Tag Archives: philips

A beer tour of Victoria BC

Last September, Erik and I went on a beer tour of Victoria with our fathers.  Sadly, it was the weekend after the Great Canadaian Beer Festival.  We were busy on GCBF weekend, but will definitely be attending next year.  Nonetheless, we still had a great time in Victoria.  We stayed in one of the guest houses at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub.  I would definitely stay there again, but not with a group of dudes.  We found the guesthouses to be a bit on the romantic side.  Spinnakers has everything going for it.  In additon to a brewpub and guesthouses, Spinnakers also boasts on an onsite restaurant and bakery, plus scenic views of Victoria harbor from its oceanside plot.  We awoke every morning at Spinnakers to fresh baked goods dropped off for breakfast, which was a tasty treat indeed.

Us guys at Canoe Brewpub

Us guys at Canoe Brewpub

Our itinerary consisted of first popping into the brewpub at Spinnakers for a late dinner on Friday night.  We found the food, atmosphere, and, above all, the beer to be quite satisfying.  Upon learning the 11PM closing time was fast approaching, we hastened to sample as many of their beers as possible before being cutoff.  Consequently drunk, we abandoned our plans for bed and decided to wander around Victoria until the wee hours of the morning.  We somehow ended up at Swans Brewpub across town, enjoying further libations.  Now, I can’t say I recall too much about the beer at either Spinnakers or Swans from that night, but I do recall it being rather tasty.

On Saturday, we woke up rather late and worse for wear.  We had a leisurely morning enjoying our baked goods from the Spinnakers bakery before setting off for the Canoe Brewpub.  I recall Canoe being the plushest and most modern of the establishments we visited.  I also recall the Braised Beef Short Rib & Blue Cheese Burger I ordered as being the greatest burger I have eaten in my entire life (surely the healthiest too).  The beer there was also tasty, but the rest of the days events seemed to have wiped my memory of particular details.  We then ventured to Vancouver Island Brewing for a tour.  The tour usually costs $5, but they waived our fee for enthusiastically showing up far too early.  Had we paid the fee, it would have been well worth it for the tour and the five glasses of each VI brew we were poured.  At this point in the early afternoon, we were roundly drunk, but ventured on to Hugos.

Hugos brewhouse was largely a disappointment.  The beer we ordered was all well and good, but there was something off about the place.  We felt as though we were sitting in a dark, empty nightclub, not the atmosphere one would expect of a brewpub on a Saturday.  I was not surprised to learn later that Hugo’s was largely known as a nightclub in its last days and was closed down weeks after our visit. We then ventured to the Stickey Wicket, tired and unenthusiastic.  The pub itself is very cool, convivial, busy, and featuring three floors (the top floor features an open air volleyball court).  We weren’t there long as we had hit the wall.  We ventured back to Spinnakers for a solid nap (the longest walk of my life, I swear).  After our nap, we returned to the Spinnakers brewpub for dinner where two of us couldn’t even contemplate ordering another beer.  The night ended shortly after an unrousing game of darts, when we retired rather early.

On Sunday, we awoke refreshed to more Spinnakers baked goods.  I had the delivery girl drop our basket off outside “because of the no pants and whatnot”.  Erik was none too pleased with my saying “whatnot”, wondering what the poor girl may have inferred.  We then gathered ourselves and headed to Swans once more, to give it a fair chance in an uninebriated state.  We enjoyed the beer there very much, although I again can’t recall any details.  We then ventured back to the mainland, laiden with bottles, after a two day trip where we consumed beer aplenty.

Us guys at Swans Brewpub

Us guys at Swans Brewpub

We had an awesome time in Victoria and it is a tour we’d definitely do again.  It was very cool to be able to do this with our fathers before they lose mobility.  Just kidding, our Dads are on the young side and much fitter than we are.  We learned a lot from this beer tour though, foremost that it is best to pace yourself to get the most out of the day.  It was also a shame we didn’t get to visit any of Victoria’s other microbreweries. Before we ventured on our trip, we had planned to visit both Philips and Lighthouse Brewing.  I called both breweries and asked if they did tours.  They did not, but both said they would accommodate us if we stopped by, which I though was pretty cool.  Sadly, our weekend trip did not coincide with the hours of operation of these two breweries.  I imagine that new Victoria brewery Driftwood operates similary.  I hope to visit all three the next time I’m in Victoria on a weekday.

My next trip to Victoria is already planned and we will be staying at Swans, a more suitable venue for a bachelor party, due to its lively atmosphere, than Spinnakers.  It is indeed my good friend Dave’s bachelor party.  This time the focus will be more on debauchery than beer.  That being said, I hope to visit Spinnakers and Canoe again, and we’ll possibly do a brewery tour.  This time I’m going to organize a golf game at nearby Gorge Vale on Saturday morning, to ensure we don’t hit the wall to early.

Cheers,

Chris

The Beer Cellar Updated

Further to Erik’s great post on cellaring beer and his creation of The Cellar page, I thought I should post about my philosophy on the beer cellar and what beers I am currently aging.  Until very recently, my philosophy on cellaring has been to not cellar anything.  I’ve realized recently that I was flawed in my thinking because aging can definitely enhance the flavors and take the edge off of a strong beer.  What really helped me realize the greatness of aging beer was the Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine we recently enjoyed at Central City Brewing, which was fantastic.  I had the opportunity to compare this barley wine, aged 18 months, to other younger barley wines, where the aged beer far surpassed the young beer in smoothness and in flavor.

I’ve learned the hard way that strong beer should be aged, having impatiently consumed a Fullers 2008 Vintage Ale, a Philips Burley Barley Wine, and a Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron far too early.  In fact, I’ve noticed the pattern that I always immediatly drink a strong beer worthy of aging, only to have Erik realize my folly and buy the same beer for his cellar.  This works out well for both of us, Erik gets to taste the young beer I hasten to enjoy, and then I get to taste Erik’s aged bottle a year or so later.  Look forward to some great reviews of aged beer in the coming year, complete with first hand insight on how the beer has matured with age.

As for my cellar, it is humbly located in a dark, tucked away corner of my garage where the temperature ranges from 10-20 degrees Celsius throughout the year.  I may have to make other arrangements in the summer during heat waves.  My cellar consists of very few beers at this point in time, but my stockpile will grow.  The meager number of bottles in my cellar has to do with my lack of patience and the knowledge that Erik will probably share his aged goods with me.

My cellar currently contains:

The stock in my cellar will surely grow this year.  That being said, old habits die hard.  I have a Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine in the fridge right now, ready to be warmed up and consumed at a moments notice.  When will I learn?

We’ll be updating our Cellar Page with new acquisitions as they arrive.  Please check back with us for reviews of aged brews as we consume them.  Also, we’d love to hear of other worthy candidates for our cellar if anybody has any recommendations.

Cheers,

Chris

Canadian vs American beer, whose is best?

I have sincerely believed for the bulk of my life that Canadian beer is better than American beer.  I have no idea why I thought this even as a child, but this sentiment remains pervasive amongst Canadian youth.  Why was I so compelled to consider Canadian beer superior and which nation’s beer really is best?

My first inclination was that I was severely affected by the brilliant Molson “I am Canadian” TV commercials, which had a substantial impact on my generation in our formative years.  Molson’s latest series still gets me going, considering I do feel bad putting my seat back on an airplane!  What Americans might not understand is just how applicable these ads are to the average Canadian.  I have also lit a hockey stick on fire trying to bend it (even though I don’t even play hockey), turned down the company of attractive females for the NHL playoffs, been asked by an American if I lived in an igloo, and also asked if I knew Joe from Toronto.  Seriously. Silly as it may be, these nationalistic commercials that have not much to do with actual beer probably helped solidify in my mind the superiority of Canadian beer.  When I consider that they used to sponsor Hockey Night in Canada, of which changing the theme song was a national issue, I realize that I likely have Molson to thank for my assumptions.

Researching the subject of Canadian versus American beer online, I stumbled across numerous forums accusing American beer of being watery.  The basis for such arguments were generally that American beer contains less alcohol than Canadian beer.  Considering that alcohol content is not paramount to quality or taste and that it should vary depending on beer style, I’d say the alcohol content argument is a bit ridiculous.  Further investigation yields that Canadians measure alcohol by volume and Americans measure alcohol by weight.  Alcohol weighs less than water, which means that, even though the percentages on the packaging read higher in Canada, similar American and Canadian beers contain the same amount of alcohol.  However, I will contend that whatever beer I bought the last time I was at Quest Field in Seattle was a horrible, watery, waste of $10USD.

Reading up on the mainstream brewing industry in Canada, it seems that all the big, storied Canadians breweries have recently come under foreign ownership.  Molson, founded in 1786 and the oldest beer brand in North America, is now owned by Coors. Labatt, founded in 1847, is now owned by InBev.  And Sleeman, founded in 1834, is now owned by Sapporo.  This leaves Moosehead as the largest Canadian owned brewer withonly own 5% of the Canadian beer consumption market.  What I consider an even bigger tradegy than the foreign ownership of our big breweries, is that the majority of the population drinks the favlorless, uninteresting, substandard beer these guys are putting out there.

When it comes to making a choice, I’d probably go for a Molson Canadian or Labatt Blue over a Coors Light, Budweiser, or Miller Genuine Draft, but the truth of the matter is that I’d rather not drink any of them.  I’d prefer to drink a microbrewed beer, Canadian or American, made by people who care, over any of the macobrewed stuff.  Microbrewing is thriving in Canada and the USA and their are plenty of great Canadian and American microbrewed beers available that are consistently of higher quality.  And when I say quality, I am referring to taste, natural ingredients, and pure brewing processes, not price.  Proponents of price as a factor in buying beer have it all wrong.  Sure, a 24 pack of Canadian or Bud might be the cheapest way to drink beer, but it’s not all about volume.  One beer should fill you up; it’s what it was invented for! Give me a few large bottles of quality microbrewed stuff over a 24 pack anyday.  Really, please give them to me.

My honest opinion these days is that neither Canadian nor American beer is better or worse.  Both countries produce great, poor, and everything in between beer.  I do think that America produces ten times as much bad beer as we do, though they also produce ten times as much good beer, mostly because they have ten times the population.  I surely count American breweries among my favorites, including Anchor and Rogue to name two whose products are readily available in these parts.  It’s a tragedy that BC is bereft of more of the great stuff coming out of the American Pacific Northwest. Likewise, I feel like Americans are missing out on some of the great stuff we produce up here, Philips is one example.  For some info on good American beers, check out this Toronto Star article.

I really believe that the best beer can be found locally, in the USA and in Canada.  There is likely somebody in your neighborhood making really good beer that could use your support.  The pride I felt watching the “I am Canadian” commercials as a kid I hope I can feel again supporting my local beer community. In my view, it’s the only way back.

Cheers,

Chris