Love Good Beer

Beer and Books

Thursday, May 7th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments

I am slowly making my way through a large stack of books that I have been acquiring over the past year- my thirst for  knowledge is unquenchable and my reading speed is slow.  Most of the books are about beer or food,  I haven’t read fiction in almost a year.  I keep telling myself that I need to take a break from beer books fearing that I will one day burnout and give up on beer altogether, but I just can’t stop – there is just too much to learn and I am worried that I don’t have enough time to learn it all.  Suddenly I am beginning to feel overwhelmed again.  I worry more about developing an addiction to beer knowledge than an addiction to the drink itself.

I just finished Travels with Barley by Ken Wells.  Most beer books are written by craft beer enthusiasts or beer historians, Ken Wells is neither of the two.  Ken is an everyday beer drinker in pursuit of fulfilling his lifelong dream of finding the perfect beer joint.  Travels With Barley is simply a book about American beer culture, and it is not exclusive to craft-beer or macro-beer.  Of all the books I have ever read none have made me want to visit a pub more than Travels with Barley.

Here are a few other books that I  recommend:

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: A histroy of the world in 6 glassess, Ambitous Brew, Drink, Iain Gately, Ken Wells, Maureen Ogle, Tom Standage, travels with barley

Limited Release Russell IP’eh

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | Beer | 8 Comments

Russell Brewing emailed me today announcing their first limited release beer Russell IP’eh, a Canadian IPA, eh? We have a significant history with Russell (which you can read about here, here, and here); one of the criticisms we had of them was that their beer was rather uninteresting.  It is for this reason we are happy to see Russell branching out with a bolder limited release.  Erik and I actually tried a cask of Russell prototype IPA at a Dix Cask Thursday in the not too distant past.  The beer we tried was delicious, hoppy, and well balanced.  If this limited release is of the same recipe, then I eagerly await this beer.  Of recent BC IPA releases, it would surpass Granville Island’s Brockton IPA and give Central City a run for their money.  We are only speculating at this point, but we have our hopes and we’ll definitely be giving this one a try.

No specific release date was mentioned, but we were told that the IP’eh will be available in draught form.  There will also be 1500 650ml bottles sold at Brewery Creek, Darby’s Liquor Store, Firefly Fine Wines and Ales and Liberty Wine Merchants in Vancouver.  If you see it, purchase this rare bottle and give it a shot.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: brewery creek, Cask, central city ipa, dix brewpub, firefly fine wines and ales, granville island brockton ipa, russell brewing, russell ip'eh, russell ipa

Beer Review Generator

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | Beer, Review | 8 Comments

I don’t really like beer reviews.  I find most of them unhelpful and many of them rather pretentious.  I recently read a review on Beer Advocate that suggested star fruit notes were present in the aroma of a beer.  Really?  Star fruit?  Couldn’t think of anything more obscure?  I seem to recall trying star fruit sometime when I was on vacation in Hawaii, but I can’t even remember what it looked like, much less tasted like (turns out it looks like a star).  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Beer Advocate very much for its wealth of information (BeerFly is great for traveling).  I look up almost every beer I try on BA, but usually to get a general sense of the beer and learn more about the brewery.  In fact, I am about to dive into a Tin Whistle Black Widow and happened to come across this excerpt in a recent review:

The initial sweetness soon becomes backed by a sourness that is not as easy to look past as it was on the nose. Dark pumpernickel-ish breadiness balances the sweetness (as does a touch of sour). The bitterness is low to nil. The chocolate is in the way of cocoa powder. The dark fruitiness is of plum and dates, in a mild sort of way. There’s some “wet cardboard” that is not too interfering. This has some potential if the maltiness were bigger, I suppose.

I’ll have to watch out for the pumpernickel and wet cardboard then.  I mean, do people really find this kind of stuff in tasting beer?  I’m sure there are a few odd ducks out there with super palates, but I really feel like there is a lot of BS being thrown around in the average BA beer review.  It is for this reason that I got a real kick out of this Beer Review Generator I found while blog surfing.  With a few clicks, you too can have your very own beer review.  To be honest, I can’t really distinguish the generated reviews from the typical serious reviews I read online, which I find sad.  Here is one of my generated reviews:

Pours an opalescent amber with a soft, pillowy head. Heavy lacing. Intense flowery aroma, with overtones of rosewater and orange. Lovely boozy flavor, punctuated with strawberry and chocolate. Creamy mouthfeel and long finish.

Not bad, eh?  Now I must say that I do love tasting different beers and comparing perceived flavor notes.  Discussing the characteristics and subtleties of a beer can be great fun, but you lose me when it gets to picking out specific undertones like rosewater, star fruit, pumpernickel, and wet cardboard with certainty.  You are probably losing a lot of people really, and likely not helping put forward the craft beer movement.  Beer isn’t wine, why try and elevate our prized brew to the same levels of snobbery and exclusivity?

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Beer Advocate, beer review, beer review generator, beerfly, black widow, star fruit, tin whistle

Kamloops

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | 2 Comments

I am in Kamloops this weekend for a friend’s wedding. Prior to making the trip up, I did a fair amount of research online to find the best places to visit for food and beer in Kamloops. From what I have seen so far, Kamloops is not a great city for beer – nor is information readily available online about restaurants, pubs and breweries in the Kamloops area. Urbanspoon and Yelp were of little help – both have an almost nonexistent online-presence in Kamloops.

Unlike most large cities in British Columbia’s Thompson-Okanagon region, Kamloops is not home to a brewpub, and the only brewery in town, KB/Whistler Brewing/Bowen Island Brewing, is confusing, mediocre and therefore somewhat unsatisfying. This lone craft brewer was once name Kamloops Brewing prior to a series of corporate mergers that eventually ended up with the decline of KB beer – Whistler Brewing is now this brewery’s flagship beer. This misleading beer is brewed using glacial water trucked in over the long mountainous roads from Whistler – ridiculous. I am in Kamloops right now and the water tastes great, but why use local water when “ultra-premium” water can be shipped in – climate change is a myth.

We did manage to find a local pub named Duffy’s Pub within walking distance of our hotel that offers KB Black Bear Ale on draught. Black Bear is still brewed using local Kamloops water and has a delicate roasted malt flavor with a pleasing aroma that is distinct to the Kamloops area and their local water supply. The food was typical Canadian pub fare – pizza, burgers, pasta, steak and other simple dishes; the beer selection was made up of light lager and a few other darker ales. According to the limited number of reviews on urbanspoon, Duffy’s Pub is one of Kamloops’ top 10.

In doing some research I did come across Rethink Beer – a herb infused lager brewed at KB Brewing. I have no idea if this gimmicky product is still in production or if this brand ever achieved success. According to Rethink’s website their beer is not available in Kamloops. But lets be serious for a minute here, no amount of ginseng, ginko or tribulus will make beer any healthier or tastier. Beer is a naturally nutritious beverage that does not need to rely on herbal additions to attain a healthy status – red wine is not the only healthy drink option.

Local breweries play a big role in the development of a city’s beer culture. Vancouver Island for example, is a destination for beer enthusiasts, largely because of the number of small craft breweries that support and encourage a growing regional beer scene. Unfortunately, the only brewery in Kamloops no longer focuses on servicing it’s surrounding area and instead has opted to pursue flashier export markets with the internationally recognized brand Whistler Brewing.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Bowen Island Brewing, Duffy's Pub, Kamloops, KB Breiwng, Rethink Beer, Urbanspoon, Whistler Brewing, yelp

A taste of Wild Rose IPA

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments

Craig, a friend of mine, returned to his native Calgary recently and graciously brought back some Wild Rose IPA for Erik and I.  We traded him a delicious Old Yale Sergeant’s IPA, which I though was pretty fair.  Craig, despite being from Calgary and being a flames fan, is a good man.  He is a fellow beer enthusiast and married to Alex, one of my oldest friends from way back to elementary school.  Craig hadn’t heard of Wild Rose Brewery before, but I’d recently read about them in Taps magazine and so tipped him off.  Wild Rose is one of the more celebrated craft breweries from Alberta and so I was rather excited to give them a try.

I found the Wild Rose IPA (100% Wild by Volume) to be rather similar to the Granville Island Brockton IPA we’ve recently been writing about.  It was good, but not outstanding (kind of like the Flames).  The Wild Rose IPA was pleasantly hoppy, less so than Brockton, and also better balanced.  The malt flavor was more detectable in the Wild Rose IPA, which I enjoyed.  I would have loved to try more of Wild Rose’s brews, but consider myself lucky that Craig thought of us at all.  If I end up in Calgary in the future, I’ll definitely stop by to try more of their lineup, and hopefully a seasonal too.  I find that a brewery’s seasonal brew is usually where they shine brightest.  Thanks Craig.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Brockton IPA, calgary, flames suck, Granville Island Brewing, old yale sergeants IPA, taps magazine, wild rose brewery, wild rose IPA