The original proceeding accused Brickman of treating Brick as a “private company wholly owned by him rather than as a public company with shareholders” during his tenure as Executive Chairman, which ended in December 2008. Brickman responded with a statement of defence in August 2009.

Under the terms of the agreement, the details of the settlement are to remain confidential.

In New Brunswick, CBC News reports that Happy Hopyard hops farm near Anagance has had requests for their first crop of organic hops from a number of breweries in the region, including Picaroon’s, Propeller and Garrison. They don’t expect they’ll be able to meet the full demand this year, but hope to increase their yield next year.

In Nova Scotia, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reports that Garrison has brewed their first wet hop ale using hops from Happy Hopyard as well as two Nova Scotia farms – the Ross Farm Museum in New Ross, and Meander River Farm in Hants County. The beer should be ready for release in late September.

In Ontario, Heritage Hill Organics in Dalston has harvested what is believed to be the first commercial batch of hops in Ontario in almost 85 years.  The hops were picked last weekend with the help of staff from Duggan’s Brewery in Toronto, which will be one of the first breweries to craft a beer using the historic harvest.

If you know of any other hops being harvested or fresh/wet hop beers being made elsewhere in Canada, please feel free to mention it in the comments section below.

Photo from Chronicle-Herald website

4.8% abv with medium-high bitterness supported by toasted malt flavours. The hop flavour is moderate but balanced by a caramel malt sweetness. This beer is excellent by itself, however it also goes well with cheese, BBQ and curry.

Dickey describes Cheshire Valley as a “virtual brewery”, as he is brewing his beers at Black Oak Brewery in Etobicoke, but he is using his own fermenter and is overseeing all aspects of the production.

He plans to have all Cheshire Valley beers to be served unfiltered in order to “deliver all the flavour intended for each product”, and intends to release a new beer every two months, including a Mild in November, a Robust Porter in January, a Dry Stout in March and an IPA in May.

Cheshire Valley ESB is available now/soon at several locations in Toronto (C’est What,  beerbistro,  Bar Volo,  The Rhino,  Harbord House,  The Burger Bar & Bryden’s), and also at The Stinking Rose in Campbellford,  Chancey Smith’s in London, and the Woolwich Arms in Guelph.

While the Sault Ste. Marie plant sold earlier this year may be used to house a new brewery, the Sudbury location is being stripped of its brewing equipment, and will be put to another use.

Northern Breweries was once a co-operative of five breweries throughout northern Ontario, but only the Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie locations were operational during an attempt to revive the brand under new owners in 2004. By 2006, when the company went bankrupt, the Sudbury plant had been mothballed in favour of brewing all products in Sault Ste. Marie.

A Toronto-based numbered company bought the Sudbury plant in 2007 and paid off all outstanding property taxes, but left the building unused until last month’s resale. It’s unclear at this point what the ultimate use of the property will be.

This strange arrangement stems from the 2008 merger of American brewing giant Anheuser-Busch with Labatt’s parent company InBev. As one of the terms of the merger being approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, the company was forced to sell off Labatt USA. NAB purchased the subsidiary in 2009, with the further stipulation that they would move brewing from Labatt to another Canadian brewery within three years.

In a statement, NAB president Rich Lozyniak says that they “analyzed our options, which included buying or building a brewery, and contract brewing. There is a lot of brewing capacity in Canada so we chose to pursue a partnership, which frees up capital that we can invest in our brands.”

Further analysis of the unique situation, including comments from representatives of Labatt and Molson, is provided by Josh Rubin in today’s Toronto Star.

WestJet has supported local food businesses for some time, offering sandwiches and wraps from popular local delis and restaurants across the country as part of their buy on board menu. This partnership marks the first time that a regional brewery is represented in their beverage selection.

Grasshöpper is available for $6 a can on all WestJet flights of 2 hours or greater, with Molson Canadian and Coors Light being the other two beer options.

Owner Lance Steward tells the paper that he “hopes to break ground on the operation by fall, and be selling beer in about four months.”

Steward initially plans to bottle and sell the four regular beers from the brewpub line-up – Arbutus Pale Ale, Cowichan Bay Lager, Mt. Prevost Porter and Shawnigan Irish Ale – and may add others to the line-up later.

In terms of jobs, the report notes that “Steward expects to put three new employees in the brewery, another in the bakery, and as many as six or seven new employees in the catering business, depending on how rapidly it grows.”

It’s speculated that a small crack in the tank combined with a build up of carbon dioxide may have caused the accident, which saw over 32 thousand litres of beer lost. The force of the explosion blew through an aluminum loading door, and much of the beer escaped into the adjoining parking lot and road where a rainstorm washed most of it into the sewers.

Aside from one minor hand injury, no one was seriously injured in the incident, which also shattered several hundred bottles inside the plant.

While the articles don’t mention the brand of beer being brewed at the time, it’s noted as being “cream beer”, so it was likely a batch of Sleeman Cream Ale which is brewed at the Okanagan Spring facility for distribution in western Canada.

SURREY, BC – As first reported in February, Bear Republic Brewery of Healdsburg, California filed a lawsuit against Central City Brewing alleging that Central City’s Red Racer brand constituted trademark infringement on their Racer 5 IPA and Red Rocket Ale brands.

The original complaint was lodged in January, followed by a series of responses and motions between the two breweries in the following months. The case was reviewed by Robert B. Collings, Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court in Massachusetts, and earlier this month Judge Collings issued a ruling denying Bear Republic’s motion for an injunction against Central City.

The full ruling can be read a leagle.com, but it is summed up neatly in Judge Collings’ conclusion:

After carefully weighing the relevant factors, the Court concludes that Bear Republic has failed to show a likelihood of success in establishing that Central City’s RED RACER mark infringes the RACER 5 or RED ROCKET marks. At best, Bear Republic has presented evidence that would permit a finding of a similarity of goods, trade and advertising channels, prospective customers, as well as a finding that RACER 5 is a strong mark. The remaining factors, in particular the similarity of the marks analysis, persuade the Court that Bear Republic would not be likely to succeed on the merits of the claim. Consideration of the marks in their entirety and the way in which a typical consumer would encounter the products in the marketplace does not support a finding of likelihood of confusion.

Beau’s first became aware of CAFE last fall when they were invited to speak at the Ottawa chapter about their experience as a successful family-run business. They subsequently won the Ottawa chapter’s annual award in February, which in turn led to their nomination and win for the national award, which was announced and handed out an a ceremony in Regina on May 28th.

For more information, see Steve’s blog post and an article covering the event in the Regina Leader-Post.