Love Good Beer

Feierabend is good German times

Monday, March 30th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

Erik and I, as well as Peter and our wives, went down to Seattle this past weekend for the Washington Cask Beer Festival (another post to follow).  For obvious reasons, we thought it a good idea to get something to eat before the festival.  After scouring the internet for the most appropriate place we stumbled onto Feierabend, a German restaurant with an excellent German beer selection.  Google Translate informs me that Feierabend means “closing time” or “end of work”, but we were just getting started.

We were put off by the sketchy website and the disconnected phone line, but decided to try our luck anyway.  My anxiety was not assuaged after it appeared we were heading for the middle of nowhere, but were pleased to find an open Feierabend tucked away in a Yaletown like alley.  We were not the least bit disappointed with our restaurant selection after we walked in.  It was a well put together pub and they did indeed have many lovely taps of rare (at least for us Canadians) German beer.  I was delighted with both the Spaten Helles Bock and Hacker-Pschorr Alt Munich beers I chose.  Everyone else was happy with their beer also (except for Darci, who dutifully abstained).  The food was merely good, attempting German authenticity.  I had a bratwust sandwich with sauerkraut and spaetzle, which wasn’t overly impressive, but we couldn’t complain at such reasonable prices.  I would definitely go back.

It was also at Feierabend that my wife let me know how embarrassing the photos I put on this blog are.  Apparently my iPhone doesn’t cut it, not that I really minded.  It is true, neither Erik nor I are much into photography, assuming we remember to take pictures in the first place. The solution?  Get the wife to take the pictures, her handiwork is below.

In retrospect, consuming copious amounts of German beer before the festival may have been a mistake and surely contributed to the fiasco that followed.  Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alt munich, dunkelweizen, feierabend, hacker-pschorr, Helles Bock, pilsener, seattle, spaetzle, spaten, washington cask beer festival

New Acquisitions

Friday, February 6th, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments

One of my coworkers was in Victoria this past weekend with his girlfriend.  I asked him if he might be stopping by any of Victoria’s great brewpubs.  He didn’t think he would have time because he was supposed to be shopping (for lame stuff that is not beer).  On Monday, however, he came to work with quite the haul from each of Spinnakers, Canoe, and Swans.  Even better, some of them were for me!  Thanks Gavin, you are my new favorite person.  My wife is going to be pissed at being supplanted, but then she didn’t bring me back beer from Victoria.  Courtesy of Gavin, my fridge now contains:

• Spinnakers Blue Bridge IPA
• Canoe River Rock Bitter
• Canoe Winter Gale Strong Ale
• Swans Pandora Pale Ale
• Swans Appleton Brown Ale

I also stopped by Brewery Creek at lunch today to pick up a few more bottles, not that I needed any.  Sadly, I forgot to look for the Green Flash Hop Head Red that is being so famously forced out of our province!  I hope there is still some left next week.  Still, I did not leave empty handed, acquiring:

• Rogue Juniper Pale Ale
• Dry Hopped Saint Rogue Red Ale
• Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine (I had to buy this one again, it is awesome)
• Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Gold

And two for The Cellar:

• Fat Cat Old Bat Cat Barley Wine (on the recommendation of Greg Clow in Taps)
• Rogue Old Crustacean Barley Wine

I’ve got a busy week of beer drinking ahead of me and I’m pretty excited about it.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: appleton brown ale, Barley Wine, blue bridge IPA, canoe, Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine, dry hopped saint rogue red ale, fat cat, green flash hop head red, hacker-pschorr, juniper pale ale, old bar cat, old crustacean, pandora pale ale, river rock bitter, rogue, spinnakers, swans, winter gale strong ale