Tag Archives: parallel 49

Alibi Room 400th Tap List Celebration

This week the Alibi Room is celebrating their 400th tap list rotation by stocking said tap list with epic beers.  This Monday to Thursday (you may have already missed two days, but still two to go) they are opening an hour early at 4pm and selling 10oz glasses of said epic beers for $4 each.  It’s quite the beer list and you can view it in full over at Barley Mowat.  As far as I know, this is the first time Cantillon has ever been available on tap in BC.  Special note, I contributed some bacteria to the two year old lambic.

Alibi Room 400th tap list

Lucky for me, one of my beer buddies made a reservation for 4pm on the first day and made a seat available, thanks Gerry.  Sure enough, at 4pm a largish crowd of beer nerds assembled and the Alibi Room quickly filled up.  It was so busy, in fact, that it took forty five minutes to get our first beer(s).  Our whole table ordered one of each Cantillon right off the bat.  I have to say, I love Cantillon, but drinking three glasses of lambic in a row is a bit much.  I preferred the Gilloise to the Gueze to the Kriek, though all were good.

Me and Cantillon and happiness

Me and Cantillon and happiness

Next up was the Tofino Spruce Tip IPA I so fondly remembered, which I didn’t find as delightfully sprucy as last year’s version.  I’ve heard that collecting spruce tips is an arduous task, so maybe they skimped a bit this time around?  What followed was a collaboration by Graham of P49 and Tak of Steamworks called, and I’m not kidding, Besties with Testis, an IPA fermented solely with brettanomyces.  I hazily recall it being great, hopefully the first and last time I enjoy putting testis in my mouth.

Here’s the full list of beers that I did gone and drunk, in order:

  • Cantillon Gilloise
  • Cantillon Gueze
  • Cantillon Kriek
  • Tofino Spruce Tip Aged Hoppin Cretin’ IPA
  • P49 + Steamworks “Besties with Testis” 100% Brett fermented IPA
  • Central City Citra hopped Imperial IPA
  • P49 Lord of the Hops IPA
  • Upright Bourbon Sour blended Stout

Central City imperial IPA is always great, but I set myself up poorly for P49 Lord of the Hops.  I believe P49 is going for the session crowd with this one, meaning I found it severely lacking in hops and almost cloyingly sweet. I need to give it another shot though, since I drank the CC and P49 IPAs in the wrong order.  I finished strong with the Upright Stout, which was just fantastic.

I’m heading back tomorrow to enjoy a few of the other beers I missed out on.  That’s what’s great about this 400th celebration, I didn’t have to over indulge because it’s one night only.  Sure, some of the more popular beers were consumed immediately, but Nigel staggered the list such that some excellent brews will be coming on at the halfway point.  I was worried I was going to have to wait in a giant line, buy a ticket, or fight someone to get in, but instead I’ve found myself pleasantly surprised at the civility of this celebration.

If you have time, read the forward Nigel wrote in the beer menu.  If more businesses appreciated their customers this much, people would give them more of their money.  I would personally like to thank Nigel and the Alibi Room for all their hard work in taking the BC beer scene to the next level. See you guys again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Chris

East Van Update

Hi! My name is Gavin, and I’m the newest member of LGB. I’ll be responsible for some of the aesthetic changes you’ll see here in the next few weeks/months. I also live and work on the Powell/Cordova corridor, which gives me unhealthy access levels to some of Vancouver’s newest breweries.

So, to that effect, I’m gonna keep my first post short and sweet, and simply let you know what’s up in (North) East Van, as far as I see it (which isn’t very far… I’m a little guy, and I have trouble seeing over single story buildings).

1. Parellell 49 has realeased a Russian Imperal Stout (Yes, beer nerds know this, but I’m just laying it out for context, because…)

2. Parallel 49 is, at least experimenting with, freeze distilling said RIS to the high teens, and possibly early tweens (that’s 20% ABV). They were tapping it straight from the barrel when I rolled by to fill my growler (not with RIS unfortunately). If I do say so myself, it’s a ridiculously balanced, yet apparently/possibly (nobody from the LDB was there, so how could we know?!), high teens in terms of ABV. While I thought their first stab at the RIS could probably use 6-12 months aging to chill the f**k out, this was quite drinkable. I could drink a whole pint.

3. Powell Street is releasing their IPA tomorrow. No big deal, but they’ve got it pegged at 8% and 88 IBUs… not exactly your run of the mill IPA… More like an IIPA… but time will tell. I’ll be there.

4. I love what you’re doing East Van breweries, keep it up (also North Van and Main Street). Beer tourism? Bam.

Anyway, Cheers!

Gavin