Love Good Beer » stone brewing

Iceholes, Beer Wars, Stone, Oh My

Chris — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:01:09 +0000

Some beer notes from this week, each not enough for a post, but worth posting about:

Beer Wars On Demand – I missed the Vancouver screening of Beer Wars last weekend, which I’d heard was a really good time (could have been the ten or so kinds of beer available). At the screening, it was announced that Beer Wars would be available on demand from your cable provider. I watched it last night at my convenience and it only cost me $5.99 from Shaw. I really enjoyed the explanations of the three tier distribution system, the beer lobbyists in Washington DC, and the plight of craft brewers like Dogfish Head‘s Sam Caglione, which made the movie worth watching. I also found the documentarian Anat Baron insufferable. She eventually gets into the movie after enlightening us as to how great she is for ten minutes or so. She also describes her experience in the beer industry with Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Wait, what?
Stone! – At the same Beer Wars Screening, Stone Brewing‘s Greg Koch did announce that Stone would be making a one time shipment to BC. I was mostly right in my prediction, but I’m pretty choked at the one time part. Brewery Creek got their shipment in on Thursday, what followed was my single most expensive beer purchase of all time. I got one of everything, those being their Imperial Stout, Old Guardian Barley Wine, Smoked Porter, Vertical Epic Ale, Ruination IPA (six pack), Pale Ale (six pack), Levitation Ale (six pack), and Oaked Arrogant Bastard. If you want to buy any of these, it would be best to get to your local independent purveyor of fine beer as soon as possible.
R&B Iceholes Celebration Lager is now available! Colbert can suck one.
Syrup Sucking Iceholes – I was the first person on the entire internets to write about R&B’s Iceholes Celebration lager, but now the bigger sites have gone and stolen my SEO. Oh well, who wants to be the first search result on Google anyway? R&B launched the beer last night at Capones in Vancouver and the Pumphouse Pub in Richmond. I managed to get a bottle last week. I haven’t had it yet, but I’ve heard it’s a good pilsner. Apparently Iceholes will be available at Capones and independent beer stores this February only. And it has reportedly been arranged for Colbert to suck as many Iceholes as he pleases.
Olympic Beer Selection Fail - Since Molson is the official sponsor of the Olympics, the only beers available at anywhere affiliated with the Olympics will be Coors Light, Molson Canadian, Molson Ex, and maybe Rickards (sometimes, if you’re lucky). And get this, venues that used to server other, better beers can no longer do so. Lame.

Cheers,

Chris

Stone Brewing soon to be available in BC

Chris — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:00:54 +0000

Last week I speculated that the attendance of Greg Koch, co-founder and CEO of Stone Brewing, at Vancouver’s Beer Wars Screening this Sunday might mean that Stone‘s beers were soon to be available in BC. Today, I can proudly announce that I was correct in my speculation. I laid eyes on the order form that confirms the arrival of Ruination IPA, Levitation Ale, Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Smoked Porter and others. We, the thirsty beer enthusiasts of BC, will be able to purchase these beers from Brewery Creek and other fine beer stores early next week. I’ll be heading straight to the store as soon as I get the word and you’d best be staying out of my way, elbows could fly.

Cheers,

Chris

Beer Wars Screening in Vancouver

Chris — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:51:31 +0000

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