granville island
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
Homebrewing for the first time
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments
This past Saturday, Erik invited me over to brew a batch of porter with his good friend Brad. I had never homebrewed before, so this was completely new to me. I arrived at Erik’s house a while before Erik, who was running late, returned from Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies with the malt and hop ingredients. Luckily, I was really on time because Holly had just finished making lunch. I was already liking brewing by this point.
When Erik got home with the goods, the first thing we had to do was heat up some water for the first phase, mashing. Mashing involves mixing the malted barley (the recipe of which Erik can fill you in on) into hot water. Our malt mixture contained very little roasted chocolate malt (you could see the odd black fleck), which you might be surprised to find out is all that’s needed to give a beer that dark porter colour. The water had to be heated up to approximately 170F on the stove to get a temperature of 152F in the mashing vessel. How Erik knows this, I cannot tell. We used Erik’s fancy beer making software to figure out the ideal temperature of 152F. Apparently, anything three degrees above would lead to too many unfermentable sugers in the mash (leftover sugar means sweeter beer) and anything three degrees less would lead to too many fermentable sugars (not much leftover sugar means dry beer). After Erik had mashed in his barley malt and was ready to let it sit in the lautering process, we were dead on at 152F. Erik’s giant beer cosy system only loses 1F per hour, which I was pretty impressed with. Lautering is the process of letting the mash steep, to extract the fermentable sugars that yeast turns into alcholol.
Erik Mashing in the barley malt
Action Shot of Mashing in the Barley Malt
Lautering in the giant Beer Cosy
Now Erik would tell you that home brewing is easy, and it is fairly straight forward, but it is really only easy when you are me. It is true that while homebrewing, you do a lot of work in bursts and then wait around for an hour or so. Homebrewing is also fairly precise and requires a fair amount of careful sanitization, as well as a good chunk of knowledge (that Erik has and I don’t). For me, brewing consisted of playing a lot of frisbee with Luca, Erik’s dog, and drinking a lot of beer. Whereas Erik spent a lot of time tearing around, cleaning stuff, carefully measuring/mixing, and took part in a good deal of attentiveness. I had a great time though, because frisbee and beer drinking are pretty fun. We drank a lot of fantastic beers, including Mission Springs Fat Guy Oatmeal Stout, Swans Coconut Porter, Swans Berry Ale, and Anderson Valley Tripel. We also had Paddock Wood IPA, which I thought was more of a decent pale ale than a respectable IPA, and Granville Island Brockton IPA, finally a westcoast IPA.
Luca, good frisbee player
After an hour of waiting (drinking beer and playing frisbee), it was time to sparge. After draining the wort (unfermented beer) from the mashtun (Erik’s has a filter in the bottom), we poured hot water (hotter than the first go because we need no more extraction) through the mash to get more of the sugar out. We did this three times, stirring each time before draining more wort.
Erik draining the wort into the kettle
Wort going from the mashtun to the brew kettle
Chris stirring during sparging (one of my few tasks)
Bad, a good man
After we’d recovered the wort, it was time to fire up the brew kettle. Erik’s kettle is a turkey fryer that he heats with a potent propane burner. Bringing the wort to a boil was fairly challenging (mostly for Erik) because the wort wants to quickly extricate itself from the kettle. After achieving a boil, Erik immediately added the bittering hops for the hour long boil. After fifty minutes, the aroma hops were added. I do not recall the types of hops we use, but I seem to recall willamette being used for aroma. I’ll be honest, by the time the aroma hops were added I was out of beer making mode and into beer drinking mode. After the hour long boil, Erik cooled the wort using cold water running through a coper hose. Once cool, the wort was put into a carboy, to which yeast was added, and left to ferment for a week or so. After further ageing in the bottle for a few more weeks, we’ll have a tasty porter. Although, I fear my involvement may have somehow ruined this beer, but we’ll see. Erik, thanks for letting me make beer with you and I apologize if I somehow ruined it.
The Brew Kettle
Erik preventing extrication
We had a good time
Stirring in the bittering hops
Cooling down after the boil (cold water runs through)
Cheers,
Chris
Pregame at the Kingston
Sunday, March 1st, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
I went to the Canucks vs Lightning game on Friday. It was not a good game, but at least the Canucks won 2-1. Before the game, in need of a post work meal and a pregame libation, we decided to go to the Kingston Taphouse and Grille. I’d often heard about the Kingston when listening to the TEAM 1040. The 1040 guys regularly do their Canucks pregame shows at the Kingston, so I thought it would be a cool place to hang out. It wasn’t bad, but I can’t say there is much to taking in a live radio show. The place was packed out and we couldn’t even hear what Rick Ball and Don Taylor were saying. I guess I expected some fan interaction. Is a hug from local sports legend Don Taylor too much to ask for?
The crowded bar at the Kingston, Rick Ball of 1040 in the background
As for the Kingston itself, I can’t say I was overly impressed with their beer selection. They had some local microbrew on tap from Granville Island, Russell, and Red Truck. They also had the typical Canadian macro lagers, plus Guinness and Cafrey’s, but nothing that got me excited. I also found the bar to be too crowded, but the burger I ordered was suitably tasty. We had a decent time at the Kingston, but I much prefer the freshly brewed beer and atmosphere of Dix for my pregame warmup, which is where you’ll find me next time.
The taps and the big screen
Cheers,
Chris