Pride Winnipeg

1341 Main Street @ Cathedral | 1580 Taylor Avenue @ Lindsay Open Mon–Fri 10 – 9 • Sat 10 – 7 • Sun 12 – 6 • Closed Holidays www.lovenestonline.com Home Parties 204 –782-2829 Bring this coupon for $ 20.00 Off regular priced purchase of $60.00 and over No other coupons or discounts can be applied. In stores only. Valid only until July 31, 2019. WE PROUDLY CELEBRATE AND SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS. 10 | Pride MAY 24 – JUNE 2 t's fun, a little fruity and pretty darned fabulous — much like the Pride Winnipeg festivities it helps celebrate each year. And since its May release also dovetails with the onset of warmer weather, themed brew Queer Beer has become almost as synonymous with spring as Pride's trademark rainbow flags. First produced in 2011 by Winnipeg-based Half Pints Brewing Co., Queer Beer is a German Helles-style lager with a mild taste, low alcohol content and hints of fruit and floral notes — making it perfect for aernoon patio sessions, backyard barbecues and endless soball games under the sun. It also pairs well with heavily populated outdoor festivals, so it's fortunate that Half Pints has served as Pride Winnipeg's exclusive beer sponsor for as long as the lager has been available. "It comes out pretty dry and a little bitter from the hops, but it's certainly easy drinking," says Half Pints' brewmaster Chris Young. "It was always designed to be the end-of-a-parade beer, which is when we serve the most of it." Half Pints developed Queer Beer in partnership with Pride Win- nipeg, who approached the brewery about creating a small-run beer specifically for the festival. And though they'd never produced a themed beer on that scale before (or since), the partnership with Pride was a no-brainer — offering creative freedom, guaranteed sales and the opportunity to align with one of the city's most progressive not-for-profits. "To make a beer and know that you're going to sell all of it in one day is great," says Young. "And Pride never really told us what they wanted or what we should be making, which also made it easy for us — to know this was a beer we could be proud of making and we could design ourselves. "Also, Pride Winnipeg seemed to be doing great work in the com- munity. It's a very inclusive organization that wants to celebrate, so for us that was easy to say yes to." ough the original plan was for Queer Beer to be sold only at the festival site, Half Pints opted to package it and make it available to the public in its debut year. e strategy paid off, as the product's release garnered national attention, with bottles disappearing from store shelves pretty rapidly. In its first year, Half Pints produced 3,000 litres of Queer Beer — but demand was such it now brews 7,000 litres every spring. Young says the first batch goes into bottles, and the second into kegs — the bulk of which are quickly exhausted once the Half Pints Beer Gardens set up shop at e Forks. "It can be absolutely bonkers," says Young of Pride's two-day weekend festival. "Huge lineups, and it all seems to happen right at the end of the parade — thousands of people show up right away, and they all want a beer. "When people ask how busy it gets, my best description is I once poured an entire keg's worth of beer without ever turning the tap handle off. I just poured cup aer cup and then passed them on to the next person, who took the cups and served them out. At 50 litres in a row, it was pretty remarkable." Outside the festival grounds, Queer Beer is also available at liquor marts throughout Winnipeg, at select vendors, and at Half Pints' tap room at 550 Roseberry St. A portion of the proceeds from each sale go to Pride Winnipeg to assist with festival costs. HALF PINTS BREWMASTER CHRIS YOUNG (RIGHT) SAYS THE COMPANY IS PROUD TO BREW 7,000 LITRES OF QUEER BEER FOR FESTIVAL CROWDS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. PHOTO BY TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS It's Here, It's Beer, We're Used To It HALF PINTS QUEER BEER IS AN ANNUAL PRIDE WINNIPEG FESTIVAL TREAT

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