My three week summer vacation last year in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia meant there would be ample opportunity to sample liberally from some of the finest craft beers those two provinces have. As the pandemic was still swirling and my comfort with eating or drinking indoors was still at a low point, this craft beer exploration became something of a patio hopping experience. That’s usually difficult to pull off in rainy Atlantic Canada, but we got almost a completely perfect three weeks of weather. I wasted no time visiting an old favourite in Nackawic, my wife’s hometown. This is a taproom that just feels comfortable to me. Big Axe Brewery is located in a beautiful log constructed building just down the street from the world’s largest axe (hence, the brewery’s name).

It was a scorching August morning when I arrived so I took my tasting flight on to their second floor patio overlooking the Saint John River and enjoyed reuniting with New Brunswick in this most delicious way. All of these were delicious, but the stout (a chocolate oatmeal variety, named after what used to be the dog of the brewery… I can vouch, he was a very good boy!) was the best of the bunch. The view wasn’t too shabby either.

Almost four hours by car away in Bathurst, my parents’ hometown, I made a few visits to their two breweries. The weather allowed us maximum enjoyment of the spectacular 13 Barrels patio overlooking the harbour. My dad was digging their pale ale and wearing his Riders hat on account of it being a Riders game day.

While my wife is not a beer drinker, she’s always up for a patio, and on another visit to 13 Barrels we again enjoyed their views and I enjoyed a couple of their new to me beers.

Dad and I spent a subsequent afternoon at my favourite craft brewery in Bathurst, Four Rivers. Their amber ale is one of the best of that style of beer I have tried in Canada. Their taproom is friendly, all of their beers are outstanding, and there is a very respectable pizza joint next door that will walk a pizza over to the patio for you.

Into the Nova Scotia part of the trip, while my wife and I were in the Annapolis Valley primarily for some wine tasting, we stopped for lunch at Church Brewing in downtown Wolfville. She had pegged this place as somewhere with outstanding gluten free fish and chips so I got an unexpected tasty brewery visit. Their Silver Lining wheat beer (the one I’m holding) was the best of this flight and a perfect thirst quencher for a smoking hot afternoon.

No Nova Scotia beer exploration is complete without some time at the Stillwell Beergarden in downtown Halifax. I’m a sucker for an English Bitter, and this one by Boxing Rock Brewing from Shelburne was delicious. At 4.3%, I could have sat here all day putting these away, but there were so many more beers to try around downtown Halifax…

… and to ensure I would be ready for some more beer tasting, I had what I think are Halifax’s best tacos at the Beergarden as well. The tortillas for these were sublime, the carnitas would almost melt in your mouth… I really do love the Stillwell Beergarden and wish they would launch an outpost in Saskatoon or someone out here would just rip off the concept completely.

On that same afternoon I popped onto the patio at 2 Crows Brewing. Located across the street from two apartment buildings I lived in earlier in my life, this is a brewery that is wildly creative. Every time here it feels like there’s a completely different lineup of new beers to try and their fruit/sours are among the best I have had anywhere.

The last taproom and patio I got to check out in Halifax was Good Robot. It was just opening as I moved away from the city and in the times I’ve been back since, I had never made it in. The beers were solid, the patio had a fun vibe, and I made a new dog friend. If you look closely at the middle picture below, that is indeed a bird hanging out… he’s apparently a regular there as everyone stopped to say hi to him by his name, Alfie. My kind of place!

Back in New Brunswick for the last week of our trip, I somehow convinced my in-laws to do a day trip to Fredericton and to spend an afternoon on craft brewery patios. While they headed down to Freddy in a separate car to pick up one of my wife’s cousins, my wife and I hit the patio at Graystone Brewing where I had their delicious Patagonia ISA, a full flavoured ale at only 3.5%. It paired perfectly with a food truck in their parking lot turning out some amazing butter chicken.

We all reunited on the Picaroons patio right on the Saint John River, across from downtown Fredericton. The beers here were average, but the views and laughter we enjoyed together were priceless. It was at this point in the afternoon that I started to feel like this was a friendly plot to make me fall in love with Fredericton and consider a move back east.

The last stop on our tour of Fredericton brewery patios before heading out to dinner was my all-time favourite New Brunswick brewery, Trailway. Everything I have ever had from this brewery has been great, and the pale ale (“Fetch” pictured below) and a NEIPA I tried called “Good As” kept that streak alive.

Even though the focus of this trip wasn’t the beer, I had a lot of fun poking in and out of all of these places with family, my wife, and for one quiet afternoon in Halifax, solo as I do from time to time on my travels. Can’t wait to get back!