You will be in for a "time" a social gathering with lots of cheer. This is a province that consumes per capita more alcohol than any other in Canada. The legal drinking age in the province is 19. You will find nearly all the alcohol you desire in a Newfoundland bar. George Street in St. John's, Newfoundland has a reputation for having the most bars per capita in North America. Its largest celebration, George Street Festival, starts in early August and finishes on the Tuesday before Regatta Day.
Newfoundland & Labrador has a wonderful set of regional beers that you cannot find outside of the province. While a number of these are now brewed by the large Macrobreweries Labatt and Molson, some of them are not. Depending on where you are, you will be able to locate brews with names like Kyle, Killick, Rasberry Wheat Ale, Hemp Ale, India, Black Horse, Jockey Club, Dominion Ale, Quidi Vidi 1892, and Blue Star. Something you may notice while drinking beer in the province is the tendency for the breweries to advertise that their beers are union-made "right here" in Newfoundland. Beer is commonly found in convenience stores with a liquor license and from the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation NLC. The NLC is a government-owned monopoly and, much like most of Canada, there is a better selection of local and foreign beers than there are provincial beers. Inter-province trade in beer tends to be limited to the major brands, with no attention paid to the many excellent craft breweries in other regions.
While in Newfoundland, you will also encounter Screech. Screech is a Jamaican-style dark rum. This is the historic result of the trade between Newfoundland and Jamaica. Jamaica got the salt cod, Newfoundland got the rum. In all honesty, the Rum has been tamed to conform with contemporary liquor laws, especially when compared to descriptions of its much more potent ancestor. Hard liquor is usually found only at the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation in urban areas, and in licensed convenience stores in rural areas.
Newfoundland has a quiet but strong tradition of berry wines. Blueberry wine, for those in the know, is as closely associated with Newfoundland tastes as Screech, and for many, may be a far more palatable first experience. Also be sure to look for partridgeberry, blackberry, cloudberry, and rhubarb wines. All of these can often be found in NLC outlets. The NLC retains the distinction of being the only liquor control boards in Canada which still directly manufactures and bottles several of its hard liquor products Screech, notably, but also gin, brandy and two vodkas, to retain the strong provincial association.
