i went all the way to victoria this weekend
but had no time to visit any breweries
or english, irish or scottish pubs
all my time was taken up by a lovely wedding and reception
congratulations chris and joshua!
i did, however, manage to quaff a bottle of phillips hop circle ipa at the reception
and a few draft lighthouse beacon ipas at the after-party
go me!
well, for a not-so-beery week, i still managed to knock a few back!
wednesday night i hit pivo before and between queer film festival movies
had me the phillips hop circle
thursday night before the centrepiece queer film festival movie
i managed to swing by yaletown brewpub for some of iain hill’s ipa dry-hopped with sorachi ace
i am not sure there are words to describe it
besides hop heaven!!
delicious! delightful! divine!
the hop nose carried through to the body
i would have happily taken a growler to go if i had any time to get through one this weekend!
if i could be more than one place tonight i would be at both pivo for their second anniversary
and at beerlesque at the roundhouse
but i can’t be at both, so i’ll be doing my duty to my fellow craft beer lovers by pouring libations at beerlesque!
made it to cask night at the railway club on tuesday
it was a dry-hopped with tomahawk pale ale by russell brewing
we had a beernesday this week!
and stacy brought me dogfish head 60 minute ipa – yay!
and before beernesday, i was at the railway club to watch game 1 of the stanley cup final
where i drank the hop circle ipa
and everyone else split their time between the ok 1516 special and phillips ginger beer
tasting vancouver wants to know what your favourite local(ish) ipa is!
so far their list is:
Red Racer IPA (getting lots of love)
Driftwood Fat Tug IPA
Russell IP’EH
Dogfish Head IPA 60
Double Daddy Imperial
Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA
Elysian Jasmine IPA
Tree Brewing Hop Head
Dead Frog Citra IPA
Stone IPA
Ninkansi Total Domination
Howe Sound’s Devil’s Elbow
West Coast Green Flash
Deschutes Inversion DF 90min IPA
Hopsickle
Elysian Immortal
Bridgeport’s Hop Czar
Hale’s Ales Moosehead
and i’m happy to say i’ve had almost all of the above
but there’s the total eclipse of the hops? the hop circle? the hop henge? the unearthly?
i’m off to spend some quality time with bon jovi tonight
just me and a few thousand of their fans…
what that means though is stadium beer
blech, i hate stadium beer
and paying an outrageous sum for the displeasure
good thing we’ll be starting out at the railway and i can get my hop on with the hop circle first!
how brilliant are they over at phillips?
really quite!
they’ve come out with a mixer 12 pack (which i believe bc’ers call a case)
OF ALL IPAs
sorry, didn’t mean to shout
well, yes i did, but i didn’t mean to hurt your eyes/ears
the 12 pack comes with 3 each of the following:
skookum cascadian dark ale
hopcircle ipa
krypton ryepa
and then features a revolving hop monster for the final 3 bottles
currently its the centennial ipa
“the hop box is a specially designed long range hop transport case. it ensures the hops, liquefied in an amorphous non-crystallizing, yet refreshing barley matrix, are delivered safely to you, the deserving ipa lover. while the hopbox is purpose built for rapid deployment of the hopcircle ipa, skookum cascadian brown and the krypton ryepa, the hopbox also welcomes random hoppy passengers. check the window seat for this box’s guest. turn on, tune in, hop out!”
i already know that i’m in love with the hop circle and i quite like the skookum
so i’m very much looking forward to making the acquaintance of the ryepa and the centennial!
went on a mini pub crawl with my own personal viking yesterday
everyone should have their own personal viking
they are very, very useful
they drink with you, they carry the heavy things
in case of attack, they can protect you…
and they’re always game to go on a pub crawl with you!
since we needed to run beer errands at brewery creek and firefly, we thought the main and cambie area would be a good place to go for a sunny afternoon’s worth of beers
beginning at the whip on main
where we had the soup of the day (prawn, lemongrass thai)
i went with storm’s hurricane ipa
the viking went with storm’s black plague stout
(nevermind the apocolypse, its the black plague stout)
both of which were divinely delicious
i love that the stout is complexly malty without resorting to vanilla or coffee notes
the ipa is hazy and not overly hopped, with lots of fruity notes
then to brewery creek so i could pick up my bottle of upright brewing’s clash ale
that worked up a mighty thirst, so next stop was the 3 lions on broadway
where the pub grub menu looked great
and the beer list was not entirely awful!
we both went with the hop circle
tried and true and hoppy as heck!
our strength renewed, we ventured onward to firefly
where i picked up some driftwood fat tug and southern tier 2xipa
from there we ventured over to the cambie street biercraft (formerly stella’s)
where the viking indulged her love of belgians
and i tried to order two different beers that they were out of
apparently border crossing issues were holding up my beers of choice
but happily for me, the one i did end up with was delightful
and the complimentary chips they served us two bowls of, were fabulous!
my first choice had been the bear republic hop rod rye
because i like it and don’t happen to have any of it at home at the moment
my second choice was the dogfish head 60 minute
because i like it and don’t happen to have any of it at home at the moment
but i was denied them both!
but my third choice in the “what don’t i have at home but has lots of hops” sweepstakes was the deschutes green lakes organic ale
great aromatic head
on the hazy side
nice deep colour
and wonderful hops aroma and bite
while still remaining balanced
so nice i decided to have a third…
after which we called an end to our pub crawl in time to go home and change into our party best and take our little show on the road!
bought me a six-pack of the hop circle ipa by phillips
“unidentified fermented object”
6.5%
light caramel colour
clear
big frothy head on the vigourous pour
good malt and hop balance for a really hoppy beer!
even amanda likes it!
and wants another (just like they say on the label)
bridget is a fan
and i’m not gonna lie to you, so am i!
from the bottle: “With a hop flavour that is out of this world, Hop Circle IPA will probe your taste buds and abduct your senses. The gravitational pull of this IPA will have you searching the galaxy for another close encounter of the thirst kind. Resistance is futile.”
can i whine for a second about their website though?
sure a game is fun and all
but the site just isn’t informational enough for my liking
i wanna know stuff
i want a blog or a newsletter or at least news flashes
however, that said, their beer more than makes up for any beef i have with the website!
from their facebook wall:
“More robust than Finagle’s Folly and twice as mighty as Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters, Phillips new Hop Circle IPA is out of this world. We’re boldly going where no local IPA has gone before and we want you to come along. You don’t need a space helmet or intergalactic vaccinations, just a thirst for the most refreshing IPA this side of Rigel VII.
To help celebrate liftoff for the starship Hop Circle, we’re hosting a space party. We want you to come dressed in your most interstellar space getup. Make a little effort and you’ll be rewarded, as there will be prizes for the best costume.
The Hop Circle launch takes place on Stardate 2010.4.20 from 4:20pm-6:20pm at 2010 Government. Sorry to say it, but please leave your growlers at home, as we won’t be filling them at this event. And don’t forget two pieces of ID!
May the hops be with you.”
no sooner do i post about my beer snobbery and lack of enthusiasm for most bars’ beer lists than i find an amazing watering hole!
praise the lord!
apparently its been a little while since i ventured out to the biltmore and stayed out far too late on a school night
because since i was last there they have started carrying a plethora of really great craft brews!
they had six taps on the go
(for $5.50)
phillips blue buck
lighthouse ipa
okanagan springs 1516
okanagan springs black lager
okanagan springs something else
and something else (might have been cider actually)
great memory i have eh?
and then the bottles! i only wish i could remember half of them
but alas, i cannot
what i do remember is: anchor steam, phillips hop circle, deschutes mirror pond, heineken, leffe… cans of pabst blue ribbon…
what did i have?
well, i’m glad you asked!
i had a pint of the lighthouse ipa first (and second)
followed by a bottle of mirror pond
followed by a bottle of hop circle
followed by going to bed too late on a school night!
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