BARRIE, ON – Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery will be doubling its capacity this weekend with the addition a four new beer tanks to the brewing facility.

Three new 90 hectolitre fermenters and one 100 hectolitre bright beer tank will be crane-lifted through the brewery’s removable roof starting at 8:00 AM on Saturday February 4th, and founder & brewer Peter Chiodo has invited Flying Monkeys fans to come down and watch the “Tank Drop”.

In a press release announcing the event, Chiodo notes that in keeping with the brewery’s efforts to support the local community, the delivery and installation of the tanks will involve a number of local businesses and tradespeople, and that the expansion will allow Flying Monkeys to “better meet the demand for their unique craft beers and continue developing new brands for the specialty beer market.”

VANCOUVER, BC – Red Truck Beer has launched a new website that offers a variety of information about the small North Vancouver brewery and its products.

In addition to short blurbs about the brewery, brewmaster Dave Varga, and the eponymous red truck that’s used for delivery’s, the site provides notes on the brewery’s base brands – Red Truck Ale and Red Truck Lager – as well as upcoming limited releases. Other useful info includes a list and map of bars that serve Red Track’s draught-only brews, a merchandise page, and details on ordering kegs for delivery or pick-up.

Along with the new website, Red Truck has announced a new upcoming limited release, Red Truck Sticke:

Once a year, breweries and brewpubs in Dusseldorf will make a higher strength version of their Alt. This beer, lasting only a day or two because of their popularity, is called Sticke, or “secret” in their dialect. This ale is usually darker in colour than traditional alts; it has a restrained fruit aroma and flavour; a light caramel and burnt sugar malt sweetness; and distinct, herbal, hop bitterness.

Red Truck Sticke was brewed on January 1st, and should be released soon at select bars and pubs in Vancouver and area.

FERNIE, BC – Following on last year’s packaging redesigns for several Fernie Brewing brands including Buck Wild Ale and First Trax Brown Ale, the brewery has revealed a revamped look for its popular The Griz Pale Ale.

As shown in the photo above, the new cans feature striking green and gold graphics along with a distinctive grizzly bear image, and text describing the legend of The Griz, “a mountain of a man built tough enough to fight any grizzly with his bare hands”.

New cans of The Griz Pale Ale will be arriving in stores in early February.

VANCOUVER, BC – The owners of esteemed Vancouver craft beer bar St. Augustine’s have announced plans to open Parallel 49 Brewing later this year.

Co-owners Anthony Frustagli, Nick Paladino and Mike Sleeman – who are all avid homebrewers – have partnered with former Dead Frog brewmaster and current Vancouver Homebrewers Association president Graham With, and hope to have Parallel 49 up and running by mid-spring.

While the final decisions have yet to be made on the styles and names of the initial Parallel 49 products, the team is aiming to launch with three year-round brands and one seasonal in 341 ml bottles, a monthly series in 650 ml bombers, and draught distribution for all brands.

Details on the brewery’s progress will be announced as available on the Parallel 49 Twitter feed and mailing list.

SURREY, BC – Beernews.org reports that nearly two years of legal wrangling between Central City Brewing and California’s Bear Republic Brewery has finally come to a conclusion, with the American brewery appearing to have come out on top.

As first reported in February 2010, Bear Republic filed suit against Central City after the Canadian brewery entered the US market with its Red Racer Pale Ale and Red Racer IPA brands, claiming that they were too similar in name and appearance to Bear Republic’s Red Rocket Ale and Racer 5 IPA.

A ruling in Jane 2010 appeared to end the dispute in Central City’s favour, but the fight continued with further suits and petitions, leading to a settlement that was negotiated last fall.

While the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, the recent US approval of labels for Red Betty Pale Ale and Red Betty IPA suggests that Central City was the losing party, and was forced to discontinue use of the Red Racer brand south of the border. Here in Canada, however, the original name and packaging remains intact.

VANCOUVER, BC – After spending a good number of months teasing BC beer drinkers with one-off brews at festivals and other events, Vancouver’s Coal Harbour Brewing is now officially open for business with three beers available – and in a rare move for a new craft brewery, two of them are lagers.

The debut line-up includes: three-11 helles lager (“A genuine, Munich style pale lager”); Vancouver Vienna Lager (“A painstakingly brewed authentic golden coloured European lager”); and Triumph Rye Ale (“A true Pacific Northwest style craft ale, not quite like what you have tasted before”).

The three brews are available now in kegs for bar and restaurant accounts, and bottles should be available sometime in the spring.

OLIVER, BC – Brewed Awakening, the beer blog associated with Vancouver’s The Province newspaper, reports in a recent BC brewery news round-up that the Firehall Brewery in the Okanagan Valley is hoping to have beer ready to tap in time for the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale in mid-April.

Originally planned for a fall 2011 opening, the brewery in the basement of the Firehall Bistro restaurant has been beset by a number of delays – many described on the brewery’s Twitter feed – but brewmaster Sid Ruhland hopes to have things ready to start brewing in mid-February for an April debut.

Firehall will be launching with two beers – Backdraft Golden Ale (“An easy-going session beer for the hard-working men and women”) and Ember Ale (“a hearty amber ale well suited for the poor musician”) – which will initially be available on tap at the Firehall Bistro, with mini-kegs and growlers to follow in the future.

Ruhland also tells The Province that all Firehall beers will be “‘rhythm conditioned’ by live music performed in the brewery for audio/video recordings.” The recordings will be available to buy, and will also be offered for free with beer purchase.

POWELL RIVER, BC – They haven’t start brewing yet due to numerous delays – including the weather – but that isn’t stopping the folks at Townsite Brewing in Powell River, BC from getting the word out about what they’ve got planned.

According to their recently launched website, the brewery plans to launch with three bottled beers: Powtown Porter (a robust porter with “coffee and roasted smells on the nose, round and smooth malty mouthfeel”), Tinhat IPA (a West Coast style IPA with “loads of pungent, piney, citrusey hops”), and Zunga Golden Blonde (a mellow ale with “a light bitterness and a balanced body to create a dry, refreshing finish”).

In addition, The Province‘s beer blog Brewed Awakening mentions a fourth planned beer not listed on the brewery website – Suncoast Pale Ale – which will be draught only. And on top of these four, seasonal and limited edition brews are likely.

Assuming the brewing equipment arrives this week, Townsite owner Karen Skadsheim and brewmaster Cedric Dauchot hope to have beer available by late February. Updates will be reported here on CBN as they become available.

CHILLIWACK, BC – After going on hiatus for more than a year while owner and brewmaster Larry Caza was attempting to sell off the brewery, Old Yale Brewing has returned with new owners on board and a complete overhaul of its logo and packaging.

Gord Gagne, Jeff Hunt and Jeremy Sibley have joined Caza – who remains as a partner and brewmaster – and have moved the brewery to a larger location, where kegs and 650 ml bottles of Sasquatch Stout and Sergeant’s IPA started rolling out in December. A canning line is also being set up, with  Old Yale Pale Ale and Sergeant’s IPA expected to be available in cans sometime in February.

Other new brands and seasonal brews are being considered for the future, as is a possible entry into the Alberta market once the brewery’s presence in BC is re-established.

More details on current and future plans will be announced on the soon-to-be-relaunched Old Yale website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

CRESTON, BC – The Creston Valley Advance reports that Labatt Breweries has announced plans to start brewing its Kokanee brand at its Edmonton plant, marking the first time in over a decade that it has been brewed outside of the Labatt-owned Columbia Brewery in Creston, BC.

In a similar arrangement to the distributed brewing of the Alexander Keith’s brands, the Creston plant will still be the main home for Kokanee, but an unstated percentage of the brand output will be produced in Edmonton, with Creston brewmaster Scott Stokes working closely with the Edmonton brewery to ensure consistency.

In addition to the Kokanee brands, the Columbia Brewery brews a number of other Labatt-owned and affiliated brands including Labatt Blue, Labatt Light, Wildcat, Keith’s and others. That line-up will be growing to include Bud Light, which was added to the Columbia production portfolio at the same time as the Kokanee plans were announced.

Columbia Brewery manager Murray Oswald told the Advance that these changes will have “no immediate impact on employment at Columbia Brewery and, in fact, one of our objectives is to minimize any impact at all.”