectolitres produced or 0.21 cents to 0.42 cents per litre.
“We don’t welcome any tax increase,” said McAllister. “(But) this one has been misrepresented or misunderstood as the equivalent of a six per cent increase in the price of beer.”
Mark Horsley, brewer and owner of Barrel Heart Brewing in Ancaster, the tax increase will boost the cost of producing a bottle of his beer by about 1.5 cents.
Horsley, who is also a brewmaster and brewery operations management professor at Niagara College, said higher beer prices “are more likely to stem from the price of malt increasing by 30 per cent, or more” from Europe. Horsley has been using malt from Ontario, which has not been impacted by the war in Ukraine. In addition, for Barrel Heart, the largest production cost is the time the beer spends aging in wine barrels and the price of local fruits from the Niagara region.
“Our prices are not going to change based on the tax increase,” he said.
The excise rate is applied according to the volume a brewery produces and the amount of alcohol in the beer. For domestic brewers, the current excise tax ranges from $3.48 to $29.597 per hectolitre (100 litres) of beer, for beer containing more than 2.5 per cent alcohol by volume.
It automatically increases every year with the rate of inflation. When it was introduced in 2017, the federal tax on alcohol jumped by 2.4 percent. Since then, it has increased 18 percent.
TIME OUT
Julius Caesar walks into a bar and says, “I’ll have a Martinus.”
The bartender gives him a puzzled look and asks, “Don’t you mean a Martini?” “Look,” Caesar replies. “If I wanted a double, I’d have asked for it!”
Our April 7th Festive Fish Friday event also falls on First Firkin Friday. In order to serve customers who are in the brewpub first, the number of take-out orders will not be available between 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM. Call us early that morning beginning at 9:00 AM to secure your take-out orders at 306-359-7276.
