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Pumpkin Ale Season in BC

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment

It is almost Halloween, which most significantly means that it’s pumpkin ale season again.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with pumpkin ales they are generally similar to amber ales, but are brewed with pumpkin added in some form.  Many pumpkin ales also include the spices one would commonly find in pumpkin pie such as ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.  In fact, I’d say most people find that pumpkin ales taste like pumpkin pie.  It’s a taste that some don’t enjoy, but I for one am a bigger fan of pumpkin pie in a glass than on a plate.

Our BC brewers aren’t letting us down this year and are offering some tasty pumpkin ales.  I’ve managed to collect the following four:

• Central City Red Racer Pumpkin Ale
• Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale
• Swans Pumpkin Ale
• Granville Island Brewing Pumpkin Ale

It seems that pumpkin ales are getting rather popular in BC because most of the above proved rather hard to find.  Staking out Brewery Creek proved most effective, but I had to use the BC Liquor Store product finder to track down the Granville Island offering.  I haven’t had any of the pumpkin ales I’ve procured just yet because I plan to compare them all side by side come Halloween, but I’ll be sure to post my findings.

There are a few other pumpkin ales out and about.  Howe Sound released a small amount of their Pumpkineater Imperial Ale in bottles, but it sold out fast.  However, I did notice it on tap at the Alibi Room earlier in the week.  Steamworks also has their version of pumpkin ale on tap at their brewpub.  Even if you don’t think you’ll like pumpkin ale, scare yourself this Halloween and give it a try.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, brewery creek liquor store, cenrtral city, crooked tooth, Granville Island Brewing, howe sound brewing, phillips brewing, pumpkin ale, pumpkineater imperial ale, red racer, steamworks, swans

Our own Whistler Beer Festival

Monday, June 29th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments

We heard about the Whistler Beer Festival about a month ago and decided to go, only to find out it would be canceled, but not before we’d booked ourselves in Whistler for the weekend.  Long story short, we went to Whistler last weekend to not go to the Whistler Beer Festival.  There are definitely worse things in life to contend with than a weekend in Whistler, so we made the best of it and had our own beer festival.

We ended up staying at an awesome complex called Glacier’s Reach, which we booked through the rental-by-owner site alluraDirect.com for a very affordable price.  We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a hot tub on our deck(!), and we were right across from the village.  I’d definitely stay there again.  Erik and I brought up a bunch of good beer, mostly purchased from Brewery Creek, the best of which (besides Erik’s homebrew) being Coney Island Lager and Coney Island Human Blockhead, two very flavorful lagers.  We stayed in the first night to make our own pizza and enjoy our tasty beers.  The next day, our attempt at being active consisted of a walk through the village and around lost lake.  Then the rains came, signaling it was time to head to the Brewhouse.

The Whistler Brewhouse was very apologetic and immediately refunded our beer festival tickets, a wise move by them because we swiftly gave our money right back.  While the wives went shopping (blah), Erik and I sat at the bar, where we were treated to a few complimentary pints and a locals discount on the rest of our bill.  The Brewhouse had two seasonal’s, a smoked porter and a Belgian wit.  I found the wit a bit dull and the smoked porter a bit too smokey, but their Wolf Creek Bitter and Grizlly Brown Ale were as delicious as ever.  The wives later joined us for dinner after, thankfully not having bought too much stuff.  In the end, I think I was there for almost five hours.  I had a great time because the bar their is as close to heaven on earth as it gets for me.  Beer, chicken wings, sports on HDTV…done.

Man Heaven - the bar at Whistler Brewhouse

Holly and her sampler

We may have continued drinking beer that night.  We may have drank too much.  We may have wandered the village and purchased hotdogs unnecesarily, who can tell these things?  Whatever we got up to, it was all in the past by the next morning because we had more work to do.  We drove down to Squamish and to the Howe Sound Brewing Company for lunch.  Erik and I both ordered the sampler there, but decided not to double down when we saw the size of the first one.  Ten generous samples!  A bit much considering I still had to navigate the remainder of the Sea to Die Highway.  Sadly, we found the beer a bit underwhelming.  My personal favorite was the Father Johns winter ale, which reminded me of gingerbread.  We also enjoyed the Blonde Ale, the Mettleman Copper Ale, and the Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout.  Also, I had the half roast chicken for lunch and it was delicious.

Erik and the epic Howe Sound Sampler

This was indeed a very good weekend.  It would have been better if we’d had some more activities to do, but the rain held us at bay.  Next Winter, head to the Whistler Brewpub for a warming apres ski pint.  On the way home, skip the Tim Horton’s when you get hungry and head to the pub at Howe Sound for a tasty lunch.  You won’t regret either decision.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alluradirect, belgian wit, big wolf bitter, brewery creek, coney island human blockhead, coney island lager, diamond head oatmeal stout, father john's winter ale, glacier's reach, grizzly brown ale, howe sound brewing, lost lake, mettkemen copper ale, smoked porter, squamish, whistler, whistler beer festival, whistler brewhouse

Whistler Beer Festival Canceled

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment

Yep, the first annual Whistler Beer Festival will take place next year at the earliest.  Apparently their brewmaster, who was organizing the whole thing, almost died in a mountain biking accident.  Godspeed on your recovery sir.  Get well soon.  I found out today when I asked Gerry at Brewery Creek if he was going.  He told me about the accident, but implored me to ask the honourable Rick Green for more info.  Rick confirmed the bad news.  I’m pretty choked because Rick had already posted the proposed beer lineup on the now removed Facebook event.  It was stacked with mouthwatering beer offerings that I was excited to try.

What to do now?  Well, we already booked ourselves in Whistler, so we are going anyway.  A weekend in Whistler isn’t the worst thing in the world to suffer through, so don’t feel too sorry for us.  I called the Whistler Brewhouse today and was please to find them very apologetic.  We’ll be redeeming our tickets for fresh beer, which I hope they won’t be out of by the time we make it up there!  Their Wolf Creek Bitter and Grizzly Brown Ale are killer, plus they usually have a solid seasonal or two.  We might also amuse ourselves by checking out some of the trails, lakes, and nightlife.  And a stop at Howe Sound Brewing on the way back down might provide a fitting end to our weekend.  I guess we’ll be all right.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: beer festival, brewery creek, howe sound brewing, rick green, whistler, whistler brewhouse