central city

cask

managed to make it out to the railway club for the cask again last night
central city’s oaked esb
which for the most part i really enjoyed
but there was an odd flavour that came out as it warmed up
not unpleasant per se, but definitely odd

anyway, the camra cask meet ups seem to be going well
some of the usual suspects were there
and a couple of unusual suspects joined in too
i hope it continues, it is nice to socialize with other beer geeks at a relaxed drop in event

and the railway club has a new menu
not a whole lot of veggie options
(and a couple of spelling errors/typos – yes, i am THAT guy)
but people were saying they liked what they tried last night
(which were the thai coconut rice bowl and the flank “stake” tacos)

legacy liquor store

freshly stocked beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Central City Brewers Thor’s Hammer – $15.75

In Old Norse Mythology Thor and his hammer Mjölnir represented thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees and anything else manly you can think of. Central City has managed to capture this idea, brew it and bottle it. Cloudy and copper in colour with a nose of caramelized malt, cereal and a touch of alcohol. Caramelized malt is the star on the palate alongside a big full body and of course more warming alcohol. A legendary brew good enough for any Norse god, Skâl!

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

New Belgium Brewing Co. Rampant Imperial IPA – $8.15

We love the hop and our craving for it drives us to search for some serious brews, thankfully New Belgium has answered our call with their Rampant Imperial IPA. A beautiful light straw colour when its in the glass, this brew pumps out aromas of resinous pine, citrus, spice and a little floral bouquet of hop. On the palate more pine pops highlighted with citrus fruit and subtle tones of stone fruits like peach. A well-balanced brew that hits all the marks.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Chuckanut Brewery German-Style Pilsner – $7.55

Sometimes a classic beer style hits the spot and with, fingers crossed, warmer weather around the corner this pilsner won’t stray far from the pack. Clear and golden in hue with plenty of grassy hop and grain to keep things balanced aromatically. Clean and crisp on the palate with equal parts grains and hop that once again balance each other out. Brewed to perfection this beer would quench the thirst of any pilsner lover.

Chris Bonnallie | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

the cask last night at the railway club was central city’s simcoe dry-hopped ipa
damn that simcoe is a tasty hop!

a little bit of catch up

the cask last night at the railway club was central city’s pumpkin ale
it was quite a nice pumpkin ale
is it too early in the season to be over the pumpkin?

and speaking of the lovely railway club, if you ever frequented that joint you would have been served by the fabulous natasha
well, she has retired from slinging beer at the railway
and there’s a party in her honour on sunday at 5
come out and hoist a glass to this wonderful woman

bc beer blog reports that a few victoria beers are ready for release
including hoyne’s wolf vine ipa and driftwood’s sartori harvest ipa, both wet-hopped

a couple of pieces of gossip as well:
there will be a new beer and vodka distributor in town
official announcement coming shortly, but i can tell you oregon beers will be featured

this bit of news is unsubstantiated…
steamworks is opening a new brewery
i would assume to brew their bottled beers and restaurant beers currently being brewed off-site
makes sense to me
i look forward to finding out the details!

so many beers…

so many beers, so little time…

tuesday’s cask at the railway club was central city’s hoppy apple pie esb
and it was really quite delicious
their amazing extra special bitter amped up with some apple and nutmeg notes
it really worked!
(now i just need to find someone who can bake me a hoppy apple pie… ryan?)

after the railway i went out with a friend to mahoney’s pub by canada place
i had no idea it even existed – really should get out more!
for an irish pub they have a pretty darned good craft beer menu
and the food was amazing!
nice view of the water too

and last night at st. augustine’s i tried the anderson valley brewing bahl hornin’ wee geech pale ale: 4.4% designed to satisfy the hop heads out there, while still offering a sessionable and balanced ale. the aroma hops have a very piney, citrusy, and grassy element which we further emphasized by adding fresh cut lemongrass late in the kettle. it also imparts a spicy ginger character.

i didn’t really like this one at all
couldn’t put my tongue on the exact flavour that i didn’t like, but it might well have been the grassiness
i didn’t get any citrus hop or ginger
just lots of ale and that je ne sais quoi that i didn’t care for

oh well, it had a fun name, so i’m glad i tried it!

tonight i am off to the yaletown for a pint of cask there
then the granville room for the elysian / ninkasi collaboration pumpkin ipa
very much looking forward to all of that

vancouver sun

it is a sunny day in vancouver
but the vancouver sun i’m referring to is the newspaper, which currently has two articles about craft beer online:

the insatiable taste for craft brews article quotes lundy dale and iain hill

and the longer version of the article names names of lots of local drinking holes and breweries like crannog, tap and barrel, r&b, parallel 49, the alibi room, central city, all the soon-to-be-opened new vancouver establishments and goes into nano-breweries like bridge brewing

alibi room

oh alibi room!
why do you have so many more beers than i can drink in a night?

i began with a cask last night
central city’s red racer dry-hopped with simcoe
and it was fantastic
could have been a little more carbonated
but otherwise a stellar ipa!

next up i decided to double my hops pleasure
with the lost coast limited release double trouble ipa
and holy hops batman, was it ever a citrusy bitter little number
delicious!

why i didn’t just have small pours of the above two, i don’t know
but there were still too many beers i wanted to try on the menu that i had to go with a frat bat!

from left to right:
conrad’s marris otter cascade hopped session ale
tofino hop cretin ipa
tariq’s wrath of khan ipa
red truck cherry lemonade cask

loved the first three, did not at all care for the cherry lemonade
at 3.8% i can see drinking the session ale on a summer patio for hours!
and the other two? gosh darnit, i love me an ipa
colour me happy!