Last year was the first year Driftwood made their barley wine, coincidentally it was also the first year they existed.  I bought two bottles, drank one, and put the other in the cellar. When the 2009 version came out this year I thought it would be cool to try the 2008 version aged a year in the cellar and compare it with the fresh 2009 version.  As far as I know, the recipe didn’t change at all.

I recalled the 2008 version, consumed fresh last year, as having a wonderful hoppy aroma of citrus and floral notes.  The same aroma was only faintly present in the aged version.  We found the aged version to be much more subdued than we recalled.  All of its younger and harsher characteristics had mellowed over time.  The bite of the alcohol and the sweetness of the malt had blended into a deeper caramel and molasses like richness.  We liked the aged beer, but we were reminded of why we loved this beer last year when we tried the fresh 2009 vintage.  Powerful aromas, potent hops on the tonggue right after a sip, then a lingering and complex sweetness for the finish.

While our experiment was fun, we learned that Old Cellar Dweller, despite its name, doesn’t belong in the cellar.  The hops in this barley wine make drinking it relatively young an experience you can’t pass up.

Cheers,

Chris

What might be more significant than the launch of a tasty new beer is that this is Lighthouse’ first ever seasonal release.  They credit their new bottling line as giving them the capability to release small batch beers in an affordable way.  I hope this is the first of many seasonal releases for them.

Cheers,

Chris

Beautiful Swans Hotel

Now I’d heard that Saturday was the rowdier of the two beer festival days, but was still blown away by the level of rowdiness.  I figured that the stellar craft beer lineup would attract a crowd of beer enthusiasts.  However, I think its safe to say that over 90% of Saturday GCBF patrons were college age folk out for a good time.  I’d also surmise that the majority of attendees had little to no interest in the quality and craftsmanship of the beer on hand, which isn’t to say they didn’t consume it in large quantities.  I was actually quite shocked at just how much of a party atmosphere there really was.  Many groups of people made themselves beerfest costumes or uniforms running the gamut from team jerseys to spandex super hero outfits.  What with the hot weather and masses of inebriated youth, some might even suggest that far too many people were wearing inappropriately little.  In my opinion, the appropriateness of any lack of clothing depended squarely on the attractiveness of the particular person.

This band showed up and started playing

This guy made balloons, including genitalia

Big crowds at GCBF

As for the beer itself, there was a good variety of deliciousness available.  My biggest problem with the beer selection was that there were more beers on hand than were advertised in the program.  I failed to stop by at a few of my favorite breweries because it didn’t look like they had prepared anything special.  It was to my great dismay to later find I’d missed out on a few unique brews, most notably a Blackberry Lambic from Driftwood Brewery.  As for the rest, I was very intrigued by many of the Washington and Oregon brewers made the trek.  I was also disappointed with our BC brewers who merely offered their regular brews.  I’d hoped for some more interesting brews from some of my local heroes.

Chris, Erik, Holly at GCBF

There were no beer tokens included in the price of admission, which irked me a little.  Tokens cost between $1 and $2 each, depending on how many you bought at a time, and many of the tastes required two tokens.  It is for this reason that I did not try nearly as many beers as I thought I would.  I kept it mainly to unique to the area or cask conditioned brews, ignoring the draft versions of some of my favorites.  Notable standouts to me included:

• Boundary Bay cask conditioned Oatmeal Stout
• Central City cask conditioned Imperial IPA
• Crannog Back Hand of God Organic Stout
• Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
• Elysian Brewing cask conditioned The Wise ESB, Night Owl Pumpkin, and Saison Poivre
• Lagunitas Lucky 13
• Longwood Brewpub cask conditioned ESB
• Swans cask conditioned Scotch Ale

The Crannog Booth, one of my favorites

It might have been good that I tried less GCBF beers than I’d planned on because it enabled me to enjoy the rest of the evening.  We returned to Swans to check in and then went down to the pub for a few tasters.  We then spent our evening on the patio at The Canoe Club before wandering over to Spinnakers for a completely unnecessary nightcap.  We had to make our way back in the morning to pickup some of their delightful malt vinegar, which Spinnakers makes themselves.  Also, if you are ever in Victoria and in need of breakfast, head to Mole.  It was outstanding.

Eirk with post GCBF tasters at Swans

It was my first trip to GCBF and I enjoyed it.  If I lived in Victoria, I would go every year.  However, having to come over on the ferry from Vancouver and requiring a hotel have me questioning future trips.  While the beer selection was good, it wasn’t outstanding enough to warrant the expensive journey.  I consider more accessible beer events like Dix Caskivals and the Washington Cask Beer Festival more enjoyable.  What would be even better is a GCBF in Vancouver too.

Cheers,

Chris

There you have it, the first bit of beer news (or speculation) broken on LoveGoodBeer.com, a potential upcoming limited release from Lighthouse Brewing.  If they were to do a seasonal release, and I hope they are, I think it would be great for Lighthouse.  Nothing generates more buzz than something new or special and I think Lighthouse’s beers are worth hearing about.

Cheers,

Chris

• Volunteer
• Craigslist, here are a few of my searches
• Ask Nicely
• Win them, I saw a few contests last week, try to find them online.

If you miss out, we’ll post about how awesome it was next week so that you can feel really bad about missing it.  Maybe it’ll motivate you to get tickets nice and early next year?  Seriously though, it is going to be an awesome time.  The lineup looks wonderful and our stay at Swans includes a free tasting, and then we’ll have the excellent Canoe brewpub just down the road…

In preparation for GCBF (and to help recover from the Labour Day weekend) I am embarking on an epic four day beer fast.  Wish me luck.

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers,

Chris

Needless to say, our weekend was not focused on beer tasting and I have no meaningful beer related tidbits to share, besides that we had a great time at the brewpubs.  Our other activities included great rounds of golf at Cordova Bay and Olympic View, neither of which I had played before.  Olympic View was particularly beautiful, not to mention challenging.  We were a bit rough around the edges on Saturday and were lucky to have chosen a team format for the day’s round.  This applied especially to Dave, who actually tossed his club a solid sixty yards on his first full swing, unintentionally.  Not fully understanding the Victoria bar scene, we had less luck with our choices in nightlife venues.  We had a decent time, but were unlucky to have been involved in an altercation on the first night.  Turns out I can take a beer bottle to the head.  Although you won’t believe me, no I did not do anything to deserve it.  The second night, when Dave went out in his hot dog suit, was much more interesting.  I’ll let you guess at what might have happened.

All and all, Victoria was a decent place for a stag.  We’ve got another one coming up in Seattle and we’ll need to drink some beer.  I’ll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Chris
Some pictures, back to my crappy iPhone camera again:

Dave cannibalizing, you monster!

Kyle and Peter at Canoe, good times.

Jim, Dave, and Tristen at Canoe, good beer.

Us guys at Canoe Brewpub

Our itinerary consisted of first popping into the brewpub at Spinnakers for a late dinner on Friday night.  We found the food, atmosphere, and, above all, the beer to be quite satisfying.  Upon learning the 11PM closing time was fast approaching, we hastened to sample as many of their beers as possible before being cutoff.  Consequently drunk, we abandoned our plans for bed and decided to wander around Victoria until the wee hours of the morning.  We somehow ended up at Swans Brewpub across town, enjoying further libations.  Now, I can’t say I recall too much about the beer at either Spinnakers or Swans from that night, but I do recall it being rather tasty.

On Saturday, we woke up rather late and worse for wear.  We had a leisurely morning enjoying our baked goods from the Spinnakers bakery before setting off for the Canoe Brewpub.  I recall Canoe being the plushest and most modern of the establishments we visited.  I also recall the Braised Beef Short Rib & Blue Cheese Burger I ordered as being the greatest burger I have eaten in my entire life (surely the healthiest too).  The beer there was also tasty, but the rest of the days events seemed to have wiped my memory of particular details.  We then ventured to Vancouver Island Brewing for a tour.  The tour usually costs $5, but they waived our fee for enthusiastically showing up far too early.  Had we paid the fee, it would have been well worth it for the tour and the five glasses of each VI brew we were poured.  At this point in the early afternoon, we were roundly drunk, but ventured on to Hugos.

Hugos brewhouse was largely a disappointment.  The beer we ordered was all well and good, but there was something off about the place.  We felt as though we were sitting in a dark, empty nightclub, not the atmosphere one would expect of a brewpub on a Saturday.  I was not surprised to learn later that Hugo’s was largely known as a nightclub in its last days and was closed down weeks after our visit. We then ventured to the Stickey Wicket, tired and unenthusiastic.  The pub itself is very cool, convivial, busy, and featuring three floors (the top floor features an open air volleyball court).  We weren’t there long as we had hit the wall.  We ventured back to Spinnakers for a solid nap (the longest walk of my life, I swear).  After our nap, we returned to the Spinnakers brewpub for dinner where two of us couldn’t even contemplate ordering another beer.  The night ended shortly after an unrousing game of darts, when we retired rather early.

On Sunday, we awoke refreshed to more Spinnakers baked goods.  I had the delivery girl drop our basket off outside “because of the no pants and whatnot”.  Erik was none too pleased with my saying “whatnot”, wondering what the poor girl may have inferred.  We then gathered ourselves and headed to Swans once more, to give it a fair chance in an uninebriated state.  We enjoyed the beer there very much, although I again can’t recall any details.  We then ventured back to the mainland, laiden with bottles, after a two day trip where we consumed beer aplenty.

Us guys at Swans Brewpub

We had an awesome time in Victoria and it is a tour we’d definitely do again.  It was very cool to be able to do this with our fathers before they lose mobility.  Just kidding, our Dads are on the young side and much fitter than we are.  We learned a lot from this beer tour though, foremost that it is best to pace yourself to get the most out of the day.  It was also a shame we didn’t get to visit any of Victoria’s other microbreweries. Before we ventured on our trip, we had planned to visit both Philips and Lighthouse Brewing.  I called both breweries and asked if they did tours.  They did not, but both said they would accommodate us if we stopped by, which I though was pretty cool.  Sadly, our weekend trip did not coincide with the hours of operation of these two breweries.  I imagine that new Victoria brewery Driftwood operates similary.  I hope to visit all three the next time I’m in Victoria on a weekday.

My next trip to Victoria is already planned and we will be staying at Swans, a more suitable venue for a bachelor party, due to its lively atmosphere, than Spinnakers.  It is indeed my good friend Dave’s bachelor party.  This time the focus will be more on debauchery than beer.  That being said, I hope to visit Spinnakers and Canoe again, and we’ll possibly do a brewery tour.  This time I’m going to organize a golf game at nearby Gorge Vale on Saturday morning, to ensure we don’t hit the wall to early.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris, Erik and Dads at Swans in Victoria

Earlier this year in September Erik and I took a beer trip to Victoria, BC with our Dads.  We visited breweries and brewpubs and drank a lot of good beer.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever done, not because of the itinerary, but because I got to bond with my father, father-in-law, and brother-in-law and make some great memories (good stories coming in another post).  I love the taste of beer, but what I love most about beer is how it can bring people together.  The times that I drink beer, after soccer games with the team, Friday at five with coworkers, and on weekends with friends and family, are generally the most enjoyable times of my life.  Such is my passion for beer.

We started this blog because we love beer and we want to learn more about it.  I have Erik to thank for kicking my interest in beer up a notch.  Erik brews his own beer and is very dedicated to his craft.  Spending an entire weekend carefully monitoring a boiling mash and then suffering through the rigorous cleaning of his brewing equipment is his idea of fun.  I am already tired thinking about it; I think I need a beer.  I on the other hand, being the inquisitive engineering type, love learning about how beer is made, that and drinking it.

I love drinking the beer Erik makes. I once asked him why his beer tastes so much better than the typical liquor store varietals.  Turns out he uses high quality ingredients and puts a lot of care into it, which seemed quite obviously like a good way to go about brewing to me.  He told me that Anheuser-Busch brews Budweiser using a percentage of rice, which, if you know anything about beer, is blasphemy.  Quality beer is supposed to only contain water, barley, hops and yeast.  Rice is used because it is cheaper than barley, ferments more quickly, and imparts very little flavor, which basically translates to cheap, flavorless beer.  You may not have noticed, but Budweiser has started advertising that it is now brewed with six-row barley, letting it be known that they no longer use rice.  The funny thing here is that six-row barley is the less preferred (cheaper, less suited for beer making) kind of barley that craft brewers try to avoid (two-row barley is where it’s at).  King of beers my ass.  Hearing of this opened my eyes to the disparity that exists in beer and got me much more interested in drinking good beer.

I always knew that I loved drinking beer with my friends, but now I find myself really excited about beer in general, excited enough to start a blog.  My goal in starting this blog is to learn more about beer, find better beer to drink, and hopefully help the people who care to read this blog drink better beer too.  We plan to blog about:

• beer we drink
• places to drink beer
• making your own beer
• beer events
• beer recipes
• breweries we visit
• anything else beer related that pops up

If anyone has any suggestions for us, we’d love to hear about them.  Please comment on any of our posts or email us.  Also, don’t drink and drive; it totally sucks.  Also, please feel free to send us free beer.

Cheers,

Chris