Archive for August, 2009
Erik in Quebec
Monday, August 31st, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
The Wild Chef Martin Picard
If you were wondering why Erik hasn’t been posting much, and you probably were, it’s because he is on vacation in Quebec. What’s he doing there you ask? I hope he’s collecting beer to bring back for me, but he’s more likely enjoying smoked meat and poutine, as well as putting the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAbles like a French Canadian. He mentioned a trip to Martin Picard’s (The Wild Chef) restaurant Au Pied de Cochon as well as many other culinary adventures. He also planned to visit a few of Montreal and Quebec’s wonderful craft breweries, specifically Dieu du Ciel. I imagine he’ll have a few posts to share with us of his adventure when he gets back. It is with insane jealousy and anticipation that I await his return, which I’m hoping will include a few treats to share with me.
Cheers,
Chris
Kolsch Night at Chuckanut Brewery
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
Every Tuesday is Kolsh Night at Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham, where eight ounce traditional glasses of Kolsch go for $1.50. Considering that Erik and I live in the boonies not too far from the border, what choice did we have but to head down and drink delicious Kolsch? It only took us forty minutes to get to Chuckanut Brewery, including border lineup, which is the same amount of time it takes us to get to Vancouver, provided we don’t get distracted by all of the big city bright lights.
I was pretty interested to give Chuckanut a try after reading about them in the latest issue of Northwest Brewing News. They are one of the few Northwest breweries to predominantly brew German style lagers (and no IPA!). Plus they have a rad name that makes me giggle. Come on now, don’t pretend that Chuckanut doesn’t roll off the tongue. Seriously though, with styles like Dortmunder, Dunkel, Kolsch, Marzen, and Helles on the menu, it was well worth a trip.
Chuckanut Brewing Beer Sampler
As one must do when first visiting a brewery, I ordered the beer sampler. I really enjoyed tasting three and a half lager styles side by side to really taste the difference (Kolsch is a ale/lager hybrid of sorts). I’ve visited breweries where I found many of the beers to be rather similar, but Chuckanut did well to distinguish their brews. Of the golden tinged beers, I found the Dortmunder to be on the hoppy side, the Helles sweeter and more malty, and the Kolsch to be fruity. The Organic Amber and Pale Ales were also enjoyable. I really liked that they listed brewing information, style descriptions, and food pairing suggestions on the menu for each beer. For dinner, we enjoyed some fresh mussels steamed in beer, tasty wood stone oven pizzas, and some desserts drizzled in an amazing blackberry sauce.
Erik enjoying Kolsch Night at Chuckanut
Chuckanut beer steamed mussels
Holly was pretty excited about the pizza
We attempted to find a liquor store on the way home so that we could bring back some craft brew at affordable prices, but were too late in the day for our quest. We settled on Walmart instead, where I found Deschutes Black Butte Porter for $6.97, less that half of what I paid in Canada last week. Interestingly, this delicious craft beer was situated just above BLL on the shelf and selling for the same price, which would you choose?
Deschutes Black Butte Porter and BLL for $6.97
It was a successful sojourn across the line for some tasty German beers and well worth the trip. We’ll surely be back again.
Cheers,
Chris
BC lacks Porter
Monday, August 24th, 2009 | Beer, Favorites | 2 Comments
I love porter; it is one of my favorite beer styles. I find porter to be quite easy and enjoyable to drink, which might be due to the moderate alcohol levels and pleasant roasty and chocolate flavors one finds in porter. What I don’t like about porter is its relative scarcity in these parts. I can’t think of one BC brewer that regularly sells six packs of porter. You’ll sometimes find 650ml bottles of porter from BC craft brewers available in BC Liquor Stores, but these examples are often brewed with an additional element such as chocolate, coffee, coconut, or other fruit. While I definitely like these beers, what I’d really like to see is a widely available six pack of quality porter from one of BC’s many fine brewers. In the mean time, Deschutes has recently made its way into BC. Thank heaven for their Black Butte Porter, which is definitely one of my favorite beers! I picked some up from Brewery Creek last week and, with a few friends, made quick work of them. With craft brewing gaining ground in BC, I can only hope that a widely available porter is on the horizon. I’d suck one, or six.
Cheers,
Chris
A British Columbian Pint
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
Larry Pynn of the Vancouver Sun ran an interesting article this morning on the legality of an imperial pint in BC. In Canada the legal definition for a pint of beer is 20 oz. or 568 ml; however, in BC no establishment is legally allowed to serve a beer over 17.5 oz., or 500ml.
The federal government insists that anyone who claims to be selling a pint in Canada had better pour a full Imperial pint measuring 20 ounces, or 568.26 millilitres.The province’s Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, however, stipulates that individual servings of draft beer cannot exceed 500 millilitres or 17.5 ounces — effectively legislating a legal pint out of existence in B.C.
The Vancouver Sun tripped across the contradictory regulations while conducting a random survey of 15 pubs in Metro Vancouver to determine just how much beer customers receive when ordering a “pint.”
The Sun found pubs served 17 ounces on average, representing a three-ounce or 15-per-cent discrepancy.
The Golden Spike in Port Moody served the smallest amount at 14 ounces, followed by 15.1 ounces at the Mountain Shadow in Burnaby. Two pubs that effectively served the legal limit included Steamworks in Vancouver and Jimy Mac’s in Langley at 19.4 ounces.
As the article pointed out, very few pubs and restaurants in BC serve an imperial pint, Steamworks being one of the few pubs serving beer close to a federal 20 oz. pint. It seems the provincial government is turning a blind eye to this situation; the provincial government claims that the the point of the law is to avoid over intoxication and they seem to be enforcing the spirit of the law and not the letter. 20 oz pints tend to sell for more, meaning more liquor tax revenue to the government – I can’t see the government being all that upset about establishments serving 20 0z pints.
Lets hope this article doesn’t have a negative impact on those businesses that are serving a proper pint. Check out the full article here.
Cheers,
Erik
Amber Ale
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments
Recently I have been drinking a number amber ales – this is new for me. I used to find most amber ales were far too malty, at times bordering on syrupy, and most often poorly balanced between bitter (hops) and sweet (malt). But often as I am, I was wrong. Amber ales are fantastic and are a beer style that I have been foolishly neglecting for quite some time.
This delicious beer style is full of rich malt flavor, with caramel, toffee, hints of subtle roasted grains and if lucky, a delicate vanilla finish are all great flavors found in an amber ale – fantastic.
A few of the amber ales I have been enjoying are Light House Brewing Race Rocks Amber Ale and Cannery Brewing Anarchist Amber Ale. Both are quite good, but if you prefer hoppier beers, I recommend Anarchist Amber Ale; if malty is your thing then try Race Rocks Amber.
Cheers,
Erik
Dragon Stout at The Reef
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments
A few weeks back I went to The Reef restaurant on Commercial Drive a tasty Jamaican lunch. A few of my remote coworkers were in town, so it was a special enough occasion to enjoy a midday beer. I was surprised to find a beer I’d never heard of on the beer menu, Dragon Stout. Obviously I had to order this strange brew, not learning of its history until later on. It was robust at 7.5% ABV, also very roasty and chock full of malt sweetness. I found it to be the perfect compliment to my spicy Jamaican lunch. I later learned that Dragon Stout is an export stout, originally brewed by the British for export to warmer climates back in the colonial days. Jamaica was one place that received export stout and the style obviously caught on if it is still being brewed there today. I really enjoyed the export stout, which I found to be more flavorful than a regular dry Irish stout, but much less severe than a Russian Imperial Stout. If you haven’t already, stop in at The Reef for a spicy lunch complimented by a Dragon Stout.
Cheers,
Chris
Where’s the great beer in the Fraser Valley?
Friday, August 14th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
We received an email today from a gentleman who just moved to Langley seeking our advice on where to find good beer in the Fraser Valley. His email inspired me to write a brief guide to good beer in the Fraser Valley. Sadly, the choices are few and far between, but there are options nonetheless.
Best Liquor Stores:
- BC Signature Liquor Store in Langley
- Central City Liquor Store in Surrey
Best (only) Brewpubs:
- Big Ridge in Surrey
- Central City in Surrey
- Mission Springs in Mission
Note: These brewpubs will let you fill up a 2L growler at the bar for a very reasonable price. Big Ridge fills a growler for $7 on Tuesdays, has cask beer available at noon the last Friday of every month, and hosts the occasional brewmaster’s dinner.
Other options:
- Old Yale Brewing in Chilliwack
Old Yale, and possibly other valley breweries, will let you buy direct from them. This is likely the best way to acquire fresh beer affordably.
Have I missed anything?
Cheers,
Chris
Real beer is an art not a business
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment
Brewing is an art. Real beer is unique, creative and well thought out. This does not mean that good beer must be complex and highly sophisticated, but it does mean that mass market appeal should not be the number one driver behind creating a new beer. Making money is not a bad thing, we all need to put food – and beer – on the table. But a balance needs to be found between creating a successful commercial beer and a beer that is unique and tasty.
Beer festivals and other beer related events, such as the recent Caskival at DIX, are great venues for brewers to dream big and showcase more experimental beer. Attendees at these types of events expect to find creative beers. Boring beers tend to get overlooked at cask beer festivals. Sure, some of the more creative beers may ultimately fail, but failure is all part of success.
The beer industry is divided into two polar segments – craft beer and macro beer; the medium sized regional brewer is now almost completely extinct. Most macro brewers, such a AB-Inbev, focus on reaching as large an audience as possible. Creativity must be a foreign concept in these large breweries; here commercial success is far more important than creating a beverage with integrity. On the other hand, craft breweries have a more balanced approach – creativity and commerce seem to have reached a happy medium.
It saddens me to see craft brewers sacrificing creativity for financial reward. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but craft brewers need to jump off the lime lager band wagon. Just stop, no more – Please! We all expect this sort of thing from Miller and Budwesier, but craft breweries, never. There is nothing creative about emulation and imitation.
I’ll state my point again; real beer is an art. Art is creative, and emulation is not creative. It is really that simple.
Cheers,
Erik
More Lime Beers?
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments
I received an email from Russell Brewing today announcing their new Cactus Lime Lager, to be sold at Cactus Club restaurants. This news depressed me. Does the market really need more lime flavored beers? I hope the Cactus Lime Lager is better than their Russell’s Lemon Ale, which I have previously tried and, similar to Bud Light Lime, found it to taste like bad Sprite. I thought I might enjoy the taste of “real lime flavor” in beer because I enjoy the occasional fruit wedge dropped into certain brews, but I really, really don’t. Those of you that do like lime flavored beers, what is it about them that you enjoy? Some say it is easy to drink, but so too are many other lagers (also water). I just don’t get it.
I really thought that Russell was going in the right direction with their recent IP’eh release, which I found to be a very tasty beer. I hoped they might introduce more well brewed limited edition beers (like the Blueberry Wheat they had at the Dix Caskival) to the market, but am instead disappointed to find them jumping on the lime flavor band wagon led by Bud Light Lime. It must make good business sense to be brewing this kind of beer, because they aren’t the only ones. In addition to BLL, Michelob brews a lime flavored beer, as does respected Canadian craft brewer Big Rock. I can only hope that other brewers don’t follow suit.
Cheers,
Chris
Dix Summer Caskival
Monday, August 10th, 2009 | Beer | 8 Comments
Erik and I attended the Dix Summer Caskival with the wives last Saturday and it was really fun. It was by far the best beer event I have attended in Vancouver, thanks to the plethora of good beer on hand. My only complaint was that, like most beer events in these parts, it started too early. I understand that its tough to take over a restaurant on a money making Saturday night, but starting a beer event at noon means that drinking beer is all you are really going to do that day. It was really good times nonetheless.
We arrived at Dix a bit before noon and queued up with the other eager beavers. We’d heard that arriving early was a good idea to ensure no delicious cask beer went untasted. We were not disappointed and had unobstructed access to the many creative brews available, which were:
- BigRidge Brewery Creek Dry-Hopped Lager
- Central City Red Racer Double Dry-Hopped Empire IPA
- Dead Frog Raspberry Bulleit Bourbon Nut Brown
- Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale
- Dix Double IPA
- Dix Raspberry Blanche
- Dix Oak Aged Barley Wine
- Dix Dunkel
- Dockside Pilsner
- Driftwood Wit/Saison Blend
- Howe Sound Blackberry Nut Brown
- Longwood ESB
- R&B Raspberry Sun God Wheat
- Russell Blueberry Wheat
- Russell IP’eh!
- Spinnakers Cranberry-Orange Ale
- Storm Rollicking Red Nose Raspberry Apple Cider
- Storm ‘Root of All Evil’ Root Beer
- Swans Oaked Scotch Ale
- Taylor’s Crossing Oak Aged Mad Scow Stout
- Taylor’s Crossing Dry-hopped Red Truck Lager
- Yaletown Cider
- Yaletown Oud Bruin
- Whistler Brewhouse Woodward’s IPA
For the cost of $20 ($15 for us CAMRA members), we received admission to the Caskival, a nifty tasting glass and three tasting tickets. We purchased quite a few more tasting tickets for $1 each and we didn’t want to waste any, which meant that we tried almost all of the casks on hand, save a few of the lagers. My two favorite beers were both from Dead Frog, who represented the valley well with their two entries. I find that tart/sweet fruit flavors go well with nut brown ales, which is why I liked the Howe Sound Blackberry Nut Brown as much as Dead Frog’s Raspberry Bourbon Nut Brown. However, my particular favorite was the Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale. Sahti, a traditional Finnish beer made with unmalted grains including barley, wheat, rye and oats and flavored with juniper instead of hops, was a beer I’d never had before. The Dead Frog version tasted strongly of pine, but in a good way. Other particular favorites of mine were the Driftwood Wit/Saison blend and the R&B Rasberry Sun God Wheat, both because they were a little out of the ordinary. There were ten other beers there that I really liked, but listing them all would simply mirror most of the above list.
In the end, I do believe that the Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale won the Golden Spile award for brewer’s choice (a spile is a small wooden peg used to control the flow of carbon dioxide out of a cask). Erik and I both voted for this one, which must mean we have exceptional taste. The Golden Bung award for drinker’s choice went to Storm‘s ‘Root of All Evil’ Root Beer (a bung is like a cork for a cask). I too enjoyed the Storm Root Beer, mostly for the novelty of drinking a beer resembling the common soft drink. A worthy choice, but not my favorite.
We ended up leaving the Caskival a little early, but more than satisfied, to hunt down some pizza. We were definitely feeling the effects of our tasting and were not particularly productive the rest of the day. Still, I can’t wait for the Dix Winter Caskival, where I’ve heard the beer is twice as adventurous. I did take a few crappy pictures of the event with my iPhone (forgot the camera, shoot), here they are:
The wait to get in, a tad early in the day...
Casks on the bar, before the crowd arrived
More casks on the pool table, so much good beer.
Cheers,
Chris