brewery creek
BC lacks Porter
Monday, August 24th, 2009 | Beer, Favorites | 2 Comments
I love porter; it is one of my favorite beer styles. I find porter to be quite easy and enjoyable to drink, which might be due to the moderate alcohol levels and pleasant roasty and chocolate flavors one finds in porter. What I don’t like about porter is its relative scarcity in these parts. I can’t think of one BC brewer that regularly sells six packs of porter. You’ll sometimes find 650ml bottles of porter from BC craft brewers available in BC Liquor Stores, but these examples are often brewed with an additional element such as chocolate, coffee, coconut, or other fruit. While I definitely like these beers, what I’d really like to see is a widely available six pack of quality porter from one of BC’s many fine brewers. In the mean time, Deschutes has recently made its way into BC. Thank heaven for their Black Butte Porter, which is definitely one of my favorite beers! I picked some up from Brewery Creek last week and, with a few friends, made quick work of them. With craft brewing gaining ground in BC, I can only hope that a widely available porter is on the horizon. I’d suck one, or six.
Cheers,
Chris
Beer Ice Cream and other tidbits
Sunday, July 19th, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments
I went to La Casa Gelato in Vancouver yesterday. This famed ice cream joint has 218 flavors in store, and I’m told they have even more flavors in reserve. I happened to notice one flavor in particular that I just had to try, that being Guinness Draught Beer Sorbetto. I was surprised to find that it tasted exactly like Guinness, not generally resembling stout or beer, but very specifically like Guinness! I’ll be honest, I didn’t love it, but finding this beer so convincingly adapted to ice cream got me thinking. Can I make my own beer ice cream out of one of my favorite beers? This article is the best I’ve found on making your own beer ice cream, something that I’ll have to try. If I have any success, I’ll definitely post my results.
Guinness Draught Beer Sorbetto from La Casa Gelatto
Some other tidbits:
- Erik convinced me (wasn’t hard) to go to Brewery Creek with him yesterday. It’s a good thing we went because we managed to snag the last few Great Canadian Beer Festival tickets. I was going to wait until Monday, which would have been bad. I’m hearing that all tickets available in the lower mainland are now sold out. If you want to go to the GCBF this year, you should get on the case now.
- We also hit up Bosa Foods. It was my first time there and I was very impressed. It is the best gourmet food store I’ve been to in the lower mainland. I was particularly impressed by the butcher shop. I’ve previously written about beer and meat and beer and chicken; I do believe I’ve finally found the place to buy quality meat. They sell organic free range redbro chickens from Polderside farms, as well as a great selection of lamb, pork, and beef cuts. I was impressed by the color (deep red, not bright red), texture (moist, but not wet looking), and marbling of the beef steaks, as well as the colour of the pork (pinkish, not grey). I will definitely be buying my meat there from now on.
Have a great rest of the weekend.
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks for the Spam PR Guy
Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | Breweries | 3 Comments
Yesterday I received a couple of emails (spam) from the PR firm on behalf of Steam Whistle Brewing. For those who don’t know, Steam Whistle is an Ontario based brewery who brew a pilsner and only a pilsner. Steam Whistle Pilsner is sometimes available in BC at the better beer stores (Brewery Creek for example), but the average BC beer drinker won’t have heard of it, much less tasted it. It is a tasty pilsner though, a beer I would recommend to you Bud Light Lime drinkers out there, and it is a shame it is not more widely available out west.
What I want to know is, why did Steam Whistle waste their money on hiring these PR guys? Neither email I received was addressed to me and both were clearly spam, likely sent to every beer related website in Canada. Also, the first email was an invite to a pub crawl in Toronto on Thursday (I’ll be there) and the second was promoting a contest, where the link to the contest in the email didn’t even work (the correct link is on Steam Whistle’s website and it looks like a good contest worth winning). I have nothing against Steam Whistle, but I do feel like this means of marketing is a problem in the beer industry. Why hire an ineffectual PR firm to promote Steam Whistle Pilsner in BC when it is hardly available here? In my opinion, using the PR money (PR firms aren’t cheap) to get their beer into BC liquor stores would be a better strategy. An even better strategy would be to have Steam Whistle employees who know and love their beer establish real relationships with prominent beer bloggers (probably not us, but we’d be friends with them anyway). Why pay a passionless suit when there is this whole free internet thing out there that companies can use to reach people with?
Cheers,
Chris
Great Canadian Beer Festival Tickets on sale
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
The Great Canadian Beer Festival is taking place on September 11th and 12th this year in Victoria (where it always is). I have never been to a GCBF, but plan on making this year my first one. I’ve heard it is awesome and I’ve also heard that tickets sell out fast. If you want to go, make sure you grab tickets soon after they go on sale this Saturday, July 18th. Brewery Creek and Central City are two of the fine lower mainland establishments selling tickets. The beer lineup from last year looks pretty solid, so best to make your arrangements sooner than later. If you do make it, make sure to say hi to us, we’ll be the ones silly walking around the grounds.
Cheers,
Chris
Garrett Oliver Coming to Vancouver
Friday, July 10th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
I was pretty excited to hear that Garrett Oliver, esteemed brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, was coming to Vancouver from Chester at Brewery Creek. Shortly after hearing the good news, the honourable Rick Green just so happened to send me an email with the details. I definitely hope to attend the Brewmaster’s dinner being held at the Granville Room at the very least. Here is the information Rick passed along:
Friday, August 14th 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Brewmaster’s Dinner at the Granville Room in Vancouver.
This is a four course dinner with Brooklyn beer paired to each course. Garrett will talk about the food and beer during each course. We plan to have copies of his book “ The Brewmaster’s Table” available for purchase. He will personally sign each book. If you want to come and enjoy the evening with Garrett Oliver and some of your friends please contact me. There are only 75 tickets. The price is $75 which includes Dinner and gratuity. This is a set menu. Come and listen to one of the giants in the beer industry.
Saturday, August 15th 2:00 – 5:00 PM
Brooklyn Brewing Presents: East Coast Beers, West Coast Style
BCLDB Signature Store 39th and Cambie
Join Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewing Co., producer of fine craft ales and lagers, in a tasting of his beers paired creatively with Belgian cuisine by Chambar Restaurant. The first few participants will receive a free, signed copy of Oliver’s acclaimed cookbook, The Brewmaster’s Table (while quantities last)!
I’m told that you have to contact the Granville Room directly to get tickets. I hope I can make it out that night and I hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Chris
Some New Favorites
Sunday, July 5th, 2009 | Favorites | 1 Comment
This week, I found three more beers to add to my favorites. The first is Phillips Accusation ale, which I’ve written about before. I’d had it a few weeks previously, but I decided to buy it again because I love a good Extra Special Bitter (ESB). I love ESBs because they are generally more flavorful, with a little more hop bitterness than your typical pale ale, but not as bitter and hoppy as an IPA. I also love India Pale Ale’s, but they can be a bit much sometimes. What puts Accusation Ale over the top for me is the great story behind it. Read my previous post to learn more about what happened with Phillips, as it says on the bottle: “sometimes bitterness comes from frivolous trademark disputes”.
In honor of Canada Day last Wednesday, Innis and Gunn released a special Canadian version of their whiskey barrel aged ale, also now one of my favorites. The Canadian Cask edition was aged for seventy one days in Canadian oak whiskey barrels imported to Scotland. This beer is a strong ale, full of rich malty flavors, and I loved it. This is a seasonal beer, so pick it up at BC Liquor stores and give it a try while it is still available.
Lastly, Brewery Creek recently started carrying Coney Island Lager from the Shmaltz brewery (famous for their He’brew ‘the chosen beer’ brand). This is not your run of the mill lager, it is amber in color and full of flavor. They use eight different malts and six different hops to brew this beer, and the complexity really comes through. I loved this beer and highly recommend it. It is only available at finer purveyors of beer such as Brewery Creek or Firefly and may not be in steady supply, so buy it if see it.
I hope you get a chance to try these beers. Phillips Accusation is also only available at the better stores. It’s a seasonal too, so grab it quick! If you don’t think you’ll enjoy my suggestions, I suggest chatting with the fine people at the better beer stores who’ll surely be able to help you find what you’re after.
Cheers,
Chris
Our own Whistler Beer Festival
Monday, June 29th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments
We heard about the Whistler Beer Festival about a month ago and decided to go, only to find out it would be canceled, but not before we’d booked ourselves in Whistler for the weekend. Long story short, we went to Whistler last weekend to not go to the Whistler Beer Festival. There are definitely worse things in life to contend with than a weekend in Whistler, so we made the best of it and had our own beer festival.
We ended up staying at an awesome complex called Glacier’s Reach, which we booked through the rental-by-owner site alluraDirect.com for a very affordable price. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a hot tub on our deck(!), and we were right across from the village. I’d definitely stay there again. Erik and I brought up a bunch of good beer, mostly purchased from Brewery Creek, the best of which (besides Erik’s homebrew) being Coney Island Lager and Coney Island Human Blockhead, two very flavorful lagers. We stayed in the first night to make our own pizza and enjoy our tasty beers. The next day, our attempt at being active consisted of a walk through the village and around lost lake. Then the rains came, signaling it was time to head to the Brewhouse.
The Whistler Brewhouse was very apologetic and immediately refunded our beer festival tickets, a wise move by them because we swiftly gave our money right back. While the wives went shopping (blah), Erik and I sat at the bar, where we were treated to a few complimentary pints and a locals discount on the rest of our bill. The Brewhouse had two seasonal’s, a smoked porter and a Belgian wit. I found the wit a bit dull and the smoked porter a bit too smokey, but their Wolf Creek Bitter and Grizlly Brown Ale were as delicious as ever. The wives later joined us for dinner after, thankfully not having bought too much stuff. In the end, I think I was there for almost five hours. I had a great time because the bar their is as close to heaven on earth as it gets for me. Beer, chicken wings, sports on HDTV…done.
Man Heaven - the bar at Whistler Brewhouse
Holly and her sampler
We may have continued drinking beer that night. We may have drank too much. We may have wandered the village and purchased hotdogs unnecesarily, who can tell these things? Whatever we got up to, it was all in the past by the next morning because we had more work to do. We drove down to Squamish and to the Howe Sound Brewing Company for lunch. Erik and I both ordered the sampler there, but decided not to double down when we saw the size of the first one. Ten generous samples! A bit much considering I still had to navigate the remainder of the Sea to Die Highway. Sadly, we found the beer a bit underwhelming. My personal favorite was the Father Johns winter ale, which reminded me of gingerbread. We also enjoyed the Blonde Ale, the Mettleman Copper Ale, and the Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout. Also, I had the half roast chicken for lunch and it was delicious.
Erik and the epic Howe Sound Sampler
This was indeed a very good weekend. It would have been better if we’d had some more activities to do, but the rain held us at bay. Next Winter, head to the Whistler Brewpub for a warming apres ski pint. On the way home, skip the Tim Horton’s when you get hungry and head to the pub at Howe Sound for a tasty lunch. You won’t regret either decision.
Cheers,
Chris
Whistler Beer Festival Canceled
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment
Yep, the first annual Whistler Beer Festival will take place next year at the earliest. Apparently their brewmaster, who was organizing the whole thing, almost died in a mountain biking accident. Godspeed on your recovery sir. Get well soon. I found out today when I asked Gerry at Brewery Creek if he was going. He told me about the accident, but implored me to ask the honourable Rick Green for more info. Rick confirmed the bad news. I’m pretty choked because Rick had already posted the proposed beer lineup on the now removed Facebook event. It was stacked with mouthwatering beer offerings that I was excited to try.
Whistler Brewhouse
What to do now? Well, we already booked ourselves in Whistler, so we are going anyway. A weekend in Whistler isn’t the worst thing in the world to suffer through, so don’t feel too sorry for us. I called the Whistler Brewhouse today and was please to find them very apologetic. We’ll be redeeming our tickets for fresh beer, which I hope they won’t be out of by the time we make it up there! Their Wolf Creek Bitter and Grizzly Brown Ale are killer, plus they usually have a solid seasonal or two. We might also amuse ourselves by checking out some of the trails, lakes, and nightlife. And a stop at Howe Sound Brewing on the way back down might provide a fitting end to our weekend. I guess we’ll be all right.
Cheers,
Chris
Seasonal Beer
Monday, June 15th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments
Good news, delicious red-centered BC strawberries are now in season. Strawberry season in BC signifies the start of BC’s bountiful harvest. For those British Columbia who choose to eat large, watery California strawberries all year round, I beg you, please switch to local berries. Local BC strawberries are far juicier, sweeter and overall more flavourful than generic imported strawberries. They are only available for a few weeks, so get your fill while they are still here.
Fresh local strawberries mean one thing in my house, waffles with strawberries. Now here is the challenge, pairing beer with waffles & strawberries. Beer has such a diverse flavour profile from style to style, that I image there must be a beer that works with strawberries.
My first thought is to match this seasonal breakfast-for-dinner or “brinner“, with one of the many local fruit beers available. BC brewers offer a good selection of beer brewed with the inclusion of fruits such as Peach, Raspberry, Blackberry and Pumpkin . Unfortunately I have not been able to find a single brewer in BC offering a strawberry beer. A friend and former brewmaster told me that strawberries impart an unpleasant flavour post ferment, but this cannot be true. Abita Brewing in Louisiana brews what is rumored to be a good strawberry beer. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to find Abita’s Harvest Strawberry Lager in BC.
The other option I am considering is a Belgian fruit geuze, a wild fermented lambic beer brewed with fruit – the fruit helps add sweetness to the beer. An aardbei geuze, a strawberry geuze, seems an obvious choice. The only problem could be the geuze overpowering the fresh strawberry flavour. I want the beer to complement the fresh strawberries, no compete. A Belgian Fruli, a Belgian wit beer with strawberry juiced added is also a good option, but from what I have read, Fruli is closer to strawberry soda than strawberry beer.
Please feel free to make recommendations on beers that complement strawberries. I will be making a trip to Brewery Creek and possibly Firefly tomorrow to see what I can find. This Wednesday will be the big strawberry waffle day, I’ll keep you all posted.
Cheers,
Erik
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
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