Love Good Beer

The History of Beer Documentary

Friday, July 29th, 2011 | Beer | 1 Comment

One of my co-workers, and possibly even friend (we’ll see), started a new website, which is a collection of lectures, debates, and documentaries he finds interesting.  Seeking to build traffic for his fledgling blog, he asked me (begged really, even offering unmentionable favours) to post this beer documentary here.  I wasn’t too keen, but then I watched it and found that it’s actually pretty good.  I take exception to the overly dramatic American announcer and upbeat background music, but the first half of the content is educational.  They even include quips from craft beer legends like Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn brewery.  The second half focuses on how the massive American breweries came to dominate the market with their pissy lagers. It’s still educational, but also a little bit depressing.  Never fear, there is a bit of craft beer enlightenment at the end, should you make it that far.

If you have 45 minutes and enough interest to learn about the history of beer in AmericaTown, enjoy:

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Brooklyn Brewery, documentary, history channel. garrett oliver, history of beer

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 14^th 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 15^th 2:00 – 5:00 PM

Brooklyn Brewing Presents: East Coast Beers, West Coast Style

BCLDB Signature Store 39^th 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

Tags: brewery creek, brewmaster's dinner, brewmasters's table, Brooklyn Brewery, chambar, garrett oliver, granville room, rick green

EAT Vancouver

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | Beer, Events | No Comments

Eat Vancouver, an annual food and cooking show held at BC Place, took place weekend – I attended.  The show consisted of a large number of trade booths selling or promoting food or food related products, cooking demonstrations, a beer, wine and spirits tasting area, and a smattering of restaurants, many being South Asian inspired, offering a small tasting menu.

The trade show floor was similar to last year and just not all that impressive – how many ready-made frozen curries does the world really need?  But there were a few really interesting booths, including Sweet Tree Canadian Birch Syrup.  If you haven’t tried birch syrup, do.  Finally a natural tree syrup that West Coast Canadians can proudly boast about – move so than maple syrup.  Similar to the trade show floor, the beer, wine and spirits tasting area was not overly impressive – too many distributors an not enough brewers, vintners and distillers. However, there were a few great breweries represented, Rogue, Brooklyn Brewery, R&B and Dead Frog to name a few.

The real draw this weekend was not the trade show booths or the food samples, it was the cooking demonstrations and food and beer seminars.  Chefs ranging from Food Network Canada hosts to accomplished local and international kitchen veterans teach eager home cooks how to prepare their favourite dishes.  The fine people at Just Here for The Beer hosted a series of seminars on beer – I was only able to attend the food and beer pairing session.

The food and beer pairings chosen for the seminar were:

• Vancouver Island Brewing Pilsner with a strong cheddar
• Russell Cream Ale with smoked salmon
• Dead Frog Nut Brown with a nut cluster
• Sapporo Dark Lager with dark(ish) chocolate
• Efes Dark Lager was also thrown in at the end to pair with the chocolate

The pairings all worked well, but I was hoping for a  more creative selection- Belgian Ale, the king of food and beer parings, was nowhere to be found.  That aside, Just Here for The Beer did a good job promoting beer and proved to many happy beer drinkers that wine is not the only drink that can enhance a great meal.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Birch Syrup, Brooklyn Brewery, Dead Frog Nut Brown, Eat Vancvouer, Efes, Just Here For the Beer, R and B Brewing, Rogue Ales, Russel Cream Ale, Sapporo, Vancvouer Island Brewing Pilsner