New craft breweries popping up across Nova Scotia, celebration coming in May

HALIFAX -- When Kevin Keefe started up one of Halifax's first brew pubs 30 years ago, he named his first ale "Peculiar."

"I called it that because nobody had ever seen anything like it before," says Keefe, owner of Granite Brewery and president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia. "It was dark, strong, old-style English ale."

At the time, there was little to choose from in Nova Scotia when it came to beer. There was Moosehead, Keith's, the other big labels and no-name draft. That was about it.

"It was a hard, hard job changing people's tastes," says Keefe. "That was a long, hard grind."

Two more microbreweries set up shop in Halifax in the late 1990s. Propeller Brewing and Garrison Brewing are now firmly established industry leaders that had little competition until about three years ago when small breweries started popping up across the province at an astonishing rate.

In that short time, Nova Scotia has become a hotbed of craft brewing with no less than 18 breweries and brew pubs now producing a wildly eclectic variety of beer. Keefe says another three breweries are expected to open in the next few months in the Halifax area.

For those who enjoy a good brew, it's been tough keeping up.

"It is growing dramatically here and it's changing very, very quickly," says Keefe.

The craft brewing trend started long ago in the United States, where craft brewers have a 15 per cent market share, and has since spread across most of Canada. While craft brewers supply about three per cent of the market in Nova Scotia, the figure is about 20 per cent in British Columbia, says Keefe.

Industry players in Nova Scotia are planning to celebrate their rapid success during Craft Beer week, May 11-16. The event will feature brewery tours and tastings, culminating in the Full House Craft Beer Fest in Halifax on May 16 at the Olympic Community Centre.

The Full House event will bring together all members of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia under one roof.

As well, Keefe says plans are in the works for a bus tour that will bring ardent hop-heads to some of the dozen or so breweries that stretch from Cape Breton to Yarmouth.

"You could do a tour of Nova Scotia and you would never be more than an hour away from the next brewery," says Keefe.

For those who can't make it to Craft Beer Week, a growing number of the province's bars and restaurants have started offering locally brewed beers. One in particular, Stillwell in Halifax, changes its taps so often that a giant blackboard is used to keep patrons up to date.

"There's probably more beers that debut at Stillwell than at any other bar in the province," says co-owner Chris Reynolds, adding that the bar's keg fridge typically has 60 varieties ready to go. "Brewers know that we are their playground."

Reynolds is a Nova Scotian who was living in Toronto when he and some friends noticed that the craft brewing trend that was already firmly established in Ontario was moving east.

Stillwell opened on Barrington Street just over a year ago.

"It's part of a wider culinary movement," he said. "People are taking more pleasure in food and drink. ... Our mission is to focus on the local stuff. We view that as a responsibility."