I was in Winnipeg last week attending a conference for my day job, and, of course, I HAD to stop by Half Pints Brewing for a visit. I headed there straight from the airport (as it was a five minute cab ride) and got a personalized, grand tour of the brewery by owner/brewmaster Dave Rudge. They recently moved to a new, larger location – which is impressive given that they only opened in 2006.

After the tour and before dropping me off at my hotel, Dave showed me some of the Winnipeg beer highlights – some of which I had heard of, many others new to me. I must, before offering some other beer observations below, offer a public display of appreciation for his time, humour and openness with me. Dave is one hell of a host!

Half Pints is still small by brewing standards – producing about 350,000 litres last year (for perspective, that is about two-thirds the size of Alley Kat and less than HALF what the Edmonton Labatt plant produces in a DAY!), but their growth rate is phenomenal.

St. James Pale Ale (photo courtesy of www.melpriestley.com)

I learned that much of that growth is due to the amazing popularity of their St. James Pale Ale, which is brewed as a light kolsch/munich helles hybrid. This beer has been a massive hit around Winnipeg (mostly on tap). They have already brewed more batches of St. James since its release in early 2009 than they have of their Stir Stick Stout, which was one of their original beer.

The release of St. James sparked a controversy among the online beer geek community with accusations of “sell-out” flying about (enough to spark Dave to begin brewing his barrel-aged, monster-sized Sell Out Stout). I realize the hubbub has died away, as Dave has demonstrated repeatedly his craft brewing credentials, but I want to weigh in with my opinion of the beer – especially because anyone who hasn’t been to Winnipeg won’t have tried it.

The St. James is a light yellow gold hue with a thin white head. Its aroma displays light fruit, soft pilsner-like grain and a touch of hop nose. I detected some lemon-y quality in it. The taste is moderately sweet at first with a gentle, delicate palate and a deceiving finish. The beer is lightly hopped but finds a way to leave a gentle grassy hop linger – just enough to dry the beer out and leave you wanting another (the fun beer geek trivia here is that he late additions the hops, but keeps the bittering hops low. Magic!). There is no question this is an easy-to-drink session beer (which explains its popularity), but it is no sell-out. Its aroma and upfront presentation strike me as classic kolsch, and the wispy hop nose and linger are not inappropriate for a helles. This is a well brewed ale with an added bonus of being accessible. Sometimes even beer geeks want to down a couple of pints without having to labour through multiple layers of flavours.

Half Pint's New Brewery Set-Up

I think the issue behind the controversy is that many of the online beer raters like their beer BIG. Which is fine. But sometimes when you spend your evenings drinking big double IPAs, barley wines, American pale ales, imperial stouts and the like, a delicate – even if well-brewed – beer can seem bland, blah and boring. It is a lesson for all of us to remind ourselves to judge beer based upon itself, not compared to our favourite style or the last beer we drank. Is it achieving what it aims to do? Does it do it in a well-crafted, honest fashion? That should be our marker.

At any rate, back to Half Pints, whose reputation continues to climb due to their continual output of remarkably yummy beer – cask ales, barrel-aged beer, barley wines, classic oktoberfests, and maybe the best double IPA made in Canada.

Speaking of the best double IPA in Canada, I was at the brewery on the day the latest Humulus Ludicrous was released for the public, and so may have been the first non-Half Pints employee to sample it. It will be reaching Alberta and Saskatchewan stores shortly, and I suggest you scoop it up when it comes.

I will offer a full-blown review of the beer in the next couple of days, and maybe some of the spots Dave and I hit – as this post has gotten quite long.