Monthly Archives: January 2009

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

Gude Ale Keeps The Heart Aboon

Chorus-O gude ale comes and gude ale goes;
Gude ale gars me sell my hose,
Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon-
Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!

I had sax owsen in a pleugh,
And they drew a’ weel eneugh:
I sell’d them a’ just ane by ane-
Gude ale keeps the heart aboon!
O gude ale comes, &c.

Gude ale hauds me bare and busy,
Gars me moop wi’ the servant hizzie,
Stand i’ the stool when I hae done-
Gude ale keeps the heart aboon!
O gude ale comes, &c.

Robert Burns

The fuss about Mill Street Brewing

In a previous post, I accused Taps Magazine, “Canada’s Beer Magazine”, of focusing overly on Ontario brewers. One fellow from Taps was kind enough to comment on our blog and let us know that Taps will increasingly be spreading its coverage throughout Canada. I think what Taps is doing is great and I understand that, as a young magazine focusing on a niche subject, it might be hard to cover our vast nation coast to coast, especially when based in Ontario. All that aside, I found that I read an awful lot about Mill Street Brewing and their greatness in early Taps issues. Their prevalence in Taps coupled with their great success at the Canadian Brewing Awards got me rather curious. Is Mill Street really Canada’s best brewery? Or are they Canada’s best brewery like the Leafs are Canada’s best hockey team (because they are from Toronto)?

To answer this question, I set out to try as many of Mill Street’s brews as possible, which turned out to be rather challenging. Nowhere in BC can any Mill Street products be found in draught form, but I did manage to track down bottles at a few places. Brewery Creek carries their Belgian Wit and used to carry their Stock Ale, until I bought the last six pack. The Irish Heather also carries bottles of the Belgian Wit, as well as their much heralded Tankhouse Ale. I made a special trip to the Irish Heather just to taste the Tankhouse Ale. I have now tasted both the Stock Ale and the Tankhouse Ale, both gold medal winners at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

As for the beers themselves, I first tried the Stock Ale in the comfort of my own home. My first impression of the Stock Ale was nothing whatsoever. I don’t think I noticed taking a sip. It really reminded me of macro brewed lager. I was really expecting great things, and was disappointed as such, but I can’t say that this was bad beer. It’s just everybody beer. You’d serve this beer to people who don’t like beer or you’d drink this beer if you wanted to drink 15 beers in one sitting. I suppose it was true to style, but I expected a touch of genius.

I next tried the Tankhouse Ale at the Irish Heather. Now this is Mill Street’s flagship beer, and having read so much about it, I was really expecting the greatest beer of all time. I think it was only the build up that had me disappointed, because I really did enjoy the Tankhouse Ale. I found it to be good pale ale and I would gladly buy it again. It has an amber colour, is a little spicy, and a bit hoppy. I found it to be very well balanced. I read on Mill Street’s website that they use Cascade hops to brew this one. This got me thinking, most Pacific Northwest brewers use Cascade, which were originally cultivated in Oregon, in a good portion of their brews. The Tankhouse Ale was quite good, but it is of similar quality to the pale ales I regularly get hereabouts (Phillips Blue Buck for example).

Tasting two beers probably wasn’t a fair assessment of Mill Street (I bet they have some great seasonal and draught beers), but I wasn’t particularly impressed with Mill Street. I held off originally on the Belgian Wit (not my favorite style), but I will endeavor to try some the next chance I get. What I find more alluring of what the East Coast has to offer is Dieu du Ciel. I’ve had three of the six varieties I’ve purchased so far and each one has been an experience. I plan to do a write up of my Dieu du Ciel experiences in the near future, but I definitely recommend trying any that you come across in the mean time.

To sum up, I think I’ve decided that Mill Street is the best brewery in Canada in the same way that Luke Schenn is the second coming of Bobby Orr (it’s the Toronto factor). Ontario is always going to get more attention at the national level and I can deal with that (especially when the Leafs are losing). I’m just happy to be living out West where there is an abundance of great beer, right here in BC and coming up from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

Cheers,

Chris

Great Beer Moments of 2009

Spending yesterday afternoon in search of great beer was a pleasant reminder to me about why I love beer. Now I know we are only 23 days into this year, but I strongly believe yesterday will easily finish in my top five beer moments of 2009. There was no one particular beer that made yesterday so memorable; it was the combination of great beer, great places, great food and great company that made yesterday shine through the dreariness of BC’s foggy start to 2009.

The afternoon started by meeting my good friend Brad in Burnaby, on route to Brewery Creek. For those of us who live in the Fraser Valley, a trip out to Brewery Creek is not a weekly occurrence and is a noteworthy event. Until yesterday Brad was a Brewery Creek virgin – I was excited to show him the bounty that is Brewery Creek, and he was excited to spend his entire beer budget in one fell swoop. With grins on our faces we perused through the shelves slowly filling our carts with beer. For those who haven’t been, Brewery Creek is like a candy store for adults, only the candy doesn’t cost 5 cents. Brad loaded up on barley wine and I rounded out my collection with beer from Oregon, Washington, BC and Belgium. Had the day ended here it would have already been great – but it continued on.

We still had plenty of time in the afternoon and I had not yet satisfied my desire for new beer, so we decided to head to Firefly. This was my first visit to Firefly, and with a parking spot left open beside the store it was meant to be. Firefly has an impressive beer and wine selection, but I can’t say standing in a fridge while shopping for beer is ideal. Nonetheless, I added a few more bottles to my collection and headed on out; Brad had already overspent his budget and had to go without. I will be updating The Cellar shortly with my most recent additions, although most of my purchases will end up in my belly before they make it to the cellar.

By this time it was quarter to five and hunger was setting in. Yesterday was Thursday, and DIX Brewery has cask ale on Thursdays – good news! We headed over to DIX for an early dinner and to enjoy this week’s cask ale – a Rye IPA better know as Jack the RIPA. The cask ale was fantastic, with hints of spice from the rye, a warming malt flavour, and a great hop kick. One was all it took yesterday – sometimes simplicity and moderation (I can’t believe I am writing this) is a good thing. The food at DIX was equally impressive, I ordered the BBQ Brisket Sandwich and Brad decided on a burger. DIX was the perfect way to end an afternoon beer hunt.

I love beer because it is more than just nourishment to our bodies and a means for drunkenness. Good beer, like good food, becomes exponentially better when enjoyed with good friends, and yesterday’s beer tasted pretty fantastic.

Erik

Big Ridge Brewing Company

A second guest post in two days! This latest contribution to the Love Good Beer fold is written by Peter Chandler, a good friend of mine and a stellar human being. A technical writer by trade and a seasoned beer traveler, he spins a good yarn. ~ Chris

Mats Sundin’s debut with the Canucks earlier this month was a special occasion for all Vancouverites. Like many of the team’s supporters, I decided that this night was a momentous enough occasion–either that or it was just a good enough excuse for my wife–to trek out to my local Big Ridge Brewing Company to enjoy the game with a few friends and a few pints.

For starters, I ordered their seasonal offering, an Espresso Stout, which sounded like it would be awesome, with a side of poutine (that turned out to be the best poutine west of the Rockies). Unfortunately, to me the seasonal tasted like a melted 7-Eleven Slurpuccino filtered through a dirty ashtray. Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh; the pint probably wasn’t that bad. After all, I was able to finish it, though I certainly didn’t order another one. For seconds, I grabbed a Black and Tan, which was more suited to my palate and more flavourful than the bottle of Bud that the guy beside me was drinking. The Black and Tan blended fairly quickly, tasted very smooth, and quickly cleansed my memory of the previous pint. I guess that is why I love Big Ridge. Within their small selection of microbrews there is enough flavour and variety for everyone–everyone except for that dude who was drinking a bottle of Bud–to find something to their liking. It is that process, the quest for the perfect pint, which I enjoy the most.

By the way, I love Big Ridge, so much so that I went there on my wedding day. Chris (a key member of my wedding party) showcased his usual creative frugality, proclaiming, “This guy is getting married”, while pointing at me, “do we get any free stuff?” The waitress, preparing to make a quick escape from our table, raised her right eyebrow, tilted her head and replied without giving Chris an answer, “This is the saddest stag I have ever seen”.

Fair enough, if that really was my bachelor party, I, too, would have been underwhelmed. Incidentally, my stag was a legendary affair. Sun-soaked Osoyoos, bathwater-soaked hotel room, golf, wine touring and the epic Sage pub. But this is not a tale of debauchery and hooliganism, this is a story about fresh, delicious beer, pleasant surroundings, and good times. I’ll leave that story for another time.

Peter

Review: Lost Coast Brewery Winterbraun

We are currently working on creating a base of guest writers for this site. This will help bring diversity to our writing while helping to generate a regular stream of content. It brings me great pleasure to introduce our first guest post, written by one of my closest friends, Brad Wiens. Brad has a growing passion for beer and has an impressively straight forward approach to beer – if it tastes good, it is good. Brad will hopefully become a semi-regular contributor to Love Good Beer. Without further ado, I present to you, Brad Wiens. – Erik

Since this is my first post and also my first beer review , I will give you a little bit of background about me and my beer history. Sadly, when I was a young lad I did not enjoy beer, it tasted awful. I managed to drink a few pints to not seem like a wuss in front of my friends, but my stomach hated me for it. It wasn’t until my cousin ordered me a Rickard’s Red that I tasted the difference in beer. Previously I had only tried beer such as Molson Canadian and Bud Light because when I was “younger” that was all that was available at parties (at least from my experience). Rickard’s Red was a whole different kind of beer to me, it had flavor and guts. My taste buds and my stomach instantly said “more please”.

For a long time my beer of choice was Rickard’s Red, until my good friend Erik started to branch out from standard beer. Over the past few years I have started to develop a friendship with beer, and now I am madly in love with it. Erik’s homebrew has frequented my fridge and I always look forward to his next creation, and helping out with the rather messy but fun homebrew process. Well, enough about me and onto the beer review.

Winterbraun is a slightly richer, stronger version of Lost Coast Brewery’s Downtown Brown, classed as an English Brown Ale. At first glance while looking at the bottle, I thought Winterbraun would have been a tad darker than it was. I poured a small amount into a clear glass to get a good look at the color, it was reddish brown. It smelt warm and inviting, and tickled my nose with a slight caramel smell. I poured the rest into my beer stein, which is what all my beer is drunk out of. The Winterbraun is quite mild, but it has a great taste to it. I thought of a Newcastle Brown Ale with more of a kick near the end. The first half was nice, slightly sharp but with as smooth lingering aftertaste. After about halfway through, the beer’s sharpness went away and I could taste the full body of the beer. I think after warming up, the beer began to open up and taste better.

I tend to think of foods that go well with the beer that I drink. I thought for awhile about what I would like to eat while drinking Winterbraun. Surprisingly I could think of no food that would go extremely well and enhance the flavor. I thought this was rather odd at first, but later on realized that this was a beer that I could drink alone. No food, no snacks, nothing but a beer. Of course it would go with a nice BBQ, but I think this is a beer I would tend to drink by itself.

Overall I am quite pleased with the Winterbraun. It is a nice mild mannered beer that I will definitely be purchasing again. With a nice color and a surprisingly warm feel, I recommend this beer to anyone looking to sit down on a couch and enjoy a beer, a beer that goes well with a second Winterbraun.

Brad