TORONTO & OTTAWA, ON – Associated beer event series The Brewer’s Backyard and The Brewery Market have announced details of a pair of events that will see breweries from Toronto and Ottawa partnered up on cross-city collaborations.

Collectively called The Capital Mashup, the two events – taking place in Toronto on July 1st at the Evergreen Brickworks, and Ottawa on July 7th at Parkdale Park – will feature exclusive beers created in tandem by Cassel Brewery & Great Lakes Brewery,  Broadhead Brewing & Amsterdam Brewery, and Beyond the Pale Brewing & Indie Alehouse. Each brewery will also bring some of their solo creations, and several local food vendors will be on hand.

For more details on each event, see the information posts on the Brewer’s Backyard and Brewery Market websites.

BAYSVILLE, ON – Lake of Bays Brewing has announced plans to release a new series of beers developed and branded in collaboration with the NHL Alumni Association.

The first beer in the series – described as “a lager, traditionally brewed in small batches using only natural ingredients” – is expected to be released to retail in October, with additional “special release and collector brews” to follow.

Proceeds from the beers will go to support the NHL Alumni, a non-profit organization that “serves as a passionate advocate for greater quality of life benefits for all former NHL players.”

For more details on the partnership, see the full press release on the Lake of Bays news website.

TORONTO, ON – Ontario’s government-owned liquor distribution and retail agency, the LCBO, has announced its financial results for the 2012-13 fiscal year, and Ontario craft beer sales have once again shown the highest sales growth of all product segments at the retailer.

While the 33% growth seen in the local craft beer sales isn’t as high as in the past several years – including a record setting 55% increase in 2010-11 – it is still much higher than the increase seen in other segments, and also trends ahead of the 3.9% growth in overall beer sales.

More details on the LCBO’s year-end sales results are available in the press release posted to the LCBO Media Centre.

BRANDON, MB – An ambitious proposal to convert an historic firehall in downtown Brandon into a co-op brewpub is likely to be rejected during a city council meeting this evening.

The Brewtinerie was originally proposed last August by Brandon Sun reporter and blogger Grant Hamilton, who envisioned opening a brewery and poutinerie – a restaurant specializing in poutine and other pub food – in the 100-year-old building.

After an initial plan received a positive response from council in the fall, Hamilton put together a more detailed business plan that was submitted in April, but with estimated costs raised from an initial estimate of $1 million to $3 million. As Hamilton notes in a blog post today, this much higher cost appears to be the main reason that city administration has advised council to reject the proposal.

It’s expected that council will also open a new request for proposals for the building in tonight’s meeting, and Hamilton indicates that he may “regroup and rethink” and submit a revised proposal in the future.

[Photo from Brandon Sun website]

TORONTO, ON – Junction Craft Brewing has announced that its flagship brand will be available soon at select LCBO locations.

Conductor’s Craft Ale is described as follows:

Conductor’s Craft Ale fits broadly into the pale ale category, though we think of it more as a hybrid of traditional British, German, and American brewing techniques used to arrive at a hop complexity that constantly changes in the glass as it warms up and a drinker drinks more. We used 5 different malts from Germany, France, Britain and Canada to give Conductor’s a biscuity, toasted, caramel base, and a combination of 5 different hops from Germany, the Czech Republic and the Pacific Northwest of the USA. To finish the beer we designed and built in-house a ‘hopback’ mechanism that infuses the hop aromas into the beer in line from the kettle as the beer goes into the fermenter. We use whole leaf hops of Cascade and spicy German Tetnanger in the ‘hopback’ to provide a unique and intense hop aroma that is familiar but uniquely presented.

Conductor’s Craft Ale will be rolling out for LCBO sales starting today. It will retail for $2.85 per 473 ml can.

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – The Atlantic Canada Beer Blog reports that the PEI Brewing Company has released a new seasonal beer with a somewhat unusual ingredient.

Lobster Ale is a 6.5% abv Saison-style ale that is not only intended to be paired with lobster, but which also has a closer connection to the tasty crustacean, as head brewer Bryan Carver explains:

The beer contains a mash of malted barley, wheat and oats, with kettle additions of European noble hops, refined sugar, and lemon peel. The juice from the lemons was added to the beer during conditioning. A very small amount of lobster shell was also added, prior to fermentation with a Saison yeast. The beer has been tested for allergen compounds, and none were detected; however, those concerned with an allergic reaction should still “err on the side of caution”.

Lobster Ale is available now on draught and in bottles at the PEI Brewing retail store, and it will be available soon in bottles at select PEILCC locations.

VICTORIA, BC – Swans Brewpub has announced the release of a new seasonal beer, with a casual drop-in launch event set for later today (Friday June 14th).

Swans Tessier’s Witbier is a Belgian-style wheat beer that went on tap at the pub earlier this week.

Free samples of the beer will be offered today between 5:30 and 6:30 PM, and it will remain on tap for regular sales while supplies last.

SUDBURY, ON – Two months after revealing its core brand line-up on Facebook, Stack Brewing has used that same platform to announce that its beers are now available to the public for the first time at five establishments in Sudbury.

Fromagerie Elgin, The Laughing Buddha, The Townehouse Tavern, and both locations of Hardrock42 Gastropub are all pouring at least one Stack beer on tap, with both Hardrock42 spots featuring all five brands – Angry Moose Imperial IPA, Saturday Night Cream Ale, Valley Girl Wheat Ale, Les Portes De L’Enfer Amber Ale and Black Rock Cascadian Dark Ale.

Retail beer sales at the brewery are on hold pending AGCO approval, but once that’s been granted, all Stack beers will be available in 32 oz and 1.89 L growlers.

TORONTO, ON – Kensington Brewing has announced that the long-awaited launch of its second beer at the LCBO has finally taken place.

Baldwin FishEYE-PA has been distributed on draught at bars and restaurants since last fall, but will now be available in cans for retail sales. It is described as follows:

At 6.5% ABV and 70IBU, FishEYE-PA is a brew for hop-loving beer enthusiasts. A marriage of 3 types of malt and 4 hop varieties, including an extra dose of dry hops, meld beautifully to create a complex, hop-forward ale. The aroma is dominated by floral and pine notes, with a slight tinge of grapefruit rind and sweet caramel malt. A lengthy finish is characterized by the balanced interplay between residual sweetness and a lingering hop bitterness.

Baldwin FishEYE-PA is currently available at GTA locations of the LCBO, and will soon be on the shelves of more than 100 locations throughout Ontario. It retails for $2.85 per 473 ml can.

LYONS BROOK, NS – The Atlantic Canada Beer Blog and the Pictou Advocate both report that a new nanobrewery will be opening soon near Pictou, Nova Scotia.

Uncle Leo’s Brewery is being launched in the village of Lyons Brook by Karl and Rebecca Whiffen, with brewmaster Greg Nash of Hart & Thistle and Rockbottom Brewpub consulting on the recipes.

Named after Karl’s uncle Leo Whiffen, who made his own beer when Karl was growing up in rural Newfoundland, Uncle Leo’s will be opening with two flagship brands – a Red Ale and an IPA – with production alternating between the two as demand dictates.

The first batch of Uncle Leo’s Red Ale was brewed earlier this week, and the Whiffens hope to have it available for sale by the end of June.

[Photo of Uncle Leo's Brewery from the Pictou Advocate website.]