With the Halifax Burger Bash underway until Sunday, hundreds of hungry diners will be in search of the best burger in the city.
While it’s not yet determined if it can be crowned the greatest, North Brewing does say its contribution this year has the “most local beef patty in the city.”
Available at the brewery’s taprooms in Dartmouth and Timberlea, the Pineapple Smash features smoked bacon, havarti, pineapple, lettuce, roasted garlic aioli, teriyaki BBQ sauce, atop a beef patty from Dartmouth’s Vessel Meats.
However, what really makes it stand out is that its beef is the product of a partnership that aims to prop up a local butcher and small business in Nova Scotia amid inflation and rising labour and operational costs.
“It’s important for food security that we have these local systems in place, and I think the way that we survive is by supporting each other and working together, promoting each other,” says North Brewing president Peter Burbridge. “I think what Vessel does is really awesome, and we like to get that in front of people as much as we can.”
For five years, North Brewing has, through Vessel Meats, supplied father-and-son farmers Justin and Wilbur Colley of East Preston with the spent grain from their brewing process to feed animals.
As a result, North Brewing’s Burger Bash creation is made solely from local beef that is fed on that grain.
“I think that’s a big part of what attracted me to craft brewing in the first place,” says Burbridge. “That notion of (creating) small, local circular economies and taking market share away from multinational corporations that are siphoning off profits to shareholders around the world.”
North Brewing’s efforts to support local causes don’t end there either. For every pineapple smash burger sold, $1 will be donated to Feed Nova Scotia, on behalf of Burger Bash.
In fact, the annual fundraiser has raised nearly $994,000 for Feed Nova Scotia over the last 13 years, making it the largest funding initiative for the charity outside of its own.
For North Brewing and many of the dozens of other participating bars, pubs and restaurants, the event provides a boost to the bottom line as well.
“Burger Bash generally has a huge impact on sales,” says Burbridge. “It is one of the busiest 10-day periods of the year (and) it more than doubles our sales.”