Love Good Beer

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

Lunch at the updated Yaletown Brewing

Friday, June 26th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

Yaletown Brewing recently did some renovations.  I do believe they were closed for a while even, but I don’t really know when or for how long.  What I do know is that I went for lunch there this week and they had a new menu.  I’ve only been there once before, so I’m not sure how different the new menu is, but I was sure that I wanted to try all of their beers, new or not, which is why I ordered the beer sampler.  Boy was I surprised when it came out!  My sampler of seven beers consisted of seven six ounce samples, a bit much for a weekday.  Obviously I couldn’t waste beer, meaning I drank it all, and had a pretty wonderful afternoon.  For lunch, I ordered their Valencia bowl, which reminded me of a paella/jambalaya combination.  It was both tasty and delicious.

The sampler at Yaletown Brewing

You might be wondering what my point is?  Go check out the refreshed Yaletown Brewing and order the sampler.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: lunch, new menu, sampler, yaletown brewing

Phillips Accusation Ale Tasting

Monday, June 1st, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | 1 Comment

Phillips used to produce a beer called Blue Truck, which was a tasty pale ale.  It was a popular beer on Vancouver Island and growing in popularity on the mainland when the Mark James Group sued Phillips Brewing for trademark infringement. They thought that people would confuse Blue Truck with their Red Truck brand.  Phillips, being a small brewery, relented and changed the name of their pale ale to Blue Buck.  It was shortly after this time that Phillips began producing their cleverly named Accusation Ale, an Extra Special Bitter style ale.  I received a hilarious email from Phillips today announcing a preview tasting of this year’s first batch of Accusation Ale:

I hope you can read the invitation because it is really quite clever.  I would gladly attend the tasting if I was in Victoria, but alas, I will have to wait until it arrives at Brewery Creek.  ESB is one of my favorite styles and I’m really looking forward to this one.  I suppose I have the Mark James Group to thank for Accusation Ale, but I really think what they did was stupid.  In my opinion, the craft beer scene in BC isn’t big enough for lawsuits.  But MJG has felt the repercussions, incurring the angst of many Vancouver Island beer drinkers.  If the individual MJG pubs like Dix, Yaletown, Whistler, Taylors Crossing, and Big Ridge weren’t some of the very fine few options for fresh beer hereabouts, I’d probably show them a little angst myself.  I do believe the brewers at these establishments had nothing to do with the lawsuit, and so their beer remains morally pure:)

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: accusation ale, big ridge brewing, blue truck, brewery creek, dix bbq and brewery, ESB, extra special bitter, mark james group, phillips brewing, red track, whistler, yaletown brewing

Beer Day: Brewery Creek and Yaletown Brewing

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | Beer | No Comments

two new additions to my cellar - Phillips Burley Barley Wine and Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine

Yesterday was beer day. Chris and I made a trip to Brewery Creek to stock up for the New Year and stopped for lunch at Yaletown Brewing. And of course we had to stop at the Gourmet Warehouse, even though it’s a bit out of the way. If you like to cook good food, go to the Gourmet Warehouse – it is nothing short of amazing.

This was my first trip to Brewery Creek. Chris was worried that he over hyped his initial Brewery Creek experience, but it was better than I could have possibly imagined. Their beer selection is fantastic with a good range of hard to find beer from local BC brewers. It was nice to see a beer store that tucks the 12 case of Budweiser and MGD into the back corner where it belongs. This is a store for real beer drinkers.

Needless to say, we filled the trunk up with beer and I added two new barley wines to my cellar, Phillips Burley Barley Wine and Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine. Prior to my growing obsession with barley wine, I thought cellaring beer was ridiculous, but I have seen the light. After tasting Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine (aged for 18 months) at Central City Brewing, I can’t go back to drinking young barley wine. Well, I actually can and probably will, but that is beside the point.

Carrying a full box of beer around is exhausting work – we needed food and drink in a bad way. We drove our hungry selves to Yale Town Brewing for lunch and were thoroughly impressed. We arrived and did what most thirsty beer drinkers do – ask for a sample of the seasonal ale. Who doesn’t love free beer? Yale Town’s current seasonal is Le Nez Rouge; a Belgian style ale with a bit of a twist. This beer is impressive to say the least. It is a huge beer with an ABV of 9.5%, but is so smooth you wouldn’t know it. Unlike many Belgian ale’s, the tartness from the yeast is not overpowering, allowing for the malt flavour to show its face resulting in a well balanced beer. Le Nez Rouge has a spicy aroma and flavour with a hint of banana similar to a hefeweizen. I highly recommend this beer, even if you aren’t a fan of Belgian style ales.

After downing the seasonal sample, we ordered food and a few more drinks. I was impressed with their Brown Ale, a nice roasted malt flavour with some nuttiness and vanilla, but found their IPA to be slightly under hopped. Check out beer advocate for a full review of Yaletown’s beer. We left with full bellies and smiling faces. Who wouldn’t be smiling knowing their car trunk is full of beer.

Erik

Tags: Beer Advocate, brewery creek, Central City Brewing, Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine, Le Nez Rouge, Phillps Burley Barley Wine, yaletown brewing