new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:
new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:
got cancelled on last night
so rather than go home and do all the stuff i should have done with a free night
i went out drinking with bridget!
we started at bitter
where she had the flight of from left to right: lighthouse switchback, driftwood fat tug and alameda yellow wolf ipas
isn’t it pretty?
there was another, boozey flight on offer as well
but i went for a glass of the elysian prometheus ipa
(still felt like i was in seattle, you know?)
it was a good decision
i like the prometheus!
from there we went to st. augustine’s for the cask of storm’s masala ipa
a lot like james’ basil ipa, it was a pleaser!
not very carbonated, not overly spiced, it was just right
all in all a successful night of drinking
and i made it home in time to do a load of laundry!
i know this is no surprise to anyone
but i love hops!
so pretty, so bitter, so good for me
so delicious!
want to know more about hops?
craftbeer.com will let you in on the secret life of hops
citra, chinook, cascade, centennial
the “c” hops might just be my favourites…
oh the beers i did drink!
camra vancouver’s spring sessional featured a schwack load of casks
all intended to be below 3.5% abv
most made the 3.5% cut, but a few did not
all however, were big on flavour!
and this cask event saw the birth of the “wall of casks”
the wall was a thing of beauty and a joy to behold
but boy, did it ever make for crazy cramped quarters when you’re back there pouring!
still, having the central place to procure beer left the rest of london pub for mingling
which i found to be an improvement over the winter fest at st. augustine’s that featured casks all around the outside of the establishment leaving only the crowded centre for mingling
and, patting myself and all the other amazing pourers on the back here, the line up at the central location did not ever get unbearably long
so, thumbs up to camra executive (and president martin who built it) for the novel wall of casks!
i managed to try most of the casks, skipping only the wheat and the brett
my notes leave a lot to be desired as i was a lot more concerned with trying everything and enjoying myself than i was with posterity!
my vote for best colour for a beer ever goes to r&b’s brent’s blood orange berliner weisse at 3.1 abv
this beer was also amazing for its ability to be sour up front and then just as you were ready for that lambic back of the jaw clench, it suddenly released you from the sour
crisp and red and truly an interesting cask experience
(i’m told some of the red colour came from beet juice)
second in my “wow what a colour” fan list
is also a berliner weisse – this one by dave from whistler brewhouse
the photo above does not do it true justice
its a raspberry weisse – and amazingly clear
with a hint of almost purple i couldn’t stop looking at it in the streaming sunlight
what did it taste like?
oh, right, well it was very dry and fruity and apricoty
and yet it was sweet, sorta like a cider or wine cooler
at 3.8 abv this one was out of the competition though
winners of the brewer’s challenge collect their prize
moon under water brew pub, ron & don’s best bitter
(which was a very malty and smooth bitter – absolutely delicious at right on the 3.5% mark)
america’s bitterest brews
aka ipas
for the huffington post article, click here
seems a rather appropriate article for me to post on this the first day of lent
aka day one of my 40 day odyssey without chocolate!
(or ice cream or potato chips either)
bring on the bitter beers to get me through!
i do love me some rogue
and the brutal bitter is no exception
do i have tasting notes?
nope, can’t find them
quite possibly didn’t make any
so why am i posting about the brutal bitter without notes?
because i happened to do a tasting of it the other night and took a photo
don’t want to waste a perfectly good photo… that would be tragic
so i’m gonna just say that it was yummy and i’ll for sure have it again
maybe you’ll get notes then
maybe not
from the website:
Style: Bitter Food Pairing: Beef, Seafood
Tasting Notes:
6 Ingredients:
Malts: 100% Floor-malted Maris Otter, Cara Vienna, Cara Wheat.
Hops: Crystal.
Yeast & Water: Rogue’s Pacman Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.
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while at hidden the other night, my tastebuds were tingled by Rogue Brewery’s Brutal Bitter.
it pours with an awful lot of head, and stays a bit hazy even after it warms up a little. offered in 650mL bottles, it didn’t say what its alcohol volume was, but judging by our lack of addle-brainedness, we figured it wasn’t outrageously high! 15 degrees plato, 59 IBUs, 14.2 degrees Lovibond and just 7 ingredients: 100% floor-malted maris otter, cara vienna, cara wheat malts; crystal and rogue farm willamette hops, free range coastal waters and top fermenting pacman yeast. no chemicals, preservatives or additives. suggested food pairings are beef and bbq.
they say: “Dedicated to Justin Fisch, the “Shade Man”. An imperial style bitter using exotic traditional floor malts, a hoppy citrus flavor with a stupendous hop aroma. Hedonistic!”
definitely has a hop aroma, its smooth and very easy-drinking. not particularly bitter and makes a great session beer. we like it, we really like it!
“that’s a fine summer beer”, says alison
“its better to be brutal”, says i
the website says:
i love the rogue brewery!
it may actually be the first craft brew i ever tried, before i knew what craft brewing even was. i was in texas and got taken to the larger than imaginable local grocery store, where they had an entire aisle of hot sauce and two aisles of beer – it was heaven! the dead guy label caught my eye and was the only memorable beer among the mixed six-pack i picked out.
since that day i have never been disappointed by a rogue beer.
and the brutal bitter was just what the doctor ordered the other night (well, okay, it was me who ordered it, my doctor doesn’t actually approve of my beer drinking, but you know what i mean…) to wash all my cares away. subtle, delicious, refreshing. thumbs way, way up!