stout
More BC Winter Beers
Sunday, November 29th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
I made some glaring omissions in my previous post about BC Winter beers. My list was not complete and so I felt compelled to add the following beers to it:
- R&B Auld Nick Winter Ale
- Howe Sound Father John’s Winter Ale
- Tree Spiced Reserve Ale
- Granville Island Jolly Abbot
- Cannery Maple Stout
Also, from outside of BC:
Any of the above beers will warm you up on a cold winter day and I highly recommend picking them up should you find them.
Cheers,
Chris
Is Guinness Remarkable?
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | Beer | 4 Comments
Earlier this week, we received the email below from Brenna, a PR firm employee representing Guinness in Canada:
Dear Erik and Chris,
I read your blog and I’m sorry to hear that the Whistler Beer Festival was cancelled. It sounds like you guys had a fun time anyway! My name is Brenna and I am contacting you on behalf of Guinness Canada. Guinness is celebrating its 250th anniversary, and as one of Canada’s influential beer writers, I thought you might be interested in helping us celebrate.
In the spirit of Arthur Guinness and his remarkable contributions, we want to recognize and discuss what remarkable means to Canada. We are seeking requests for remarkable experiences through our Web site that Guinness Canada will fulfill for a lucky number of winners – one of which could be you or one of your readers.
Please let me know if you would like additional information about the Be Remarkable Canada campaign to pass along to your readers, and we hope you check out www.guinness.ca/beremarkablecanada or the supporting news release http://www2.guinness.com/en-ca/Pages/pressrelease.aspx
You can also follow us on Twitter (@remarkable250) where we will be sharing remarkable links to get people thinking about “remarkable” and on Facebook where we will be sharing all the submissions to spur further discussion around the concept of remarkable.
With all these online initiatives, we hope you will help us to define what remarkable means to this generation of Canadians. You’ll see from the first video on the news release page that we have already asked some people to share their thoughts.
Happy Canada Day!
Cheers,
Brenna
I think what Brenna’s firm is trying to do for Guinness is kind of cool, although I’m sure they are being paid handsomely to get them some publicity. I appreciate that Brenna at least read one of our posts and personalized her email to us, but I don’t believe she is a regular reader. If she were a regular reader, she would know that we aren’t some of Canada’s influential beer writers! I’m not a huge fan of PR, mostly because it usually isn’t coming from a point of passion. Brenna is probably a very nice person and very good at her job, but she might not even drink Guinness or stout beer in general. I like that Guinness is paying to make some dreams come true, but does that have anything to do with remarkable beer? I suppose there isn’t much more Canadian than a pint of Guinness…wait, what?
So I ask the question, is Guinness a remarkable beer? I drink Guinness from time to time, but I personally don’t find it to be a remarkable tasting beer. It is a very smooth (nitrogenated) and drinkable Dry Irish Stout, but is not the best rated example of the style on Beer Advocate, not to say that BA is the be all and end all of beer ranking. I seem to recall drinking more interesting and enjoyable stouts (Old Yale Sasquatch is rather delicious) and I would have to say that I place Guinness at the low end of the taste scale.
What I do find remarkable about Guinness is its longevity and global brand power. In the world of mass market beer, there is yellow beer (macro lagers) and there is Guinness. At some point in the past, whether it be by luck or considerable marketing skill, Guinness became THE dark beer. I sort of hate that every dark beer any uninitiated beer drinker drinks or sees reminds them of Guinness. There is such a range of wonderful dark beers out there (that’s a whole other post), but all anyone ever thinks they are getting is “a meal in a glass”. This is another common phrase that I hate, because Guinness contains less calories than most other macro beers. It is the bubbles that make you feel full. Anyway, I do find the Guinness brand remarkable, just not the beer. That being said, I wonder what a pint of Guinness tasted 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? I’m not saying that the current Guinness is bad, because I do drink it, but I bet it used to taste wonderfully different.
Cheers,
Chris
PS> The Guinness Book of World Records guy worked at Guinness in the 1950′s, not the same guy who made the beer 250 years ago.
Nice little weekend
Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Events | 2 Comments
Dave, Tristen, and I enjoying too many free cocktails at The Vancouver Club
This past weekend was a good one for my friends. On Friday, my friend Dave had a party to celebrate earning his Masters degree. Master Simington lives in Chilliwack near Old Yale Brewing and treated his guests to a 19L keg of Old Yale Pale Ale. Old Yale is not a very well known brewery in these parts, but is definitely one of my favorites. It was cool to catch up with old friends and celebrate with a keg of tasty, affordable, local craft beer.
On Saturday, I attended Adam and Lesley’s wedding at the Vancouver Club. I’d previously posted about the Vancouver Club, wondering what their beer selection might be like. I guess Adam and Lesley read the post because they both asked me if I approved of the beer. I didn’t really, but the wedding was awesome! The venue, the food, and the company were all wonderful. The Vancouver Club is a great place for a wedding, shoddy beer menu aside. All the best to Adam and Lesley, thank you for inviting us to enjoy your special day! We had planned to stop off at The Railway Club before the reception, but didn’t quite make it. There was a cocktail hour before the reception featuring drinks and tasty food, and who am I to pass up graciously provided sustenance? And if you were wondering, the beers available were Molson Canadian, Stella Artois, Heineken, and Becks, four generic lagers.
Also at the wedding on Saturday, I received the most surprising text message of my life to date. As we were sitting down for dinner, Peter, of guest post fame, announced the birth of his first child, wooooo! Baby Aaliyah Chandler arrived 18 days early, but healthy and with minimal fuss. We visited the newly formed Chandler family this morning and can attest to the cuteness of said family, thanks in large part to the most recent addition. To tie this event into beer, I’ve heard that stout is supposed to help in breast milk production. This may or may not be true, but I’ve also heard that drinking stout is good times, so who really cares? The Chandlers can expect some stout from me in the near future.
Congrats to my friends on their major life achievements! If you are up for further celebration, I’m up for a few beers.
Cheers,
Chris