Love Good Beer

Red Thai Curry and Hefeweizen

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes, Review | 5 Comments

Red  Thai Curry served alongside Bavarian Hefeweizen is my new favourite food and beer pairing.

I was out for lunch last Friday at Joeys with some friends from work.   Joeys is a relatively small restaurant chain where new world cuisine and a charged atmosphere melds with hip comfort. This means a globally diverse yet distinctly North American menu is creatively served in an attractive manner by even more attractive woman – and quite honesty, it works.

One of my colleagues, who happens to be a passionate Irishmen with a solid respect for good beer, recommended a pitcher of Hefeweizen – I gladly accepted.   Joeys serves a selection of house brand beer  that is brewed by none other than Whistler Brewing, better known as KB Brewing.  Once the beer was ordered my choice of food became quite simple, I had no option other than to order the Panang Prawn Curry Bowl.  Proper Hefeweizen has a subtle too strong banana flavour with a hint of cloves.  Although A Red Thai Curry uses neither banana or cloves as  ingredients, the spicy tropical flavour found in most Thai curries seemed to be a natural match with Hefeweizen.

My food was delivered by an attractive woman and was creatively platted with a large banana leaf garnish on the side.  The banana leaf suggested that I had hit a home run with my food and  beer selection.  The fork reached my mouth and in went the Thai curry -  it was delicious, pleasantly sweet with a tropical coconut flavour countered with a spicy finish.  Down went the fork and up went the glass of beer – had I been working at my job for over a month I would have jumped up and down victoriously, the pairing was a success.  I subdued my reaction to a small grin, although in my head I was doing a victory dance, and carried on savoring my lunch.

Those who say Singha and Thai food are a match made in heaven are wrong – sorry, but it is the truth.  If you ever happen to find yourself in a Thai restaurant that serves a well brewed Hefeweizen I highly recommend taking full advantage of this spectacular flavour combination.

Erik

Tags: Hefewiezen, Joeys, KB Brewing, Singha, Thai Food, thai red curry, Whister Brewing

Update: Bowen Island Brewing, KB Brewing and Whistler Brewing

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Review | 1 Comment

I received a response from the NorthAm Group just a few hours ago with a great explanation of their three brands. It is true that all three brands (Bowen Island, KB, and Whistler) are brewed in Kamloops; however, they are in the process of moving Whistler Brewing to Whistler. As Chris pointed out in a previous comment, 40,000 liters of Whistler water is trucked into Kamloops every week, which must be expensive, not to mention harmful to the environment. This move makes a great deal of sense and brings more honesty to the Whistler Brewing brand.

KB Pale Ale is no longer in production – Bowen Island Extra Pale Ale is a slightly reworked version of the original KB Pale Ale. If you were a fan of KB Pale Ale I’m sure you will like Bowen Island Pale Ale. The Bowen Island brand was revived a few years ago to fill the demand for value priced BC craft beer, a niche that was missing in BC until recently.

Bowen Island Brewing goes to prove that price and quality do not go hand in hand. It may not be the most creative beer ever made, do not expect a Belgian Saison anytime soon, but a quality session beer will always be appreciated. Instead of serving generic macro lager at this year’s Super Bowl party, why not try Bowen Island Brewing – it is cheaper and far tastier.

Erik 

Tags: Bowen Island Brewing, Kamloops, KB Brewing, Northam Group, Pale Ale, Whistler Brewing

Review: Bowen Island Brewing

Monday, January 19th, 2009 | Beer, Review | 15 Comments

I am on round number two in my search for BC’s best value priced beer. I picked up a six pack of Bowen Island Brewing Extra Pale Ale at the liquor store for $8.45 earlier this week. With help from Chris and my lovely wife I am now down to the last can, which I am nearly finished with at this very moment.

I bought this beer assuming it was brewed on Bowen Island, which I think is a fair assumption, but it is not. Bowen Island Brewing started out as a small cottage brewery off the coast of Vancouver on Bowen Island. The brewery changed hands multiple times in the late nineties eventually to become a brand owned by the NorthAm Group. The NorthAm Group is one of BC’s fastest growing brewing companies owning three popular BC beer brands; Bowen Island Brewing, KB, and Whistler Brewing all brewed in Kamloops at the KB Brewery.

The good people at the NorthAm Group are playing a sneaky game by selling beer, all of which is brewed in the same facility, under three separate brands with different pricing. I am intrigued by the similar reviews that KB, Bowen and Whistler Pale Ales share on Beer Advocate and Ratebeer.com. If all three brands are brewed at the same facility and under the supervision of the same brewmaster how can they be dramatically different from one another? Bowen Island, KB and Whistler all offer a Pale Ale – but are they different?  Does Whistler beer use more expensive higher quality ingredients? Beer drinkers have a right to know this pertinent information.

I tried to get to the heart of the matter by sending an email to Bowen Island and KB Brewing – none have replied as of yet. Perhaps there is a perfectly good explanation and each brand is brewed with completely different recipes or my sources are incorrect and all three brands are completely unrelated, but without a response from the brewery I have no way of knowing. This unimpressive display of customer service is not making their beer taste any better. I have no desire to drink beer brewed by a company that is not honest with their customers. Over the next week I am hoping to solve this puzzle – I will post any new information as soon as possible. In the meantime, I have put together a breakdown of the three NorthAm brands:

Bowen Island Brewing – local value priced beer

KB Brewing – quality BC craft beer

Whistler Brewing – premium craft beer, leveraging Whistler’s international reputation

By now, the last glass of Pale Ale has vanished and I am feeling all the better for it – time to review. Bowen Island Brewing Extra Pale Ale is a surprisingly impressive beer for its price. It is a rich, copper coloured English Style Pale Ale with good head retention. Upon pouring, the beer releases a powerful aroma with sweet caramel leading the way followed by earthiness and a mild floral note. Similar to the aroma, caramel flavours are quite dominant but are somewhat balanced a medium hop finish. I would prefer this beer to be hoppier, but I tend to like hoppier beer. It was a bit thin, lacking any significant body. It is nice to find a pale ale from the Pacific Northwest that does not have a strong citrus flavour, not that I don’t like citrusy hops, it is just nice to change it up now and again.

This is a great session beer that is well suited for students, the unemployed (like me) or people who are just plain cheap. However, until I get to the bottom of NorthAm’s game of smoke and mirrors I do not feel comfortable recommending the beer to anyone.

Erik

Tags: Beer, Bowen Island Brewing, Craft Beer, KB Brewing, NorthAm, Pacific Northwest, Pale Ale, Review, Whistler Brewing