Category: holiday

beer column

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

Because the holiday season is upon us, and everyone has a beer lover on their list, here are some gift ideas for everyone who didn’t purchase a beer advent calendar in time!

Beer tour gift certificates:
Vancouver Brewery Tours
www.vancouverbrewerytours.com
604-318-2280
Hop in the van and get squired around town!  Enjoy a three hour tour of three breweries.  The breweries on each tour vary, and include Deep Cove and Bridge Brewing in North Vancouver; Storm, Parallel 49 and Bomber Brewing in East Vancouver; and Sunday tours now include Brassneck Brewing.  $69 gets you a van ride, behind the scenes tours and beer samples at the three breweries, and a really nice souvenir pint glass.  Tours run year round Thurs-Sun at noon and Saturdays at 4:00 on select dates.  They also offer private tours for up to 14 people.
Aaaand, they have a DineOut tour on January 16 and 17 that includes a tour of two craft breweries and three artisan food stops.  You’ll visit the brand new Strange Fellows Brewing and Bomber Brewing plus Big Lou’s Butcher Shop, La Grotta del Formaggio, Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria and East Side Beer Food (aka Pig on the Street).  All that for $71

The Original Vancouver Food Tour
www.vancouverfoodtour.com
778-228-7932
Craft Beer ‘n Bites Tour – runs year round. For $75 you get beer and food at three Gastown locations.  The tours run weekdays at 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Friday to Sunday at 4:00 – 7:00 pm.

Or how about a gift pack:

Steel & Oak in New Westminster has a gift pack containing two pilsner glasses, a toque and a $100 gift card, all for $100;

from the steel & oak facebook page

Four Winds in Ladner has a gift box containing a mixed 4-pack of beer, a 750ml Triplicity Belgian tripel, 2 snifters, a driftwood coaster set, spiced nuts and shortbread for $100;

 
from the four winds twitter feed

Or beer clothing:

How cool are these hop leggings??? Made in Montreal, sold via TheBrewHeads.com.  They do ship to Canada.  The leggings would be $44US plus $10 shipping.  Tshirts, caps, glassware, toques.  Fun, fun, fun!



from the brewheads.com website

www.brewershirts.comhas free shipping to Canadaif you spend $40 at the store.  I had that amount purchased in about 2 seconds flat!  Mostly tshirts, but also stickers, glassware, bar towels and openers, etc.

If you want to shop more locally, Phillips Brewing’s online store is now open at www.Phillipsbeer.com/shop. They’ve got beer steins, hoodies, tees and hats.  Shipping costs vary by order.

Or beer gear:

I am in love with the stainless steel products at innate.com. You can’t go wrong with one of their growlers or sleeves.

Steel & Oak also have spiffy red stainless growlers for sale.

from steel & oak’s facebook page

Then there’s always the go-to brewery gift certificates and growlers:


Most of the local breweries have gift certificates available for purchase, along with swag and growlers, and are a great place to stop in for a last minute gift purchase… while you get your own growler(s) filled!

I would like to send out big ‘thank you’s to the contributors to my Food Drive Gift Baskets:

Basket #1:

Stainless Steel Growler donated by Hunter Litigation Chambers
2 bottles of Ice Breaker winter ale and 2 beer glasses donated by Stanley Park Brewing
6-pack of Red Truck Ale and ball cap donated by Red Truck Brewing
1 650ml bottle of Moon Dance Mango Wheat and tshirt donated by Old Yale Brewing
2 650ml bottles of Cameron’s RPA and Sound Brewing Dubbel Entendre and HopGoblin tshirt donated by Craft Beer Importers
$50 gift certificate and beer glasses and Persephone Brewing ball cap donated by 12 Kings Pub
Tshirt donated by CAMRA Vancouver
(Estimated value, $225)

Basket #2:

6-pack of Ice Breaker winter ale and 2 beer glasses donated by Stanley Park Brewing
6-pack of Red Truck Ale and ball cap donated by Red Truck Brewing
1 650ml bottle of West Coast IPA and tshirt donated by Old Yale Brewing
2 650ml bottles of Cameron’s RPA and Sound Brewing Trippel Entendre and Eggenberg women’s tshirt donated by Craft Beer Importers
Glass growler donated by CAMRA Vancouver
(Estimated value, $100)

Basket #3

6-pack of Ice Breaker winter ale and 2 beer glasses donated by Stanley Park Brewing
6-pack of Red Truck Ale and ball cap donated by Red Truck Brewing
1 650ml bottle of Knotty Blonde Ale beer and tshirt donated by Old Yale Brewing
2 650ml bottles of Cameron’s RPA and Sound Brewing Ursus Spaelaeus and Eggenberg women’s tshirt donated by Craft Beer Importers
Glass growler donated by CAMRA Vancouver
(Estimated value, $100)

Beer picks:

Whistler Brewing Uncommon lager – 650ml bottles at private and gov’t stores

Parallel 49 Toques of Hazzard white imperial ipa – available at the tasting room and bottles

Powell Street Brewery Ode to Citra pale ale – available at the tasting room and in 650ml bottles

cbc

i made the cbc website again!

3 holiday beers to celebrate the season

Beer columnist Rebecca Whyman delivers her top picks for the holiday season

By On The Coast and Rebecca Whyman, CBC NewsPosted: Nov 27, 2014 4:18 PM PT
Listen here:

Seasonal beer, good picks for a hoppy holiday 6:38

On The Coast beer columnist Rebecca Wyman

On The coast beer columnist Rebecca Whyman poses with her three picks for seasonal beer. (Stephen Quinn)
 

Winter beer is usually all about vanilla, but for On the Coast beer columnist Rebecca Whyman, this year the holidays are about Christmas ales from Belgium.
Whyman says all three are vanilla-free, and can be imported from Bravo Beer Company or found at specialty beer stores.

Bonsecours Blonde de Noel : One of the only blonde ales brewed for Christmas, it is made with malt, candi sugar, hops and yeast. This is a sweet, yeasty and fruity beer with notes of clove, coriander and citrus.

Noel de Silenrieux: An organic spiced Belgian brown ale made with barley malt, candi sugar, hops and spices. It tastes of cherries, figs, grapes and pears. It has a sweet initial taste, moving to caramel and molasses.
Scaldis Noel: A dry-hopped Belgian strong dark ale made with barley malt, candi sugar, hops and yeast. It tastes of toffee, oak, nuts, pepper, stone fruit and all spice with the mouthfeel of a sherry or port

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

on the coast

i will be on cbc radio’s on the coast tonight at 5:50
talking about all the wonderful things you can buy for the beer lover on your holiday shopping list

my list of awesome gifts is very long
i probably won’t get to mention everything i want to in my six minutes…
so tune in on the radio tonight for as much as i can cram and then check back here tomorrow for the rest of my (non-exhaustive) list!

biercraft

biercraft has lots going on this holiday season:

This is a busy time of year for everyone

Don’t forget to take time out for yourself

We have a ton of things going on this month, just like you do, so try and slow down and have a beer or 2 when you can and remember what this time of year is all about.

Family. Friends. Good Beer.

Find us on Facbook Follow us on Twitter
Our Holidy party menu is now available for groups of 8 or more. Where else can you have a certified Cicerone plan your food and beer pairing?

Please call your preferred location for details and bookings.

Tired of spending lots of money on New Years and getting nothing but “party favors” and a glass of sparkling wine?

Why not stay local this year and come party with us for New Beers Eve? No more waiting hours for a taxi to take you home. Just all you can eat food, oyster bar, DIY poutine station and of course a boat load of really good beer.

Tickets and more information

What could make any elf happier than than getting free beer for gving the gift of beer?

Our “Buy Some Get Some” gift card offer is back again this year. Ask your server for details.

Looking for a non traditional Holiday Party this year. At Brick and Barley we are available for booking any night of the week and have a great selection of Craft Beers and of course AMAZING pizza. Please call Christine for details at 604-688-8694
Every weekday from 2:30 till 5 we have a 1/2 pound of mussels and beer on special for just $10. Any mussels from our menu and a 16oz. Pilsner Urquel all for just $10. Yum.
Copyright © 2012 BierCraft Restaurants, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up on our website, Facebook page or entered a contest and gave us permission to send you special offers

Our mailing address is:

BierCraft Restaurants

3305 Cambie Street

Vancouver, British ColumbiaV5Z 2W6

Canada

Add us to your address book

Our location phone numbers are:
Cambie 604-874-6900
Commercial 604-254-2437
Incendio 604-688-8694