central city
Central City Bacon Tasting Menu
Friday, August 20th, 2010 | Events, Food and Recipes | 1 Comment
Back in the colonies one of my favorite breweries is doing something extremely rad. Central City is offering a bacon tasting menu all September using bacon cured with their own beer. The three course menu only costs $15 and features bacon and corn cakes paired with Red Racer Lager, country bacon terrine with Red Racer ESB, and maple chocolate bacon cheesecake prepared with Red Racer Stout. Can you believe that? A three course meal and beer pairings for $15 based on bacon, the world’s most delicious food (fat and salt, mmmm)! I might have to fly back for this.
Cheers,
Chris
Father’s Day Beer Dinners
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | Beer | No Comments
In case you’ve forgotten, it’s Father’s Day this Sunday! To celebrate the occasion a few BC breweries have got themselves involved in some Father’s Day beer dinners. If your Dad likes eating good food and drinking good beer, then I can’t thing of a better Fathery’s Day gift than a trip to one of these dinners:
- Central City in Surrey will be offering a three course meal, each course made with beer as an ingredient and paired with beer, for $35 anytime between 4PM and 8PM on Sunday, June 20th. I haven’t been to one of the Father’s Day dinners at Central City before, but I’ve seen pictures and heard Erik’s account of last year’s dinner. Without yet seeing the menu I can say, and trust me here, it’s worth the money.
- R&B Brewing is doing a Father’s Day dinner with DIVA at the Met in Vancouver. This dinner is a five course affair with each course paired with an R&B beer. On Saturday, June 19th from 7PM to 9:30PM this dinner can be yours for a mere $49. Again, I wasn’t there last year, but I heard the reviews and saw the pictures. It looked amazing, as does this year’s menu below.
Cheers,
Chris
Local Surrey Beer, no not that Surrey
Sunday, April 18th, 2010 | Beer | 2 Comments
The irony that I’ve moved from Surrey near Guildford in Canada to Surrey near Guildford in England (at least until we head up to London next week) isn’t lost on me. This time I’m not talking about Central City, Russell Brewing, or Big Ridge, but Hogs Back Brewery. Much to my surprise, I learned of Hogs Back Brewing through Google Buzz. It was recommended to me by a friend of friend in Canada who originally comes from Surrey. Without a car, I was trying to figure out how to get to Hogs Back when a random Google Buzz user let me know of a few pubs in Guildford that carry their brews. Who knew people used Google Buzz? Anyway, I eventually found Hogs Back’s beers at a small beer and wine shop in Shalford.
I picked up TEA and OTT, which stand for Traditional English Ale and Old Tongham Tasty (Tongham is the town Hogs Back is based in); both are bottle conditioned. I’ve only tried TEA so far and I quite liked it. As the name says, it is a traditional bitter. I found it to be pleasantly malty and full of flavor, if lacking in hops for my tastes. So far I’ve found that English brewers tend to focus on malt and its subtleties, versus North American brewers who make much more use of hops to provide bold flavors and bite. While both approaches have their merits, I’m currently enjoying the excellent session brews the British brewers are brewing (most bitters weigh in at 4% ABV). I’ll definitely buy TEA again and I can’t wait to try the other interesting beers that Hogs Head has to offer.
Cheers,
Chris
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
Winter Beer Season in BC
Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | Beer | 7 Comments
As the seasons change, so does the availability of craft beer. I, for one, am thankful for this, especially as I regard the changing of the current season as going from bad to worse. What better way to cheer yourself up in this dreary weather than to sip a winter warmer from one of BC’s great breweries? I can think of a few things, but none so simple and effective as grabbing a winter ale (or a few) and watching the healing Canucks thrash Colorado.
Many BC breweries have already released their winter beers and a few still have barley wines on the way. Joy to the world! Here are a few BC winter brews you might consider trying:
- Central City Winter Ale
- Granville Island Winter Ale (lovingly referred to as choco beer by my friends)
- Lighthouse Winter Ale
- Vancouver Island Hermannator Ice Bock
- Phillips Barley Wine (coming soon)
- Phillips Instigator Doppelbock (coming soon)
- Nelson Faceplant Winter Ale
- Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine (coming soon)
Also, some other fine non BC breweries have produced tasty winter ales:
- Anchor Christmas Ale (my favorite so far)
- Pyramid Snowcap
- Whychwood Bah Humbug
- Lost Coast Winterbraun
If the rain, darkness, and cold displease you as much as they do me, I suggest one of the above as a temporary and enjoyable remedy.
Cheers,
Chris
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
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
Central City Brewing 5th Anniversary
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
I love the beer brewed by Central City Brewing. I am particularly fond of their Imperial IPA and their Copper Bock, not to mention Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine when it is available. When we heard that Central City was going to be having a 5th anniversary celebration this past Saturday, we were all aboard. We were particularly excited about the special beer pairing menu and the five uniquely aged brews to be on offer:
- Belgian Trippell – brewed December 06, 9.0% alc/vol
- Smoked Porter – brewed October 07, 8.5% alc/vol
- Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine – brewed October 07, 10.5% alc/vol
- Imperial IPA – brewed June 08, 8.5% alc/vol
- Red Racer Winter Ale brewed September 08, 7.5% alc/vol
We decided to head to Central City last Saturday evening for 7PM, thinking any earlier would not suit drinking such strong beers on a chore laden Saturday. We thought this was a perfectly acceptable idea seeing as the Facebook event listed the start and end times at noon and 11PM respectively. It was to our tremendous dismay when our waitress had no clue what we were talking about when we asked for the special menu. We missed it! The festivities came and went in the afternoon. I was even more disappointed to hear from the honourable Rick Green that the party was held in the brewery itself and that all of the food and beer was free to CAMRA members. I’m still a bit depressed writing this up.
Us looking sad (but still kind of happy) at Central City
In any case, no trip to Central City is a waste when Empire IPA is readily available. I also think the food there is rather better than your typical pub fare. That being said, there’s nothing like having your ID scanned and your mugshot taken like you’re a criminal when entering a brewpub. I find the restaurant to be somehow disjointed from the brewing operation. The last few times I’ve visited Central City, our waitresses have seemed to think that displaying half of each boob makes up for impoliteness and poor attentiveness, but then to some that’s a boon. I even got the “oooh, have you had it before” when I ordered their Imperial IPA, which I ordered with authority mind you. It seems to me that they are not taking much pride in their beer. Maybe it’s just me though, am I visiting Central City at the wrong times?
Cheers,
Chris