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Where to drink beer in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics?

Friday, February 19th, 2010 | Beer | 6 Comments

Question:  Where are the best places to drink beer in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics?

Answer: The same places as always! Dix, Steamworks, Yaletown Brewing, and the Alibi Room.

Since the Olympics started last weekend I’ve been downtown quite a bit and I’ve had a lot of fun waiting in lines and not getting into stuff.  I never thought Vancouver could get this crazy and I didn’t think the Olympics would be this exciting.  I also never thought I’d feel as proud to be Canadian as I do right now; turns out we throw a good party.  I’m going to have a huge Olympic hangover come March for more reasons than one.

German Fan Fest Vancouver 2010 Olympics

I’ve tried to get into both the Irish House and the German Fan Fest, two of the most popular temporary pavilions setup for the Olympics.  I opted not to wait in line for hours and hours for $10 beer night and I don’t regret my decision.  The atmosphere downtown is crazy enough (just walk Granville or Robson streets) and there are plenty of other reasonably priced places to visit. While I may try German Fan Fest one more time for their Köstritzer Schwarzbier, I’ve had much better luck at my usual haunts.  Both Dix and Steamworks have provided me with the Olympic atmosphere, TV’s to watch the events, tasty beer at reasonable prices, and, most importantly, a seat.  I’ve also heard that the Alibi Room has abandoned their no TV policy, bringing in some tubes to watch the events on downstairs.  I walked by Yaletown Brewing and it was packed out with a line forming outside.  If you are looking for a beer downtown in the next week or so, try the regular places for quality beer.

Good times at Quebec House

Other Olympic venues I’ve visited include LiveCity Yaletown and Downtown, neither of which serve beer, not even $10 cans of Canadian!  I found them a bit boring and, unless you are really into the musical performance going on, not really worth waiting in line for.  Quebec House was pretty cool.  I was excited to hear they had Quebec microbrews, but then disappointed to find it was Archibald Microbrasserie.  I hadn’t actually heard of them (neither had my French Canadian coworker), it was that the beer didn’t taste very good, especially not for $10.  What made Quebec House worth visiting was the 7 Fingers, who were like a little Cirque du Soleil.  I also got a kick out of Saskatchewan Pavillion, which appeared to me to be a big tent full of bored/drunk looking people dressed in Rider green.  The $8 Pilsner didn’t float my boat either.  Once place I’d really like to check out is Atlantic Canada House, who I hear have brought in top notch maritime brews by Propeller and Garrison.  I hear it’s a good time there too.

Skunky Pilsner and Rider Pride at Saskatchewan Pavillion

I hope to be able to provide further insight after another weekend of engaging in Olympicosity.  Go Canada go!

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: 2010 winter olympics, 7 fingers, alibi room, archibald microbrasserie, atlantic canada house, DIX Brewery, garrison brewing, german fan fest, irish house, Köstritzer Schwarzbier, livecity downtown, livecity yaletown, maison quebec, olympicosity, propeller brewing, quebec house, saskatchewan pavillion, steamworks, vancouver 2010, yaletown brewing

Beer Wars Screening in Vancouver

Monday, January 18th, 2010 | Beer | 2 Comments

For those of you who don’t know, Beer Wars is a movie about the struggles of craft brewers to stay competitive in a beer market dominated by giant corporations like AB InBev and Molson-Coors.  The movie itself has gained substantial attention, praise, and scrutiny from beer enthusiasts North America wide.  It hasn’t made its way to here yet, but CAMRA Vancouver has organized an upcoming screening for us.  The screening was originally supposed to be last night, but unexplained complications resulted in the event being pushed back to Sunday, January 31st at 4PM.  To make up for the delay, CAMRA has recruited some of our local brewers to be on hand to serve beer, those being Steamworks, Yaletown Brewing, Granville Island with their new limited release Chocolate Stout, and Red Truck with their Limited Release Porter.  Since District 319 is a licensed and private venue, patrons will be able to have a few beers while watching the movie, something many of us haven’t legally ever been able to do.  To get tickets, head to the CAMRA event page and purchase away.

I’ve also heard a rumor that there might be an epic beer announcement made at the screening.  Considering that Greg Koch, CEO and co-founder of the legendary Stone Brewing Company, is said to be attending, I wonder what this rumored epic beer announcement could be?  I’ve already guessed at it and have been sworn to secrecy, but I’m hoping our clever readers will be able to guess at my suspicions.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: ab-inbev, beer wars, beer wars movie, camra vancouver, chocolate stour, district 319, Granville Island Brewing, limited release porter, molson-coors, red truck, steamworks, stone brewing, vancouver, vancouver screening, yaletown brewing

Lonely Planet Vancouver features Alibi Room

Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | Pubs | 2 Comments

Alibi Room owner Nigel Springthorpe

I enjoy traveling and am obsessed with the Lonely Planet series of guide books.  If you’ve never traveled with one or you have used lesser guide books, then you likely missed out on a few hidden gems.  I am particularly fond of the Lonely Planet Encounter series, which each profile a city sectioned into neighborhoods for easy reading.  I was at Chapters today and noticed that Lonely Planet very recently published a Vancouver Encounter, likely to cater to Olympic Visitors.  I was, of course, curious and flipped through it to see what travel experts recommend to see, eat, and do in Vancouver.  I wasn’t surprised at all to find the Alibi Room recommended, but I was surprised to see how much attention they paid to it.  Usually restaurants and bars get a two sentence blurb, but the Alibi Room garnered two pictures and an interview with owner Nigel Springthorpe!  This attention is warranted in my mind and is a testament to the hard work Nigel has done in building Vancouver’s best beer bar.  It pleases me that visitors to Vancouver, if they take the Lonely Planet’s excellent advice, will get to enjoy an establishment of such fine quality, likely giving them a positive impression of our fine city.  Although there is one negative, I imagine a seat at the Alibi Room will be an impossible commodity to come by during the Olympics.

The Alibi Room wasn’t the only beer destination recommended in the Vancouver Encounter.  Six Acres, The Irish Heather, Dix Brewery, Yaletown Brewing, and Steamworks were also listed.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, DIX Brewery, lonely planet, lonely planet encounter, nigel springthorpe, olympics 2010, six acres, steamworks, the irish heather, vancouver, yaletown brewing

Pumpkin Ale Season in BC

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment

It is almost Halloween, which most significantly means that it’s pumpkin ale season again.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with pumpkin ales they are generally similar to amber ales, but are brewed with pumpkin added in some form.  Many pumpkin ales also include the spices one would commonly find in pumpkin pie such as ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.  In fact, I’d say most people find that pumpkin ales taste like pumpkin pie.  It’s a taste that some don’t enjoy, but I for one am a bigger fan of pumpkin pie in a glass than on a plate.

Our BC brewers aren’t letting us down this year and are offering some tasty pumpkin ales.  I’ve managed to collect the following four:

• Central City Red Racer Pumpkin Ale
• Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale
• Swans Pumpkin Ale
• Granville Island Brewing Pumpkin Ale

It seems that pumpkin ales are getting rather popular in BC because most of the above proved rather hard to find.  Staking out Brewery Creek proved most effective, but I had to use the BC Liquor Store product finder to track down the Granville Island offering.  I haven’t had any of the pumpkin ales I’ve procured just yet because I plan to compare them all side by side come Halloween, but I’ll be sure to post my findings.

There are a few other pumpkin ales out and about.  Howe Sound released a small amount of their Pumpkineater Imperial Ale in bottles, but it sold out fast.  However, I did notice it on tap at the Alibi Room earlier in the week.  Steamworks also has their version of pumpkin ale on tap at their brewpub.  Even if you don’t think you’ll like pumpkin ale, scare yourself this Halloween and give it a try.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alibi room, brewery creek liquor store, cenrtral city, crooked tooth, Granville Island Brewing, howe sound brewing, phillips brewing, pumpkin ale, pumpkineater imperial ale, red racer, steamworks, swans

A British Columbian Pint

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

Larry Pynn of the Vancouver Sun ran an interesting article this morning on the legality of an imperial pint in BC. In Canada the legal definition for a pint of beer is 20 oz. or 568 ml; however, in BC no establishment is legally allowed to serve a beer over 17.5 oz., or 500ml.

The federal government insists that anyone who claims to be selling a pint in Canada had better pour a full Imperial pint measuring 20 ounces, or 568.26 millilitres.The province’s Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, however, stipulates that individual servings of draft beer cannot exceed 500 millilitres or 17.5 ounces — effectively legislating a legal pint out of existence in B.C.

The Vancouver Sun tripped across the contradictory regulations while conducting a random survey of 15 pubs in Metro Vancouver to determine just how much beer customers receive when ordering a “pint.”

The Sun found pubs served 17 ounces on average, representing a three-ounce or 15-per-cent discrepancy.

The Golden Spike in Port Moody served the smallest amount at 14 ounces, followed by 15.1 ounces at the Mountain Shadow in Burnaby. Two pubs that effectively served the legal limit included Steamworks in Vancouver and Jimy Mac’s in Langley at 19.4 ounces.

As the article pointed out, very few pubs and restaurants in BC  serve an imperial pint, Steamworks being one  of the few pubs serving beer close to a federal 20 oz. pint. It seems the provincial government is turning a blind eye to this situation; the provincial government claims that the the point of the law is to avoid over intoxication and they seem to be enforcing the spirit of the law and not the letter.  20 oz pints tend to sell for more, meaning more liquor tax revenue to the government – I can’t see the government being all that upset about establishments serving 20 0z pints.

Lets hope this article doesn’t have a negative impact on those businesses that are serving a proper pint.  Check out the full article here.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: British Columbia, Pint of Beer, steamworks, Vancouver Sun

A night at the Alibi Room

Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments

Last night I went to the Alibi Room with my friends Peter, Dave and Gavin.  Erik was going to come, but he was busy roasting a chicken, it happens.  Our visit came about because of comment’s Rick Green left on Dave’s guest post, wondering what Dave might think of the Alibi Room in comparison to Original Joe’s.  It didn’t take much convincing to get a group out for beers after work, considering we are always up for some good merry making.  That aside, the Alibi Room has a fantastic beer selection to tempt any enthusiast.

The Alibi Room has 19 taps of fresh, relatively local draught beer, plus many more bottled options, as well as the odd cask, all of which are in constant rotation.  For a beer drinker, this is heaven.  Not only do they have the best beer selection in BC, but there is always something new.  In fact, the owner makes special trips to the island to pick up casks and kegs himself

I had a very hard time choosing what four beers to put into my “frat bat”.  I ended up going for the Swans Cask ESB, Longwood “Batch 1000″ Doppelbock, Dix Texan Brown, and Steamworks Roggenweizen.  I also sampled the Swans Extra IPA and ordered a pint of the Swans Cask ESB later on.  I think we all enjoyed the Cask ale the most, but I was also particularly impressed with the Longwood Doppelbock.  I didn’t care too much for the Roggenweizen (too spicy) or the Texan Brown, but neither are preferred styles of mine.

Peter and Dave with empty plates/glasses at the Alibi Room

We also had some very tasty, reasonably priced food.  After splitting some chicken wings and a cheese plate, we ordered two each of their roast beef sandwich special and their bison dip, which were both quite good.  I planned to take some pictures of our glorious spread of beer and food, but I completely forgot until we’d pretty much finished everything to the last crumb/drop.  Still, I have a picture of our empty plates and glasses, testament to the good times we shared with great food and beer at the Alibi Room.  I hope we end up making this a regular after work occurrence!

Cheers.

Chris

Tags: alibi room, dix, doppelbock, ESB, IPA, longwood, original joes, rick green, roggenweizen, steamworks, swans, texan brown