Love Good Beer

I miss hops and hockey

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 | Beer | 4 Comments

Obviously I know that almost all beer has hops in it, but not necessarily the high levels you find in the pacific northwest. When I moved to London I thought I’d be moving to a beer mecca, cask beer everywhere! I actually feel like I’ve taken a step down beer-wise. While there is a thriving pub culture here that I very much enjoy, I can’t say as much about the quality of the average beer. The majority of cask ales have been open a bit too long and taste a bit stale. Even the freshest cask of English ale can only be described as a mild pale ale by west coast standards. We’re blessed in Vancouver to have been influenced by the hopheads of Oregon, Seattle, and Northern California and it tastes good.

Sweet, sweet Central City IPA

I didn’t realize quite how much I missed a 60 IBU West Coast IPA until I had a slew of visitors gift me fantastic bottles from the motherland. Amongst my blessings I counted Central City IPA, Granville Island Imperial IPA, and Deschutes Hop Trip. They were delicious, thanks for asking. Of course there are British exceptions, such as the brilliantly hoppy offerings from Brewdog in Scotland, but I can definitely say that UK brewing lacks the adventurous extremes of the North American west coast and Belgium. Lucky for me, I’m making a quick return to Vancouver next week. Canucks woooo!

I knew that I missed hockey, but (again) I didn’t realize how much until I was reminded of it’s absolute awesomeness. Game 4 of the Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks series was at noon pacific time, meaning it was on in London at 8PM. I seized my big chance to watch live hockey for the first time in over a year at the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden, as did every other hockey starved Vancouverite in London. I can honestly say it was one of the best atmospheres in which I’ve ever watched a hockey game. The place was packed out with fervent Canucks fans decked in blue and teal, complete with UK levels of alcohol consumption, which resulted in really good times. What choice do I have but to come home for the parade?

At the Maple Leaf for game 4

Hank didn't touch it, we're good

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: canucks, central city, deschutes, Granville Island Brewing, imperial ipa, India Pale Ale, IPA, london, maple leaf pub, red racer, stanley cup, vancouver, west coast

The New Imperial Empire

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | Beer, Events | 4 Comments

As Chris mentioned in his previous post, we attended the Washington Cask Beer Festival.  As can be assumed, it was great; never have I seen so many casks of great beer in one single room.  For a first timer to this festival, I and possible the rest of the people in my party, may have gone a little overboard.  Half way through the evening we decided that the only way to possibly make it through a good number of the casks was to share each tasting three ways.  Those who adopted this sharing strategy made it through the night largely unscathed – those who choose not to share claimed to have had a ten minute conversation with Coldplay’s front man Chris Martin at the end of the event.  Perhaps adding a few chefs to the bill would have made for a slightly less alcohol intensive evening while adding a great opportunity for food and beer pairings – pretzels are only good for so long.

The three winners of the six to ten o’clock tasting round, Laughing Buddha’s Pandan Brown Ale, Harmon’s Vanilla Porter and Ram’s Coconut Porter, were all great and worthy of recognition, although the Vanilla Porter was a bit cloying for my tastes.  My personal favourite brewer of the evening was Port Townsend Brewing, hands down winner.  Both the Porter and IPA from Port Townsend were flavorful and brewed to style while remaining distinct from a myriad of other Porters and IPAs.  Ram’s coconut porter was my favourite adjunct beer of the night – the coconut flavour was very noticeable but not overpowering.  The beer selection was great, but I think beer diversity could be improved upon.

I would like to point out what I consider to be a growing epidemic in the world of craft beer – Imperialism; the super-sization of ale.  I may receive criticism from many beer lovers for saying this, but it must be said.  Brewing a stronger, imperial version of an existing beer is just not creative.  Not every beer becomes better by adding more hops and more grain – bigger is not always better.   The Washington Cask Beer Festival was filled with Imperial strength versions of a brewer’s standard offering.  If craft brewers continue walking down the imperialist path, I fear we may lose our much loved session beers.

Don’t get me wrong, I love strong ales – but when inundated with such potent brew over and over again, a person’s taste buds simply give up and that once enjoyable over the top Imperial IPA begins to taste like a tree.  There is no shame in showing up to a cask festival with a regular strength English Bitter – I personally would have loved to see a selection ranging from light session beer to heavily hopped Russian Imperial Stout.

It is time for all beer lover to unite, stand strong and say enough is enough – we demand regular strength cask ale.  This regular strength ale can of course be poured alongside a cask of imperial strength beer – this will add diversity to an often pallet numbing cask experience.

Erik

Tags: Chris Martin, Coconut Porter, Coldplay, Harmon Vanilla Porter, imperial ipa, IPA, Luaghing Buddha Brewing, Pandan Brown Ale, Port Towsend Brewing, Porter, Ram Brewery, washington cask beer festival

Central City Brewing 5th Anniversary

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

I love the beer brewed by Central City Brewing.  I am particularly fond of their Imperial IPA and their Copper Bock, not to mention Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine when it is available.  When we heard that Central City was going to be having a 5th anniversary celebration this past Saturday, we were all aboard.  We were particularly excited about the special beer pairing menu and the five uniquely aged brews to be on offer:

• Belgian Trippell – brewed December 06, 9.0% alc/vol
• Smoked Porter – brewed October 07, 8.5% alc/vol
• Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine – brewed October 07, 10.5% alc/vol
• Imperial IPA – brewed June 08, 8.5% alc/vol
• Red Racer Winter Ale brewed September 08, 7.5% alc/vol

We decided to head to Central City last Saturday evening for 7PM, thinking any earlier would not suit drinking such strong beers on a chore laden Saturday.  We thought this was a perfectly acceptable idea seeing as the Facebook event listed the start and end times at noon and 11PM respectively.  It was to our tremendous dismay when our waitress had no clue what we were talking about when we asked for the special menu.  We missed it!  The festivities came and went in the afternoon.  I was even more disappointed to hear from the honourable Rick Green that the party was held in the brewery itself and that all of the food and beer was free to CAMRA members.  I’m still a bit depressed writing this up.

Us looking sad (but still kind of happy) at Central City

In any case, no trip to Central City is a waste when Empire IPA is readily available.  I also think the food there is rather better than your typical pub fare.  That being said, there’s nothing like having your ID scanned and your mugshot taken like you’re a criminal when entering a brewpub.  I find the restaurant to be somehow disjointed from the brewing operation.  The last few times I’ve visited Central City, our waitresses have seemed to think that displaying half of each boob makes up for impoliteness and poor attentiveness, but then to some that’s a boon.  I even got the “oooh, have you had it before” when I ordered their Imperial IPA, which I ordered with authority mind you.  It seems to me that they are not taking much pride in their beer.  Maybe it’s just me though, am I visiting Central City at the wrong times?

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: camra, central city, empire ipa, imperial ipa, rick green, thor's hammer barley wine