Category: mission springs brewery

beer column

With the change in the weather comes a change in seasonal beer styles. 

Oktoberfest beers and fresh-hopped beers are two of my favourites that often get overshadowed by the arrival of pumpkin beers to the market.

Fresh-hopped beers have just started to hit stores and these are beers with a very limited shelf life.  You have to get them fast and drink them soon.  Fresh-hopping, also known as wet-hopping refers to using freshly picked hops while brewing rather than dried or pelleted hops.

We are very lucky in the Lower Mainland to be located in a hop-friendly growing environment.  This means that our brewers can obtain fresh hops when they ripen and use those immediately to brew beer.  Driftwood Brewing in Victoriadrives out to the Sartori ranch CultusLake to help harvest the hops and then drives them back to Victoriathat same day to be put right into the brew.  Storm Brewing and Persephone Brewing use hops they grow themselves which cuts down on the travel time from bine to brew.  If you picture a crew picking hops and then sprinting back to the brewery with them and dropping them right into the kettle and/or fermentation tanks you wouldn’t be far off the reality.
 You have to get them fast because they are very small run batches and therefore not in large supply.  If you hear that one is released, you pretty much have to get to your liquor store immediately if you’re going to get some.  If you aren’t following your local store and favourite breweries on Facebook or Twitter, you are missing out on the best opportunity to hear about new releases.

You have to drink fresh-hopped beers soon because the hop oils that are imparted from the fresh hops are quite volatile and begin to degrade immediately after being picked.  The longer you wait to drink that fresh-hopped beer, the less of the hoppy goodness will remain in the beer.  A day or three won’t make a discernable difference, but once we get into weeks it certainly can.

Fresh hops tend to lend a grassier flavour to the beer.  Because the oils are fresh, they are also smoother, lending more rounded flavour than stark bitterness.  If you are a hop fan, I suggest picking up at least one of this season’s fresh-hopped beers and seeing how you find it stacks up.


I’m not sure what my favourite part of Oktoberfest is – the pretzels, the outfits, the oom-pah bands or the beer.  Oh who am I kidding, it’s the beer!
Oktoberfest beers are part of the Marzen style of beers.  These are lagers originally brewed in Bavaria in March and allowed to ferment slowly during the summer months for drinking at harvest time, which includes Oktoberfest.  The Märzen style ranges from the lighter Helles Märzen to Dunkles Märzen, a darker, coppery, cellar-aged festival-style beer that has been brewed in Bavaria for about 500 years.

Local examples tend to be a rich copper or amber colour.  They tend to be very smooth and malt-forward with just enough bitterness to keep the malt from being too sweet.  Weighing in from 5-6.5% though, you do have to watch your consumption.  Oktoberfest beers are session beers in that you drink a whole bunch of them in a session, but even though they go down easily, they pack a punch.  Good thing there are pretzels and wurst to pair with them to keep you going.

Beer Picks:

If you can find any of these fresh-hopped beers, get them now!  Drink them now!

Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA

Hoyne Wolf Vine Wet Hopped Pale Ale

Storm’s 100% James fresh hopped ipa

Oktoberfest ales:

Bomber brewing’s Oktoberfest

Mission Springs Oktoberfest
Steamworks Kolsch – which you can try at the brewery in Burnaby this Thursday, Friday and
Saturday, along with a warm pretzel and bratwurst
3845 William Street, just off Boundary Road

harrison beer fest and oktoberfest

yesterday’s beer fest was fun
it’s not the biggest beer festival around
and there were not many beers being offered that i hadn’t had before
but it’s a well-run festival and a great introduction to beer festivals for a newbie
or a relaxing beer festival for an old hand

caveat:  tourism harrison paid for me to stay two nights at the lovely harrison beach hotel, and entry for me and my guest to all three beer fest events.  i’m not going to lie to you about my impressions of the festival, but i may have had rose-coloured glasses on due to the sheer joy of a mostly-free weekend away at a beer festival in adorable harrison.



i brought a newbie with me to the festival
so while i spent my time pouring over the list for beers that i needed to cross off my “drank it” list
i was also looking for beers i thought she would want to try
for those who follow me, you’ll know that i have one hold-out on full conversion to craft beer
well, no longer!
bringing her to the beer fest moved her from macro lager lover into craft beer appreciator
will she never drink a rainier again?  don’t make me laugh!
but, she drank brown ales and nut brown ales and stouts and porters all afternoon and loved them
she even wrote down her favourites so she can find them at the liquor store

the set up of the beer fest was pretty much what you find at all beer festivals
booths set up around the room for breweries
seating in the middle
water / rinsing stations smattered around
but at harrison beer fest you get arm chairs and table cloths and blue skirts on the beer tables
it’s a classy affair!
the wack pack was back in full force

the winners of the people’s choice awards went to some very different beers than usually lead the pack in vancouver or victoria:
honourable mentions: mission springs, old yale and mill street
3rd place: phillips
2nd place: parallel 49
1st place: vancouver island brewing
then there was a two hour break in the proceedings
(during which i had a nap – no, really! beer festivalling is exhausting)
and the hall turned from beer hall into oktoberfest beer hall
with beer steins and leiderhosen and pretzels, oh my!
and the dancing!  chicken dance anyone?

i even got to meet sasquatch

the festivities wound down at 11
so civilized, just like the rest of the festival

did i enjoy the festival?  yes i did
would i come again next year?  i might
it wouldn’t be top of my list of beer festivals to attend, but it was very enjoyable
i’m a beer geek, there are so many festivals i haven’t been to yet and so many beers i haven’t had the opportunity to try yet, that re-visiting a smaller festival would not take priority in my beer calendar
that said, i think it’s important for places outside metropolitan areas to hold beer festivals and introduce people to the craft beers being brewed in their back-yards and local bigger cities
bringing beer to the people is a worthwhile endeavour and this festival certainly did that – i talked to quite a few people who admitted to being new to craft beer, and to a one they all said how much they were enjoying trying all the beers on offer
i do wish the licensed establishments in harrison would take note though – there is still not a craft beer to be found in harrison outside of the beer fest
if there had been, i would have been tempted to stay out longer after friday night’s cask fest and to actually go out after oktoberfest

harrison cask night

let me just begin by saying that harrison beer fest is adorable!
harrison is a lovely little place
and its beer festival is an equally lovely little thing

caveat:  tourism harrison paid for my hotel for two nights and entry for me and my guest to all three harrison beer fest events.  i’m not gonna lie to you about my impressions of the fest, but i may be mildly swayed by the sheer joy of getting away for a mostly-free beer weekend!


traffic was fairly kind to us, but we still didn’t hit town until around 7 p.m.
so we were at st. alice hall about an hour after the casks had been tapped and the night was in full swing
the event was sold out because they wisely kept the numbers low to ensure that attendees got their beer’s worth; the hall was full but by no means packed

my first impression was that this is a very different festival than i’m used to
people were sitting down, the noise level was fairly low and no one was drunk
and that impression lasted for about another half an hour
then people began to mingle and get louder

seriously, people sat down
there were lots of tables and chairs in the hall, and people were occupying them
they got up, got a beer, spoke to the brewery rep about said beer and then sat back down to drink it
so civilized… but so foreign to my cask festival experiences before now

people sat

the second thing that struck me about this festival over others i have been to – there were only six casks and they were all lined up right next to each other.
i thought this would make it hard to get to them
but you know what?  the crowd was small enough and polite enough that that just wasn’t an issue
and the camaraderie of the beer pourers was all the more obvious with them hanging out right next to each other

six casks

now, if you’re getting the impression that it was just a polite beer sipping sort of event, you’d be mistaken
it was a fun night
the casks were good, people were happy, the piano guy providing the live music was amusing and picked some great songs
and where there’s beer flowing, there are always good times right alongside
especially for the “wack pack” who came out for their buddy’s birthday and wore matching shirts with beery puns on the backs
(it was hard getting them to stand still!)

the wack pack

six breweries sent a cask
the first to have their cask drained was declared the winner of the evening
for the second year in a row, it was parallel 49 who claimed the honour
organizers joked that they would have to weigh their cask next year

dead frog brought their fearless ipa – the only hoppy beer in the bunch was a cask version of the bottled beer, brought down to about 70 ibus, and it worked

old yale brought a hazelnut stout – deep, dark and nuttily delicious.  they found the right amount of hazelnut to nut it up without overwhelming the rich dark malts

cannery brought a spiced knucklehead pumpkin – spicier than the bottled version, this one featured fresh pumpkin, nutmeg and all-spice.  not at all sweet, it was just like a pumpkin ale should be

parallel 49 brought old boy – a cask version of the bottled beer it was obviously a crowd pleaser as it was gone quite quickly

pacific western brought a barleywine – weighing in at 9% you’d think this one would have been boozey, but it wasn’t at all.  light coloured and light flavoured, this was my least favourite of the night

mission springs brought a cherry bomb belgian – the saison yeast’s pepperiness worked well with the soft cherry flavours to create a really drinkable beer

the night was pretty much wound up by 9:30
which after a long week at work was just about the right time to be winding down for this old lady
gotta make sure i’m rested up to kick up my heels at oktoberfest tonight!

gumboot salute

if only i wasn’t going to be out of town this weekend
(or better yet, if they’d picked a different date!)

YBC Yaletown Brewing Company

‎”The Gumboot Salute” is November 10th, 11th and 12th! Its a celebration of beer, our culture and you our valued guest. We love you so much, that we are selling you massive 32oz “boots” (for $10) to drink out of. You can pre-buy the boots now, but they are only filled on the “Gumboot Salute”.

Included in the minimal $10 price tag is a free fill on every day of the Salute. Thats 96oz for free, or …6 of our normal sized beers! After your one free daily fill, we fill up the boots for our regular prices, ultimately making it a 2 for 1 deal! This, plus an amazing Feature Sheet that week showcasing our chefs creative genius (in a sinful marriage of beer and fresh ingredients). Do not be denied fun, do not be denied “The Gumboot Salute”!

also:
Lighthouse Brewing Company

Today is Yagger’s Downtown Restaurant and Sports Bar 6th year anniversary! So come on down and enjoy some pints of Race Rocks and Riptide in celebration of 6 great years! Festivities begin at 6pm! See you there!..

Thursday means Yaletown Brewing is Making It Real (Ale). This afternoon, they will tap a cask of Cascadia Brown Ale, 4pm.
 
The New Oxford will have a cask of Mission Springs Brewing Company Espresso Stout tonight at 5:30.