United Nations of Beer

Rose and Thistle

by Emily Urquhart
(Beer Delegate, NL, Canada)

Rose and Thistle pub
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

The Rose and Thistle is a small bar with a yellow awning on Water Street, St. John's main thoroughfare. It's a narrow space with about five tables and has a back corner devoted to four blinking VLT machines and their players.

It boasts a roster of excellent local musicians most nights of the week, but if you stop in when well-known singer-songwriter Ron Hynes takes the stage, you're guaranteed an evening you'll never forget.

Hynes, who won three East Coast Music Awards in 2006, is an iconic figure in Canadian music history, with lyric-driven ballads and folk songs that will have you weeping into your Dominion ale, just one of many local brands available at the bar.

However, when Ron starts into the first notes of The St. John's Waltz, I suggest you ask the bartender to pull you a pint of Smithwicks, a beer with about as much soul as Ron himself.

Sure, Smithwicks is brewed in Kilkenny, Ireland , but Ron is from Ferryland and that's about as close to Ireland as you can get in this country.

This dark amber-coloured ale has a foamy head so thick and malty that you'll be licking your lips while you sing along. (Hynes often encourages audience members to join in during the chorus of his songs.)

Sing, but try no to talk during any of the more poignant ballads, especially Atlantic Blue, the song Hynes wrote about the sinking of the Ocean Ranger oil rig, because he'll let you know in no uncertain terms that it's a song for quiet reflection over a pint of strong ale, not meaningless vodka-and-Red Bull bar chatter.