Local Beer

Now that things have slowed down a bit, I can start enjoying life in St. John's. Anyone who has known me for 5 minutes (or has read this blog) knows that beer is a big part of my enjoyment. Wherever I go, I always try to drink the local beer. Here's my free tip of the day, when it comes to beer, fresher is better. Beer is not like wine or scotch, it does not age well. Not only is fresher better, but closer is better too. In order to ship beer around the world, it is heavily filtered and pasteurized to give it a longer shelf life, so it's best to find a local craft brewery near you.

When I lived here 20 years ago, the local beer scene was pretty sad in St. John's. Blue Star and Jockey Club are a couple of poor excuses for lager made in Newfoundland. Luckily there are 2 craft breweries open in St. John's now and they make very good beer. Quidi Vidi Brewery opened in 1996 and YellowBelly opened in 2008. Both have a decent repertoire of regular beers that are supplemented with seasonal beers.

Quidi Vidi Brewery is in the small fishing village of the same name just north of Signal Hill in St. John's. If you ever visit Newfoundland, it's worth visiting the village and while you're there, pick up some beer. I really like their 1892 Traditional Ale and British IPA. They have a Winter Ale out as their seasonal beer and it's very good.

YellowBelly is actually a brewpub right downtown. I stopped in for lunch the other day and I had the braised short rib and it was delicious. It's cooked with their St. John's Stout.

Doesn't really matter where the breweries are, if you're coming for a visit, I will have plenty in the fridge waiting for you.



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