HALIFAX, NS – Details have been announced for the second annual edition of the Garrison Brewing Ultimate Brew-Off homebrewing competition.

Entrants will produce a 5 gallon/20 litre batch of this year’s chosen style – Belgian-Style Witbier – and submit it for judging & prizes. The grand prize includes a day with Garrison’s award-winning brewmaster Daniel Girard brewing a full batch of the winning recipe to be released in bottles as a limited edition seasonal, and there are also prizes from contest sponsor Noble Grape.

The registration deadline for entries is February 28th, with samples due for judging by March 15th. For more details, see the Ultimate Brew-Off website.

ST. JOHN’S, NL – Two small and unrelated fires struck a pair of Newfoundland breweries this weekend, although both of them luckily caused little damage and no injuries.

At the Quidi Vidi Brewery, the owners arrived to survey the damage caused by a violent storm that hit the area overnight on Friday and into Saturday, and found a small fire smoldering in their warehouse. It was quickly put out, and seemed to be unrelated to the storm.

Also on Saturday, firefighters were called to YellowBelly Brewery, a brewpub in downtown St. John’s, with reports of smoke filling the three-floor structure. It was traced to a small fire in the restaurant’s pizza oven, which was doused before any major damage occurred.

VICTORIA, BC – Driftwood Brewing have just released their newest seasonal beer, Naughty Hildegard ESB. The label describes it as follows:

Brewed to honor Hildegard Von Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine nun who allegedly was the first to record the use of hops as an ingredient in beer. While this is open to debate, we like Hildegard’s style and we can’t imagine a beer without hops. This extra special bitter has lots of hops- Hildegard would be proud. We are! Cheers Hildy!

Naughty Hildegard ESB is available now via retailers in Victoria, and will be released in Vancouver on Monday, February 8th.

Following on the heels of one-off screenings in Halifax and Vancouver, the American documentary film Beer Wars is now available for viewing via several cable and satellite On Demand services across the country.

As of February 1st, the film is available to subscribers of Rogers Cable, Cogeco, Videotron, Sasktel and Shaw.

WINNIPEG, MB – The Winnipeg Free Press reports that Fort Garry Brewing will be shutting down production of Agassiz Catfish Cream Ale, a brand that they’ve been brewing under contract for several years on behalf of New Manitoba Brewing, the company which owns the rights to the Agassiz name and brands.

Once a full-scale brewing operation, the Agassiz brewery was shut down in 2002, and all brands were retired except Catfish, which was brewed for a time at the now defunct Northern Breweries in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, before production was moved to Fort Garry in 2006.

Due to a new contract to brew two house brand beers for the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Winnipeg, Fort Garry no longer has the capacity to brew Catfish. According to Joe Constant, a partner in New Manitoba, preliminary talks are underway with breweries in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but he only gives a 50/50 chance of the brand being revived.

TORONTO, ON – After three years of releasing a mixed six-pack in the late fall for the holiday season, the Ontario Craft Brewers have released their fourth pack just three months after the third, and have returned to bottles after featuring cans in the previous package.

Released to LCBO outlets this week, just in time to capitalize on the increased beer sales expected for the upcoming Winter Olympics, the new Discovery Pack includes 341 ml bottles of Black Oak Nut Brown Ale, Cameron’s Cream Ale, Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion, Mill Street Coffee Porter, Old Credit Amber Ale and Wellington Special Pale Ale.

OCB Discovery Pack No. 4 retails for $11.95, and will be available while supplies last.

TIVERTON, ON – While there’s yet to be an official announcement or confirmed media reports, it appears that the troubled Steelback Brewery has ceased operations.

Rumours began spreading early last week that the Tiverton brewery was preparing to close, and on Friday, the Great Canadian Pubs and Beer blog quoted an anonymous source saying “they closed the doors officially yesterday. The staff were told late day Thursday.” Subsequent attempts to contact the brewery have been met with unanswered calls and full voice mail boxes.

If true, this will mark the second closure for Steelback, as it faced bankruptcy under original owner Frank D’Angelo before being relaunched in May, 2008 under new owner Jonathon Sherman (son of Barry Sherman, founder of  pharmaceutical company Apotex and main financier for D’Angelo’s company).

While Sherman oversaw a big change in direction for the brewery, including new packaging and reformulated brands, there was speculation in the industry that the negative legacy left by the D’Angelo version of the company would be difficult to overcome. The biggest evidence of this came last July, when the majority of Steelback’s workforce was laid off due to low sales.

If and when more information comes available, it will be reported here on CBN.

VANCOUVER, BC – Love Good Beer, a beer blog based in Vancouver, reports that R&B Brewing are set to release a new brew called Icehole Lager as a tongue-in-cheek response to comments made last November by comedian Stephen Colbert:

You may recall the controversy created by Canada’s decision to restrict access to Olympic venues for foreign athletes. You may also recall Stephen Colbert’s reaction to the decision. If you don’t, read up on how he called us a bunch of “Canadian Iceholes” here. [...] R&B Brewing, in direct response to Colbert’s comments, has brewed a new beer called Icehole Lager. I’ve also heard that R&B are sending Colbert a few cases and that he’s been invited to suck on an Icehole. I suspect that Colbert may even mention the beer on his show. In my opinion, this is brilliant non-Olympic Olympic marketing by R&B. Well played sirs.

There’s been no official word from R&B on when Icehole Lager will be released, but it will likely be later this month in order to capitalize on the Olympics.

VANCOUVER, BC – Granville Island Brewery is about to release Granville Island Chocolate Stout, a new seasonal release brewed using chocolate from Rogers’ Chocolates, one of Canada’s oldest chocolate makers:

Our Chocolate Stout is rich and warming. A perfect complement to Vancouver’s cold winter nights. It is brewed with 4 different malts. Hops from the Pacific Northwest and organic, fairtrade chocolate from Rogers’ Chocolates. This beer’s dark chocolate colouring and aromas of roast malt, cocoa and coffee flavours are accompanied by dried fruit and a mellow bitterness.

Granville Island Chocolate Stout will be available in select LDB stores and in the Granville Island retail store.

CALGARY, AB – Wild Rose Brewery is bringing back the seasonal Imperial IPA for another year. The new batch will be released on Friday, February 5th with the tapping of a cask at the brewery’s weekly “Wild Fridays” event, starting at 4:00 PM in the Wild Rose Taproom.

Here are the notes provided by the brewery:

Wild Rose Brewery’s Imperial India Pale Ale (IIPA) is created in the traditional Double IPA style, but with a unique Albertan twist.

Extremely hoppy with floral notes of pine and citrus, our Imperial IPA expertly blends Cascade, Centennial and Columbus hops with the finest Alberta two-row barley and crystal malts.

Described as an India Pale Ale “on steroids,” Double IPAs are robust and malty with a higher alcohol and a very intense hop flavour.