Love Good Beer

After 25 years it is finally here: Brockton IPA

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | 5 Comments

The Granville Island Brewing Company turned 25 this year, and to celebrate they released a new beer titled Brockton IPA. Granville Island Brewing is one of British Columbia’s first craft brewers – all BC beer fans, even those whose tastes are not always satisfied with Granville Island’s regular offering, owe a big thank you to this brewing pioneer.

Granville Island’s non-seasonal six-pack beer is generally speaking, not brewed to please the discerning pallet of a passionate beer drinker, but that is good. Not all craft beer needs to be challenging and thought provoking. Granville Island’s beer serves as a great entry point into the world of craft beer. This brewery has done a great deal of work in developing a market for craft beer in Vancouver. Although I am no longer a diehard fan of Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale, I still have a great deal of respect for this ale. Had this mild pale ale never existed I may not have been exposed to BC’s burgeoning craft beer scene – English Bay Pale Ale was one of the first craft beers that I tasted, enjoyed and began to purchase regularly.

To please fussier beer drinkers, such as myself, Granville Island Brewing offers a good selection of creative and flavourful seasonal beers. Unlike their regular offering, which is now brewed in Kelowna, their season beer is still brewed on Granville Island. To me, the true definition of a craft brewer is not how many liters a brewery produces annually, but whether or not a selection of seasonal beer is offered. Seasonal releases are a great way for brewers to challenge their customers’ taste buds and push the boundaries a bit. Having achieved success with a previous IPA seasonal release, Granville Island Brewing decided that now was the perfect time to release a milder version of their seasonal IPA.

Because I fall into the “fussy” beer drinking category, I assumed that Brockton IPA would not be for me. My assumptions were correct – there is nothing wrong with this beer and I believe it is a great IPA for those who have never experienced the full on flavour assault of an IPA, I just prefer a bigger, bolder IPA. Knowing that Brockton IPA was not for me, I decided to invite a few friends over, all who like beer to varying degrees, to sample the beer and offer their unbiased opinions.

Here is what they thought:

Brad Wiens:

i

It is a good beer, but somewhat weak. Similar to other Granville Island Beer.

ii

i

i

Cheryl Wiens:

I

It tastes like a pill that I tried to swallow and then coughed up

i

i

i

i

Holly Wolfe:

i

It is okay, but a bit too bitter. I prefer their Winter Ale.

i

i

i

i

i

Rachel Richardson:

i

Piney tasting – Where is the citrus flavour?

i

i

i

i

i

i

Chris Richardson:

Chris has already posted his comments, but to reiterate:

i

It tastes like a hoppier version of English Bay Pale Ale

i

ii

i

i

No one seemed to fall in the love with Brockton IPA, but aside from Cheryl, everyone did finish their beer. Subjective opinions aside, Brockton IPA is a great introduction to hoppier, flavourful beers and I am always excited to see a brewer release a new beer. I look forward to seeing what Granville Island brews next.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Brockton IPA, english bay pale ale, Granville Island Brewing, hops, IPA, Review

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

Review: Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale 2008

Sunday, December 14th, 2008 | Review | No Comments

Anchor Brewing is one of my favorite breweries.  I am a big fan of their Anchor Steam Ale and, to a lesser extent, their Liberty Ale, which I find a tad overly hopped.  Those are the only two Anchor brews you can generally get up here in BC.  It was much to my delight when a friend brought over a six pack of this year’s Anchor Christmas Ale last weekend.  I had previously had a taste of this fine beer at Vancouver’s Hopscotch Festival, but I had also had many other prior tastes to obscure my judgment.  I welcomed the chance to enjoy this beer in greater depth.

I’m the kind of guy that likes to read the story of every beer I drink.  Looking into Anchor Christmas Ale, I learned that they’ve been brewing a Christmas Ale every year since 1975, never using the same recipe twice.  That is cool; I love traditions like that.  The beer itself has a very dark brown colour, which had me expecting a very heavy, full bodied beer.  I was wrong in my expectation and was pleased to taste a medium bodied, moderately spiced ale.  Unlike most Christmas Ales, this is the sort you could enjoy a few of.  You could also offer this beer to a wussy beer drinker and not fear their reaction.  As for the taste, I found it rich and malty and picked up things like chocolate and coffee.  What didn’t agree with me so much was the mix of spices.  I picked up ginger and nutmeg, both of which I am not a huge fan of.  For more in depth tasting notes, check out the BeerAdvocate reviews.

What I liked about this beer was its lack of heaviness and rich taste, but was not too fond of the mix of spices used.  I would recommend this beer to fellow beer drinkers and would buy it again for friends, but probably not for my own consumption.  That being said, I look forward to next years Anchor Christmas Ale.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: anchor brewing, Beer, christmas ale, christmas ale 2008, Review, seasonal

What makes a beer good?

Saturday, December 13th, 2008 | Beer | No Comments

We plan to review beers on this blog periodically, which brings about the question, what makes a beer good?  I think the only true answer to that question is, do you enjoy drinking it?  It’s a simple as that, if you like a beer, then it is good.  Personally, I am often annoyed by overly detailed reviews of beer that elevate beer tasting to the levels of snobbery that wine enjoys.  Beyond a few key points, such as style, colour and key characteristics in taste, I find the most important element of a beer review is the verdict. Do you want to drink more of it and would you serve it to guests?  Even this question is dependent on the tastes of this reviewer, which means that review readers should be as careful when choosing their reviewer as when choosing their beer.

Reviewing things, like beer, that are subject to taste is hard.  That being said, I hope that we can provide readers with a sense of the story that goes along with each beer, in addition to our reviews of the beer itself, as an interesting aside.  I hope you enjoy what we have to say.  We welcome comments from all readers and would love to hear from you, whether you agree or disagree with what we have to say.  If there is any particular beer you would like us to review, please let us know.  We also welcome the excuse to buy more beer.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Beer, good beer, Review, taste