2009
Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller 2008 vs 2009
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 | Beer | 2 Comments
Driftwood’s Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine is one of my favorite seasonal release BC beers and definitely my favorite barley wine. It’s an American style barley wine that uses three times the grain and five times the hops than you’d use to make a normal beer. If you aren’t a hophead you needn’t worry; the higher levels of malt, and the resulting higher alcohol content (12% ABV), balance out the hops nicely.
Last year was the first year Driftwood made their barley wine, coincidentally it was also the first year they existed. I bought two bottles, drank one, and put the other in the cellar. When the 2009 version came out this year I thought it would be cool to try the 2008 version aged a year in the cellar and compare it with the fresh 2009 version. As far as I know, the recipe didn’t change at all.
I recalled the 2008 version, consumed fresh last year, as having a wonderful hoppy aroma of citrus and floral notes. The same aroma was only faintly present in the aged version. We found the aged version to be much more subdued than we recalled. All of its younger and harsher characteristics had mellowed over time. The bite of the alcohol and the sweetness of the malt had blended into a deeper caramel and molasses like richness. We liked the aged beer, but we were reminded of why we loved this beer last year when we tried the fresh 2009 vintage. Powerful aromas, potent hops on the tonggue right after a sip, then a lingering and complex sweetness for the finish.
While our experiment was fun, we learned that Old Cellar Dweller, despite its name, doesn’t belong in the cellar. The hops in this barley wine make drinking it relatively young an experience you can’t pass up.
Cheers,
Chris
Dix Winter Extreme Caskival 2009
Monday, December 7th, 2009 | Events | 2 Comments
The 2009 edition of the Dix Winter Extreme Caskival took place this past Saturday and was a rousing success. There were twenty or so casks of delicious beer on hand, locally brewed and delivered fresh by our illustrious local brewers. I do believe I enjoyed a 4oz tasting glass of each, but I can’t be sure because my memory of the latter hours of the event are now a bit difficult to grasp. You see, most of the beers at Dix were higher in alcohol than your typical fair at an average of 8% ABV or so. Consumption of each available beer resulted in the impairment of my mental faculties. I apologize to those I may have bumped into or spilled beer on, my bad. Although I’m hardly to blame for these transgressions considering that Dix was absolutely packed with craft beer lovers. Future Caskivals may requires a larger venue, which is good news in my books.
Onto the beer, my favorite was the wildly creative Mole Poblano Ale from Storm. It was brewed with chipotle peppers, ancho peppers and chocolate! I would never have thought to combine mole and beer, nor would I expect the combination to taste good. However, Storm brewer James Walton managed to marry the two (both complicated and intensive concoctions in their own right) into a spicy, chocolaty winter brew. I’ll admit that I didn’t find the Mole Poblano Ale to be the best tasting beer, but it got my vote for being the most interesting. I was also very fond of the Taylor’s Crossing Christmas Cake, which did indeed taste like Christmas cake. This beer won the brewers choice award with R&B‘s Auld Nick taking home the people’s choice.
I took this one crappy iPhone picture well into the event when I realized I wanted to blog but wouldn’t have any pictures. Once again, I fail.
Here is a list of the other beers that were at the event:
- Central City: Imperial IPA
- Crab Alley: Dead Pine IPA
- Dead Frog: Oaked Winter Warmer
- DIX: Barleywine
- DIX: Imperial Stout
- DIX: IPA
- Driftwood: Blackstone Porter
- Granville Island: Jolly Abbot Belgian-Style Tripel
- Howe Sound: Father John’s Winter Ale
- Longwood: Doppelbock (9.5%, Aged 8 months)
- R&B: Auld Nick Winter Ale
- Russell: Spiced Winter Warmer
- Swans: Legacy Ale (a Barleywine. Aged on oak for the past year)
- Spinnakers: IPA (charged with sweet wort and dry-hopped with Magnum hops)
- Storm: Mole Poblano Ale (Chipotle and Ancho peppers with chocolate)
- Taylor’s Crossing: Festbier (a strong Vienna lager spiced with Juniper berries)
- Taylor’s Crossing: Christmas Cake (an amber ale flavoured with molasses, traditional brandied fruits, and Christmas spices)
- Whistler Brewhouse: Dave’s Damn Dangerously Drinkable Double IPA (8.5%, 70 IBUs, Dry-Hopped with Cascades)
- Yaletown: Le Nez Rouge (a Belgian-style tripel. Iain’s choice of yeast results in a spicy, clove-like character)
- Yaletown: Oud Bruin (Iain’s pièce de résistance. A Flemish sour brown fermented with 6 cultures in total. Aged on oak since January!)
For more info and likely some post game recap (including non crappy pictures), check out the event’s Facebook page. For those of you who didn’t attend, keep your eyes open for the next caskival (likely the summer version in August); this is the best beer festival Vancouver’s got.
Cheers,
Chris
Great Canadian Beer Festival 2009
Monday, September 21st, 2009 | Beer | 6 Comments
Us guys went to GCBF the other weekend in Victoria for what was an epic beer festival. We left bright and early on Saturday morning and caught the 9AM ferry to make our way downtown before noon. We parked where we were staying at Swans Hotel, but couldn’t check in until later that afternoon, and so headed out to start our day. After a merely adequate breakfast at John’s Place, we walked over to the Royal Athletic Park where the beer festival was to be held. It was a very hot, very beautiful late summer day for BC, perfect weather for an outdoor beer festival.
Beautiful Swans Hotel
Now I’d heard that Saturday was the rowdier of the two beer festival days, but was still blown away by the level of rowdiness. I figured that the stellar craft beer lineup would attract a crowd of beer enthusiasts. However, I think its safe to say that over 90% of Saturday GCBF patrons were college age folk out for a good time. I’d also surmise that the majority of attendees had little to no interest in the quality and craftsmanship of the beer on hand, which isn’t to say they didn’t consume it in large quantities. I was actually quite shocked at just how much of a party atmosphere there really was. Many groups of people made themselves beerfest costumes or uniforms running the gamut from team jerseys to spandex super hero outfits. What with the hot weather and masses of inebriated youth, some might even suggest that far too many people were wearing inappropriately little. In my opinion, the appropriateness of any lack of clothing depended squarely on the attractiveness of the particular person.
This band showed up and started playing
This guy made balloons, including genitalia
Big crowds at GCBF
As for the beer itself, there was a good variety of deliciousness available. My biggest problem with the beer selection was that there were more beers on hand than were advertised in the program. I failed to stop by at a few of my favorite breweries because it didn’t look like they had prepared anything special. It was to my great dismay to later find I’d missed out on a few unique brews, most notably a Blackberry Lambic from Driftwood Brewery. As for the rest, I was very intrigued by many of the Washington and Oregon brewers made the trek. I was also disappointed with our BC brewers who merely offered their regular brews. I’d hoped for some more interesting brews from some of my local heroes.
Chris, Erik, Holly at GCBF
There were no beer tokens included in the price of admission, which irked me a little. Tokens cost between $1 and $2 each, depending on how many you bought at a time, and many of the tastes required two tokens. It is for this reason that I did not try nearly as many beers as I thought I would. I kept it mainly to unique to the area or cask conditioned brews, ignoring the draft versions of some of my favorites. Notable standouts to me included:
- Boundary Bay cask conditioned Oatmeal Stout
- Central City cask conditioned Imperial IPA
- Crannog Back Hand of God Organic Stout
- Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
- Elysian Brewing cask conditioned The Wise ESB, Night Owl Pumpkin, and Saison Poivre
- Lagunitas Lucky 13
- Longwood Brewpub cask conditioned ESB
- Swans cask conditioned Scotch Ale
The Crannog Booth, one of my favorites
It might have been good that I tried less GCBF beers than I’d planned on because it enabled me to enjoy the rest of the evening. We returned to Swans to check in and then went down to the pub for a few tasters. We then spent our evening on the patio at The Canoe Club before wandering over to Spinnakers for a completely unnecessary nightcap. We had to make our way back in the morning to pickup some of their delightful malt vinegar, which Spinnakers makes themselves. Also, if you are ever in Victoria and in need of breakfast, head to Mole. It was outstanding.
Eirk with post GCBF tasters at Swans
It was my first trip to GCBF and I enjoyed it. If I lived in Victoria, I would go every year. However, having to come over on the ferry from Vancouver and requiring a hotel have me questioning future trips. While the beer selection was good, it wasn’t outstanding enough to warrant the expensive journey. I consider more accessible beer events like Dix Caskivals and the Washington Cask Beer Festival more enjoyable. What would be even better is a GCBF in Vancouver too.
Cheers,
Chris