From Nova Scotia with Love beer on left, tree on right.
When Boston’s official Christmas tree was illuminated this year on the Common, it marked the 52nd consecutive year that a tree was given to the city by the Provence of Nova Scotia. The bond between the two areas stretches back even further, to 1917.
Halifax explosion
During the war Halifax Harbor was a busy staging area, and on December 6 a vessel carrying relief supplies to Belgian ran into a French cargo ship, the SS Mont-Blanc, which was laden with ammunition and explosives. A fire began on the Mont-Blanc which, unfortunately, citizens on shore stopped to watch. Sailors abandoned the ship, but soon it was consumed by a blast that remained the largest man-made explosion until the first atomic bomb test.
The devastating eruption blew into shore and almost immediately killed close to 2,000 people and leveled buildings. Some 9,000 more people suffered injury. Fewer than 24 hours later Boston had sent help through its Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee. By way of thanks, in 1918 the city sent Boston a Christmas tree. The gesture was revived in 1971 and has become an annual tradition since.
A new tradition arose in 2020, when Big Spruce Brewery of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia teamed up with Harpoon Brewery of Boston (and Vermont) to collaborate on a seasonal ale that commemorates the holiday relationship. Harpoon is no stranger to the 12 Beers of Christmas. But it turns out that the collaboration now includes The People’s Pint in Greenfield, Massachusetts, because brewer Matt Wanamaker once brewed for Big Spruce.
Just to keep things confusing, The People’s Pint version of the beer is different from the Big Spruce/Harpoon version. And, to be sure, harder to find, as it’s pretty much limited to western Massachusetts. But if possible to lay one’s hand on some, do. It’s really a lovely beer.
The People’s Pint brewpub restaurant has been a Greenfield fixture since 1997, even once winding up on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” show. There are usually a dozen brews on tap, including the flagship brown ale, Farmer’s Brown, and a West Coast style IPA, Pied Piper.
From Nova Scotia With Love is a style stretcher, a so-called abbey-style wheat wine with spruce tips. Abbey-style we can take to mean a Belgian ale yeast was used. Wheatwine is a play on barleywine beers. The beers may be vinous, but otherwise have nothing to do with wine. But Wheatwine does have its own category in the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) guidelines, 22D to be precise:
A richly textured, high alcohol sipping beer with a significant grainy, bready flavor, and a sleek body. The emphasis is first on the bready, wheaty flavors with malt, hops, fruity yeast, and alcohol complexity.
FNSWL pours out a deep amber with a mild tan head. It is vinous is the nose, strong, with traces of cherry. There’s a nice alcohol bite right from the start, a velvety, tongue-coating mouth feel and a succulence that just gets one’s juices flowing right through the lingering tannic finish.
There may be a touch of spruce in the nose, but I’m not finding any in the flavor. I’m not missing it. This seems a full and impressive beer as is. Wish I’d picked up more.
Name: From Nova Scotia With Love
Brewer: The People’s Pint, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Style: Abbey-style Wheat Wine with spruce tips
ABV: 10.7%
Availability: Seasonally, mainly western Massachusetts only.
For More Information: thepeoplespint.com
[December 30, 2023]
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