Love Good Beer

Jake’s Steakhouse and Piano Lounge

Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments

I went out for dinner last night with a few friends and visited one of CAMRA Vancouver’s newest corporate member’s, Jake’s Steakhouse and Piano Lounge.  I found out a few weeks ago that any business can join CAMRA Vancouver as a corporate member. Dedication to quality beer is not a requirement for corporate membership, so long as the membership fee is paid they are in.  But CAMRA membership is much different than CAMRA recommended, where a good beer experience can be expected.

I was a bit hesitant recommending Jake’s to our friends, an unproven restaurant in the heart of Whalley is not all that enticing.  For those familiar with Vancouver’s Skytrain system, Jake’s Steakhouse is found at the  Skytrain’s last stop in Surrey in the Compass Point Inn, not exactly the nicest part of town.  But our friends live in Whalley, so I figured their expectations wouldn’t be too high?

I was completely blown away by Jake’s Steakhouse.  Who knew a restaurant in Surrey offering a great selection of beer existed, and further yet that they make food and beer pairing suggestions.  This almost makes me think that this whole craft beer thing is beginning to catch on.   On top of the impressive beer list, the menu was also great, featuring an array of classic steakhouse dishes with a local and seasonal influence.  Unlike many restaurants offering a seasonal vegetable side, Jake’s seasonal veg was actually seasonal, and  included fiddleheads, asparagus and other early spring vegetables.  Fiddleheads – in Surrey – really?

Although my steak was cooked well past medium rare and into medium territory, an almost unforgivable offense, we had a great evening.  For once I was able to enjoy a steak alongside a full flavored ale – Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter to be exact.  Something about Whalley makes me think of Hunter S. Thompson. Gonzo Imperial Porter, brewed as a tribute to the late Hunter S. Thompson, seemed an obvious choice.

Jake’s Beer Menu includes the following:

Draught

• Dead Frog Brewing Pale Ale
• Whistler Lager
• R&B  Raven Cream Ale
• Swans Seasonal Pumpkin Ale
• Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Bottles

• Anchor Steam Liberty Ale
• Rogue American Amber
• Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale
• Pyramid Hefewiezen
• Pyramid Apricot Ale
• Propeller ESB
• Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
• Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
• Duvel
• KB Honey Brown

Standard imports and domestic beer is also available.  All of the beer mentioned above comes complete with food pairing recommendations.

Jake’s Steakhouse and Piano Lounge is a great restaurant where beer and wine enthusiasts can can both sit down and enjoy a well prepared meal.  And if a meal is not in the cards during a visit, they also happen to have a great piano lounge to relax in.  I am sure Jake’s would be happy to receive support from the local beer community.  Don’t let the Whalley neighborhood or the long skytrain ride scare you away – Jake’s is a great place for great food and beer.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Anchor Liberty Ale, Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, CAMRA Vancvouer, Compass Point Inn, Dead Frog Pale Ale, Duvel, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, Hunter S. Thompson, Jakes Steakhouse and Piano Lounge, KB Honey Brown, Propeller ESB, Pyramid Brewing, R&B Raven Cream Ale, rogue, swans pumpkin ale

New Acquisitions

Friday, February 6th, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments

One of my coworkers was in Victoria this past weekend with his girlfriend.  I asked him if he might be stopping by any of Victoria’s great brewpubs.  He didn’t think he would have time because he was supposed to be shopping (for lame stuff that is not beer).  On Monday, however, he came to work with quite the haul from each of Spinnakers, Canoe, and Swans.  Even better, some of them were for me!  Thanks Gavin, you are my new favorite person.  My wife is going to be pissed at being supplanted, but then she didn’t bring me back beer from Victoria.  Courtesy of Gavin, my fridge now contains:

• Spinnakers Blue Bridge IPA
• Canoe River Rock Bitter
• Canoe Winter Gale Strong Ale
• Swans Pandora Pale Ale
• Swans Appleton Brown Ale

I also stopped by Brewery Creek at lunch today to pick up a few more bottles, not that I needed any.  Sadly, I forgot to look for the Green Flash Hop Head Red that is being so famously forced out of our province!  I hope there is still some left next week.  Still, I did not leave empty handed, acquiring:

• Rogue Juniper Pale Ale
• Dry Hopped Saint Rogue Red Ale
• Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine (I had to buy this one again, it is awesome)
• Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Gold

And two for The Cellar:

• Fat Cat Old Bat Cat Barley Wine (on the recommendation of Greg Clow in Taps)
• Rogue Old Crustacean Barley Wine

I’ve got a busy week of beer drinking ahead of me and I’m pretty excited about it.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: appleton brown ale, Barley Wine, blue bridge IPA, canoe, Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine, dry hopped saint rogue red ale, fat cat, green flash hop head red, hacker-pschorr, juniper pale ale, old bar cat, old crustacean, pandora pale ale, river rock bitter, rogue, spinnakers, swans, winter gale strong ale

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:

• Mill Street Coffee Porter
• Rogue Chipotle Ale
• Rogue Smoke Ale
• Swans Pumpkin Ale

My return trip via Brewery Creek was also fruitful:

• Mill Street Belgian Wit
• 2x Philips The Hammer Imperial Stout
• Granville Island Porter

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

Tags: belgian wit, brewery creek, chipotle ale, coffee porter, firfely, granville island porter, imperial stout, mill street, phillips, rick green, rogue, smoke ale, swans pumpkin ale, The Cellar, thye hammer

Canadian vs American beer, whose is best?

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments

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

Tags: american beer, anchor, Beer, budweiser, canadian beer, commercials, coors, hockey night in canada, i am canadian, labatt, microbrewery, miller, molson, philips, rogue

Merry Christmas, Have a Beer

Thursday, December 25th, 2008 | Beer, Review | 2 Comments

Santa's Private Reserve

It is Christmas and surprisingly the ground is covered in snow – that means its time for a warming Christmas Ale. Christmas Ales and Winter Ales vary a great deal in style but they all tend to be malty and big, typically above 6% alcohol by volume. Some are spiced while others let the combination of malted grains, hops, yeast and water do all the work. No matter what style the Christmas Ale is, it should be warming and well suited for drinking during the holiday season.

After taking my dog for a walk in the snow this afternoon, I opened up Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve Ale with high expectations; I am a fan of Rogue Ales and have heard great things about their Christmas Ale. The first sip (more like a gulp) was a bit disappointing – the beer tasted like a pine tree. I looked at the beer, it had great colour looking similar to a Vienna Lager, and it had a thick frothy head, but still tasted foul. I couldn’t figure it out, I know that certain hops have a piney aroma and flavour, but this seemed a bit much, even for a brewery from the hop heavy Pacific North West. I continued to nurse my beer and within 15 minutes realized that I was making a terrible mistake. The problem did not lie with the brewer but with the drinker, the beer was just too cold.

The tongues taste buds are numbed by cold beer – this is a problem when it comes to a malt forward beer such as a Christmas Ale. As my beer continued to warm in my glass, the malt flavour became far more pronounced, balancing out the bitterness from the hops. In North America, most beer is consumed cold, but colder is not always better. Beer’s bitterness manages to shine through even the coldest beer, but the sweetness from the malt becomes almost nonexistent when served cold.

As it turns out, Rogue’s Christmas Ale has been my favourite beer this holiday season. When this beer reaches a cool cellar temperature, 10 – 13 degrees Celsius, its pine like bitterness is balanced nicely by its rich malt flavour. As you reach for your favourite holiday beer this Christmas, let it sit and warm up – you will be glad you did.

Erik and Chris enjoy Rogue Santa's Private Reserve this Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Erik

Tags: christmas, christmas ale, rogue, santa's private reserve, Warm Beer, winter ale

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

Tags: Beer, brewery creek, burley barley wine, dogfish head, liquor store, palo santo marron, phillips, rogue, santa's private reserve, vancouver