Tag Archives: Craft Beer

Coal Harbour Brewing starting up in Vancouver?

I heard about Coal Harbour Brewing a few years ago and was very curious as to what they might become.  Turns out they’ve been working away at starting up a new craft brewery in Vancouver and they are now up and running.  I got this email from their brewer  Kevin Emms:

After an excruciating and lengthy setup period, Coal Harbour Brewing is now open for business! We are ready to debut our first round of beers, all ready to be packaged and sold in 58.7 L kegs.

We want to be a craft brewery that serves our tastes rather than replicating the styles being brewed by others. With that in mind, we will not be exclusively brewing hop bombs. We like lagers, as do our friends, and it is important to enjoy beer with friends! Also, we take great pride in brewing intriguing, satisfying and unique ales:

“three-11” helles lager – A genuine, Munich style pale lager. Brewed with care and aged appropriately to provide a mellow and refreshing drinking experience that pairs well with any occasion. Priced very competitively, this beer is your best choice to satisfy diverse groups of people.

“Vancouver” Vienna Lager – A painstakingly brewed authentic golden coloured European lager. The 3-step mash ensures excellent body and maximum conversion of sugars.  The massive amounts of German malts contribute to the continental flavour. This is a fine lager for a more upscale market.

“Triumph” Rye Ale – A true Pacific Northwest style craft ale, not quite like what you have tasted before. High portions of rye malts combine with northwest hops to give this copper coloured ale a complicated and intriguing, yet smooth and surprisingly drinkable flavour.

Our plans for the future include introducing some unique new ales into our catalogue, and producing seasonal and ‘one off’ batches of very special beers.

Sounds promising, I look forward to trying their beer and I wish them all the best!

Cheers,

Chris

Beginner’s Guide to Craft Beer from the Art of Manliness

If you’ve never been to the Art of Manliness, you’re missing out.  It’s a both hilarious and informative site on manly things and, despite what you might think, isn’t all that sexist.  I’ve been told I should pay attention to the style section, but I’m more interested in practical things like fending off bear attacks. Anyway, I was perusing this fine site recently when I came across a well written Beginner’s Guide to Craft Beer.  You should read it.

Art of Manliness

Cheers,

Chris

Quebec City

I must apologize for neglecting my blogging responsibilities.  I am terribly sorry.  I have no excuse – just laziness really.  After my vacation a week ago I never really got back in the groove of blogging.  I’ll be better though, it won’t happen again.  I promise.

I have a lot of lost time to make up for and do want to quickly cover the last half of my trip to one of Canada’s most impressive beer destinations, Quebec.  So I figure bullets points and pictures are the way to go.

  • Best Pub in Quebec City: L’Oncle Antoine.  This pub is  found in one of Quebec City’s older buildings, dating back to 1754 – new by European standards,  old for Canadian standards.  This pub boasts a number of great craft beers from Quebec and Belgium.  Our last night in Quebec was spent in the L’Oncle Antoine pub enjoying a few pints before heading to a 24 hour poutine joint.

L'Oncle Antoine

  • Best Quebec Beer: Microbrasserie Ile d’Orleans Extra Strong Stout.  This fantastic beer is brewed on Ile d’Orleans, an island in the St. Laurence River about 20 minutes out of Quebec City.  This stout had a rich mouth feel with loads of roasted coffee and chocolate flavours – delicious.

  • Best Poutine: Chez Ashton.  This fast food joint is unique to Quebec and was a welcome change from McDonalds and Wendy’s.  Poutine is right up there with pancakes when it comes to post pub eats

Poutine. I don't know how they do it, but in Quebec the gravy doesn't cause the fries to go soggy.

I don't know how they do it, but in Quebec the gravy doesn't cause the fries to go soggy.

Cheers,

Erik

Maui Brewing company

Gavin, a coworker of mine, just returned from Hawaii and was thoughtful enough to bring back some of the local beer.  Gavin is a good man.  More of my friends should learn from his shining example and bring me beer back from places.  I just finished a can (labelled as welcoming me to the microcanning revolution!) each of CoConut Porter and Big Swell IPA from Maui Brewing.  They were both quite delicious beers, even after overheating in my car yesterday in the epic Vancouver heat.  Like Erik, I am not a huge fan of fruit beers, but I really enjoy a good Coconut flavor.  The coconut adds a subtle sweetness that really rounds out a porter.  The Big Swell IPA was quite good also, full of fresh hoppy flavor.

Maui Brewing Cans

I’d never thought of Hawaii as a beer destination and I was surprised to find that Hawaii has some really excellent craft beer.  I am going to Hawaii soon (when your Dad offers you free accommodation and you find cheap flights, you go!) and might have to make some detours to a few of the local breweries.  The BeerAdvocate BeerFly directory for Hawaii will guide me on my quest to find deliciously fresh craft beer in Hawaii.  Me, sea turtles, beer…heaven.

Cheers,

Chris

First Annual Whistler Brewhouse Beer Festival

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