alibi room
Lonely Planet Vancouver features Alibi Room
Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | Pubs | 2 Comments
Alibi Room owner Nigel Springthorpe
I enjoy traveling and am obsessed with the Lonely Planet series of guide books. If you’ve never traveled with one or you have used lesser guide books, then you likely missed out on a few hidden gems. I am particularly fond of the Lonely Planet Encounter series, which each profile a city sectioned into neighborhoods for easy reading. I was at Chapters today and noticed that Lonely Planet very recently published a Vancouver Encounter, likely to cater to Olympic Visitors. I was, of course, curious and flipped through it to see what travel experts recommend to see, eat, and do in Vancouver. I wasn’t surprised at all to find the Alibi Room recommended, but I was surprised to see how much attention they paid to it. Usually restaurants and bars get a two sentence blurb, but the Alibi Room garnered two pictures and an interview with owner Nigel Springthorpe! This attention is warranted in my mind and is a testament to the hard work Nigel has done in building Vancouver’s best beer bar. It pleases me that visitors to Vancouver, if they take the Lonely Planet’s excellent advice, will get to enjoy an establishment of such fine quality, likely giving them a positive impression of our fine city. Although there is one negative, I imagine a seat at the Alibi Room will be an impossible commodity to come by during the Olympics.
The Alibi Room wasn’t the only beer destination recommended in the Vancouver Encounter. Six Acres, The Irish Heather, Dix Brewery, Yaletown Brewing, and Steamworks were also listed.
Cheers,
Chris
Pumpkin Ale Season in BC
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment
It is almost Halloween, which most significantly means that it’s pumpkin ale season again. For those of you who aren’t familiar with pumpkin ales they are generally similar to amber ales, but are brewed with pumpkin added in some form. Many pumpkin ales also include the spices one would commonly find in pumpkin pie such as ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. In fact, I’d say most people find that pumpkin ales taste like pumpkin pie. It’s a taste that some don’t enjoy, but I for one am a bigger fan of pumpkin pie in a glass than on a plate.
Our BC brewers aren’t letting us down this year and are offering some tasty pumpkin ales. I’ve managed to collect the following four:
- Central City Red Racer Pumpkin Ale
- Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale
- Swans Pumpkin Ale
- Granville Island Brewing Pumpkin Ale
It seems that pumpkin ales are getting rather popular in BC because most of the above proved rather hard to find. Staking out Brewery Creek proved most effective, but I had to use the BC Liquor Store product finder to track down the Granville Island offering. I haven’t had any of the pumpkin ales I’ve procured just yet because I plan to compare them all side by side come Halloween, but I’ll be sure to post my findings.
There are a few other pumpkin ales out and about. Howe Sound released a small amount of their Pumpkineater Imperial Ale in bottles, but it sold out fast. However, I did notice it on tap at the Alibi Room earlier in the week. Steamworks also has their version of pumpkin ale on tap at their brewpub. Even if you don’t think you’ll like pumpkin ale, scare yourself this Halloween and give it a try.
Cheers,
Chris
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
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
Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Homebrew | 5 Comments
Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies located in Vancouver’s threatened Heatley Block is the soul of Vancouver’s growing craft beer movement. Yes that is correct, the very soul of craft beer in Vancouver is a homebrew shop. If craft beer was a body, the many fine brewers in BC would be the heart, retail shops, restaurants and pubs such as Brewery Creek, the Alibi Room and The Whip would act as the arms and legs, and the dedicated consumers represented by groups such as CAMRA Vancouver would be the mind. All parts play an integral role in a successful beer revival, and although all parts are equally important, Dan’s will always hold a special place in my heart.
My love for beer came from an interest in homebrewing – without Dan’s I may never have been exposed to the diverse selection of beer that the world has to offer. The entire Vancouver area is littered with many small u-brew and u-vint businesses that carry a limited selection of homebrew ingredients and supplies, but none of these compare to Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies. Dan’s is the only retail store in the entire Vancouver area where whole-leaf hops, hop pellets, a full selection of barley, wheat and rye malts, brewing supplies and brewers yeast can be found. This list does not include the friendly advice and recipes that Dan and his staff are more than happy to provide to their customers. Here is a video put together about Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies.
The most creative and experimental beer will always be homebrew. I have to admit that some of the cask beers that brewmasters graciously provide are delicious and very creative, but craft brewing is still a business and the beer they produce must be commercial enough to sell. Whereas homebrewers do not sell their beer and only have to please themselves and their usually appreciative friends – the only limitation homebrewers face is their own imagination. For a mere sixty dollars on supplies and twenty to thirty dollars for ingredients, and add in a small amount of patience and there it is, an incredibly unique and flavorful beer.
The North American craft beer renaissance that was started in Northern California over thirty years ago was largely influenced by hombrewers. Homebrew shops have always and will continue to play a vital role in the growth of craft beer. For anyone interested in homebrewing, I highly encourage a visit to Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies – I am sure Dan and his staff would be more than happy to help.
Cheers,
Erik
Frequenting the Alibi Room
Monday, April 13th, 2009 | Beer | 6 Comments
I’ve never really had a frequent haunt, the kind of place that I could walk to and visit frequently. The closest thing to a local watering hole I have is Big Ridge in Surrey, which is a fifteen minute drive for me. Granted, there is Dublin Crossing, a fun fake Irish pub within walking distance, but it isn’t a place I want to latch onto.
Lately, I’ve found myself going to the Alibi Room almost once a week. I am lucky (or unlucky, depending on your impressions of the neighbourhood) to work only a block away, making it quite a convenient place for a pint after work. Even if the Alibi Room wasn’t so conveniently located for me, I would still make an effort to get there once in a while. They have the best beer selection in the lower mainland and are the only place you can get many of the local craft beers they serve. They have 19 rotating taps as well as three beer machines pumping out cask conditioned ales, which also change on a weekly basis. Notwithstanding, their food is very good and reasonably priced.
The great Alibi Room beer menu, updated weekly
The Alibi Room is really the one stop shop for beer in the entire Metro Vancouver area. It saddens me that there are no similar places. Why I wonder, do none exist when the Alibi Room’s success (it is always busy) clearly indicates an existing demand? Maybe Erik and I should open up a place of our own?
Cheers,
Chris
A night at the Alibi Room
Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments
Last night I went to the Alibi Room with my friends Peter, Dave and Gavin. Erik was going to come, but he was busy roasting a chicken, it happens. Our visit came about because of comment’s Rick Green left on Dave’s guest post, wondering what Dave might think of the Alibi Room in comparison to Original Joe’s. It didn’t take much convincing to get a group out for beers after work, considering we are always up for some good merry making. That aside, the Alibi Room has a fantastic beer selection to tempt any enthusiast.
The Alibi Room has 19 taps of fresh, relatively local draught beer, plus many more bottled options, as well as the odd cask, all of which are in constant rotation. For a beer drinker, this is heaven. Not only do they have the best beer selection in BC, but there is always something new. In fact, the owner makes special trips to the island to pick up casks and kegs himself
I had a very hard time choosing what four beers to put into my “frat bat”. I ended up going for the Swans Cask ESB, Longwood “Batch 1000″ Doppelbock, Dix Texan Brown, and Steamworks Roggenweizen. I also sampled the Swans Extra IPA and ordered a pint of the Swans Cask ESB later on. I think we all enjoyed the Cask ale the most, but I was also particularly impressed with the Longwood Doppelbock. I didn’t care too much for the Roggenweizen (too spicy) or the Texan Brown, but neither are preferred styles of mine.
Peter and Dave with empty plates/glasses at the Alibi Room
We also had some very tasty, reasonably priced food. After splitting some chicken wings and a cheese plate, we ordered two each of their roast beef sandwich special and their bison dip, which were both quite good. I planned to take some pictures of our glorious spread of beer and food, but I completely forgot until we’d pretty much finished everything to the last crumb/drop. Still, I have a picture of our empty plates and glasses, testament to the good times we shared with great food and beer at the Alibi Room. I hope we end up making this a regular after work occurrence!
Cheers.
Chris
CAMRA Vancouver AGM at Alibi Room
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments
This past Sunday, Erik and I attended the CAMRA Vancouver AGM at the Alibi Room in Gastown. The Alibi Room is a really cool place to hang out in and of itself. They have on tap (19 taps mind you) the best beer selection in BC hands down, check it out. On this special occasion they were freely pouring from two firkins generously donated by their brewers: Yaletown Oud Bruin and Swans Espresso Stout. They also provided an excellent spread of tasty snacks for this occasion.
The CAMRA AGM at the Alibi Room
As for the AGM itself, it was atypical of the typical AGM. The atmosphere was much more celebratory than business like, surely brought on by the consumption of large quantities of beer. It was very cool to be in the company of master brewers, restauranteurs, and fellow beer enthusiasts. When it came down to business, the honourable Rick Green was re-elected president and a new CAMRA executive was put in place. The CAMRA Vancouver Awards were also doled out. I find these awards quite interesting and thought that others might too. I hope they don’t mind me posting them:
Best Local Brewpub
Gold: Dix BBQ & Brewery
Silver: Central City Brewing
Bronze: Yaletown Brewing
Best Local Beer Cafe, Pub, or Restaurant
Gold: The Alibi Room
Silver: The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
Bronze: The Wolf & Hound
Best Local Liquor Store
Gold: Brewery Creek Cold Beer & Wine Store
Silver: Firefly Fine Wines and Ales
Bronze: BCLS Signature Store (39th & Cambie)
Best Local Beer Event
Gold: The Whip Real Ale Sundays
Silver: CAMRA On a Mission to Mission; Feast of Five Firkins (tie)
Best BC Brewery
Gold: Phillips Brewing Co., Victoria
Silver: Storm Brewing Ltd., Vancouver
Bronze: Crannóg Ales, Sorrento; R&B Brewing, Vancouver (tie)
Best BC Beer
Gold: Central City Empire IPA
Silver: Storm Black Plague Stout
Bronze: Crannóg Back Hand of God Stout
Best BC Seasonal Beer
Gold: Yaletown Oud Bruin
Silver: Steamworks The Grand espresso stout
Bronze: Granville Island Winter Ale
I will definitely attend the CAMRA AGM next year, especially if it is somewhere awesome like the Alibi Room. Here’s to another good year of beer.
Cheers,
Chris
CAMRA Vancouver 2009 Membership
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Beer | 6 Comments
This year I became a member of CAMRA Vancouver and I’m pretty excited about it. For those of you who don’t know, CAMRA stands for Campaign for Real Ale and it is an organization that promotes the creation and consumption of quality beer. It began in the UK to combat the proliferation of mass produced, generally poor quality lagers that began to dominate the beer market. CAMRA has really caught on amongst beer enthusiasts worldwide, so much so that we have our own Vancouver chapter.
You might be wondering what the point of joining an organization like CAMRA is. For me the benefits are quite obvious. With my 2009 CAMRA Vancouver membership I get:
- 10% off at Brewery Creek, the best beer store in Vancouver
- 10% off at Firefly, the second best beer store in Vancouver
- 10% off food at the Alibi Room, a great place to drink beer in Vancouver
- Special pricing at local beer related events
- A newsletter containing info on all the great local beer related happenings
The membership only costs $25, which I will recoup within a month by saving 10% on my Brewery Creek purchases. In additon to the financial benefits of joining CAMRA, members also play an important role in encouraging our local brewing community, which will surely lead to increased quantity and variety of quality beer produced in Vancouver. Sadly, I’ve already missed out on the first CAMRA affiliated event of 2009, the sold out Feast of the Five Firkins at The Whip, next time…
If you are a beer enthusiast, I suggest joining your local CAMRA chapter. At the very least, sign up for the mailing list. I think you’ll find it well worth it.
Cheers,
Chris
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