phillips
BC Beer on the Today Show
Thursday, February 25th, 2010 | Beer | 3 Comments
This is pretty cool, some love for BC beer on NBC’s Today Show:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Cheers,
Chris
CAMRA Vancouver Award Winners
Monday, January 25th, 2010 | Beer, Events, Favorites | No Comments
The CAMRA Vancouver Award winners were announced last week. I was pleased to see many of my nominations amongst the winners. I’m extremely proud of CAMRA Vancouver and its members for rewarding true attention to and passion for craft brewing. Unlike many beer awards, these were given out by beer enthusiasts, which makes them more legitimate in my mind. The winners:
Best Local Brewpub
Gold: Central City Brewing
Silver: Steamworks
Bronze: Dix Barbecue and Brewery
Best Local Beer Cafe, Pub, or Restaurant
Gold: Alibi Room
Silver: The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
Bronze: The Railway Club
Best Local Liquor Store
Gold: Brewery Creek Liquor Store
Silver: BCL 39th & Cambie
Bronze: Firefly Fine Wines & Ales
Best Local Cask Night
Gold: Dix Cask Thursdays
Silver: The Whip Real Ale Sundays
Bronze: Yaletown Making it Real (Ale)
Best Local Beer Event
Gold: Alibi Room 100th Beer Menu Rotation
Silver: Dix X-mas X-treme
Bronze: CAMRA on a Mission to Mission
Best BC Brewery
Gold: Phillips Brewing
Silver: Driftwood Brewery, Red Racer aka Central City Brewing (tie)
Best BC Beer
Gold: Red Racer IPA
Silver: Phillips Longboat Double Chocolate Porter
Bronze: Crannog Back Hand of God Stout
Best BC Seasonal Beer
Gold: Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA, Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale (tie)
Bronze: Phillips The Hammer Imperial Stout
Cheers,
Chris
Winter Beer Season in BC
Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | Beer | 7 Comments
As the seasons change, so does the availability of craft beer. I, for one, am thankful for this, especially as I regard the changing of the current season as going from bad to worse. What better way to cheer yourself up in this dreary weather than to sip a winter warmer from one of BC’s great breweries? I can think of a few things, but none so simple and effective as grabbing a winter ale (or a few) and watching the healing Canucks thrash Colorado.
Many BC breweries have already released their winter beers and a few still have barley wines on the way. Joy to the world! Here are a few BC winter brews you might consider trying:
- Central City Winter Ale
- Granville Island Winter Ale (lovingly referred to as choco beer by my friends)
- Lighthouse Winter Ale
- Vancouver Island Hermannator Ice Bock
- Phillips Barley Wine (coming soon)
- Phillips Instigator Doppelbock (coming soon)
- Nelson Faceplant Winter Ale
- Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine (coming soon)
Also, some other fine non BC breweries have produced tasty winter ales:
- Anchor Christmas Ale (my favorite so far)
- Pyramid Snowcap
- Whychwood Bah Humbug
- Lost Coast Winterbraun
If the rain, darkness, and cold displease you as much as they do me, I suggest one of the above as a temporary and enjoyable remedy.
Cheers,
Chris
A trip to the beer stores
Friday, January 30th, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments
I’m lucky to work near enough to Brewery Creek and Firefly that I can pop in at lunch, which I usually do every other week. This week I set out with a purpose, to see if I could find myself some more of Mill Street’s brews. I recently wrote about my experience with a couple of Mill Street products and the honourable Rich Green was kind enough to let me know that Firefly had Mill Street Coffee Porter in stock.
I am always curious to hear what Erik, and other beer enthusiasts, purchase from these fine purveyors of beer, so I thought it might be of interest to post my recent purchases. I came back from Firefly with:
My return trip via Brewery Creek was also fruitful:
I always come back with more than I “need”, but never have a hard time finding people to share beer with. There is usually some rhyme or reason behind my purchases. I purchased the GI Porter and the Philips Stout because they are new BC seasonal releases, the Rogues on the recommendation of a co-worker I was with at the time, the Mill Street to continue my investigation, and the Pumpkin Ale because there was a big ‘new’ sign under it. I am that fickle.
A side note, I bought an extra Philips the Hammer for The Cellar. Patience not being a gift of mine, it pains me whenever I stash a beer in my ultra high tech cardboard box garage cellar. See you in a year beer.
Cheers,
Chris
Brewery Creek Liquor Store is heaven on earth
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 | Beer | 1 Comment
I currently reside in the Fraser Valley and used to make most of my beer purchases at the BC Signature Liquor Store in Langley. But that was then and this is now; things have changed. I recently learned of Brewery Creek Liquor Store, which is conveniently located near my place of employment. Thank you CAMRA Vancouver newsletter for enlightening me.
Brewery Creek has the best beer selection I’ve seen in this province of ours. It was overwhelming walking in there. I wanted to buy one of everything, but managed to restrain myself. There was a great selection of west coast and belgian beers, a lot of stuff that I’d heard of but never seen in a store before. I ended up leaving with a Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve, a Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, and a Phillips Burley Barley Wine. Visiting Brewery Creek will surely become a weekly lunch hour activity for me.
It seems that others love Brewery Creek as much as I do. It’s received glowing reviews on Beer Advocate. It also has it’s own Facebook Group. I have enjoyed the weekly Facebook message they send to tell members about new releases! The bottom line is, if you live in or around Vancouver and you love beer, then you have to visit Brewery Creek; you won’t be sorry.
Cheers,
Chris