Beer
Molson Canadian Hockey House Media Preview
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 | Beer | 2 Comments
Inside the Molson Canadian Hockey House
If you are from Vancouver and you haven’t heard of the Molson Canadian Hockey House, then you’ve been living under a rock. It’s a big tent between Science World, I mean Telus Sphere, and GM Place, I mean Canada Hockey Place, for people to party at during the Olympics. Before I tell this tale, I should let you know what my stance on the Olympics is. If I was given $7billion dollars, I wouldn’t spend it on the Olympics. That being said, the Olympics are here and they aren’t coming back, so I’m going to try to enjoy them as much as I can. I’m going to soak up as much of the good the Olympics has to offer and I might as well; we’ll be paying this party off for a while.
Anyway, the organizers behind the MCHH emailed me a couple weeks ago to let me know that “due to overwhelming demand for media access” I should apply for my media accreditation asap. The funny thing was, I never asked. I did apply for media accreditation, which for me would really just be free tickets, but I haven’t heard back yet. I suppose somebody actually important, or maybe actually part of the media, was accredited instead. I did, however, get an invite to the media preview that took place yesterday.
IIHF room at Molson Canadian Hockey House
Since the preview was around lunch time and close enough to my office, I walked. It was tough to navigate through all the fencing and clueless security staff (nobody seemed to know where it was) to actually find MCHH, but I made it and nobody ever once asked me where I was going. I had no badge and could have blow up everything had I been a terrorist. I thought that was funny. Nobody even asked me who I was as I entered MCHH. I thought that was funny too, anyone could have walked in. Inside, I didn’t expect to find much of anything impressive. I expected a giant beer garden with picnic tables and plastic chairs, but what I found was a setup to rival some nicer nightclubs. This tent, which is apparently the largest ever built in North America at 65000 sqft, was decked out. I wandered around the throngs of actual media (they even had big fancy cameras, don’t they know the iPhone has a camera?) and into all of the rooms. Yes, there are rooms. There was the chump area for common folk, VIP rooms, an IIHF lounge, an NHLPA lounge, and a Team Canada lounge where the players and their hangers out will actually be hanging out.
Tyler Stewart on stage at MCHH
The proceedings started shortly after my wanderings and featured talks by the organizers, a speak by Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson, and entertainment by Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies. Stan Smyl was there and so were many scantily clad Molson girls serving beer, zoinks! There were HD TVs and giant projection screens everywhere, a giant stage where the bands will play, and there will be famous people milling around throughout the two weeks. They have quite the set of entertainment lined up.
The whole place was quite impressive, much more impressive that my crappy pictures can show, and the preview actually made me want to go hang out there. Sadly, the common folk tickets are sold out, but maybe I’ll get accredited as media? One can dream. Seriously though, it’s going to be an epic party in there, especially when Canada is playing. The only downside to the MCHH? The beer. All Molson all the time. Still, go Canada go!
Cheers,
Chris
Molson Girls at MCHH
Team Canada Lounge at MCHH
New Year’s Beer Resolutions
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 | Beer | 3 Comments
We had a good year in 2010, but didn’t exactly close out the year strong what with our posting becoming increasingly infrequent. Despite our lazy December, we managed to have a really good first full year of LoveGoodBeer.com. Some of the cool stuff that happened to us:
- We received free beer a few times
- We attended a lot of cool events (one with a press pass)
- We had a few restaurants ask us for help with their beer menus
While that stuff was awesome, it’s time for us to step our games up. To make sure we reach higher this year, I’ve decided to set some lofty goals via New Year’s resolutions. I haven’t talked to Erik about these, but he’ll just have to deal with it.
Westvleteren, we'll be there
Westvleteren, we'll be there
New Year’s Resolutions:
- Get Erik intertube access – Erik bought a new house in late November and has been busy renovating and moving in, but still doesn’t have the internet. This explains why he hasn’t posted in well over a month, even though he has rad things to write about.
- Drink more awesome beer and less crappy beer – There is a lot of good beer out there, so why bother drinking crappy beer? Also, we need to try every good beer ever made and, therefore, have no time to waste on crappy beer.
- Exercise more - If we are going to drink more beer, we’ll have to exercise to stay really, really, really ridiculously good looking, probably at least three times a week.
- Go on at least three beer pilgrimages – We haven’t even been to Portland yet, so we’ll need to do that. Oktoberfest in Munich and Trappist Monasteries in Belgium come to mind. Westvleteren here we come.
- Post thrice per week – Collectively, we should be able to post three times a week every week.
I was also going to add “take over the world”, but felt it didn’t apply because we have pretty much already done this. Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Chris
Cassoulet, Beer, and Thanksgiving
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | No Comments
The first Canadian Thanksgiving, yes I know I am well over a week behind, was held by an English sailor named Martin Frobisher in 1576 on one of Canada’s many northerly islands. This is a number of years, 42 to be exact, before America was colonized by the pilgrims, signifying what many consider to be the first Thanksgiving. This means that Canadian Thanksgiving is unique from American Thanksgiving in more than timing; Canadian’s are celebrating a whole different event than Americans.
This past Thanksgiving was the first in many years where I didn’t cook a large holiday meal for family and friends; we left that to other people. Instead of giving thanks with friends and family, my wife and I decided to relax, stay in, and enjoy a Canadian Thanksgiving meal ourselves.
I have already established that Canadian Thanksgiving is significantly different from neighboring America’s Thanksgiving right down to the very first event. Knowing this, I thought a traditional roast turkey seemed inappropriate. Instead I opted to celebrate with a rustic French inspired dish – cassoulet with venison, duck and turkey confit. Although Martin Frobisher was English, many of the earliest Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations would have been held by French Canadians. A hearty French feast seemed the only real option we had.
There are a number of great cassoulet recipes; my favourite comes from Jennifer McLagan’s most recent publication titled “fat”. To me, the subtle use of cloves is essential in a good cassoulet, especially when paired with a traditional Farmhouse biere.
While in Quebec this summer, I picked up a number of French beers that are sitting in my cellar, including a bottle of Biere Nouvelle from Brasserie De Saint-Sylvestre. This particular beer paired perfectly with my thanksgiving cassoulet. The subtle flavour of cloves infused in the cassoulet helped to draw out the pleasant spiciness in the beer. The straightforward malt flavour worked great with gamier meats and the heavy carbonation helped to cut through the richness (aka. fattiness) that all cassoulets must have. Farmhouse French beer and cassoulet – give it a try.
Cheers,
Erik
Bonjour
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
Chris is correct, I am in Quebec. I apologize in advance for any spelling errors – I am on a Quebecois computer and the spell check is in french.
We left Montreal yesterday after visiting a number of great restaurants and brewpubs. I will fill you all in when I get back, but so far the best beer experience was at Dieu du Ciel, the worst was at Brutopia, don’t go there, terrible beer! This province in general, is a solid beer destination.
Sadly I could not get a table at Au Pied De Cochon, but I have eaten fois gras, Martin Picard’s favorite ingredient.
We are now in Quebec City and have plans to eat as much raw milk cheese as possible.
Cheers,
Erik
Trendy Casual Dinning & Craft Beer
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments
Vancouver’s suburbs, for the most part offer very little to the world of good food and drink. Most bars and pubs tend to serve passionless food and a selection of seven lagers with one pale ale. I have found that Carling’s Black Label tends to be on special three nights of the week in most Langley pubs. I see no great problem with this, suburban communities are teaming with bar goers who love this sort of thing. The only problem I see is the lack of diversity; if I want to go out for a quality drink and a well prepared, but not fussy, meal I have very little choice.
On the opposite spectrum of the country bar is the urban trendy casual dining restaurant. Establishments such as Earls, Moxies, Cactus Club, Joey’s, recently Mr. Mikes Steakhouse, and many many more, fall into this fast growing category.
The servers at these restaurants tend to look like this:
The food tends to look like this:
The clientele tend to look like this:
And the beer is almost always a house brand psuedo-craft-brewed lager and pale ale combination. This is a problem.
These restaurants are targeted towards dinners who are somewhat image conscious, but also want good food. When a plate at one of these restaurants is prepared by a caring line cook, the meal is often quite good, but when an upset college student is in the kitchen, the results can be less than acceptable.
Serving house brand beer is simply unacceptable when no other craft beer is offered. For starters, house brand beer tends to be almost identical if not identical to the contract brewers standard offering. For example, Mr. Mikes Steakhouse and Bar offers a house brand beer brewed by Okanagan Springs Brewing that taste the same as Okanagan Springs Pale Ale. By creating a house brand beer, the real brewer receives no credit – the contract might be financially rewarding to the brewer, but the brewer is losing out on a big opportunity to build brand awareness and create new customers. Everyday, thousands of customers fill these restaurants, many of them ordering a pint of house brand beer, and most of these people will have absolutely no idea who brewed the beer they enjoyed with their meal. What a missed opportunity to promote quality craft beer.
The second problem is, once again, the lack of selection. Most of these trendy casual dining restaurants offer bottled lager and house brand pale ale and lager. How creative! Instead of only serving house brand craft beer, why not offer a larger selection of branded craft beer. Serving only house wine would be unacceptable in most establishments, serving only house beer should be equally unacceptable.
I live in the suburbs, and will continue to visit local pubs for cheap wings on Wednesday night, and will eat at trendy casual dinning restaurants on occasion. But I will never truly be satisfied until I see a proper beer selection that includes a mix of both micro and macro brewed beer at all suburban establishments.
Cheers,
Erik
Beer Marketing
Friday, July 17th, 2009 | Beer | 5 Comments
To follow Chris’s previous post, I thought it would be worth while sharing my two cents on beer marketing. For those who do not know, I am a marketer by day and a passionate beer drinker by night. Small businesses, including many craft breweries, often have an under funded marketing department – often meaning one guy runs the entire show. As a marketer I feel the pain that these beer marketers go through; working on a shoe string budget is tough, but a creative individual should be able to put together and execute an effective marketing plan on a tight budget. As a consumer, I have little patience for poor marketing – especially poor beer marketing.
Sadly, with the sheer amount of information available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, the general public can easily be misled by marketers trying to sell a product. In a world ripe with information, the truth can be hard to find.
As our chosen domain name may suggest, we love good beer. Both Chris and I welcome press releases from breweries both large and small, but to receive our support I suggest reviewing the following guidelines.
- Good products sell themselves. The best marketing strategy is to offer a good product. Do not in any way allow a marketing strategy to compromise the quality of the product. If beer is the product, do not use green bottles or clear bottles – the beer will soon taste like a skunk. I cannot imagine any accomplished brewmasters choosing clear bottles over brown bottles; they know full well that their beer will taste like a skunk after being exposed to light – who drinks beer in the dark? But I can see a marketer deciding to differentiate their beer from the others by packing their own brand of beer in a clear bottle or a bottle tinted to match a corporate brand. To those in the beer marketing world – you know who you are, please refrain. To consumers, do not put up with this shoddy packaging. Contact the offending breweries and let them know you will not put up with this any longer.
- Size does not matter. Many craft breweries will lead consumers to believe that their beer is superior to macro brewed beer simply because their beer is brewed in small quantities. This is just not true. Many small breweries produce terrible beer and some large breweries produce fantastic beer. Craft beer does not mean quality, craft beer means small quantity. Do not reach for a six pack simply because it is labeled “craft beer” reach for a six pack because it tastes good.
- Be passionate. In order to create good beer and successfully promote good beer the entire staff at a brewery must be passionate about beer. Beer drinkers are some of the most passionate and dedicated people I have met. Beer drinkers even go so far as to form clubs with the primary goal of promoting good beer to the world. If a passionate beer drinker discovers a tasty new beer, it can be guaranteed they will tell all of their friends. Beer marketers: if a press release is sent out to a wide array of beer writers, and they send a question in response to the press release, please respond to the email. If no email is sent back in response to a question, all I can assume is that the original sender could care less about their product – they just want to achieve sales targets.
Sybil from Steam Whistle, please do not take this as an attack on your beer or your marketing approach – I happen to enjoy Steam Whistle Pilsner, but I would appreciate a brown bottle version. The only real rule to live by is to drink good beer. Not beer that marketers tell you is good, but beer that your taste buds tell you is good.
Cheers,
Erik
Current Events & Beer
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment
Two major events have taken place in the past two days that has effected and will continue to effect the lives of all British Columbians; The Vancouver Canucks failure to advance onto round three of the Stanley Cup playoffs and the BC Provincial Election, polling stations will be closing in less than one hour from now. In Chris’s absence I feel it is my duty to point out that although the Canucks were prematurely knocked out of the Stanley Cup race, they still made much it farther than the Toronto Maple Leafs did. These two events will drastically effect British Columbia’s beer industry, although it may not be obvious to all.
In Canada, hockey games draw excited sports fans to pubs, bars, restaurants and other drinking establishments wallpapered with LCD televisions, playoff games draw an even larger crowd. During an average Canucks playoff game, pubs in the Vancouver area experience up to a 70% increase in beer sales – big money is to be had in the playoffs. Now that the Canucks are no longer vying for the prized Stanley Cup, bars will cease to be filled with passionate hockey fans guzzling beer upon beer. In addition to the decline in draught beer sales, I would not be surprised if liquor stores also experience somewhat of a decrease in beer sales. Generally speaking the season finale of House is not an event that friends gather over and drink beer.
But Vancouver’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks is not all bad news. Dix BBQ, located next door to the Canucks’ home stadium, GM Place, will no longer have an excuse for canceling their weekly cask beer event held every Thursday. The weekly cask event was regularly superseded by Canucks home games to make room for hockey fans. I am a bigger beer fan than I am a hockey fan – so don’t hate me when I say that I’m not all that upset over the loss.
The BC Provincial Election, which the results of should be tabulated shortly, may also change BC’s beer industry. Carole James, the leader of BC’s NDP, has gone on record as saying that if the NDP are elected the price of an average six-pack at a private liquor store could jump as much as three dollars. I am not entirely sure where the Liberal or Green parties stand on this price increase, but from my limited understanding of BC politics I don’t think either party has any plans that would result in more expensive beer. British Colombian’s are already heavily taxed on alcohol sales – please don’t increase beer prices. This new pricing is somewhat reminiscent of North America’s short lived temperance movement that succeeded in total prohibition – it also comes across as a “sin tax”. Beer is part of a healthy diet and should not be priced at a level where the general public is discouraged from enjoying a beer as part of their day to day diet.
This is a big week for British Columbia. Die hard Canucks fans; I am sorry for your loss, there is always next year. Empowered voters; if the election does not go your way, four years isn’t that long.
Cheers,
Erik
Pizza and Beer – The Saga Continues
Saturday, April 11th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | 1 Comment
I realized how over the top my yeast obsession is after I had a sobering conversation with a friend while heading home from work this Thursday. The conversation went like this:
Erik: “So, I’m making pizza for dinner”
Friend: “Oh – I love pizza, did you make your own crust”
“Yeah, but I’m a little worried It won’t turn out”
Puzzled look implying the question – what kind of idiot doesn’t know how to make pizza?
“I used an unknown yeast strain to make the dough – I am a little obsessed with yeast. I have been harvesting my own yeast since December; I have four different strains on the go at the moment”
Concerned look “umm…”
Awkward Pause – following by a nervous laugh – “Did that come across as strange?”
“Yeah… a little”
I then went on to better explain what I meant by “harvesting my own yeast” and that yeast is in the air surround us all the time and that some of the best breads and ales are fermented with wild yeast. The tension was removed and the conversation carried on as usual – apparently harvesting wild yeast is uncommon.
I am fascinated by yeast – it is such an underrated and misunderstood little organism. Nothing captures the magic of this sugar loving, social lubricating creature better than proper pizza and real beer. I made pizza last night with brewers yeast – it turned out good, but not over the top fists pumping in the air great. The particular yeast I used, Wyeast 1968 ESB, imparts strong fruity esters during the brewing process and I was hoping that by fermenting and proofing the pizza dough for a solid 24 hours that the pizza would soak up some of these interesting flavour notes – but it didn’t. Nonetheless, the pizza tasted great alongside its long lost friend and former partner, IPA.
I got out of bed this morning feeling unsatisfied and restless, which is a strange feeling to have on a long weekend Friday. It only took me a minute of soul searching to find the source of this dissatisfaction – I was hungry and craving more pizza. Upon this realization, I quickly shot out of bed and Googled “best pizza in Vancouver”. I ended up heading to Marcello’s Pizzeria on Commercial drive- I was sold after reading about their wood fired oven.
Marcello’s is a great place for proper pizza – The authenticity that a wood fired oven creates cannot be matched. I am now convinced more than ever that the only way to achieve perfection as a pizza master is with a hot wood fired oven. A standard household electric oven is just not capable of pumping out enough heat to quickly cook a pizza leaving a crispy crust with an almost-but-not-quite burnt edge.
Marcello’s Pizzeria clearly knows how to make great pizza, but they have their own shortcomings and seem all too unaware about the magic that happens when a great pizza meets a great beer. I was hopping to find a well hopped pale ale on the menu, but had to settle for Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale. The beer was stale and almost offensive tasting and did nothing to complement the pizza. What could have been the highlight of my week was turned into just a good lunch. It saddens me to see a restaurant with such great potential fall short on such an important matter such as beer.
My search for the perfect pizza and beer combination carries on. I think building a brick wood fired oven in my backyard may the next logical step.
Home made Pizza
IPA - Homebrew
Marcello's wood fired oven
Marcello's pizza
Marcello's pizza
Cheers,
Erik
What is your favorite beer?
Saturday, March 28th, 2009 | Beer, Favorites | No Comments
When people find out we are into beer we inevitably get asked one question, that being “what’s your favorite beer?” The trouble is, we never know what to say. It’s a tall task to pick one favorite from all of the great beers out there.
I have a really hard time picking favorites. I worry that I’ll be judged harshly for picking one beer above all others. I never want a friend to buy a beer I recommend and be put off, because everybody has their own tastes. There are many factors that go into choosing the right beer for an occasion and so many styles to choose from, how do I pick just one?
If anyone ventures to take our tastes seriously, I’ve created a new Favorites page where we’ll periodically list some of our favorite beers. This may come in handy when purchasing gifts for us, which you should feel free to do at any time.
Just this past week I drank the Old Yale Pale Ale I picked up when I stopped by Old Yale in Chilliwack earlier this month. It is one of the best pale ales I’ve ever had and has made its way onto my favorite list. Old Yale is a small brewery that I find is largely ignored, but I feel like BC beer drinkers should be giving it a lot more attention.
If you have a favorite beer that you think we should try, please let us know. We’d love to try it.
Cheers,
Chris
Hey – we are here too
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | No Comments
Cloverdale, a small suburb of Vancouver, is home to two culinary gems. When it comes to a food scene, city suburbs tend to lack the creatively and diversity that one finds in a major urban center such as Vancouver. This observation has always struck me as somewhat odd seeing that Vancouver’s outlying neighborhoods are home to pristine farmland where a good portion of the city’s food supply is produced, or at least should be produced. Great restaurants are few and far between in the Fraser Valley, but there are some incredibly talented chefs, restaurateurs, and brewers spread out over Vancouver’s local bread basket that are making a difference. The Vault Restaurant and Boonies BBQ & Soul Food, both located in Cloverdale, are two great examples of what Suburbanites are cable of.
My wife and I enjoyed an evening out at the Vault Restaurant tonight, and were treated to a spectacular and flavorful meal. Visiting the Vault in March has become somewhat of a tradition – the restaurant offers $25.00 off during the month of your birthday, but only once a visitor card has been filled in, which is only available to previous customers. It is a great way to get repeat customers.
The beer menu at the Vault is reasonably impressive, offering a good draught beer selection of pseudo-craft brew and surprisingly, Blanche de Chambly. To clarify, pseudo-craft brew is the category that Okanagan Springs Brewery and Sleeman Brewing fit into; their beer is far more flavourful than a generic lager, but also not as creative as a beer brewed by a small microbrewery. A selection of import beer was also available in bottles, but that was not the real highlight. Budweiser, Canadian and Coors were nowhere to be found on draught, or maybe I have learned to tune out these brewing giants. Aside from polishing off a half priced martini with a tandoori chicken appetizer, I enjoyed a slightly light-struck Newcastle Brown Ale with my meal. Clear bottles are such a terrible invention.
I was served the most succulent braised beef short ribs I have ever had the pleasure of eating. These short ribs were slow braised in ale and finished with a bourbon barbecue sauce reduction – this was clearly the work of a master chef. Beef short ribs are one of the most flavourful parts of a cow, but flavour often means high amounts of fat and connective tissue, and connective tissue is usually found in tougher cuts of meat. Braising is a great way to break down the tough connective tissue in a short rib allowing the fat to slowly render away keeping the meat moist and delicious. Often times, I speak from my own cooking experience here, the braising process is rushed which results in a tender piece of meat but without allowing the fat to render out – the meat is tender but huge pieces of unpleasant fat are left to be removed by the eater. The other disaster that can occur, and again I speak from experience, is the meat can simple be braised or stewed in too much liquid, resulting in a watery unpleasant meat-mush. This particular short rib was braised to perfection – it was tender but not mushy, incredibly rich but not fatty and moist without being watery. I was in heaven.
The other great restaurant is found in the Cloverdale Curling Arena. Boonies BBQ & Soul Food is a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant operating as a soulful curling rink cafeteria. Because Boonies is essentially a glorified “cafeteria”, beer is not found on the menu, but don’t be too downhearted, it could be worse. I just found out that many counties in the Southern States have yet to repeal prohibition and are still dry- egads! Boonies offers authentic southern home cookin’ and BBQ – a rare find. Their prices are ineradicably reasonable and the portions are southern sized. Although the atmosphere is somewhat lacking, the idea of eating authentic Southern soul food in Canada while watching curlers throw rocks down a sheet of ice is quite comical.
For any of you who have yet to enjoy what these two fantastic establishments have to offer, please do so. A trip into the city can be a great culinary experience, but the Fraser Valley is home to some great restaurants that should not be taken for granted.
Erik