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Across the cityBreweries
Halifax breweries and craft beer taprooms, North End to Dartmouth
Halifax breweries and craft beer taprooms: the North End cluster, brewpubs downtown and at the Seaport, and taprooms by the Dartmouth ferry.
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Get your bearings
Taprooms on both shores.
Halifax breweries fall into three groups. The North End has the largest cluster, from Gottingen Street out to Kempt Road. Downtown and the Seaport have the brewpubs and one of the city’s oldest craft breweries. Across the harbour, downtown Dartmouth has several breweries within a few minutes of the ferry.
Halifax has a long brewing history, but most of the taprooms in this guide opened in the last twenty years. Many brew on site, and nearly all of them pour flights, so it is easy to try several beers at each stop.
North End / 5 places
North End Halifax breweries and taprooms
The largest cluster of taprooms in the city, with cider and spirits as well as beer.
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Propeller Brewing
Founded in 1997, which makes it one of the longest-running craft breweries in the city. The Gottingen Street taproom is the flagship, with an arcade in the basement.
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Unfiltered Brewing
Hop-forward beer with a reputation for attitude, a short walk from Agricola Street.
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Good Robot Brewing
A taproom with a big outdoor space, and one of the friendliest rooms in the city for a group.
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Stillwell
The Kempt Road brewery of a well-known Halifax beer bar, pouring a small, changing list among the tanks.
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Chain Yard Cider
An urban cidery on Agricola pouring Nova Scotia apple cider, for anyone in the group who would rather not drink beer.
Downtown & Seaport / 3 places
Brewpubs downtown and a taproom at the Seaport
Brewing in the city centre and beside the harbour, plus a west end taproom.
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Garrison Brewing
Founded in 1997, the same summer as Propeller, and now beside the Seaport with a taproom near the farmers’ market at the south end of the boardwalk.
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Gahan House Nova Centre
A brewpub in the Nova Centre with its own beer and a full menu, popular for weekend brunch.
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Propeller Brewing
Propeller’s west end taproom, with a small test brewery for one-off beers, useful for a pint after dinner on Quinpool Road.
Dartmouth / 3 places
Taprooms by the Alderney ferry
Take the ferry and walk between taprooms in a few minutes. The Dartmouth chapter covers the restaurants around them.
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New Scotland Brewing
A brewery and taproom looking over the harbour in the middle of downtown Dartmouth.
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Brightwood Brewery
A Dartmouth brewery pouring beer made on site, a short walk from Alderney Landing.
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Battery Park Beer Bar & Eatery
A long tap list and a full kitchen, the stop for when the group wants dinner with the beer.
Two centuries of beer
From Alexander Keith to the taproom era
Alexander Keith, a Scottish-born brewer, founded his brewery on Lower Water Street in 1820, and the stone building still stands by the waterfront. The Oland family began brewing across the harbour in Dartmouth in the 1860s, and the Oland brewery on Agricola Street still operates as part of a national brewer.
Craft brewing came later. The Granite Brewery opened as a brewpub in 1985 and is usually counted as the first of its kind east of the Rockies. Propeller and Garrison followed within weeks of each other in 1997, which makes them two of the longest-running independent breweries in the city.
In the 2010s a new generation of small breweries with their own taprooms opened in the North End, in Dartmouth and beyond. Many moved into former warehouses and shops, which is why so many taprooms have high ceilings and tanks in full view.
Cider and spirits followed the same path. Nova Scotia has a long apple-growing tradition in the Annapolis Valley, and the city’s cideries and small distilleries now pour alongside the breweries.
Flights are the easiest way through a new taproom: four small pours of different styles, chosen from a board that changes every few weeks. Most taprooms also sell cans to take away, which helps when the evening has to end at the last ferry.
A few field notes
A brewery walk in Halifax
The North End is the easiest brewery walk in the city. Start at Propeller on Gottingen, walk up to Agricola for Chain Yard, then west on North Street to Unfiltered. That is three stops in about twenty minutes of walking.
For a harbour day, start at Garrison near the Seaport, walk the boardwalk north to the ferry terminal and cross to Dartmouth on the Alderney ferry. New Scotland, Brightwood and Battery Park are all within a few blocks of Alderney Landing.
Taprooms tend to open at noon or later and close earlier than bars. Check the last ferry before settling in on the Dartmouth side, and plan transit or a taxi rather than driving between stops.
Which Halifax craft breweries have been around longest?
The Granite Brewery opened as a brewpub in 1985. Propeller and Garrison both started in 1997 and are two of the longest-running independent breweries still pouring in the city.
Which Halifax breweries are within walking distance of each other?
In the North End, Propeller, Chain Yard Cider and Unfiltered are a short walk apart. In Dartmouth, New Scotland, Brightwood and Battery Park are all near the ferry.
Are there breweries on the Halifax waterfront?
Garrison Brewing is beside the Seaport at the south end of the boardwalk. Gahan House Nova Centre, a brewpub on Sackville Street, is a few blocks up from the water.
Do Halifax breweries serve food?
Some do. Gahan House and Battery Park have full kitchens, while smaller taprooms may only offer snacks or food trucks.