Love Good Beer

Beer Cheddar Soup

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Food and Recipes | 2 Comments

Dish number two in my famed beer dinner series is Beer Cheddar Soup.  I hadn’t had too many, if any, Beer Cheddar Soups before, but I was excited to give it a try because beer and cheese are two of my favorite things.  The combination sounded mouth wateringly magical to me.

Our soup simmering on the stove

We used a five year old sharp cheddar and, again, Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale.  The recipe we started with was found online here, but we (those actually cooking, not me) made some alterations.  We meant to add bacon, but ended up forgetting it.  We also left out the leeks, mostly because we didn’t have any.  Here is the recipe that we used:

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• 2 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (14 fl oz)
• 1 (12-oz) can of Central City Red Racer Pale Ale
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 lb 5 year aged Cheddar, grated (4 cups)

Preparation

Cook carrots, celery, garlic, and bay leaf in butter in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low and sprinkle flour over vegetables, then cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add milk, broth, and beer in a stream, whisking, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper.

Add cheese by handfuls, stirring constantly, and cook until cheese is melted, 3 to 4 minutes (do not boil). Discard bay leaf.

Our soup was very delicious, you could really pickup the sharpness of the aged cheddar, which balanced out the richness of all the added fats.  The flavor of the beer was also apparent, contributing positively to the soup.  Our gracious host thought our soup compared favorably to the one he regularly orders from Big Ridge, success!

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: aged cheddar, beer cheddar soup, big ridge brewing, Central City Brewing, Red Racer Pale Ale, sharp cheddar

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

Tags: bc signature liquor store, big ridge brewing, Brewpub, central city, chilliwack, Fraser Valley, langley, liquor store, mission, mission springs, old yale brewing, surrey

A couple of events

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 | Events | 5 Comments

There are some cool beer events happening in the lower mainland in the near future.  I found out about them via the CAMRA Vancouver email list and the CAMRA Vancouver Facebook group.  If you want to know the latest cool beer goings on, I suggest you join both the list and the group.  However, I wouldn’t stop there; I’d consider becoming a full fledged CAMRA member.  The $25 fee will quickly be recouped in savings and other perks, trust me, do it, join.  Now for the events:

• Big Ridge in Surrey is hosting a Brewmaster’s Dinner on Tuesday the 28th at 7PM.  The dinner costs $40 and features four delicious courses, each paired with a tasty big ridge brew.  Learn more.
• It is once again time for the annual Dix Summer Caskival, where many brewers bring a cask or two of their creations for us to enjoy in one spot.  The Caskival is August 8th from 12PM to 5PM and costs a mere $20.  I have not attended a Dix Caskival yet, but plan to make this my first.  Check out the beer lineup and other info here.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: big ridge brewing, brewmaster's dinner, camra vancouver, caskival, Dix Brewing

Phillips Accusation Ale Tasting

Monday, June 1st, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | 1 Comment

Phillips used to produce a beer called Blue Truck, which was a tasty pale ale.  It was a popular beer on Vancouver Island and growing in popularity on the mainland when the Mark James Group sued Phillips Brewing for trademark infringement. They thought that people would confuse Blue Truck with their Red Truck brand.  Phillips, being a small brewery, relented and changed the name of their pale ale to Blue Buck.  It was shortly after this time that Phillips began producing their cleverly named Accusation Ale, an Extra Special Bitter style ale.  I received a hilarious email from Phillips today announcing a preview tasting of this year’s first batch of Accusation Ale:

I hope you can read the invitation because it is really quite clever.  I would gladly attend the tasting if I was in Victoria, but alas, I will have to wait until it arrives at Brewery Creek.  ESB is one of my favorite styles and I’m really looking forward to this one.  I suppose I have the Mark James Group to thank for Accusation Ale, but I really think what they did was stupid.  In my opinion, the craft beer scene in BC isn’t big enough for lawsuits.  But MJG has felt the repercussions, incurring the angst of many Vancouver Island beer drinkers.  If the individual MJG pubs like Dix, Yaletown, Whistler, Taylors Crossing, and Big Ridge weren’t some of the very fine few options for fresh beer hereabouts, I’d probably show them a little angst myself.  I do believe the brewers at these establishments had nothing to do with the lawsuit, and so their beer remains morally pure:)

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: accusation ale, big ridge brewing, blue truck, brewery creek, dix bbq and brewery, ESB, extra special bitter, mark james group, phillips brewing, red track, whistler, yaletown brewing

Big Ridge Brewing Company

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Pubs, Review | 9 Comments

A second guest post in two days! This latest contribution to the Love Good Beer fold is written by Peter Chandler, a good friend of mine and a stellar human being.  A technical writer by trade and a seasoned beer traveler, he spins a good yarn. ~ Chris

Mats Sundin’s debut with the Canucks earlier this month was a special occasion for all Vancouverites. Like many of the team’s supporters, I decided that this night was a momentous enough occasion–either that or it was just a good enough excuse for my wife–to trek out to my local Big Ridge Brewing Company to enjoy the game with a few friends and a few pints.

For starters, I ordered their seasonal offering, an Espresso Stout, which sounded like it would be awesome, with a side of poutine (that turned out to be the best poutine west of the Rockies). Unfortunately, to me the seasonal tasted like a melted 7-Eleven Slurpuccino filtered through a dirty ashtray. Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh; the pint probably wasn’t that bad. After all, I was able to finish it, though I certainly didn’t order another one. For seconds, I grabbed a Black and Tan, which was more suited to my palate and more flavourful than the bottle of Bud that the guy beside me was drinking. The Black and Tan blended fairly quickly, tasted very smooth, and quickly cleansed my memory of the previous pint. I guess that is why I love Big Ridge. Within their small selection of microbrews there is enough flavour and variety for everyone–everyone except for that dude who was drinking a bottle of Bud–to find something to their liking. It is that process, the quest for the perfect pint, which I enjoy the most.

By the way, I love Big Ridge, so much so that I went there on my wedding day. Chris (a key member of my wedding party) showcased his usual creative frugality, proclaiming, “This guy is getting married”, while pointing at me, “do we get any free stuff?” The waitress, preparing to make a quick escape from our table, raised her right eyebrow, tilted her head and replied without giving Chris an answer, “This is the saddest stag I have ever seen”.

Fair enough, if that really was my bachelor party, I, too, would have been underwhelmed. Incidentally, my stag was a legendary affair. Sun-soaked Osoyoos, bathwater-soaked hotel room, golf, wine touring and the epic Sage pub. But this is not a tale of debauchery and hooliganism, this is a story about fresh, delicious beer, pleasant surroundings, and good times. I’ll leave that story for another time.

Peter

Tags: big ridge brewing, black and tan, espresso stout, mats sundin