FOMO: Fredericton’s booze alternatives
January has been pegged as the month when some people reduce or limit their use of alcohol either for a challenge or for health purposes (Dry January). For some, not partaking in booze is a year-round choice for a variety of reasons.
In this week’s FOMO Stefanie Bouchard highlights the options for non-drinkers, when visiting the city’s breweries. Just because you don’t drink doesn’t mean you don’t want a social night out with friends. Here are Stefanie’s top finds:
Hey it’s me, your sober friend. I spent Dry January soberly drinking my way around the breweries in Fredericton so Steven didn’t have to you don’t have to be stuck nursing a $3.00 Bubly while your friends choose between 16 kinds of craft beer and cider. Things have improved significantly in the 0% world in the last few years with breweries adding kombucha, lemonade, and non-alcoholic beers to their menus. These days you can expect most breweries to carry one or two options at minimum, but the shining stars of Dry January are listed below. Do your sober friend a favour and keep these in mind when planning your next hangout. I’ve ranked them for the sake of making a list, but out of these four, you really can’t go wrong. I’ve included a “Bubly Index” to help provide an idea of prices for each location.
Picaroons - (Best before 3pm). Nothing against 540 North’s selection of non-alcoholic drinks, they have all the favourites (soda, juice, kombucha, and tea) but the coffee shop inside Picaroons, Neighbourly Coffee, is the star of the show for me at The Roundhouse. If you can’t decide between coffee or drinks, this is the best spot to be. Picaroons might have clinched this spot on a technicality, but a 5 star latte is a top choice for me.
York County Cider - Not surprisingly the star of the show at the cidery was a cider. They had enough choices on the board to leave me contemplating for more than a minute before I was shown the Bulwark Sparkling Craft cider. You might call it fancy apple juice, but I am always thrilled to be offered something new. They usually have three flavours of non-alcoholic cider to choose from as well as a full selection of soda and non-alcoholic beer. Bubly index; $2.00
The Cap - It wasn’t on my radar when I set out to find the best sober brewery but their non-alcoholic cocktail creativity is something to be admired. The Cap offers a larger-than-average selection of non-alcoholic beer including your classic Budweiser and Corona in a 0% option. Coming soon: A house Ginger Beer that is sure to spice things up on your sober night out.
Grimross - With the widest selection of offerings and the lowest cost on the Bubly index at $1.30, Grimross is our runaway top choice. On the night we stopped in, it was open mic and the bartender Sarah graciously walked me through the options they had in stock as well as what would be restocked after the holidays. Topping the charts with over 20 options, your sober friend can enjoy the following: Several flavours of non-alcoholic beers, San Pellegrino, CocoLemonade, Zevia soda, and Bubly. The standout offering? Gagetown Apple Pop which I’m told is good as a sober drink and a hangover cure.
Note: The ultimate test of non-alcoholic options is how much they are charging for a can of Bubly. The cost is $.66 a can if they buy it at Costco. There is no reason to charge as much as some breweries do.
- Stefanie
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Cheers!
with Tim Yerxa,
The Playhouse Executive Director
Cheers! is a Q and A with local celebrities (I determine who qualifies as a local celebrity, and bribes are accepted). I ask the questions I would ask if I was having a beverage or 3 with them.
Tim, you have been the executive director for a while at The Fredericton Playhouse and are overseeing some big changes forthcoming. Before we get into the changes let's talk about some of your highlights as ED at The Playhouse. What are some personal highlights that you have implemented at the Playhouse that you are most proud of, whether from a venue perspective or programming perspective?
When we first took over the Playhouse in 2000, we made some pretty significant changes that all led to the venue being more open and relevant in the community. We started a series of performances by touring artists, focused in on filling the calendar with a diversity of offerings and doing things differently -- in a way that would present a more relaxed and more contemporary way for people to experience live performance together -- such as allowing drinks in the theatre. We relaxed the old “all sales are final” way of doing business and focused on serving the community. We’ve never stopped thinking that way and I think that’s what I’m most proud of.
What do you consider your biggest "gets" in terms of performances you were able to host at the Playhouse that maybe you never thought possible?
There have been many. Leonard Cohen’s 2008 concert comes to mind. We were the rehearsal venue and the first show of his world tour – his first live performance in 15 years. It was pretty special. But there have been others too – Stompin’ Tom, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ben Heppner, Darlene Love, and Wilco all come to mind.
Is there a performance that stands out in your mind with an amazing vibe, a connection between the audience and performers that you wish you could bottle for all performances?
One year we had the Lemon Bucket Orkestra performing in our Spotlight Series. The show was amazing but the encore was something of a religious experience. The musicians came out into the audience and led the whole auditorium in a massive singalong of a Hebrew song that created an incredible vibe in the room. I still get goosebumps when I think of that night.
As we are in early 2024 what are some of the upcoming Playhouse shows you are most looking forward to?
We have more than 50 shows on sale right now. There is a ton of great stuff coming up. I’m personally looking forward to an amazing concert of Joni Mitchell music we have coming up in March, the Choir! Choir! Choir! Show in April and Candance Bushnell’s one-woman show “Tales from Sex and the City” on April 10.
The existing Playhouse’s end is near, do you have any plans for a big send-off for a building that has brought so much joy to Fredericton and area over the years?
We haven’t been thinking too much about a send-off for the Playhouse. I know the building has a special place in the hearts and minds of people in our community, but it’s never been the building that created those special memories -- it’s been what takes place inside. The Playhouse building is an instrument that we use to facilitate those magical shared experiences. And we’re excited to discover along with the community, what we can do with a new instrument come 2026. We’re more focused on saying “hello” to a new centre than we are about saying “goodbye” to the current one. It feels more like we are getting a new car. Does anyone think about their last drive in the old one?
I think the biggest legacy of the Playhouse is introducing people to new things that otherwise would not have come to Fredericton. You have personally seen a lot of varied performances over the years, has this changed your personal taste in music, the arts, and dance?
Absolutely. I came to my work at the Playhouse through the front door, not the stage door. Before coming to work at the Playhouse, my own experience with the performing arts was as a patron. I had a fairly well-developed taste for all kinds of music, but the theatre, comedy, dance, and circus worlds were pretty much all new to me. I’ve had the opportunity to see all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff over the past couple of decades which set me on a course of discovery and curiosity. That is a wonderful thing to have in your life, and I hope that our programming has in some small way allowed people to open up and be curious about the arts and how they can be a positive part of one’s life journey.
The new performing arts centre is big news. The renderings look amazing. The Encore Community Campaign is in full swing and the anticipated opening is in 2026. I am personally very excited. As Executive Director how does the new centre impact your team for programming? You will have a bigger theatre space holding 850 patrons (the biggest in NB) but also a smaller intimate space for 300. What do you have in mind for putting bums in seats and maximizing your new space?
We have always struggled with our capacity at the Playhouse. There have been many shows that passed us by because we were the smallest venue of the major markets in the region. Now we will be one of the biggest with 850 seats. Moreover, we often find ourselves constantly challenged by the fact that our venue is just too big for a lot of emerging artists or shows that are designed for more intimate audience experiences. The 300-seat theatre will be ideal for a lot of shows that right now, are finding it hard to find a suitable venue in Fredericton. Local artists and companies especially, are amped up to make use of that space. Running different shows at the same time in the new centre will take our “community-building” work to new levels as we will have different audiences in the same building creating a real “collision” effect that will promote community connectivity.
Finally, if you could book any show in the shiny new theatre that would make you the happiest (forget the audience, just someone you would personally love to see performing in Fredericton) who would it be and why?
Honestly, I would love to see some new community and student productions in the new centre. It needs to be a place where our own creative minds can grow and realize their potential -- and where the community can celebrate them. The big names will come naturally when the finances make sense, but building true relevance in the community takes more than international headliners and a good building design. It needs to be a natural community gathering space. That’s what I’m focused on building.
Thanks so much for your time Tim, I appreciate you!
The Hood: The Diner
This week’s guest writer is Jon Holt, “Mayor of Sunshine Gardens”. This is part 2 of 2 with a focus on Sunshine Gardens
Every neighbourhood has a heart and soul and each takes its own form, a beloved playground or schoolyard, a sports field, an outdoor pool, a watering hole. Each brings a different dynamic to an area and fills a need or niche for its patrons and local residents. Sometimes such a location can encapsulate an entire area with a simple mention of its name, Baseball Hill, Queen Square Pool, The Sunshine Diner.
In Sunshine Gardens we're surrounded by two of Fredericton's greatest city parks, however they don't really fall within our neighbourhood proper. Odell and Wilmot are of the size and importance that I think of them as shared by our entire City, we’re just fortunate to live handy. Our proximity to them is not our defining character.
Sunshine Gardens was Fredericton's first southside suburb. At one point, we were the willywags of Fredericton, just a hair before the “Rural” cemetery. The Gardens are built on a former swamp, fed by the waterways pouring through Odell Park. It went from that to a Post War residential development in jig time. Just West of the West Platt and Rabbittown, past the Exhibition Grounds and Raceway, we’re a self-contained island of residential density squeezed quite perfectly between the parks and the Delta Hotel.
If one were to take a quick tour of our hood almost any day of the week, its heart and soul would quickly reveal itself, sometimes you'd know it even before you see it, announcing your arrival with the smell of bacon. A turn onto Brookmount St, one of the two streets connecting our neighbourhood loop to Woodstock Rd, and there it sits, wrapped in grey wooden slats, a building from another era. Its enormous front windows reveal like a fishbowl, a bustling world within.
The Sunshine Diner, with a parking lot more often than not packed, clientele milling about the doors, getting the latest news, or squeezing in one last goodbye before heading home. It’s a fixture for many Frederictonians, not just for the houses that surround it, and it’s been that way for decades and decades. The building hasn’t always borne the name it does today, but it’s always been the heartbeat of the neighbourhood.
Picture a time on the Southside of Fredericton in which there were no Superstores, no Sobeys. Each neighbourhood had its own local Market, think Victory Meat Market. There was Tingley’s on Connaught, Hogan’s Grocery on the corner of Regent and Needham, Victory downtown. When Sunshine Gardens was developed post-WWII, it needed its own local store. What developed in its first life was Vet’s Groceria, a Grocery store/Gas Station. It began as a post-war start-up, founded by 2 returning World War II Veterans, Bob Simpson and Ralph Wallace as well as a silent partner, Colin Smith. The name Vet's was fitting, they'd proudly served for the 8th Hussars in the Canadian Army. The trio saw an opportunity in a rapidly developing area of the city and made a lasting splash. I know that they gave away a bicycle at the grand opening of Vet’s Groceria, I know because my friend's mother won. She told me it was a boy’s bike but she and her sister made the most of it, it was brand new.
Fast forward to the not-too-distant past, the days of my youth. At that time the Sunshine Diner was closer to its current configuration but was run under the Boldon’s Corner Store moniker. A local Fredericton family that had a series of corner stores/restaurants in the downtown area. The aforementioned Hogan’s Grocery store shared a long and prosperous life as Boldon's as well, Gordon Boldon was the meat cutter at Hogan’s, before taking over that store and getting into the business himself. His brother Jim would go on to run the store in Sunshine Gardens, purchasing the operation from Olive Simpson who ran the Groceria for 5 years after her husband’s passing. I still refer to the building on the corner of Regent and Needham as the Boldon’s Building, but I digress.
The Boldon’s Corner Store brand also occupied 7 Brookmount St. for a time and was exactly what you’d expect from an 80s and 90s corner store/lunch counter. Chips, pop, penny candy galore, walls of chocolate bars, a slushie machine, a large freezer full of popsicles, and a wall of smokes. There was still very much a diner vibe, but because I was a kid or at best a teenager, it only seemed like a store to me. Most likely because I’d never have gone there to eat, but I definitely stopped in to buy some chips and maybe a Crystal Pepsi back in the day. I know that for my wife and the neighbourhood kids of her day, Boldon’s Corner Store holds a special place in their memories. Countless moments were spent pondering just the right candy to buy. I’m sure that the generations both before and after share similar memories.
The Sunshine Diner, is the bacon-scented soul of our neighbourhood.
So back to the Sunshine Diner. It’s a gem; it just is. If you walk in you’ll know why. It's of a time and place that doesn’t really exist anywhere anymore. The people within, both staff and customers, know and care about one another. For example, a long-time waitress won a fairly large sum on a local lottery draw a few years back, her customers were more excited than she was it seemed, and post windfall, she’s still there several days a week waiting tables. It wouldn’t seem right otherwise.
It’s a throwback, with Formica top tables and twirly counter front stools, and black and white photos decorating snug booths. The owners, whom I consider friends, are wonderful and have guided the Diner through an obviously difficult time these last few years, yet it endures and thrives even. It's a gathering place for neighbours young and old alike, Anne Shirley experts, retired teachers (like my Dad and his gang the Albert Street School Retirees), work crews, and travelers, due to its proximity to the Delta and Frederictonians from other far-flung ‘hoods. The Sunshine Diner is a destination.
It’s lively and lovely and the staff treat you like you’re at home. I will admit that I’m a creature of habit and can’t comment on the width and breadth of the menu, but I can assure you that their pancakes are some of the finest in Fredericton, anywhere for that matter and I consider myself a pancake connoisseur.
The thing is, the Sunshine Diner, Boldons and Vet’s all shifted and grew, adapted to their own times, always giving our neighbourhood a muster point, a spot to gather. It will continue to adapt as our City and neighbourhood do. We move through life at our own pace here, nobody would call us speedy, but we get where we need to go.
We as a community are entering a period of change, directly beside the Diner. The long abandoned service station next door is set for demolition and remediation. In the short term the Sunshine Diner will be inconvenienced but long-term this has to be the best thing for all stakeholders and the neighbourhood as a whole. The rotten eyesore that sits there now screams of wasted potential. Hopefully, some sort of housing/retail hybrid will replace the current teardown.
Deciding what will replace it is for a higher pay grade than mine, but whatever gets built will sit beside an iconic, beloved destination. A spot steeped in Fredericton history, wrapped in decades of nostalgia for countless generations, a signpost and beacon representing Sunshine Gardens. The Sunshine Diner, is the bacon-scented soul of our neighbourhood.
- Jon
Opinions are like….everyone has one
Editorial Board (it me)
The Fredericton area has several iconic establishments that people think of when they think of Fredericton. As Jon mentioned above The Sunshine Diner is one, that continues to thrive despite ownership changes over the years.
It’s important that when new owners come along they have an understanding of the history of the business in the community, and what makes it special, even while working to improve it. Victory Meat Market is one great recent example. The new ownership with the guidance of Alex Scholten continues to provide the excellent service they are known for in downtown Fredericton while making improvements to the space and product offering. It is still an icon.
With the rumoured sale of Picaroons Brewery and Roundhouse to new local interests (540 Restaurant Group), I hope the new owners respect the past while focusing on future improvements for this icon of Atlantic Canada brewing. Picaroons has been for sale for about 2 years and I have been hoping for local ownership to take over from Sean Dunbar. Dunbar has taken Picaroons from its infancy and pre-bankruptcy (at a location inside Dolan’s Pub) 30 years ago, to what it is today. With a sweetheart deal from the City of Fredericton, they created the Roundhouse, arguably the best brewery patio in New Brunswick which has helped transform Picaroons into a multi-million dollar company.
Hopefully, the new owners can continue with the positive vibes of the Roundhouse (and Picaroons General Store in Saint John) while improving, ironically, the beer reputation. My advice would be to keep the OG flagship beers (Best Bitter being my favourite). Consider a new strain of yeast or add infrastructure to be able to have closed fermentation, both allowing for improved consistency and flavours of whatever new beer they plan for.
I believe based on their current excellent reputation at three locations, the 540 group will be a great fit for understanding and respecting the history of this Fredericton icon and the need for change.
Cheers!
Brews News
What is happening at the amazing local breweries and distilleries around the area
Note: Always check the brewery/tap room socials for hours and any last-minute changes
In this issue, we feature: Big Fiddle Still, First Light Distillery, Gahan House Riverside, Grimross Brewing Co, Half Cut Brewery, King West Brewing, Maybee Brewing, Picaroons, The Cap, York County Cider
Next issue…
We focus on Downtown Fredericton, what’s new? what’s leaving? whats the same and still awesome?
A Cheers! interview with a downtown business owner
A guide to Little Free Libraries
+ more
Love The Hood piece. Jon’s set the bar high for the next featured hood.