camra vancouver
CAMRA Vancouver Award Winners
Monday, January 25th, 2010 | Beer, Events, Favorites | No Comments
The CAMRA Vancouver Award winners were announced last week. I was pleased to see many of my nominations amongst the winners. I’m extremely proud of CAMRA Vancouver and its members for rewarding true attention to and passion for craft brewing. Unlike many beer awards, these were given out by beer enthusiasts, which makes them more legitimate in my mind. The winners:
Best Local Brewpub
Gold: Central City Brewing
Silver: Steamworks
Bronze: Dix Barbecue and Brewery
Best Local Beer Cafe, Pub, or Restaurant
Gold: Alibi Room
Silver: The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
Bronze: The Railway Club
Best Local Liquor Store
Gold: Brewery Creek Liquor Store
Silver: BCL 39th & Cambie
Bronze: Firefly Fine Wines & Ales
Best Local Cask Night
Gold: Dix Cask Thursdays
Silver: The Whip Real Ale Sundays
Bronze: Yaletown Making it Real (Ale)
Best Local Beer Event
Gold: Alibi Room 100th Beer Menu Rotation
Silver: Dix X-mas X-treme
Bronze: CAMRA on a Mission to Mission
Best BC Brewery
Gold: Phillips Brewing
Silver: Driftwood Brewery, Red Racer aka Central City Brewing (tie)
Best BC Beer
Gold: Red Racer IPA
Silver: Phillips Longboat Double Chocolate Porter
Bronze: Crannog Back Hand of God Stout
Best BC Seasonal Beer
Gold: Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA, Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale (tie)
Bronze: Phillips The Hammer Imperial Stout
Cheers,
Chris
Beer Wars Screening in Vancouver
Monday, January 18th, 2010 | Beer | 2 Comments
For those of you who don’t know, Beer Wars is a movie about the struggles of craft brewers to stay competitive in a beer market dominated by giant corporations like AB InBev and Molson-Coors. The movie itself has gained substantial attention, praise, and scrutiny from beer enthusiasts North America wide. It hasn’t made its way to here yet, but CAMRA Vancouver has organized an upcoming screening for us. The screening was originally supposed to be last night, but unexplained complications resulted in the event being pushed back to Sunday, January 31st at 4PM. To make up for the delay, CAMRA has recruited some of our local brewers to be on hand to serve beer, those being Steamworks, Yaletown Brewing, Granville Island with their new limited release Chocolate Stout, and Red Truck with their Limited Release Porter. Since District 319 is a licensed and private venue, patrons will be able to have a few beers while watching the movie, something many of us haven’t legally ever been able to do. To get tickets, head to the CAMRA event page and purchase away.
I’ve also heard a rumor that there might be an epic beer announcement made at the screening. Considering that Greg Koch, CEO and co-founder of the legendary Stone Brewing Company, is said to be attending, I wonder what this rumored epic beer announcement could be? I’ve already guessed at it and have been sworn to secrecy, but I’m hoping our clever readers will be able to guess at my suspicions.
Cheers,
Chris
Vancouver Craft Beer Week?
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | Events | 1 Comment
I read on the honourable Rick Green’s BC Beer Blog today a mention of a Vancouver Craft Beer Week being planned for May 10-16. This was the first I’d ever heard of such a thing (even Google didn’t know about it!) and was naturally intrigued. When I asked Rick what it was all about he indicated it would be in the vein of San Francisco Beer Week. From that I can only assume that CAMRA, in association with our local breweries, brewpubs and beer bars, will be planning a series of beer related events in Vancouver. Sounds good to me! I wonder if this is the first annual VCBW? I also wonder if those beyond us beer geeks and hangers on will take notice and take part? If the first VCBW is well staged, I imagine the masses will be clamoring to partake. What I am sure of is that this first VCBW is a step in the right direction and will surely be good times. I will post any details that make their way to me.
Cheers,
Chris
CAMRA Vancouver Award Nominations
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 | Beer | 5 Comments
The CAMRA Vancouver AGM is coming up on January the 17th, which is where the CAMRA Vancouver awards will be announced. Beforehand, each CAMRA member is able to nominate three of their favorites in each category. Those garnering the most nominations are then voted on by members. The trouble I am having is coming up with three nominations in each category. In some categories I find myself wanting to only nominate what I consider to be the one clear winner. In others (best BC beer for example), I find there are just too many choices. I’ve settled on at least one nomination in each category, which I’ll share below:
Best Local Brewpub – Big Ridge! Why? Because the few brewpubs we have in the lower mainland are fairly similar (they are all pretty good) and Big Ridge is close to my house.
Best Local Beer Cafe, Pub, or Restaurant – Alibi Room! Why? Because they have the largest and most interesting beer selection around. It is also has a cozy atmosphere and delicious food.
Best Local Liquor Store – Brewery Creek! Why? The best beer selection and the most knowledgeable staff. Gerry and Chester are rad.
Best Local Beer Event – Dix Caskival! Why? The best selection of delicious, creative, and fresh craft cask beer under one roof.
Best BC Brewery – Driftwood! Why? Because they set out to brew interesting beer when they started not long ago and they haven’t wavered. Their beer is also delicious. This was a tough one, Central City and Phillips will likely be my other nominations.
Best BC Beer – Central City Red Racer Pale Ale! Why? Because it is a wonderful session beer that enthrals serious craft beer and macro drinkers alike. Another tough one to call, so many good beers in BC.
Best BC Seasonal Beer – Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine! Why? Wow, this is good stuff. Complex, hoppy, bold, and delicious.
Who would you nominate?
Cheers,
Chris
Alibi Room Celebrates 100th beer list
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 | Beer, Events | 2 Comments
That’s right, 100th beer list, not beer, but beer list. I find that impressive and am planning on stopping by for the celebration, which is tomorrow, Thursday the 3rd of December at the Alibi Room. I’d heard rumors that an event of this sort might be taking place and the CAMRA newsletter confirms:
This Thursday will be the 100th rotation of the Alibi Room’s beer list. To mark the occasion owner Nigel Springthorpe will be replacing the regular lineup with a special selection featuring great current BC beers along with signature beers from many BC Brewers. Some kegs will be new, others may be kegs collected over the years and aged in the Alibi Room’s cellar. Highlights include a cask of Driftwood’s wet-hopped Sartori Harvest IPA, the last of Swan’s Legacy-Ale barleywine, and Steamworks’ Blitzen & Yaletown’s Le Nez Rouge Belgian-style tripels.
As if that wasn’t enough, The Alibi Room will be releasing the aged bottles they’ve collected and aged in their cellar.
I am pretty excited to give the fresh hopped Sartori Harvest IPA from Driftwood a try. I missed out on the bottled release when I was away in October, but the cask version promises to be even better. One friend of mine has gone on record as saying it is the best IPA he’s ever tasted and he’s a certified hophead. Should be good times, be sure to stop by if you can make it.
Cheers,
Chris
Dix Summer Caskival
Monday, August 10th, 2009 | Beer | 8 Comments
Erik and I attended the Dix Summer Caskival with the wives last Saturday and it was really fun. It was by far the best beer event I have attended in Vancouver, thanks to the plethora of good beer on hand. My only complaint was that, like most beer events in these parts, it started too early. I understand that its tough to take over a restaurant on a money making Saturday night, but starting a beer event at noon means that drinking beer is all you are really going to do that day. It was really good times nonetheless.
We arrived at Dix a bit before noon and queued up with the other eager beavers. We’d heard that arriving early was a good idea to ensure no delicious cask beer went untasted. We were not disappointed and had unobstructed access to the many creative brews available, which were:
- BigRidge Brewery Creek Dry-Hopped Lager
- Central City Red Racer Double Dry-Hopped Empire IPA
- Dead Frog Raspberry Bulleit Bourbon Nut Brown
- Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale
- Dix Double IPA
- Dix Raspberry Blanche
- Dix Oak Aged Barley Wine
- Dix Dunkel
- Dockside Pilsner
- Driftwood Wit/Saison Blend
- Howe Sound Blackberry Nut Brown
- Longwood ESB
- R&B Raspberry Sun God Wheat
- Russell Blueberry Wheat
- Russell IP’eh!
- Spinnakers Cranberry-Orange Ale
- Storm Rollicking Red Nose Raspberry Apple Cider
- Storm ‘Root of All Evil’ Root Beer
- Swans Oaked Scotch Ale
- Taylor’s Crossing Oak Aged Mad Scow Stout
- Taylor’s Crossing Dry-hopped Red Truck Lager
- Yaletown Cider
- Yaletown Oud Bruin
- Whistler Brewhouse Woodward’s IPA
For the cost of $20 ($15 for us CAMRA members), we received admission to the Caskival, a nifty tasting glass and three tasting tickets. We purchased quite a few more tasting tickets for $1 each and we didn’t want to waste any, which meant that we tried almost all of the casks on hand, save a few of the lagers. My two favorite beers were both from Dead Frog, who represented the valley well with their two entries. I find that tart/sweet fruit flavors go well with nut brown ales, which is why I liked the Howe Sound Blackberry Nut Brown as much as Dead Frog’s Raspberry Bourbon Nut Brown. However, my particular favorite was the Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale. Sahti, a traditional Finnish beer made with unmalted grains including barley, wheat, rye and oats and flavored with juniper instead of hops, was a beer I’d never had before. The Dead Frog version tasted strongly of pine, but in a good way. Other particular favorites of mine were the Driftwood Wit/Saison blend and the R&B Rasberry Sun God Wheat, both because they were a little out of the ordinary. There were ten other beers there that I really liked, but listing them all would simply mirror most of the above list.
In the end, I do believe that the Dead Frog Sahti Pale Ale won the Golden Spile award for brewer’s choice (a spile is a small wooden peg used to control the flow of carbon dioxide out of a cask). Erik and I both voted for this one, which must mean we have exceptional taste. The Golden Bung award for drinker’s choice went to Storm’s ‘Root of All Evil’ Root Beer (a bung is like a cork for a cask). I too enjoyed the Storm Root Beer, mostly for the novelty of drinking a beer resembling the common soft drink. A worthy choice, but not my favorite.
We ended up leaving the Caskival a little early, but more than satisfied, to hunt down some pizza. We were definitely feeling the effects of our tasting and were not particularly productive the rest of the day. Still, I can’t wait for the Dix Winter Caskival, where I’ve heard the beer is twice as adventurous. I did take a few crappy pictures of the event with my iPhone (forgot the camera, shoot), here they are:
The wait to get in, a tad early in the day...
Casks on the bar, before the crowd arrived
More casks on the pool table, so much good beer.
Cheers,
Chris
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
First Annual Whistler Brewhouse Beer Festival
Friday, May 29th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Events, Pubs | 2 Comments
The Whistler Brewhouse is an establishment that I love. I’ve been going there for many years, long before I’d even fully discovered my love of beer. Some friends and I stumbled upon it during a ski trip one winter and have been going back ever since. We found the fresh beer and food to be excellent and the atmosphere to be delightfully cozy after a day on the slopes. The Whistler Brewhouse was also where I first enjoyed many lesser known beer styles, including a cherry ale, barley wine, and dunkelweizen that I can recall. When I found out that the Whistler Brewhouse would be hosting a beer festival this year, my interest was piqued.
I heard about the festival via the CAMRA Vancouver email newsletter, but haven’t been able to find very many details online besides the image included in this post and a Facebook event. The festival is said to be happening on Saturday June 27th from 12PM to 6PM and over twenty unknown microbreweries will be on hand. Tickets are $25 ($20 for CAMRA members) and are on sale at the Brewhouse and at Dix in Vancouver. Despite the lack of official details, the mere mention of a beer festival at the Whistler Brewhouse is enough for me. Erirk and I will be heading to Whistler that weekend for the wives for what will surely be an excellent time. To all my friends who expressed interest in previous beer festivals and were less than impressed when I didn’t invite them, please feel encouraged to join us at this one. It is going to be fun.
Cheers,
Chris
Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Homebrew | 2 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
Cask Ale Sundays at The Whip
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments
Two incidents made Sunday a strange day for me. The first happened that afternoon during my soccer game. I was subbing into the game when a spectator’s dog bit me on the thigh. I’m not sure what I did to provoke it, but the dog lunged at me as I was running past it onto the field. I’m still sporting fang punctures and a nasty bruise. How often does that happen? Had you asked me right then, I would have assumed that would be the strangest thing to happen to me all day. I was wrong.
It was Erik’s birthday this week and the Wolfe family tradition entails going out for a meal together. Tempted by the CAMRA newsletter, we chose The Whip to enjoy the cask ale they feature every Sunday. Sadly, CAMRA members had already consumed the cask of R&B Red Devil Pale Ale by the time we arrived. No bother, The Whip has an excellent beer menu and we were able to drink some tasty local craft beer. I enjoyed pints of Storm’s Hurricane IPA and Black Plague Stout, both of which were highly enjoyable. Some undercooked yam fries aside, the food was also excellent. I really enjoyed my Mexican chicken burger.
It was as we were eating that Sunday’s second strange incident occured. We were enjoying our meals when a group of extremely intoxicated people arrived, taking a table near us. They were no trouble, but I can’t say I enjoyed their company. The serving staff quickly took note of their level of innebriation and cut them off. I heard one remark “this is the third bar we’ve been kicked out of” only for the waitress to reply “this is isn’t a bar, it’s a restaurant!” The group was allowed to finish their beers, giving one fellow the chance to expose himself in the middle of the dining room, perform the “windmill”, and place his genitals in his friend’s glass. How often does that happen?
I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it, I mean the incident, not the… I don’t blame The Whip in the least. Upon hearing of the infraction, the offending group was quickly removed. The Whip’s staff even gave us coupons for a free pint and 15% off during our next visit. We’ll definitely go back because the food, beer, and atmosphere were great. Happy birthday Erik, you’ll definitely remember this one.
Pictures of our visit:
Erik and Holly enjoying their beers
The wife and I
Papa Wolfe
Kelly and Concord, they don't drink beer:(
Cheers,
Chris