Sweet, sweet Central City IPA

I didn’t realize quite how much I missed a 60 IBU West Coast IPA until I had a slew of visitors gift me fantastic bottles from the motherland. Amongst my blessings I counted Central City IPA, Granville Island Imperial IPA, and Deschutes Hop Trip. They were delicious, thanks for asking. Of course there are British exceptions, such as the brilliantly hoppy offerings from Brewdog in Scotland, but I can definitely say that UK brewing lacks the adventurous extremes of the North American west coast and Belgium. Lucky for me, I’m making a quick return to Vancouver next week. Canucks woooo!

I knew that I missed hockey, but (again) I didn’t realize how much until I was reminded of it’s absolute awesomeness. Game 4 of the Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks series was at noon pacific time, meaning it was on in London at 8PM. I seized my big chance to watch live hockey for the first time in over a year at the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden, as did every other hockey starved Vancouverite in London. I can honestly say it was one of the best atmospheres in which I’ve ever watched a hockey game. The place was packed out with fervent Canucks fans decked in blue and teal, complete with UK levels of alcohol consumption, which resulted in really good times. What choice do I have but to come home for the parade?

At the Maple Leaf for game 4

Hank didn't touch it, we're good

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers,

Chris

• 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

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

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

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

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

Cheers,

Chris

• 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