Raise your Warnog high, Halifax, and yell it out: qapla’.
Raise your Warnog high, Halifax, and yell it out: qapla’.
On Friday, Garrison Brewing launches their latest (and nerdiest) brew yet with the Klingon Warnog Roggen Dunkel Ale, an officially licensed Star Trek beer just in time for this weekend’s Hal-Con event.
“It’s just so super-cool and geeky that we kind of had to do it,” Garrison president Brian Titus said Thursday.
When it came to create the dark wheat ale featuring notes of chocolate and caramel malts, Titus said Garrison made it so thanks to a nod from the Federation of Beer, who have permission from Star Trek/ CBS to create Warnog and brews like Vulcan ale.
Titus said Paul Carreau, Federation member and Ambassador of KAG (Klingon Assault Group) Kanada who once lived in Halifax, was inspired by local Klingon fan group IKV Sonch’Iy Squadron for the brew and asked Garrison if they would boldly go where no Maritime brewery has gone before.
Warnog was the beer Klingons drank after a victorious battle in the Star Trek shows, Titus said, adding he’s been “dusting off his Trekkie cred” by learning Klingon words like qapla’, (pronounced “kɑpˈlɑ”) their version of cheers which means “success.”
Titus is also getting his daughters into the Star Trek world, and said the inter-generational aspect of the stories make the ale “fun” and appealing to all different drinkers. But is the Garrison beer fit for a fierce, warrior Klingon like Worf of Star Trek: The Next Generation? “It is a little but stronger, it’s 5.4 per cent,” Titus said. “It’s a hearty, raw beer where it’s not filtered and it’s got rye in the making, so it’s definitely an earthy beer.”
More so than barley or wheat, Titus said rye adds spice for “a little bit of a rough edge,” although it’s easy to drink, and the Warnog comes in larger 650 millilitre bottles at the Garrison Brewery, independent liquor stores, or on tap at a few bars and restaurants across HRM.
After the Warnog is sold out, more Star Trek brews may live long and prosper at Garrison, Titus said.
“Something to do with trouble with Tribbles I’m sure,” he laughed. “Everyone’s got a favourite episode and everybody’s got a great beer idea.”