brassneck brewery – Beck's Beer Blog

16 places to drink craft beer in vancouver

chuck hallett (aka barley mowat) compiled a list of 16 places to drink craft beer in vancouver for vancouvereater.com in advance of vancouver craft beer week
i have shamelessy borrowed his list
and provide you with links to my reviews of most of these places
(which were published in the bc craft beer news over the past year)
you know, just in case you haven’t actually been to all of these places
(which i would only find credible if you don’t actually live in vancouver)
and wanted to know allllll about them

33 Acres Brewing Company

Imagine a sleek Scandinavian Coffee House selling solidly produced sessional ales and lagers and you might have pictured 33 Acres. A sleek white-and-concrete interior kept immaculately clean makes you wonder whether or not you’ve slipped into an art gallery by mistake, then you realize that you have… The beer is the art. Highlights include Merckx (Saison) and Sunshine (French Blanche).

Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar

Some bars have great beers, some have a great view, but few are worth visiting simply for the room. Rogue is the exception to that rule. Lofty 30 foot ceilings and an ornate interior hark back to the days when the room was part of a train station. The excellent beer and well-executed American menu only add to the charm.

my review in the may/june 2014 bc craft beer news

Brassneck Brewery

The cosy, wood-lined tasting lounge is owner Nigel Springthorpe’s way of encouraging you to say “Well, okay, just one more” a few more times than you might otherwise. Since he also owns the Alibi Room, you could say that Nigel knows a thing or two about running a bar. Luckily, Brewmaster Conrad Gmoser also knows a thing or two about brewing beer. A constantly changing array of quality taps is backed by one or two regulars offering something for everyone. Definitely try Passive Aggressive (NW Pale Ale)

Tap & Barrel

Boasting not one, but two locations on Vancouver’s iconic seawall, Tap & Barrel might very well lay claim to the best patios in town on which to consume craft beer. The broad-not-deep selection of all-BC beer (and wine) on 20+ taps should have something for everyone. Expect a long wait on sunny weekends but there are worse places to hang out than the Sea Wall.

my review in the march/april 2014 bc craft beer news

Parallel 49 Brewing Co.

Such is the expansion in the local beer scene that P49 is both one of the older breweries on this list and only just recently celebrated its second birthday. A large welcoming tasting lounge lets you sample their regular lineup and several of the never-ending stream of oddities that burst forth from brewmaster Graham With’s imagination on a regular basis. There’s no kitchen, but food carts have a habit of showing up when you get hungry.

Portland Craft

You don’t have to travel all the way to Portland, Oregon to see what makes it the craft beer mecca of the world; Main Street’s Portland Craft brings the best of the US to Canada. 16 taps of American craft beer (and one or two locals for good balance) play off a menu that takes food cues from Portlandia (e.g. “Put A Bird On It (Fried chicken and waffles)). Portland Craft can get quite busy in the late evening on Fridays and Saturdays, so go early or call ahead.

Tangent Cafe

A recent addition to the BC craft beer scene, Tangent Cafe demonstrates that raw number of taps isn’t all you need to contend. Ten carefully curated taps offer up a mix of rare beers alongside their more mundane brethren. Pair with an East meets West Malaysian/Canadian menu.

my review in the november/december 2013 bc craft beer news

St. Augustine’s Craft Brew House & Kitchen

Perennial winner of the silver medal for Best Beer Bar in Vancouver, St Augustine’s actually boasts more taps than The Alibi Room and a similar lineup of rare ales. Its convenient location just off the Expo Skytrain makes this an ideal stop for an afternoon pint while out exploring Vancouver’s eastern fringes.

my review in the september/october 2013 bc craft beer news

Alibi Room

This is where craft beer in BC started. Back in 2006, owner Nigel Springthorpe converted a down-market after-work hangout for the city’s film industry set into a temple to All Things Beer. Boasting over 50 taps plus 3 permanent casks, if you’re looking for a rare beer in BC, this is where you’ll find it. Go early, as it can become crowded within an hour of the 5pm opening.

Steamworks Brewing Company

One of Vancouver’s original brewpubs, Steamworks has been serving up good beer at the corner of Cordova and Water since pawn shops were more common in the area than high-end boutiques. While most of the beer is no longer produced on site (Steamworks recently opened a massive brewery in neighbouring Burnaby), the recipes haven’t changed.

my review in the july/august 2013 bc craft beer news

also included in chuck’s list, but not yet reviewed by yours truly are:

both biercraft locations

bomber brewing

tap & barrel convention centre

and wildebeest

and storm brewing, which i won’t be reviewing until there’s a tasting room!

watch for my next list of reviews in the july/august 2014 bc craft beer news

where i list for you allll the best patios to sip great suds upon this summer

alibi room 500

not gonna lie to you, my head was hurtin’ this mornin’
the alibi 500 knocked the stuffin’ outta me!

photo credit: rodney gitzel

here we are enjoying a glass of iain hill’s oud bruin
the nail in the coffin of my feeling good this morning!

can i even remember what all i tried last night?
nope, but i did write it all down on my 500th beer list, which i inconveniently left at home
highlights include: four winds radler, lighthouse numbskull and brassneck / parallel 49 collaboration cereal killer
i really wanted the new belgium lips of faith terroir, but it wasn’t cold enough to serve yesterday
i am debating whether my poor head can survive a return trip for it…

beer column

here are my notes from yesterday’s beer column
on cbc radio’s on the coast with stephen quinn

What’s in a name? Shakespeare tell us that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But would a beer by any other name garner as much market share?

Naming a brewery is no small task, and its a different process for everyone. As Aaron Jonkheere says in his blog I’m Starting a Brewery: “You see the name is always the first thing people ask about your brewery. So you want a name you are proud of and represents some aspect of what you are doing or what you stand for IMO [in my opinion].” And I think that is true for every brewery name.

Some people go with a geographical place name (Powell Street Brewing, Vancouver Island Brewing, Deep Cove Brewing), some with their own name (Russell, Hoyne, Phillips, R&B), some go with a theme that speaks to them (Green Leaf, Four Winds). Regardless of which way you choose to go though, when you are starting up a new brewery you have to have a marketable name. Especially now with so many new breweries opening up in the Lower Mainland the need to have a recognizable brand to help you stand out is integral to a successful operation – almost as important as the beer itself.

If you’ve never heard of the two beers in front of you before, odds are that the names of them will influence your choice between the two. The one with the less attractive name may be a much better beer, but if you have only the names to go on, it is less likely to be the beer you would choose. Without any other information, we do tend to judge books by their covers.

I had the opportunity to lead a couple of focus groups for a soon-to-be-opened brewery in Vancouver. More than just helping narrow down a list of possible names, the focus groups gave the owners insight into what people were looking for behind a brewery name. Sure it’s great to have a brewery named after your neighbourhood. But more important than that people said, was that they wanted authenticity behind choosing that name. In addition to locating the brewery in the neighbourhood, do the owners have a connection to that neighbourhood? Do they give back to the neighbourhood? Who are they and what are they about? It’s all well and good to find a catchy name and build a brand around it, but beer drinkers want to know that there is substance behind that name and branding.

It was very interesting to see how people’s reactions to certain names changed from their first impression on just hearing the name to learning the story behind choosing that name and what it meant to the owners. Some back story can go a long way in making a top ten name jump to top two on a list of potential names. I think the same is true to having a beer bottle on the shelf of a store catch your eye and then reading a mission statement on a website that gives you insight into the people who made that beer. I know I become more invested in the whole beer drinking experience the more I can feel a connection to the beer. You can hook me with the name, but you’ll only keep me with a quality product and a connection to the people behind it.

So a name has to be catchy and authentic. AND no one else has to have trademarked it or anything similar yet. It’s a tall order, but obviously one that is not slowing down the rapid growth of breweries in British Columbia!

How about naming the beers? Do breweries need to put as much thought into those as they do naming the brewery? It certainly helps with branding if your beer names are deliberate and closely follow the brewery name. There is a lot more wiggle room here than there is in naming a brewery though. I think brewers have a lot more fun naming their beers than they do their breweries. You can be playful in naming a beer in a way that might come off as too flippant when naming a brewery. Which is not to say that naming a beer is all fun and games. A lot of thought still has to go into the process.

Naming beers can be straightforward, like 33 Acres naming their beers 33 Acres of something (Life, Ocean, Darkness, Sunshine). Other breweries aren’t so literal but still keep a theme going, like Granville Island Brewing whose regular beers are all named after local places: Robson Street Hefeweisen, Brockton IPA, Cypress Honey Lager, Kitsilano Maple Cream, English Bay Pale Ale. Yet others go for a more eclectic approach, but keep their beer names in tune with the personality of the brewery, like Brassneck with their Passive Aggressive, Attention Seeker, One Trick Pony and The Geezer.

Then there are others like Parallel 49 that go all out in the fun department with puns for many of their beer names. It has become their schtick and they’re getting quite a lot of attention over it. Unfortunately, not all of it is good. They got a cease and desist letter about one of their beers that trod a little too closely on the trademark of a certain very popular movie trilogy.

There are also more and more cease and desist letters being written between breweries as beer names start to tread on each others’ trademarks. One beer writer (in Beer Advocate magazine) has called for a return to style names to combat this issue. So instead of it being, say, “33 Acres of Life”, the name would be “33 Acres California Common”; instead of Crannog’s “Backhand of God”, it would be “Crannog Stout”. Some breweries such as Four Winds and Central City already follow this model for naming most of their beers.

I can see Andy Crouch’s point, it sure would clear up a lot of confusion for the consumer and preclude a lot of lawsuits, not to mention being a whole lot easier to keep track of who brewed which beer. Going with style names for beer would also remove the chance that consumers could find your beer name offensive.

But, but, but I think life would be just a little less fun if my beers all just had style names. I love a good beer pun – and a bad one! And clever names do make me more likely to try that beer over the one next to it on the shelf if I haven’t heard of either of them. However, where will brewers go to name their beers as more product floods the market and they try to stand out? I keep saying that I think we’re still a ways off from hitting the saturation in the local beer market, but I think we’re much closer to reaching a very awkward point of just too many beer names. I am already having trouble keeping track of them all. I am interested to see how the situation develops over the next couple of years. And in the meantime I look forward to hearing Parallel 49’s next beer pun.

Beer Picks:

Before all the Spring seasonals hit the market, I suggest taking the opportunity to drink winter seasonals before they’re gone.

Like 33 Acres of Darkness, available in bottles at the liquor store or on tap at the brewery

Granville Island Cloak & Dagger Cascadian Dark Ale, available in 650ml bombers at the liquor store and the Granville Island retail store

Events:

East Side Beer Fest at the WISE Hall, Wednesday March 5, 2014

this event is now sold out

Hot Glass Cold Beer at the Terminal City Glass Coop, Friday March 7, 2014

there are still tickets available for this event, but only with a logo glass

blown glass stein tickets are sold out

Alibi 500 Beer List at the Alibi Room

Sunday March 9, 2014 2:00 – close

Monday March 10 – Thursday March 13 5:00 – close

No tickets. First come, first sat.

12oz Sleeves of ALL beers will be 500cents 9th-13th.
They will be donating $500 per day to the food bank for the 5 days.
Brassneck Brewing has brewed 4 collaboration beers w/ Gigantic Brewing Company , Four Winds Brewing Co. , Occidental Brewing Company, Parallel 49 Brewing Company specially for the event! Plus 8 casks filled with Portland’s finest and a very special cask from Driftwood.

alibi 500

from camra vancouver:

Hear ye hear ye! Alibi Room has announced the date for their 500 tap rotation celebration!

Alibi 500th starts 2pm on March 9th. No tickets. First come, first sat. Rich Hope as always. Then Mon-Thurs 5pm-close. More details…
12oz Sleeves of ALL beers will be 500cents 9th-13th…
They will be donating $500 per day to the food bank for the 5 days…

Brassneck Brewing has brewed 4 collaboration beers w/ Gigantic Brewing Company , Four Winds Brewing Co. , Occidental Brewing Company, Parallel 49 Brewing Company specially for the event! Plus 8 casks filled with Portland’s finest and a very special cask from Driftwood.

cask

i’ve had the pleasure of drinking several wonderful casks of late

notably:

howe sound devil’s elbow ipa with delta and summit hops
(at the railway club on tuesday evening)

brassneck brewing passive aggressive pale ale dry hopped with sorachi ace
(at the camra vancouver agm at the biltmore on sunday afternoon)

red truck double clutch pale ale
(at the camra vancouver agm at the biltmore on sunday afternoon)

on the coast

if you missed me on cbc radio one’s on the coast with stephen quinn last week
and you’d still like to catch me getting all excited about the new craft breweries in the lower mainland that opened in 2013 and those touted to be opening in 2014
then all you gotta do is clicky and choose the january 7th show
i’m on about 10 minutes from the end, in case you wanna fast forward

beer column

my notes from tuesday’s beer column

on cbc radio one’s on the coast with stephen quinn

(you can hear me wax poetic about craft beer every second tuesday at 5:50 p.m. – 88.1 in the lower mainland)

Is there such a thing as too many local breweries?

Is the Lower Mainland beer market hitting the saturation point – – or is more beer always better?

It’s probably safe to say that 2013 was a banner year for craft beer in the in the Lower Mainland – – certainly a banner year for local breweries.

So what awaits Vancouver beer lovers in 2014?

5 breweries opened in the Lower Mainland in 2013, with GreenLeaf at Lonsdale Quay getting in just under the wire in late December. (33 Acres and Brassneck in Vancouver; Deep Cove in North Van; Four Winds in Delta; plus major expansions at Steamworks and Central City).

I have heard of 6 new breweries slated to open in Vancouver in 2014, plus one in Abbotsford. Bomber Brewing on the Adanac bike path in East Van looks set to be the first, hopefully opening later this month. (Dogwood, Main Street, as-yet-unnamed, Steel Toad and a community start-up in Vancouver, Surlie in Abbotsford)

Will they all survive and thrive? I think that as long as everyone opens up with a strong brand behind them and a focus on a niche market there will be room for them all. Judging by the line-ups at Brassneck and 33 Acres, two of the 2013 openings, the Main Street / Brewery Creek area alone hasn’t even reached its saturation point yet. And of course quality is important. You have to brew quality beer, consistently, to stay in the market. If the new breweries are brewing quality beer, the people will drink it!

If we take a look at where the 2013 new breweries have positioned themselves, and where the 2014 are looking to position themselves, you can see that these are not breweries started by people trying to make a quick buck. They’re in it for the long-haul and for the love of the beer. That alone speaks volumes to the probability that all will thrive and continue to make Vancouver a craft beer haven for the locals and a craft beer destination for tourists.

Each of the breweries has been able to open a tasting room, which gives people who live in the area the ability to sit down at their local brewery and try the product they’re being asked to buy. Formerly only brewpubs could sell their beers on premise, and there are very few of those around. The ability to open a tasting room has been a huge boon to the new breweries. I don’t think I can emphasize enough just how much of a difference it can make to open a new brewery with the ability to have a tasting room right off the bat: instant ability to offer your product for taste-testing; instant source of direct revenue; instant chance to invite the public into your brewery and show them who you are and what you’re making; and when they like it, instant pride of the locals that you’re their local brewery. It’s a whole new world!

Secondly, there is something unique about each of the breweries:

Brassneck on Main Street doesn’t bottle their beer, but they do have a sizeable list of regular beers, which they often brew with slightly different ingredients so every time you go there, you’ll get a different beer. They also have three different sizes of growlers to take home with you. Being co-owned and operated by Nigel Springthorpe of Alibi Room repute doesn’t hurt either.

33 acres, located just off Main Street, has gone with just a couple of regular beers including the only California common style beer in the City, and then offers a seasonal to round out their line-up. Their aesthetic also sets them apart. Stark white brewery and tasting room, simple lines and beautiful ceramic growlers.

Deep Cove in North Vancouver is a brewery and distillery with three staple beers available on tap and in bottles, plus seasonals and a vodka (so far). Deep Cove’s brand is young and energetic, like the team behind it.

Four Winds is a family business on River Road in Delta whose claim to fame is their award-winning saison. They have a full line-up of beers, available on-site with 8 always on tap for tasters and around five for growler fills, and are now bottling their beers as well.

GreenLeaf only has 2 beers (stout and pale ale) available currently, but what they lack in variety they more than make up for in location, location, location. Right inside the Lonsdale Quay GreenLeaf has the advantage of being the only brewery nestled in with a public market – buy your fresh fish and your fresh beer in one stop. Or just grab a growler to take home on you way home from work. They have no plans to bottle, but they do have plans for a couple more beer styles to join their line-up, as well as seasonals, and to join forces with other businesses in the Quay to keep things hyper-local.

Of the planned 2014 breweries, my sources tell me Dogwood will feature organic beers, Main Street will be built around their pilsner and an as-yet-unnamed brewery will focus on low country styles (Belgium and the Netherlands) with a sour program right from the start – three niches not yet filled in the Lower Mainland.

I am optimistic that there is room in the market for more breweries in the Lower Mainland and look forward to the new breweries opening up elsewhere in the Province sending their brews down here for us to try as well. Eventually the market will hit its saturation point, but I believe we are still a ways off from that point. I’m still excited about every new brewery opening, and about every pub that changes its line-up to include craft beer. [Hint: so if you’re opening one, invite me won’t you?]

If you have not yet made a new year’s resolution, or if you’ve already broken the ones you made, I suggest resolving to try more locally brewed craft beer this year. An easy resolution to keep, and one that supports your local economy – it’s a win win!

And with that in mind, here are my beer picks for this week:

Brassneck – Passive Aggressive IPA

33 Acres – 33 Acres of Life (California Common)

Green Leaf – Stout

Deep Cove – Smooth Criminal Stout

Four Winds – Saison Brett if you can find it, otherwise their regular Saison will more than suffice

beer gifts for the holiday season

also known as my notes from yesterday’s beer column
on cbc radio’s on the coast with stephen quinn

gifts for the beer lover:

The holiday season is in full swing. Are you done your shopping yet? Is there still a beer lover or two on your list? Never fear, here are some gift ideas for the beer lovers in your life.

It’s too late now to get the beer advent calendars from Craft Beer Importers, featuring 10 Canadian beers, 13 American beers and 1 Mexican beer. That one is available in early November and usually sells out within days of its arrival in stores, even with a price tag of $130. However, new this year is Phillips’ Snowcase – featuring 24 different beers from Phillips, including regular offerings, seasonals and barrel-aged beers and a more modest price tag of $60 – and there may still be a few available around town at government liquor stores.

The beer advent calendar is a gift you have to plan ahead for. Luckily, there are plenty of other gifts for the beer lover that require much less advance planning! Such as:

While I was at the Make It Fair I saw some fabulous pottery pint cups and steins made by local artist Robyn Williams of Willowcraft. You can see them on her website, willowcraft.ca. The pint cups come in various colours with a round label that says “1 pint” and sell for $25. The steins hold 24 oz and have handles on them. They come in various colours and you can choose ones bearing an ale or lager label, and they cost $35 each. Robyn tells me she has pint cups and steins in stock, so contact her to visit the studio and pick up a gift that also gives back to the community. Willowcraft donates 10% of its profits to Justpotters, a social enterprise that employs people from the margins and people with barriers like mental health and disability issues. Justpotters teaches pottery and job skills.

For the beer loving cyclist in your life, Firebox.com has a six bottle beer holder that goes over the crossbar of your bike. Firebox is located in England but can ship to Canada within 7 business days, so there’s still time to order!

For the crafty folks out there, why not hand make a beer gift? Beer cozies are easy to knit or sew for your beer loving friends. Or a growler cozy if you’re more ambitious. If you’re good with wood, how about a bottle carrier or a growler box? There are plenty of free patterns for all of the above online.

For the board game lover there’s the Brewopoly game, or Beer Nerd, the Tasting Trivia Game, both available from Amazon.ca, and just enough time to get it here before the holidays. Also available on Amazon is a poster of the periodic table of beer styles.

A subscription to Taps magazine is only $35 for a year’s worth of monthly issues. If you spring for two years you get a pricing break of $60. Tapsmagazine.com is the website.

If you’re in a time crunch, a trip to your local liquor store, government or private, makes for easy pickings. There are several great gift sets of beer and swag to choose from. New this year is Howe Sound’s “Carton of Coal” three litre pack of Pothole Filler Oatmeal Stout, Megadestroyer licorice stout and Gathering Storm Cascadian Dark ale and a toque for $20.

If you happen to know your beer lovers’ favourite brewery, you could purchase some swag from their online store. Tshirts, hats, hoodies, bottle openers, growlers and glassware are usually available and you should have just enough time if you order now to have the goods arrive in time for the holiday. If their favourite brewery is local, you could stop by and pick up the swag yourself. Tasting rooms like Parallel 49 and Brassneck have tshirts and glassware for sale, as well as growlers. A filled growler also makes a great host gift to take to a party with you. Brassneck has 3 different sizes of growlers to choose from. 33 Acres has beautiful ceramic growlers – they ain’t cheap, but they’re very attractive! They currently have the 32oz size available. They also have growler fill cards available for purchase.

If you are looking to buy memories rather than goods, may I suggest one of the many beer tours in town, or tickets to a beer pairing dinner at a restaurant near you.

And, lastly, a plug for my friend Joe Wiebe and his useful reference book, Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to B.C. Breweries. Joe is offering autographed copies of the book inscribed personally to your beer lover. The book’s website is: http://www.craftbeerrevolution.ca/index2.html

I leave you with a few other peoples’ beer lovers gift lists:

beer lovers gift guide from ‘blog about beer’
about.com’s 10 beer gifts
the brew club’s list
the list from squidoo