This COMDB brew tour is a toast to the coast with the most. No Vancouver, we aren’t talking about you, not everything is about you, you know. We’re talking the Rock. No Dwayne Johnson, we aren’t talking about you, not everything is about you, you know. The Rock as in Newfoundland. A 750 km trek (not including the flight) which included 8 breweries and numerous brews.
First thing you notice when you get here is how beautiful Newfoundland is. Check out this picture I took from my hotel room. *
Newfoundland is also different. As in 1.5-hour time different. As in two official provincial dogs and a Puffin as the provincial bird. 1 And some colourful place names. I couldn’t swing over to “Joe Batt’s Arm” and wasn’t up for “Blow Me Down”. It was just bad luck that I missed “Come By Chance”, and I couldn’t even find “Witless Bay”. But I did partake in a “Quidi Vidi” or two and had a brew at “Dildo” on my way to “Paradise”. And everywhere I went I was treated with the great hospitality that Newfoundland has become famous for. “What’ll it be Dearie” was the standard ask at the pub, I think even the male servers said it, well one anyway.
Quidi Vidi seemed to be the most prevalent craft brewer and my first sampling. The beer was a traditional ale named “1892”. A full flavoured malt ale with an edge to it. Bitters here there and everywhere. A super suds start to the tour. But what is so significant about that year was the burning question.
The answer is that was the year of the great fire of 1892 that decimated St.John’s.2 1892 is the first brew that Quidi Vidi Brewery3 brewed and have been brewing since 1996.
If you are in St.John’s you only need to go about 20 kms West to find Paradise. And if you find it you have also found Banished Brewing . Banished in Paradise, just stay away from that apple tree. Their Space Puffin NEIPA was a juicy hoppy bitter mix and a fitting tribute to the provincial bird.
I travelled off the TCH a bit and through the town of South Dildo, and just North of South Dildo is, you guessed it, Dildo. The town and brewery attracted some Hollywood notoriety a few years ago when Jimmy Kimmel did a bit on the town, next thing you know Kimmel is appointed Honorary Mayor. It was raining hard enough to float the ark when I pulled in, Wednesday lunchtime and the pub was hustling and bustling. All of the local population seemed to be regulars, everyone knew everyone, except me.
I ordered a tasty Dildo Brewery Nitro Irish Stout with a side of Mussels and a great view of the bay. Dildo is a detour I would strongly recommend, a pretty town with a great tap room to enjoy the view and the brew and maybe see a whale or two too.
Port Rexton was off the beaten trail but highly recommended by a few people as a great place to do some ale watching. At least that what I thought they said.
Their Shoulder Season cream ale was a big swigable cream crusher. A cold shoulder I quite enjoyed. A Port Rexton Golden Ale also turned up on the menu and garnered a golden review too.
Up to Baie Verte peninsula, “au couer du petit nord” and up there you can watch whales or drink ales. I thought if I saw a whale it would be a fluke, so I stuck with what I know best and had a beer.
Good Friday is a cream ale from the Little North Brewhouse. This brewer tells us that “Good Friday is dedicated to ice fishing on the pond or a boil up in the woods.” 4
According to the Department of Morality Good Friday is the start of one of the weekends I have to go to church, so I don’t think a Good Friday tailgate party in the woods is on my social calendar. But most other Fridays it could be arranged. This beer was refreshing with two “r”s at least. Three and it would be a would be a full scale “refresher”. A creamy dreamy ale, it received high praise. It’s about time for a Good Friday full scale Bob’s your uncle boil up boyos, and hopefully I can still make it to the church on time.
Back to downtown St, John’s, where the Rock really rocks. With more pubs and taverns than Dodd’s has pills, one not to be missed is YellowBelly Brewery on YellowBelly corner. 5 A historic building with a great atmosphere and an interesting selection of brews.
They told me to “Say Yes to an SJS” and I found that to be good advice. Their St. John’s Stout is a stout lover’s stout. It evolved from a strong starter into a mellow roast malt body with minimal cocoa and an espresso finale. From a touch harsh to smooth as silk in a series of simple sips.
From my hotel the maps said that Bannerman’s was just up the road a few kilometers. What I didn’t realize was that “up” referred to elevation. A wet hill climb as it started to rain resulted in a dry finish as I missed last call.
Next time I took a cab at 5PM for a bit of day drinking and tapped into their Broad Strokes Kolsch. A light golden cloudy serenity now kinda pour of a great basic pub ale, a mellow quaff for a mellow fellow.
I’m usually a craft brew connoisseur but if one beer had to be the dark horse of this Newfoundland tour, it made sense that the brew would be Black Horse. Not a craft at all, but a Molson Coors brew which is apparently brewed only in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was what you would expect from a big brewer, a basic big brewer lager. It was an open bar, so it had that going for it.
At St, John’s airport I was waiting for my flight and bidding a fond farewell to the Rock by hoisting a hope to see you again soon toast with a preflight pint.
A YellowBelly Fighting Irish had me seeing red. My fight or flight reflex is well honed, I much prefer a flight. 6 I would be the first one to shy away from a fight, but quite possibly the last one to shy away from a beer. This brew started out fierce and feisty and ready to rumble. But this raucous red turned righteous, rough and ready morphed into smooth and steady.
A thoroughly enjoyable tour of the far east. No, I’m not talking about the one with the Great Wall, I’m talking about the one with the great times. Newfoundland that is. A great island with some great people and some great beers.
Note to self.
*Editor’s Comment: It appears that our reviewer actually took this picture from his hotel room, literally. It was a picture hanging on the wall of his room which he tried to take home with him. Fortunately, it wouldn’t fit in his carry on.
1. Editor’s Comment: The Labrador Retriever and the Newfoundland Dog are the two official provincial dogs. The Atlantic Puffin is the official provincial bird with 95% of North America’s Atlantic Puffin population found in the province.
2. Editor’s Comment: The fire destroyed almost all of St. John’s leaving 11,000 people homeless. As the capital and commercial center of the area it also resulted in an economic downturn for all of Newfoundland and Labrador.
3. Editor’s Comment: Quidi Vidi is a neighbourhood and harbour of St. John’s Newfoundland. The origin of the name appears to be a mystery even to its longest-term residents. Quidi Vidi in Latin means “I saw why”. In Italian it means “here I saw”. Or “qui divide” means that which divides. One theory behind the name is that it was named after a beloved cat named Vidi.
4. Editor’s Comment: The Atlantic does freeze over along the Northern coast and into the Arctic ocean. In addition to whales, iceberg watching is popular at certain times of the year as well. A boil up is a Newfoundland tradition where friends or family gather by the beach or the woods to have a cup and a snack by a fire. A cup of what may be subject to some debate but the boil up seemed to originally refer to tea. Little North may have other ideas.
5. Editor’s Comment: “Yellowbelly” is an accepted word in Scrabble and worth 25 points. The brewery is situated on Yellow Belly Corner in downtown St. John’s. The brewery building was reconstructed after the fire of 1846, it is one of few buildings to survive the great St. John’s fire of 1892. The term Yellowbellies refers to the Irish immigrants from County Wexford who once tied strips of yellow cloth around their middles in a hurling match against the Cornish champions. Following their victory, King George III was heard to remark, “Well done, the Yellowbellies!”
6. Editor’s Comment: The fight or flight response is a neurological reaction to a stressful or frightening situation. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system. In our reviewer’s case it activates his pathetic nervous system which leads to him making a choice between a physical altercation or a multi-beer sampler.
An enjoyable tour of my home province from a very new perspective!