Beer
The Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub
Monday, August 30th, 2010 | Beer, Pubs | No Comments
The Duke of Cambridge is quickly becoming my favorite pub in our new neighbourhood of Angel Islington. It’s a bit off the beaten path, but it came highly recommended by both Yelp and Lonely Planet, so we had to check it out. I’m glad we did because I really enjoy it’s cozy atmosphere and tasty treats. It’s a completely organic pub, as in every ingredient in all the food and every drink they serve is 100% organic. I don’t particularly care about the organicness, but I do appreciate the care and attention that goes into their menu. You can taste the love and it is delicious. I’ve noticed that the majority of London pubs will have five generic European Lagers on tap and then three casks of similar not terribly exciting British ales. The Duke of Cambridge breaks the mold by serving interesting beers on tap, cask, and in bottles, with no generic macro brews to speak of. It’s rare to find stout, porter, and even English lager available in pubs here, and so I especially enjoy the Freedom Dark Lager and both the stout and porter from Pitfields. While I respect the organic stance the pub takes, what I really like is the overall quality of the food and drink. Combined with the quieter, relatively hipster free locale and the comfortable and inviting interior, the Duke is my new favorite.
Pitfields Porter at the Duke of Cambridge
Cheers,
Chris
Experiencing the Great British Beer Festival
Sunday, August 15th, 2010 | Beer, Events | 1 Comment
When I let my intentions to attend the 2010 Great British Beer Festival (henceforth to be referred to as GBBF) be known, numerous people let me know not to go on Saturday. Sadly, having already bought the tickets and being a Monday to Friday working man, Saturday was my only option. It turns out that most of the good beer is gone by Saturday and the crowds tend to be rather raucous. I had no problem with the latter, but the lack of quality beer was disappointing. That being said, if you enjoy people watching, Saturday is the day for you. I will not elaborate; attend next year to see for yourself.
The Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court
To give you a bit of back-story, the GBBF is held every year at Earls Court (an enormous convention center in London) the first Tuesday to Saturday of August. CAMRA UK organize GGBF, which is well attended by hundreds of brewers from around the UK who provide casks of beer. It costs £8 to get in, another refundable £3 for a tasting pint glass (yes, pint), and then beer can be purchased from various bars in 1/3, 1/2, and full pints at rather affordable prices. I was used to having my testing vessel at a beer festival come in the form of four ounce taster sized cup and was quite surprised at the full pint glasses on offer. Luckily, most British beers are lower in alcohol content than typical North American festival beers, so the full pint did not do me in.
I was quite pleased with our pints
In searching for quality beer, we did indeed find that almost half of the beer listed was sold out. We didn’t particularly enjoy what we tried of the other half. It might be that the beer was starting to spoil after five days sitting in an open cask or that only the poorer quality beer was left, but I was not particularly impressed with the overall beer quality of what I tasted. I admit that this might have been to do with me lacking in knowledge of the vast number of British brewers and I’ve vowed to do my research in the future. Next year I’m going to go earlier in the week and come prepared with a list of fine beers to try. What I am quite sure of is that the beer available at GBBF was nowhere near as adventurous or varied as what you might find at a festival in the Pacific Northwest. I’m sure the various ales on offer were chock full of subtlety, but subtlety detection seems to disappear after a couple pints.
All the good stuff sold out...
After a few disappointing pints, I stumbled upon the international bar where I found a few of my west coast favorites. I took comfort in a bottle of one of my favorite beers, Deschutes Black Butte Porter. I then went back to challenge myself with a 500ml bottle of Green Flash Double Stout. You might say this did me in. I’m once again going to complain about the propensity for festival organizers to hold events such as these during the day. I wasn’t particularly inebriated at 7PM on Saturday, but what’s a slightly inebriated person going to do post GBBF at 7PM on a Saturday? Carry on, that’s what. Needless to say, the following Sunday was one of those “I’m never drinking again” days, which usually last me a week. However, I’m in England now, so I only managed to take one day off.
Festival goers at GBBF
All and all, it was a very interesting experience and a fun time, I’ll be back. Next year, I’m going on a Wednesday night and I’m going to go prepared. This strategy will hopefully help me come up with some non useless commentary in 2011.
Cheers,
Chris
Brewdog: The End of History
Sunday, August 8th, 2010 | Beer | 1 Comment
I’ve written about Brewdog and their quest to brew the world’s strongest beer in the past. It seems they now have some competition in the race to the top and recently brewed an even stronger beer. First Tactical Nuclear Penguin came in at 32% ABV, then Sink the Bismark at 41%, and now The End of History at 55%. In case you were wondering, 55% ABV is extremely high for any alcoholic beverage, not just beer. You would probably drink very small amounts of this from snifters and it would taste something like whiskey. Only twelve bottles of End of History were made, each came in a dead squirrel and cost £500. To learn about it’s making, read here. Be sure to watch the video too, it’s quite funny.
Cheers,
Chris
The Stockholm Beer Scene
Friday, August 6th, 2010 | Beer | 1 Comment
I visited some of my gracious extended family in Stockholm last weekend. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Sweden since you don’t hear too much about it in regards to tourism. I was thoroughly impressed with Stockhom. It’s an amazingly beautiful city featuring picturesque architecture amongst the small islands that makeup the centre. It’s exceptionally clean and I didn’t see any homeless people, which I found shocking coming from the hobotowns of Vancouver and, to a lesser extent, London. And just as you may have heard, Swedish people are generally blond, tall, tanned, and athletic looking. If that’s your sort of thing, you might consider them really, really good looking. To top it all off, Sweden has its fair share of quality craft brewers. If not for the seven months a year of cold and darkness, it just might be the perfect place. It’s a bit expensive too, but then you get what you pay for.
Look how pretty Stockholm is
In Sweden, the liquor industry is intensely government regulated (even Absolut was owned by the Swedish government until recently), even more so than in Canada. Only beer less than 3.5% ABV can be sold in grocery stores, all other liquor is sold in government stores called Systembolaget. I went into one to check it out. There are no shelves of wine and beer for people to grab and take to the checkout. There are only showcases to let you know what they have. Once you’ve made up your mind you order from a counter where the clerk goes into the back and assembles your order for you. I’m guessing they don’t get many shoplifters. Unlike in Canada where cold beer and wine stores exist to sell you alcohol at inflated prices after the government liquor stores close, Swedes just can’t buy liquor on Sundays. This is not cool, but at least the stores have a good selection of Swedish and international beer for sale.
The counter at Systembolaget
Behind the counter at Systembolaget
The beer showcase at Systembolaget
We ended up eating dinner at a cool restaurant that had an extensive craft beer list featuring mostly Swedish beers. The restaurant was called Bakfickan and the food and beer were delightful. I don’t remember what the beer we had was called, but it was tasty. I had a really hard time with the Swedish language, reading it, pronouncing it, and remembering any instructions whatsoever. We North Americans absolutely butcher Swedish, which I feel bad about because most Swedes speak excellent English with very little accent (the Ikea commercials back home are a giant lie). If you were wondering, the food in Stockholm is like what they sell at Ikea, except that it is of much higher quality. I had meatballs with lingon berry sauce at Bafickan. We also ate a lot of cold water fish and shrimp in Sweden, often with a dill mayo type sauce. We found the food in Stockholm to be delicious in general.
Craft beer at Bakfickan
Our last stop in Stockholm was to Akkurat, a very highly rated beer bar. They had an impressive array of beer available on cask, on tap, and in bottles, including many Swedish beers and top quality stuff from around the world. We went Swedish, but again I have no idea what it was. It was good though. This place is a must stop for any beer lover passing through Stockholm.
The bar at Akkurat
Stockholm is rad; you should visit it.
Cheers,
Chris
CAMRA Vancouver Summer Beer Festival, the new Caskival?
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | Beer | No Comments
It was a sad day for all Vancouver beer lovers when Dix Brewery closed down. I knew I’d be able to find another before hockey game spot for a burger and beer, but what about Dix Caskivals? Dix hosted both winter and summer cask beer festivals that were rather awesome. I thought a part of Vancouver beer culture might die, but it sounds like CAMRA Vancouver has stepped up to the plate with a new Summer Beer Festival to replace the beloved Caskival.
The first ever CAMRA Vancouver Summer Beer Festival is happening Saturday, August 14th at St. Augustine’s in Vancouver. I believe the event is geared towards CAMRA members, but the Evite I received indicates there are general tickets available. A ticket costs $25 and includes three tastes and a commemorative tasting glass, at past Caskivals extra tastes were available for $1. Past Caskivals also featured stellar beer lineups and I’m almost certain this festival will be no different. Here’s hoping this event becomes widely successful and remains for me to attend when I return to Vancouver.
Cheers,
Chris
Guinness Tastes Better in Dublin
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | Beer, Breweries, Pubs | 10 Comments
Our extended stay across the pond was always going to involve a trip to Dublin and a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. I obviously needed to look into the widely speculated rumor/myth/fact that Guinness tastes better in Ireland. Hopefully you’ve already gathered from the title of this post that I did indeed find this to be the case (if not it’s you, not me). I also find Guinness to taste better in London than in Vancouver, and better in Dublin than in London. Why might this be? I think the answer has to be freshness.
Gate to Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, other tourists taking pictures
Beer is like food and the same principles of freshness apply (although Guinness isn’t a meal in a glass; it has the same calorie content as most other beers and it’s the nitrogen bubbles that make you feel full). The differences in flavor I tasted I would describe in terms of freshness and staleness. The Guinness over here has a deeper roasted malt flavor than the Guinness at home and just tastes fresher, where the latter might have something to do with the oils contributed by the hops not yet breaking down. Guinness in Vancouver tastes like a mere shadow of what I tasted in Dublin.
Brew Kettle in the Guinness Storehouse
When you consider that Guinness is brewed in Dublin and is widely consumed in the British Isles (meaning kegs don’t sit around for long), it makes sense that the majority of the Guinness consumed here is fresh as can be. Whereas Guinness in Vancouver has taken a boat trip across the Atlantic, a train trip across Canada, and then sat in a BC Liquor Cartel warehouse or shelf for a while. Had I any foresight whatsoever, I might have brought a can of Guinness over here to consume along side a fresh pint from the Storehouse in direct comparison. In addition to being fresher, Guinness over here is much better taken care of. Bars carrying Guinness have Guinness representatives coming into clean their keg lines quite frequently. Bars are supposed to clean their lines regularly anyway, but most don’t. Dirty lines can sully a good beer, but no Guinness in Ireland is subjected to such shame.
Barrels in the Guinness Storehouse, they show you the whole industrial beer making process
This past year we were contacted by Guinness’ PR firm in Canada and asked to write about why Guinness was so remarkable for it’s 250th birthday. I wasn’t so sure Guinness was that remarkable, from a beer perspective at least. Now, having visited the Guinness Storehouse, I know why Guinness has thrived for 250 years, marketing and branding. The Storehouse itself is all part of the experience and the most impressive piece of beer tourism I’ve ever seen. You are ushered through five floors of Guinness history, from how it’s made to Guinness adverts of ages gone by. And what happens at the end? A free pint of fresh Guinness in the rooftop bar with panorama city views of Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse is a must see for anyone, not just beer lovers. You will surely feel more affection for Guinness having completed the tour, sheer marketing brilliance.
The bar on top of the Guinness Storehouse, pouring Guinness is an art
There’s more to Dublin that just Guinness though, and we made a point of checking out one of Dublin’s microbreweries. We actually ended up at Porterhouse Brewing Company’s Temple Bar location more than once. This maze like pub spanning several floors was packed out on both Friday and Saturday nights. They had the most amazing Guitar player on Friday night too (he put my Guitar Hero dominance on medium to shame). The beer was phenomenal too, way better than Guinness, we’re talking top quality microbrewery stuff. I particularly enjoyed their Oyster Stout and the Temple Brau lager. This is a great pub and another must visit.
Do you remember when lying was okay in advertising? Oh wait, it's still okay.
We also did a Literary Pub Crawl of Dublin. It was really fun, not for the beer, but for the story telling and literary history. Turns out every famous Irish writer was a massive drunk. But we were only in Dublin for two days and did our fair share of drinking, so who are we to judge?
Cheers,
Chris
Hops and Glory is a good book
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 | Beer | 4 Comments
Erik bought me the book Hops and Glory as a Christmas present last year and I just recently finished it. The book is written by a man, Pete Brown, who endeavors to take India Pale Ale by boat from England to India. Not only this, but he plans to take his beer the long way around the Cape of Good Hope. He reckons the journey hasn’t been made this way since the Suez Canal opened in 1869 (I’m sure he’s right, why would you bother?). Despite only hearing good things, it took me a while to get into this book because I sincerely doubted there was enough material on the topic of IPA to fill a book. I was wrong, this book is a fascinating journey through not just the history of IPA, but also of British colonial rule in India and of the British brewing industry.
The first part of the book describes (and laments) the dilution of the IPA style from a good, strong, hoppy beer to a mere shadow of its former self in England. Having lived in England for a while now, I can confirm there is very little India Pale Ale that we West Coast hopheads would deem up to snuff. Greene King IPA is the most common IPA you’ll find around these parts and it more closely resembles Alexander Keith’s IPA (blah) than anything good. Side-note: I have seen Sierra Nevada Torpedo multiple times around town. Not to give the book away, but Pete does his research and brews his IPA as it would have been brewed in Burton for export in the early 19th century. It sounded delicious.
The book then alternates chapters between Pete’s voyage and the story of that historical voyage. Knowing nothing about international shipping, I was just as enthralled by the journey as I was with the history. I don’t want to spoil the book for you, but it’s crazy to think there is so much of this globalized world that remains so foreign to us city dwellers. As for the history, I found the details of British rule in India and the history of English brewing very illuminating in understanding aspects of modern politics and commercial brewing. I had no idea that Bass was the UK’s first registered trademark and was once the world’s largest brand. I was also taught in school to think the British were benevolent colonists, misguided in trying to help modernize their territories. I was wrong, the British were a big bunch of jerks.
This book is not as much about beer as you would think and would appeal to all those interested in interesting things. I recommend giving it a read. There was one very profound quote in the book that I particularly wanted to share with you, but now I can’t find it.
Cheers,
Chris
Boonies Southern Soul Now Open
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 | Beer, Food and Recipes, Review | 7 Comments
About a year ago I posted about a restaurant called Boonies BBQ & Soul Food that was located in the Cloverdale curling rink. Bonnie, the head chef and proprietor, quickly outgrew the curling rink as his reputation for delicious BBQ and comforting soul food grew larger than the curling rink could handle. Boonie has recently relocated to Langley and with a larger location and a full menu – including beer and southern classics such as Jambalaya, black-eyed peas, red beans and rice, cornbread and more. This new restaurant is aptly named Boonies Southern Soul.
Boonie and his wife Tina realized that Southern food and beer belong together and invited Chris and me to make a few food and bee paring recommendations. Chris had a hard time justifying a flight out to Vancouver just for this, so I went in solo. I helped put together a list of four different ales from local craft brewers that will all compliment different menu items.
Boonies Southern Soul is the real deal and I would encourage anyone with a passion for good food to go and check it out. Here is a sample of the current beer menu.
Amber Ale
The best match for this beer would be the pulled pork sandwich but it also pairs wonderfully with a good portion of the menu. Amber Ales tend to have a sweet malty flavour with a medium hop bit, which will work with the sweet and spicy flavours in many of the dishes.
Tree Brewing Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale
Pale Ale
Pale Ale is hoppier (citrusy, pleasant bitter flavour) than an amber ale and works well with spicy foods, but can also match earthier flavours, such as jambalaya. It would also work nicely with the BBQ Smoked Ribs, Cajun Chicken and the Hot Link Bites.
Tree Brewing Cutthroat Pale Ale
Nut Brown Ale
Nut Brown Ale is brown coloured ale with a mild hop flavour and a medium roasted malt flavour. This would work great with less spicy dishes such as BBQ Chicken or a Burger.
Dead Frog Brewing Nut Brown Ale
Stout
A Stout is a classic partner with smokey BBQ. A dark ale with mild hop flavour but tons of roasted malt flavour and has an almost sweet, smokey molasses flavour. This beer would work great with Burgers, Cheese Steak and would be wonderful with the BBQ Smoked Ribs!
Nelson Brewing Blackheart Stout
Cheers,
Erik
Strawberries and Cream, Beer at Wimbledon
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 | Beer | 1 Comment
One item on the to do list was always going to get done and that was to visit the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. We didn’t have tickets, but that didn’t stop the wife and I from heading down to Wimbledon from London to try our luck anyway. We waited 1.5 hours in a kilometer long line, but eventually made our way in. Entry to the grounds after 5PM cost us £14 and tickets to centre court after that were only £5 more. It was amazing to see centre court where so much tennis history has taken place, not to mention it’s where the Queen herself is sitting today. We saw Victoria Azarenka thrash Mirjana Lucic while making noises I felt would be more suitable in the bedroom than on a tennis court.
Start of the giant Wimbledon line
Centre Court at Wimbledon, across from the Royal Box
While at Wimbledon we obviously had to eat strawberries and cream. We brought our own strawberries (£2 for a large basket) and crème fraîche (£1), which we sprinkled brown sugar on. It was delightful. We also sampled the strawberries and cream sold at Wimbledon. For £2.50 we received eight strawberries sitting in what looked like unwhipped whipping cream sprinkled with sugar. It was not nearly as good and if you go to Wimbledon, I recommend bringing your own delightful concoction. We also brought our own bottle of champagne, which I found pretty crazy considering the attitudes in North American sports concerning outside alcohol. We were well equipped, but I still needed to check out what kind of beer was made available to patrons at the All England Club. Guinness and Grolsch for £4.40 a pint, not an English beer in sight. I was a bit surprised by that, but then we were in the chump area and not in one of the fancier clubs, chalets, restaurants or other gathering places of the privileged few.
Strawberries and Cream with Champagne at Wimbledon
Wimbledon was an amazing place to visit and I’m going to register for 2011 tickets when the lottery opens in September. We even caught the beginning of Isner vs Mahut on Court 18 in what we didn’t know would turn into the epic longest tennis match of all time. Turns out Boris Becker was watching too.
Boris Becker above Court 18
Cheers,
Chris
Father’s Day Beer Dinners
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | Beer | No Comments
In case you’ve forgotten, it’s Father’s Day this Sunday! To celebrate the occasion a few BC breweries have got themselves involved in some Father’s Day beer dinners. If your Dad likes eating good food and drinking good beer, then I can’t thing of a better Fathery’s Day gift than a trip to one of these dinners:
- Central City in Surrey will be offering a three course meal, each course made with beer as an ingredient and paired with beer, for $35 anytime between 4PM and 8PM on Sunday, June 20th. I haven’t been to one of the Father’s Day dinners at Central City before, but I’ve seen pictures and heard Erik’s account of last year’s dinner. Without yet seeing the menu I can say, and trust me here, it’s worth the money.
- R&B Brewing is doing a Father’s Day dinner with DIVA at the Met in Vancouver. This dinner is a five course affair with each course paired with an R&B beer. On Saturday, June 19th from 7PM to 9:30PM this dinner can be yours for a mere $49. Again, I wasn’t there last year, but I heard the reviews and saw the pictures. It looked amazing, as does this year’s menu below.
Cheers,
Chris
