Tag Archives: russell cream ale

Russellfest

Thanks in large part to Russell Brewing, I had some friends over for Russellfest this past weekend.  We sampled Russell’s Cream, Pale, and Honey Blonde Ales, as well as their Extra Special Lager.  My friends, many of whom were affected by the original incident, got to taste what Russell’s beer should taste like.  We were also treated to several of my wife’s homemade pizza’s, which were delicious and very quickly devoured.  It was a great party and everyone had a great time, as far as I know at least.

Considering that Russell’s beer was the focal point, we did discuss it in depth.  One piece of feedback we have for Russell is that we wish they were more adventurous with their beer.  When tasting, we noticed that not much sets each beer part from the other.  I do enjoy their beer, the Cream Ale the most, but I would not call it spectacular or even great.  It seems to me that they are targeting the average beer drinker who prefers less flavorful, simpler beer.  As a craft brewery, I would expect some greater differentiation throughout the lineup and a few interesting seasonal releases.  On our tour, we noticed that they only used two kinds of hops (I forget which two, but Erik will know).  We thought, why not be bolder?  Keep the Cream and Honey the same, but why not make the Pale Ale something to remember?  This is just our opinion.

Thanks again to Russell for making amends and taking us on a tour.  We really thought they were very nice, very passionate people who care a lot about their beer.  I hope they continue to thrive and I hope they release the odd something special every now and then.

Some pictures from the party:

The cooler full of mostly Russell Beer

The cooler full of mostly Russell Beer

Russellfest in all its glory

Russellfest in all its glory

Peter in his Russell Shirt

Peter in his Russell Shirt

Me doing Blue Steal

Me doing Blue Steal

Cheers,

Chris

A tour of Russell Brewing

A month or so back I wrote about a bad experience I had with Russell Brewing.  Russell found the post a short time later and contacted me.  Angie Harris, a marketing manager at Russell, invited some friends and I in for a tour of their brewery and a tasting.  Living not so far away, I gladly took them up on the offer last Saturday.

We were met by Angie and her brother Paul, a brewer with Russell, at their brewery in Surrey, BC.  It turns out that Russell is somewhat of a family affair, employing many of the Harris clan.  It also turns out that Angie, who is on maternity leave at the moment, and Paul came into work this past Saturday specifically to meet us and give us a tour.  Right off the bat they showed great commitment to their product.  They were also effusively apologetic for the bad batch of Russell Cream Ale I came across.  They were very nice, very passionate people who were very excited to tell us about all of the great improvements that Russell is making to their business.  They admitted that they’d had some problems with their canning process a few months back.  They’ve since made changes to their equipment, improved filtration, and hired one of the top quality control guys in the brewing industry.  I thought it was really great of them to be so open and honest.  I can tell you from first hand experience that these people love their beer and are doing their best to make it awesome, even while on maternity leave.

Paul showed us around the brewery while Angie prepared a tasting for us.  It was really cool to see how a microbrewery operates.  We got to see everything from Russell’s new bottling line to the latest forklift dent in the refrigerated storage area.  When it came to tasting, it was refreshing for me to taste how good Russell Cream Ale really can be.  I hadn’t purchased any since last summer, but will surely do so in the future.  We were also able to taste Russell’s Lager, Honey Blonde Ale, and Pale Ale, as well as the Pale Ale and Dark Ale of new Manitoba partner Fort Garry Brewing.  All were very simple, good quality beers.  Angie was also kind enough to suit us up in some Russell t-shirts, which you’ll see us sporting in the pictures below.

Russell more than made up for their mistake in my books.  I thank them very much for the tour and the tasting, which made for an excellent Saturday afternoon.

Pictures of the tour I took with my iPhone:

NOTE: I linked to these from Facebook and the album no longer exists for some reason, so here’s one of us at the end:

Us guys in our sweet new Russell shirts

Us guys in our sweet new Russell shirts

Cheers,

Chris

A bad experience with Russell Brewing

Note: I’ve since written a follow up post, check it out here.

russell cream aleThis past summer Russell Brewing sponsored the World Ultimate Frisbee Championship held in Vancouver.  A friend involved in the tournament let me know that Russell was selling leftover Russell Cream Ale at a cut rate price.  I enjoyed a Russell Cream Ale every now and then and so did some of my friends, so I bought five flats of it.  I appropriated these flats of beer to myself, Erik, my soccer team, and some other friends.  No sooner did we get into the beer, we noticed that it had an odd sour taste.  It had gone bad and was virtually undrinkable.  Understandably so, my friends, soccer team, and Erik were none too pleased with me.

In one fell swoop, I had turned twenty of my fellows into Russell Cream Ale haters.  That did not sit well with me and I wanted to give Russell a chance to redeem themselves.  I emailed them to let them know what happened and to ask them if an exchange of my skunky beer for their fresh beer could be arranged.  This is what I received back from Russell:

Once in a long while, our cans of beer can go sour. This can be for a number of reasons.

One is the improper storage of the beer. We don’t pasteurize our beer or use preservatives, so the beer is more affected by temperature changes. However, this also means our beer has the best possible flavour.

Regardless, I’m sure we can work something out.

I thought that was pretty cool of them to get back to me so soon.  I emailed them back, a few times actually, but never heard anything again.  I was pretty choked by that and have since not purchased any Russell products.  Neither have any of my friends involved, as far as I know.  I don’t really have a problem with Russell’s beer (save their lemon ale, not my bag), just a sour taste in my mouth, literally and figuratively.

What I ended up doing was taking the beer back to my local BC Signature Liquor Store, where they let me exchange it with no questions asked.  I used my store credit not on Russell products.  I actually had a lot of fun spending my store credit on my favorite beers.  Yes, I would like liquor store gift certificates for Christmas.

I don’t really have anything against Russell.  For all I know, the beer could have been baking in the sun all days, thus spoiling it.  What I do know is if they are brewing their beer right, that it should last for years under the right conditions.  Another certainty is that the word is out and spreading that Russell Cream Ale is no good, because I’m sure I wasn’t the only one affected by this.

Cheers,

Chris