Love Good Beer

Bud Light Lime is an abomination

Monday, June 15th, 2009 | Beer | 46 Comments

Recently added to the list of things that decrease my faith in humanity, a list that includes America’s Next Top Model, Paris Hilton, Gary Bettman, the US Republican Party, Hummers, and most rap music, is Bud Light Lime.  I mean really, if you want some lime flavor with your watery beverage, why not drink vodka water with a splash of lime?  Why pretend that this is even beer at all?

Bud Light Lime also comes in a clear bottle, perfect for soaking up some summer skunkiness.  What compelling reason would somebody have to drink this beer, other than it is probably really cheap?  I can’t think of any besides marketing.  It really bothers me that a giant corporation can just repackage crap, hire an agency to rattle off a marketing blitz, and have a winner, especially when there are many small time brewers pouring their hearts and souls into superior products.

I understand the need for a cold, light refreshing beer in the hot hot heat of summer, but there are plenty of non crappy ones out there.  If it is a bit of citrus you’re after, why not drop a lemon wedge into a German Hefeweizen or a Belgian Wit?  I should note that the act of adding a lemon or lime wedge to a beer was popularized in North American to mask two things, one being bad tasting beer and the other being our own general beer wussiness.  If you find a wheat beer to flavorful for you, there are many fine local lagers out there too.  I have assembled a list of wonderful, light summer beers that most anyone would enjoy:

• Mt. Begbie High Country Kolsch
• Swans Old Towne Lager
• Old Yale Pale Ale
• Red Canoe Lager
• Central City Springboard Lager
• Howe Sound Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale
• Mission Springs Brewery Bombshell Blonde Ale
• Phillips Phoenix Gold Lager
• Granville Island Belgian Wit
• Driftwood Farmhand Ale
• Tin Whistle Peach Cream Ale

Every time I see somebody drinnking a Bud Light Lime I die a little bit on the inside.  When you reach for a cold one this summer, why not grab something from the list above?

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: abomination, belgian wit, but light lime, central city springboard lager, driftwood farmhand ale, granville island belgian wit, hefeweizen, howe sound garibaldi pale ale, mission springs bombshell blonde, mt begbie high country kolsch, old yale pale ale, phillips phoenix gold lager, red canoe lager, swans old towne lager, tin whistle peach cream ale

An Interesting Coincidence

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

A couple of months ago I went to the launch of the Granville Island Brewing’s then new Brockton IPA.  There I met Crystal Henrickson, Yelp‘s only Vancouver based employee.  I told her that I liked Yelp for its reviews, but really didn’t contribute any myself.  Crystal is Yelp’s community manager in Vancouver, meaning her job is to get Vancouverites using Yelp.  To get me to use Yelp, she took the unexpected approach of chastising me for consuming other people’s opinions without contributing any of my own.  In case you are getting the wrong idea, she did this in a friendly way that I appreciated.  I hadn’t really thought of it that way and, swayed by guilt, I signed up for Yelp to review a few of my favorite places.

Tonight, had I the choice of beer drinking venues to situate myself, I likely would have been at Dix tenth anniversary celebration that featured five casks of IPA from each of the Mark James Group brewpubs.  Instead, I went to the Alibi Room for a business meeting, which is never a bad place to find yourself.  It turns out that the Alibi Room is one of the first places I reviewed on Yelp.  Loving it so, I gave it five stars for their friendly service and commitment to providing excellent local craft beer and delicious food.  After I ordered today, I was surprised when Nigel, the owner of the Alibi Room, thanked me for my review on Yelp!  First off, I had no idea that he knew who I was.  Secondly, I should be thanking him for all the hard work he’s put into providing an excellent establishment for me to enjoy.  Later on, I ordered a pint of Spinnakers Oatmeal Stout from Nigel.  He kindly let me know that he thought his remaining stock of this beer might not be up to snuff and suggested I order a Pike Extra Stout instead.  I took his advice and not only did I greatly enjoy the recommended Pike Extra Stout, but Nigel also brought me a taste of the beer I’d originally ordered.  He was right, the Spinnakers Oatmeal Stout had gone off, a problem we’ve noted in Spinnakers packaged products in the past.  What service!  This is a great example of why the Alibi Room is a stand up joint.  Also, don’t get the wrong impression about Spinnakers in general.  It is a great pub to go visit, but I’d avoid ordering their products anywhere else.

Thank you Crystal for getting me onto Yelp.  I’m glad that one little review that took a few minutes of my time to write could be noticed by, and possibly help, one of my favorite establishments.  If anyone out there is interested, this is my Yelp page.  I’ve not been keeping up with my reviews and could use some encouragement.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, Brockton IPA, dix, Granville Island Brewing, mark james group, pike extra stout, spinnakers oatmeal stour, yelp

Ughh!

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | 1 Comment

All four of my wisdom teeth were ripped from my jawbone this weekend, and with the four unsuspecting teeth, so went my identity. For the past four days I have been unable to eat proper food, drink beer, smile widely or sing loudly in my car while driving home from work. Eating, drinking, grandiose facial gestures reflecting my inner joy and wide mouthed singing pretty much sum up my entire identity – I am now just a shell of a man roaming the world until my mouth heals. The bright colorful world surrounding me has faded to black and white and the Ricardo’s are nowhere to be found to cheer me up.

But not all is bad with the world; pureed food can be good. I have a new appreciation for a well prepared broth and have had a chance to (been forced to), in order to ward of starvation, play around with a beer and tomato soup recipe. The recipe turned our reasonably well and I thought it may be worth sharing – in the style of Gordon Ramsay.

• Olive Oil – Hot Pan
• Mirepoix,– Sweat
• Beer 12 oz – reduce
• 28 oz San Marzano tomatoes
• Great Northern Beans – Simmer
• Puree
• Season
• Done

Over the past four days I have missed a total of 8 full meals– no beer either – and will have some serious catching up to do in the following weeks. I should be back to usual within the next few days, replacing all of this bitching and moaning with pure unadulterated gluttony.

Apparently the steroids that my dentist directed me to take as an anti inflammatory can cause mood alterations as a side effect. So please take this post with a grain of salt.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: beer soup, gordon ramsey, pain and suffering, soup, wisdom teeth

Seattle Beer Culture

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments

I was in Seattle this past weekend for yet another stag.  I am always impressed by the beer selection that almost everywhere in Seattle seems to have.  We did actively seek out some fine purveyors of beer, but we also visited a few places we were surprised to find had an excellent selection of craft beer.  And yet even some among our group of Canadians held onto the notion that Canadian beer is superior to American, a notion I’ve refuted as a myth on this blog.  I hope that Vancouver can one day match the availability, not to mention affordability, of excellent craft beer that we came across in Seattle.

On Friday we began our weekend with a few pints in the Pyramid Brewing beer garden across from Safeco Field.  The beer garden was packed full of the Mariners pregame crowd and provided a very festive atmosphere.  Pyramid had five beers for sale in the beer garden, including an amber, a blonde, an IPA, a hefeweizen, and their famous apricot ale.  I thoroughly enjoyed the beer garden at Pyramid, an experience enhanced by my soon to be married friend dressed in a beaver suit.  If only the Mariners game could have measured up to the pregame.  This was my first live baseball game and I found it even more boring than baseball on TV.  I may have loudly expressed my opinion to anyone nearby, and for that I apologize.  The few too many pints at Pyramid beforehand may have contributed to my rudeness.  The best part of the Mariners game was the members of the crowd who stopped by to gawk at my poor friend the bachelor.  Seriously though, if you’ve ever seen hockey, how can you like baseball?  Anyway, I was very impressed by the beer selection at Safeco, which is funny because this Washington beer blogger doesn’t share my opinion.  He’d be sorely disappointed with the beer on offer at GM Place.

After the game, or maybe before the game ended, we went to a bar called Cowgirls, which is a wonderful place to a take a bachelor.  Think Coyote Ugly with better looking staff.  After Cowgirls, we bypassed the next morning and headed straight out for lunch a little worse for wear.  We found a pub called the Fox Sports Grill right beside our hotel.  By the way, we stayed at the Sheraton in downtown Seattle for a mere $94 a night thanks to Hotwire.com.  The Fox had twenty odd craft beers on tap and also afforded me my first crack at an undercooked burger.  In Canada, burgers must be cooked well done, whereas I was able to enjoy my burger cooked medium.  It is official, burgers cooked less than well done are delicious.  We are too paranoid up here.

After lunch, we headed to West Seattle Golf Course for a round.  Being a public facility, the course was very affordable, but also very crowded.  How do you spice up a six hour round?  You try to run over your buddies golf balls with your cart, accidentally flipping it with yourself still inside.  That hurt.  And no, I was not inebriated from consuming some of the excellent beers for sale at the course.  I am just stupid.  Even public golf courses in Seattle have solid beer selections.  I’m starting to get bitter here.

For dinner we headed to the Taphouse and Grill, also very near to our hotel. The Taphouse has 160 taps of interesting beer with samplers of four available for $9.50.  This place was heaven for me and I wish I could have spent a lot of time at the bar, but maybe another time.  I didn’t even know how you could fit 160 taps into an establishment, but they had them all in there, wall to wall and staggered at two levels.  I tried to take a picture, but my crappy iPhone camera failed me in the dim light.  When you consider that our top beer bar, the Alibi Room, has only 19 taps, it puts 160 taps into perspective.  Wow.  That evening took us too a few more bars and pubs, none of particular interest to beer enthusiasts.  The last day, we headed straight for lunch again, this time stopping at the Pike Brewing Brewpub, another fine establishment.

It was another succesful stag, one where we enjoyed far too much excellent beer.  Seattle really is a great beer destination.  I can only hope to say the same about Vancouver in a few years.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, american beer, bachelor party, beaver costume, canadian beer, cowgirls, fox sports grill, hotwire, pike brewing, Pyramid Brewing, safeco field, seattle, seattle mariners, stag, taphouse and grill, west seattle golf course

Beer Float

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | 4 Comments

It is hot in Vancouver – temperatures reached upwards of 35 degrees Celsius this afternoon.   Living in a part of the world where most homes  do not have a central air conditioning unit, this kind of heat can be somewhat stifling.  But there is good news, hot weather means cooling off with cold beer.  But along with good news comes bad news – tonight I didn’t feel like a lager, blond ale, wheat beer, cream ale or other beers that are generally served cold, I wanted a porter.  I know it is completely out of season, but I don’t lead my taste buds, my taste buds lead me.

To beat the heat this evening, my wife and I went for a drive to a the Marble Slab Creamery, a popular ice cream shop.  It seems we weren’t the only ones trying to cool down with an ice cream cone, the lineup was far longer than my patience and we were forced to leave.  But that is when I put the two together, rich chocolate porter, cool vanilla ice cream – chocolate porter float!  We rushed to the nearest liquor store  to find an appropriate porter or stout for this beer float, we ended up with Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter.

I have seen a porter/stout beer float on restaurant menus before, but never had a real desire to give it a try.  It turns out beer floats are delicious – an adult version of a rootbeer float. Next time I see a beer float on a menu I will definitely consider ordering.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Beer Float, ice cream, Marble Slab Creamery, Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter

Protect your beer from the sun

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment

Have you ever been outside on a hot day and craved a cold beer ever so badly?  I have and I can remember finding that first sip of ice cold Corona (with a lime) gloriously refreshing.  Have you ever noticed how that same Corona doesn’t taste nearly so good a few minutes later? Note: noticing this might depend on how many Coronas you’ve already had.  I’ve noticed, but I thought it had to do with the beer warming in the sun.  Turns out I was wrong, the sun hates beer.  It is an indisputable fact of science.  Okay, I made that up, but the sun can turn a beer “skunky” in a matter of minutes.  Scientists have noted that UV light interacts with certain hop byproducts found in beer.  When UV light hits these chemicals they breakdown into the very same chemical that humans revile in the scent of actual skunks.  Who knew?  Turns out these scientists did.

Apparently humans are super sensitive to this chemical and can detect less than a milligram in a swimming pool.  This is why you might find yourself enjoying your beer a little less if you’ve been out in the sun.  I’m writing about this because I found myself turning my nose up at a glass of delicious beer this past weekend.  I was really concerned there was something wrong with me until I recalled reading about the sun’s malicious intent in a recent issue of Beer Advocate.  I figured I’d best blog about this and spread the word.  This Summer, if you plan on drinking your favorite beer out of a clear glass or drinking Corona, Sleemans, Dead Frog, Heineken, or Stella Artois out of the bottle, shield your drinking vessel from the sun to preserve the taste.

Have you seen those Corona commercials where two people are sitting on a fabulous beach with their bottles of Corona?  They are advertising skunky beer and I find that funny.  If only you could taste ads, more people might be drinking quality BC microbrew, no lime required.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Beer Advocate, corona, dead frog, Heineken, science, Skunky Beer, sleemans, stella artois, uv light

Phillips Accusation Ale Tasting

Monday, June 1st, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | 1 Comment

Phillips used to produce a beer called Blue Truck, which was a tasty pale ale.  It was a popular beer on Vancouver Island and growing in popularity on the mainland when the Mark James Group sued Phillips Brewing for trademark infringement. They thought that people would confuse Blue Truck with their Red Truck brand.  Phillips, being a small brewery, relented and changed the name of their pale ale to Blue Buck.  It was shortly after this time that Phillips began producing their cleverly named Accusation Ale, an Extra Special Bitter style ale.  I received a hilarious email from Phillips today announcing a preview tasting of this year’s first batch of Accusation Ale:

I hope you can read the invitation because it is really quite clever.  I would gladly attend the tasting if I was in Victoria, but alas, I will have to wait until it arrives at Brewery Creek.  ESB is one of my favorite styles and I’m really looking forward to this one.  I suppose I have the Mark James Group to thank for Accusation Ale, but I really think what they did was stupid.  In my opinion, the craft beer scene in BC isn’t big enough for lawsuits.  But MJG has felt the repercussions, incurring the angst of many Vancouver Island beer drinkers.  If the individual MJG pubs like Dix, Yaletown, Whistler, Taylors Crossing, and Big Ridge weren’t some of the very fine few options for fresh beer hereabouts, I’d probably show them a little angst myself.  I do believe the brewers at these establishments had nothing to do with the lawsuit, and so their beer remains morally pure:)

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: accusation ale, big ridge brewing, blue truck, brewery creek, dix bbq and brewery, ESB, extra special bitter, mark james group, phillips brewing, red track, whistler, yaletown brewing