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One more weekend of Vancouver 2010, check out Gastown House

Friday, February 26th, 2010 | Beer | No Comments

I finally got into German Fan Fest earlier this week.  It was a rainy Tuesday night, the hockey game had just ended, and there was no line at all.  I still had to pay the $10 cover charge, but I made it in!  It was satisfying to accomplish a goal, but the German Fan Fest did not live up to expectations.  I’m glad I didn’t wait in line for the 2-4 hours quoted to me the past two weekends. The Köstritzer Schwarzbier was tasty, but not worth the $9 I paid for a plastic cup full.  The band was loud and the atmosphere was as good as you could expect for a tent covering plastic tables and chairs in a parking lot.  If I’d had a few (too many) and the party was in full swing, I could see myself having a lot of fun there.  I could also see myself having a lot of fun dancing with a street light.  Anyway, I won’t be trying to get in again this weekend.

This weekend I’m going to check out Gastown House, again.  Turns out I’ve been there a few times already and didn’t know it.  Gastown hasn’t seen the crowds or lines that have plagued the rest of the downtown core.  It’s true, I haven’t had much trouble getting into Cobre, Alibi Room, Irish Heather, or anywhere else in Gastown.  To get some attention on the quality food and drink available at reasonable prices, Gastown House was started.  It’s a clever ploy to get you into Gastown, but what do you have to lose by not waiting in huge lines?

An aside, I watched the Canada vs Russia game at Schanks Sports Grill in New Westminster.  It was packed out and the atmosphere was amazing, but guess where you sit when you don’t show up soon enough?

In a mini golf hole, that's where.

And here’s a few pictures of the inside of German Fan Fest:

Inside of German Fan Fest

More Inside German Fan Fest

Rachel still had fun

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, cobre, gastown house, german fan fest, irish heather, Köstritzer Schwarzbier, olympics, schanks sports grill, vancouver 2010

What is cask ale?

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 | Beer | 7 Comments

Cask Ale is pumped

I was telling a few friends about some of Vancouver’s periodic cask ale events and was shocked to realize that they didn’t even know what cask ale is!  I suppose it is one of those terms that I just take for granted.  In any case, I thought I should post a blurb for the uninitiated.

Cask ale is unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that is served right from the cask it is conditioned in.  Cask ale must be served via a pump (or gravity) because there is no artificial pressure, which is usually generated by added CO2 or nitrogen.  Cask ale is often dry hopped, meaning that hops are thrown into the cask before the secondary fermentation phase, which is generally referred to as conditioning (live yeast remains because it is not filtered out).  Cask ale is usually served a little warmer than most beer, at about ten degrees Celsius.  Cask ale is the real ale that the Campaign For Real Ale is promoting.  The cask ale Wikipedia page has a lot of great information if you are interested in learning more.

I really enjoy real cask conditioned ales, which are generally more hoppy (bitter) and less carbonated than their un cask conditioned counterparts.  I also find cask conditioned ales to be smoother and more flavorful.  If you are interested in tasting some cask conditioned ale, I recommend signing up for the CAMRA Vancouver mailing list.  Their weekly email will tell you where to find cask ale, which is available every day at the Irish Heather, every Thursday at Dix, and every last Friday of the month at Big Ridge.

Also, if you were wondering, bottle conditioned ale is similar to cask ale, save that it is aged in the bottle and not in a cask.  Give it a try if you see it in your local liquor store!

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: big ridge, bottle conditioned ale, camra, camra vancouver, Cask Ale, dix, irish heather, real ale

The fuss about Mill Street Brewing

Saturday, January 24th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Review | 8 Comments

In a previous post, I accused Taps Magazine, “Canada’s Beer Magazine”, of focusing overly on Ontario brewers.  One fellow from Taps was kind enough to comment on our blog and let us know that Taps will increasingly be spreading its coverage throughout Canada.  I think what Taps is doing is great and I understand that, as a young magazine focusing on a niche subject, it might be hard to cover our vast nation coast to coast, especially when based in Ontario.  All that aside, I found that I read an awful lot about Mill Street Brewing and their greatness in early Taps issues.  Their prevalence in Taps coupled with their great success at the Canadian Brewing Awards got me rather curious.  Is Mill Street really Canada’s best brewery? Or are they Canada’s best brewery like the Leafs are Canada’s best hockey team (because they are from Toronto)?

To answer this question, I set out to try as many of Mill Street’s brews as possible, which turned out to be rather challenging.  Nowhere in BC can any Mill Street products be found in draught form, but I did manage to track down bottles at a few places.  Brewery Creek carries their Belgian Wit and used to carry their Stock Ale, until I bought the last six pack.  The Irish Heather also carries bottles of the Belgian Wit, as well as their much heralded Tankhouse Ale.  I made a special trip to the Irish Heather just to taste the Tankhouse Ale.  I have now tasted both the Stock Ale and the Tankhouse Ale, both gold medal winners at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

As for the beers themselves, I first tried the Stock Ale in the comfort of my own home.  My first impression of the Stock Ale was nothing whatsoever.  I don’t think I noticed taking a sip.  It really reminded me of macro brewed lager.  I was really expecting great things, and was disappointed as such, but I can’t say that this was bad beer.  It’s just everybody beer.  You’d serve this beer to people who don’t like beer or you’d drink this beer if you wanted to drink 15 beers in one sitting.  I suppose it was true to style, but I expected a touch of genius.

I next tried the Tankhouse Ale at the Irish Heather.  Now this is Mill Street’s flagship beer, and having read so much about it, I was really expecting the greatest beer of all time.  I think it was only the build up that had me disappointed, because I really did enjoy the Tankhouse Ale.  I found it to be good pale ale and I would gladly buy it again.  It has an amber colour, is a little spicy, and a bit hoppy. I found it to be very well balanced.  I read on Mill Street’s website that they use Cascade hops to brew this one.  This got me thinking, most Pacific Northwest brewers use Cascade, which were originally cultivated in Oregon, in a good portion of their brews.  The Tankhouse Ale was quite good, but it is of similar quality to the pale ales I regularly get hereabouts (Phillips Blue Buck for example).

Tasting two beers probably wasn’t a fair assessment of Mill Street (I bet they have some great seasonal and draught beers), but I wasn’t particularly impressed with Mill Street.  I held off originally on the Belgian Wit (not my favorite style), but I will endeavor to try some the next chance I get.  What I find more alluring of what the East Coast has to offer is Dieu du Ciel.  I’ve had three of the six varieties I’ve purchased so far and each one has been an experience.  I plan to do a write up of my Dieu du Ciel experiences in the near future, but I definitely recommend trying any that you come across in the mean time.

To sum up, I think I’ve decided that Mill Street is the best brewery in Canada in the same way that Luke Schenn is the second coming of Bobby Orr (it’s the Toronto factor).  Ontario is always going to get more attention at the national level and I can deal with that (especially when the Leafs are losing).  I’m just happy to be living out West where there is an abundance of great beer, right here in BC and coming up from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: belgian wit, brewery creek, canadian brewing awards, dieu du ciel, irish heather, mill street brewing, phillips blue truck, stock ale, tankhouse ale, taps magazine