Love Good Beer

CAMRA Vancouver Summer Beer Festival, the new Caskival?

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | Beer | No Comments

It was a sad day for all Vancouver beer lovers when Dix Brewery closed down.  I knew I’d be able to find another before hockey game spot for a burger and beer, but what about Dix Caskivals?  Dix hosted both winter and summer cask beer festivals that were rather awesome.  I thought a part of Vancouver beer culture might die, but it sounds like CAMRA Vancouver has stepped up to the plate with a new Summer Beer Festival to replace the beloved Caskival.

The first ever CAMRA Vancouver Summer Beer Festival is happening Saturday, August 14th at St. Augustine’s in Vancouver.  I believe the event is geared towards CAMRA members, but the Evite I received indicates there are general tickets available.  A ticket costs $25 and includes three tastes and a commemorative tasting glass, at past Caskivals extra tastes were available for $1.  Past Caskivals also featured stellar beer lineups and I’m almost certain this festival will be no different.  Here’s hoping this event becomes widely successful and remains for me to attend when I return to Vancouver.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: camra vancouver, Cask Beer, caskival, DIX Brewery, st. augustine's, summer beer festival

Rad Beer Festivals Coming Soon

Monday, March 15th, 2010 | Beer | No Comments

Spinnakers is hosting their Spring Cask Beer Festival this weekend, Saturday March 20th.  Alas, I am too late in writing about it, for it is already sold out. It would have cost $30 for entry, souvenir glass, and three beer tickets, plus $1 for every extra beer ticket after that.  It will be good times for those lucky enough to have tickets.  The lineup is said to include beers from Driftwood, Phillips, Lighthouse, Vancouver Island, Central City, Elysian, Deschutes and more.

If you missed out on Spinnakers, don’t get too down because the Washington Cask Beer Festival is the following Saturday, March 27th in Seattle.  For $35, this one includes twenty tastes to drink from your very own commemorative cup.  I went last year and had a really good times.  With so many free tastes and such a stellar beer lineup, my group had a hard time keeping it together.  We had a really good time until things got out of hand.  Id’ say the Washington Cask Beer Festival is the best beer event in the Northwest, so don’t miss this one.

For those of you not willing to make the trip south of the border, you’ll soon have an opportunity to party in your hometown.  Vancouver Craft Beer Week is happening May 10-16, but I still haven’t heard what it will entail.  That being said, I’m sure it will be super rad and something to look out for.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: beer festival, Cask Beer, cask festival, spinnakers, vancouver craft beer week, washington beer commission, washington cask beer festival

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

Tags: camra vancouver, Cask Beer, dead frog brewing, DIX Brewery, dix summer caskival, root beer, sahti, storm brewing

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

Tags: bc, BC Elections, BC Green Party, BC Liberals, BC NDP, Beer, Beer Tax, Cask Beer, Chicago Blackhawks, Dix BBQ, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tax, Vancouver Canucks