DIX Brewery
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
Dix Brewery Closing Down?
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 | Beer | 8 Comments
I just heard via an invite to the Four Beers and a Funeral Brewpub Crawl, a VCBW event, that Dix Brewery is closing down permanently. Can anyone confirm if this is true and why? As far as I can tell, Dix does booming good business so I doubt the reasons are financial (just try getting a table before a Canucks game).
If Dix is indeed closing down permanently in a few weeks time, this is sad news to say the least. Dix Cask Thursdays, Dix Caskival events, and pre-sporting event beer drinking will all be sorely missed. I spent a good part of the Olympics at Dix and I can’t imagine it not being there when I return to Vancouver. At least I’ll always have the memories of the good times.
Anyway, apparently the pub crawl will feature a march from Steamworks to Dix where a Dix Funeral will be held, then onto Yaletown and Dockside. Tickets are $65 and include beer and food. If Dix was special to you, now’s your chance to say goodbye with a rip roaring good party.
Cheers.
Chris
Where to drink beer in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics?
Friday, February 19th, 2010 | Beer | 6 Comments
Question: Where are the best places to drink beer in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Answer: The same places as always! Dix, Steamworks, Yaletown Brewing, and the Alibi Room.
Since the Olympics started last weekend I’ve been downtown quite a bit and I’ve had a lot of fun waiting in lines and not getting into stuff. I never thought Vancouver could get this crazy and I didn’t think the Olympics would be this exciting. I also never thought I’d feel as proud to be Canadian as I do right now; turns out we throw a good party. I’m going to have a huge Olympic hangover come March for more reasons than one.
German Fan Fest
I’ve tried to get into both the Irish House and the German Fan Fest, two of the most popular temporary pavilions setup for the Olympics. I opted not to wait in line for hours and hours for $10 beer night and I don’t regret my decision. The atmosphere downtown is crazy enough (just walk Granville or Robson streets) and there are plenty of other reasonably priced places to visit. While I may try German Fan Fest one more time for their Köstritzer Schwarzbier, I’ve had much better luck at my usual haunts. Both Dix and Steamworks have provided me with the Olympic atmosphere, TV’s to watch the events, tasty beer at reasonable prices, and, most importantly, a seat. I’ve also heard that the Alibi Room has abandoned their no TV policy, bringing in some tubes to watch the events on downstairs. I walked by Yaletown Brewing and it was packed out with a line forming outside. If you are looking for a beer downtown in the next week or so, try the regular places for quality beer.
Good times at Quebec House
Other Olympic venues I’ve visited include LiveCity Yaletown and Downtown, neither of which serve beer, not even $10 cans of Canadian! I found them a bit boring and, unless you are really into the musical performance going on, not really worth waiting in line for. Quebec House was pretty cool. I was excited to hear they had Quebec microbrews, but then disappointed to find it was Archibald Microbrasserie. I hadn’t actually heard of them (neither had my French Canadian coworker), it was that the beer didn’t taste very good, especially not for $10. What made Quebec House worth visiting was the 7 Fingers, who were like a little Cirque du Soleil. I also got a kick out of Saskatchewan Pavillion, which appeared to me to be a big tent full of bored/drunk looking people dressed in Rider green. The $8 Pilsner didn’t float my boat either. Once place I’d really like to check out is Atlantic Canada House, who I hear have brought in top notch maritime brews by Propeller and Garrison. I hear it’s a good time there too.
Skunky Pilsner and Rider Pride at Saskatchewan Pavillion
I hope to be able to provide further insight after another weekend of engaging in Olympicosity. Go Canada go!
Cheers,
Chris
Washington Winter Beer Festival 2009
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | Events | No Comments
The Washington Beer Commission is holding the 2009 edition of their Winter Beer festival this December 4th and 5th. I recently received an email containing the beer lineup and it looks to be a good one. I attended the Washington Cask Beer Festival last Spring and really enjoyed it, so I imagine the winter edition is similarly epic. Serious BC beer fans should consider heading down the I5 to take part in what promises to be a good festival. I really considered buying tickets, but am planning on attending the Dix Winter Caskival on December 5th instead. Both events will be good, but Dix is just so much closer to home!
Cheers,
Chris
Hopscotch Festival 2009
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | Events | No Comments
The annual Vancouver Hopscotch Festival is an event that showcases scotch, whiskey and beer. The 2009 edition starts this weekend, with the Grand Tasting Hall events taking place next Thursday and Friday, the 19th and 20th of November. Erik and I went to the Grand Tasting Hall last year and weren’t particularly impressed from a beer perspective. We don’t drink whiskey or scotch regularly enough to judge the quality of that aspect of the event, but the beers on hand were highly uninteresting. There were a few winter ales available that were good to try, but still nothing unavailable in stores. That being said, we are likely more knowledgeable about beer than the average person and someone who isn’t much into beer would likely enjoy trying the different styles on hand. For me, why would I pay for a ticket and wait in lines for tiny cups of beers I’ve already tried and can easily just buy off the shelf? The answer this year, I wouldn’t, so I’m not going. Hopscotch also provides attendees with the chance to get publicly drunk amongst a large crowd of people, which can be enticing (including to me, but not this time round).
An upcoming beer festival that I am excited about is the Dix Winter Caskival, which will feature upwards of twenty cask condition winter concoctions crafted by some of BC’s more adventurous (and talented) craft brewers. The summer Caskival was a blast, so I’m looking forward to December 5th. To get in, just line up outside of Dix at noon, no purchase of tickets beforehand required.
Cheers,
Chris
Lonely Planet Vancouver features Alibi Room
Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | Pubs | 2 Comments
Alibi Room owner Nigel Springthorpe
I enjoy traveling and am obsessed with the Lonely Planet series of guide books. If you’ve never traveled with one or you have used lesser guide books, then you likely missed out on a few hidden gems. I am particularly fond of the Lonely Planet Encounter series, which each profile a city sectioned into neighborhoods for easy reading. I was at Chapters today and noticed that Lonely Planet very recently published a Vancouver Encounter, likely to cater to Olympic Visitors. I was, of course, curious and flipped through it to see what travel experts recommend to see, eat, and do in Vancouver. I wasn’t surprised at all to find the Alibi Room recommended, but I was surprised to see how much attention they paid to it. Usually restaurants and bars get a two sentence blurb, but the Alibi Room garnered two pictures and an interview with owner Nigel Springthorpe! This attention is warranted in my mind and is a testament to the hard work Nigel has done in building Vancouver’s best beer bar. It pleases me that visitors to Vancouver, if they take the Lonely Planet’s excellent advice, will get to enjoy an establishment of such fine quality, likely giving them a positive impression of our fine city. Although there is one negative, I imagine a seat at the Alibi Room will be an impossible commodity to come by during the Olympics.
The Alibi Room wasn’t the only beer destination recommended in the Vancouver Encounter. Six Acres, The Irish Heather, Dix Brewery, Yaletown Brewing, and Steamworks were also listed.
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
Great Beer Moments of 2009
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Pubs | 2 Comments
Spending yesterday afternoon in search of great beer was a pleasant reminder to me about why I love beer. Now I know we are only 23 days into this year, but I strongly believe yesterday will easily finish in my top five beer moments of 2009. There was no one particular beer that made yesterday so memorable; it was the combination of great beer, great places, great food and great company that made yesterday shine through the dreariness of BC’s foggy start to 2009.
The afternoon started by meeting my good friend Brad in Burnaby, on route to Brewery Creek. For those of us who live in the Fraser Valley, a trip out to Brewery Creek is not a weekly occurrence and is a noteworthy event. Until yesterday Brad was a Brewery Creek virgin – I was excited to show him the bounty that is Brewery Creek, and he was excited to spend his entire beer budget in one fell swoop. With grins on our faces we perused through the shelves slowly filling our carts with beer. For those who haven’t been, Brewery Creek is like a candy store for adults, only the candy doesn’t cost 5 cents. Brad loaded up on barley wine and I rounded out my collection with beer from Oregon, Washington, BC and Belgium. Had the day ended here it would have already been great – but it continued on.
We still had plenty of time in the afternoon and I had not yet satisfied my desire for new beer, so we decided to head to Firefly. This was my first visit to Firefly, and with a parking spot left open beside the store it was meant to be. Firefly has an impressive beer and wine selection, but I can’t say standing in a fridge while shopping for beer is ideal. Nonetheless, I added a few more bottles to my collection and headed on out; Brad had already overspent his budget and had to go without. I will be updating The Cellar shortly with my most recent additions, although most of my purchases will end up in my belly before they make it to the cellar.
By this time it was quarter to five and hunger was setting in. Yesterday was Thursday, and DIX Brewery has cask ale on Thursdays – good news! We headed over to DIX for an early dinner and to enjoy this week’s cask ale – a Rye IPA better know as Jack the RIPA. The cask ale was fantastic, with hints of spice from the rye, a warming malt flavour, and a great hop kick. One was all it took yesterday – sometimes simplicity and moderation (I can’t believe I am writing this) is a good thing. The food at DIX was equally impressive, I ordered the BBQ Brisket Sandwich and Brad decided on a burger. DIX was the perfect way to end an afternoon beer hunt.
I love beer because it is more than just nourishment to our bodies and a means for drunkenness. Good beer, like good food, becomes exponentially better when enjoyed with good friends, and yesterday’s beer tasted pretty fantastic.
Erik
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