beer column

here are my notes from tuesday’s on the coast with stephen quinn:

From charity brews to charitable donations, and from hiring differently abled employees to mentoring, the craft beer community really gives back to the greater community.

For example, Phillips Brewing in Victoria has for the past 4 years brewed a “Benefit Brew” – a beer whose entire profits (approximately $10,000) are donated to a charity chosen by the public.  And it’s not too late to vote for this year’s recipient.  You have until November 15^thto cast your vote, and you can vote every day between now and the 15^th.  Regardless of which charity is announced on November 17^th as the winner, all of the nominees come out ahead as the other nine finalists receive a $500 donation.  Visit the website to see the nominees and place your vote.

Phillips says:  “We make beer, and we want to use our powers of craft beer creation for good!  A few years back we decided that an awesome way to do this would be to create a special beer for a charity, name the beer after the cause and donate the proceeds – the charity receives some much-needed support, and we get to brew a fun beer!  However we quickly ran into a problem: there are just way too many deserving causes for us to simply choose one.  To solve our conundrum we put it out to the community to tell us who they wanted to support adnd the Benefit Brew was born!”

Phillips isn’t alone.  Last month Steamworks Brewing donated some of the profits from their Heroica Red Ale to the BC Burn Fund; for the past two years Central City Brewingin Surrey has brewed an Imperial IPA for Autism.  They hold a fundraising dinner, sell branded glassware for $5 – all of which goes to charity and research, and donate $2 from each imperial ipa sold as well; Cannery Brewing in Naramata brews a Wildfire IPA (a black IPA or Cascadian dark ale) every year with partial proceeds going to the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation…

VCBW – Vancouver Craft Beer Week brews a collaboration charity brew each year, with $1 from every 650 ml bottle sold going to the charity chosen that year.  2014’s $5,000 donation went to the Music Heals charity.  2011’s $1,294 went to Japanese Tsunami Relief, 2012’s donation of $3,200 went to the Farmland Defence League of BC and 2013’s donation of $3,500 went to Mark Brand’s A Better Life Foundation.  As you can see, the donation amount just keeps on going up for VCBW!

Other than charity brews there were also 2014’s charity calendar spearheaded by Moon Under Water brewpub in Victoria – The $20 Beautiful Brewers of BC calendar featured PG-13 nude shots of various BC brewers for each month, with proceeds being donated to the BC Cancer Foundation to support provincial cancer research; Driftwood Brewing entered the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year and held fundraisers for their team’s required donation, such as a long-table 5-course dinner at Hop & Vine in Burnabyback in April; and there are always fundraisers for people in the brewing community, such as a head brewer who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2013.  Beer-pairing dinners, silent auctions and raffles were held with donations from breweries and beer lovers alike all raising funds to help the brewer and his family.

Powell Street Brewing is currently collecting items for the Vancouver Food Bank.  For every item you donate, they’ll pour you 4oz of their delicious beer (max two per person per day).  Doing good never tasted so good!

Breweries are also very generous in donating beer to other fundraisers.  I have first-hand experience with this as any fund-raiser I have been involved with has featured beers generously donated by local breweries.  In my experience, Storm and Dead Frog have been particularly forthcoming with donated beer.  Thanks guys!

Breweries sponsor local sports teams, the tasting rooms partner with food trucks and other local businesses to provide food to their hungry patrons… and of course, as we mention on On the Coast from time to time, the breweries collaborate with each other and help each other out of ingredient shortages, as well as supporting the local homebrew club via contests and hosting brews.

And then there’s the CBC FoodBank Dayfundraiser.  Last year I began by asking 6 breweries to donate and all of them came through with so many beer and beer swag donations that I had three really awesome gift baskets filled in no time, and had to stop asking for donations before I got deluged!  This year I am asking different breweries to donate and expect that they will provide me with just as many wonderful items for gift baskets.

Last, but certainly not least, Parallel 49 employs several differently abled staff.  P49’s program was spot-lighted in October’s CommunityLiving month as a success story of local businesses who hire people with developmental disabilities.

Beer picks:

Parallel 49 – Toques of Hazzard is back! This Imperial White IPA is 9.2% but doesn’t taste like it, so go easy with it! – bottles on tap around town and in the tasting room

Bomber Brewing – Absolute Horizon CDA – 6.5% – bottles and on tap around town and in the tasting room

33 Acres of Darkness – Schwartzbier –5% – at the tasting room

beer column

my notes from yesterday evening’s beer column on weird beers on cbc radio one’s on the coast
during which the poor sick stephen quinn suffered a coughing attack and could barely participate
oh the joys of live radio!

Did you see the new helium beers debuting from SamAdams and Stone Brewing?  Who would have thought you could put helium in beer, let alone that two breweries would race each other to the post to be the first to produce it.

Oh right, it’s April Fools’ Day.  There is no helium beer.

But there are crazy and creative beers out there that are no joke!  Let’s take a quick tour of the zanier side of craft beer.

The craft beer community has embraced all sorts of brewing innovations, like brewing ales with lager yeast, adding different ingredients such as botanicals in the place of hops to experiment with different flavours, the hop wars and the highest alcohol content contest.

There are also interesting flavours brewers around the Lower Mainland and across the United States have been experimenting with. Locally first, Storm Brewing’s James Walton is always coming up with interesting flavour twists. Earlier this Spring he brewed a dill pickle IPA. I was fortunate enough to get to try it on cask at St. Augustine’s. And I really liked it. I am a big dill pickle fan, and an IPA fan, so it probably wasn’t that much of a stretch for me, but I did see some pretty interesting facial expressions on some of the other St. Augustine’s patrons when they heard about the cask. I asked James how he got the dill pickle flavour in the IPA. He told me that he took his mother’s dill seeds and suspended them in alcohol for six years. Six years! Now that is dedication to your craft.

New Belgium Brewing beers are imported into Vancouver by Beerthirst, so if you haunt your local specialty beer store, you should have come across beers from their Lips of Faith series.  The coconut curry hefeweisen is flavoured with coconut, cayenne, cinnamon, coriander, fenugreek seek, ginger root, kaffir and lime leaf, with a hint of banana from the hefe yeast. 

Illinois‘ Mamma Mia pizza beer is actually is made with a whole margarita pizza in the mash and plenty of pizza spices to enhance the flavours of oregano, basil, garlic and tomato.  I want to try this beer!  I figure it must taste something like Storm’s basil ipa, which I love. If anyone is in Illinoisand wants to bring me back one, I’d appreciate it!

Also not available locally is Michigan’s Short’s Brewing Company’s Key Lime Pie, which is made with fresh limes, milk sugar, graham crackers and marshmallow fluff. The prominent sweet-meets-tart flavour won a Gold Medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. If you’re travelling around Michigan, try to find this one. And again, if you want to bring one back for me, I wouldn’t say no!

Freetail Brewing in San Antonio Texasbrews a green beer – it is coloured pale greeny blue from the addition of spirulina. Perfect for St. Patrick’s day, if you happen to be in the San Antonio area!

Moving away from flavourings now, we arrive at beer for non-humans.  Specifically beer for dogs.

Dog beer is only sort of beer. It does not have the four traditional ingredients in it as hops are toxic to dogs. It also doesn’t have alcohol in it, so fido won’t be hungover in the morning. Bowser Beer, which has been available in the USfor several years, is a non-carbonated mixture of meat-broth and malt barley, with glucosamine added for joint health.

 

Locally, Moon Under Water in Victoria began brewing their fundraising beer for dogs in August last year. It comes in two flavours, Beef & Barley Dunkel and Chicken & Peanut Pilsner, which feature beef or chicken stock, salmon oil and glucosamine to promote healthy fur and joints. There is also a Dog Beer in Australia. Which just shows you how wide-spread the urge is to share man’s greatest beverage with man’s best friend.

Which takes us to man’s other best friend, his beard.  And beer brewed with yeast propagated from the brewer’s beard.

Rogue’s Beard Beer is brewed with a yeast created from Brewmaster John Maier’s Beard. Rogue says it is perfectly normal to brew beer from beard yeast “Brewers have used wild yeasts in beer making for centuries. John has had the same Old Growth Beard since 1983 and for over 15,000 brews, so it is no great surprise that a natural yeast ideal for brewing was discovered in his beard.” Most beer nerds who tried it, and alas I was not one of them, agreed that it was a decent enough beer, but they probably wouldn’t drink it again.

For more weird beers, check outthese articles, which include a beer that uses yeast from a hornet’s abdomen; one that uses a strain of yeast over 45 million years old; beer made from coffee brewed from elephant pooped beans that sold for $100 a bottle; Sapporo Space Barley beer, brewed in 2009, which featured barley from the International Space Station; and Dogfish Head’s Celest-jewel-ale contained dust from lunar meteorites. There is no end to creativity in beer brewing!

However, I think the most recent entry into the weird beer sweepstakes takes home the prize for my weirdest beer. To commemorate last weekend’s season finale of AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead,” a Philadelphia beer company brewed up a smooth, pale American stout. So far not weird at all right? Sure, right up until they put goat brains in it! The Dock Street Brewing Co. created the Dock Street Walker for die-hard zombie fans. It is brewed using wheat, oats, flaked barley, organic cranberries (for a nice bloody red hue) and smoked goat brains. Dock Street head brewer Justin Low said that Walkercontains “intriguing, subtle smoke notes” thanks to the addition of the brains.

And, just to really make you shake your head, that wasn’t the first time that animal heads and their contents have been used in beer brewing… Michigan’s Right Brain Brewery makes their Mangalitsa Pig Porter using actual pig heads and bones. The beer took home a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011 in the Experimental category. It is only made once a year, and they say that the Mangalitsa Pig Porter is rich, chocolatey and “infused with a symphony of salty, smoky and savory flavors.”

 

I thought after that list of weird and wacky beers that I would keep this week’s beer picks in the realm of the experimental, but much more down-to-earth:

First up, a collaboration beer between Victoria’s Hoyne Brewing and Driftwood Brewing, the Rock Baymash-up, is available in 650 ml bombers at specialty liquor stores in the city. Half a baltic porter was brewed and fermented at Hoyne, half at Driftwood. The brews were then combined by running a hose across their connecting parking lot. Available in both Hoyne and Driftwood designed bottles.

Secondly, head on over to East Van and try an infused beer at Parallel 49 and Bomber Brewing. Both tasting rooms have a randall – a tubular tower they fill with fresh ingredients and force beer through to get unique infused flavours. They change the ingredients daily, so follow them on twitter to find out what the flavour of the day is.

legacy liquor store

it’s not too late to get those last minute beer gifts!

new and tasty at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Big Rock Cuvee Bru Druivenbier – $13.85

A delightful and intriguing union of barley and grapes, pinot gris courtesy of Therapy Vineyards from Naramata, takes place in the resurrection of this esoteric beer. Golden in colour with notes of grain, biscuit and grapes in its aroma, while a palate of grapes, caramel, and bread all work together for a simple and enjoyable beer. Get your hands on this one of a kind beer from Big Rocks Alchemist series!

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller – $13.55

It’s that time of year again; when big robust beers full of character brave the winter cold to warm us up from head to toe. Mahogany and ruby in colour, this particular barleywine has a huge nose of molasses, burnt sugar, dark chocolate, tobacco and a warming alcohol. All of these aromas translate beautifully in the mouth with an absurd smoothness at this ABV (11.6%) accompanied by earthy hop, more burnt sugar and molasses. This quality brew is good for now or for sometime down the road.

Chris Bonnallie | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

Moon Under Water Wedding Beer – $12.55

There’s something special about single batch beers, maybe it’s the once in a lifetime chance to get to try it, or maybe its how create the beer is. Either way Moon Under Water hit this one clear out of the park. This golden coloured Belgian Triple is spicy and sweet on the nose with all sorts of fruits. Honey, yeast, fruit and spice all contribute to the effervescent palate of the beer. Delicious and dangerously quaffable at its ABV, you’d better snag a bottle before this wedding wraps.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

beer pairing dinners

i love a beer pairing dinner!
(okay, i pretty much always love it when someone else cooks and there’s beer!)

i went to cork & fin’s beer pairing dinner last wednesday night
featuring six courses of delicious food
and six wonderful brews (including a cask) from moon under water

i got to tap the cask!
my first-ever cask tapping!  and i didn’t even fuck it up!

course one:

SEAFOOD SCOTCH EGG

Caviar, Micro Greens, Saffron Oil

‘Pots Pils Unfiltered’ Pilsner

course two:

SALMON ‘PASTRAMI’

European Style Sausage, House Mustard, Pickles, Rye Bread

‘Tranquility’ India Pale Ale

course three:

SAVOURY DOUGHNUT

Pork Belly, Crackling, Sauce Mornay

‘The Victorious’ Weizenbock

 

course four:

PANKO FRIED OYSTERS

Local Oysters, Frites, Stout Tartar Sauce

C & F – Moon Oyster Stout

course five:

POT PIE

Oxtail, Braised Vegetables, Puff Pastry

Single Moon Batch Red Wheat Wine Ale ‘Year 1’

course six:

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Dunkel Sabayon

‘Creepy Uncle’ Dunkel

it was a truly delightful night
good company, delicious food, brilliant beers and nice pairings
totally worth the $59

i also went to a long table dinner at the pumphouse in richmond last saturday night
the pumphouse is launching a new locally sourced, fresh and sustainable menu
so they invited a few lucky people out to give feedback on the new foods, and paired them all with beer!
lucky, lucky me to be one of those fortunate souls!
it was delicious!
the only problem?  too much food and beer.  i barely made it to the end of all five courses and it took me an extra hour or two to finish all the beer.  oh, and i put on two pounds… first world problems!

look how excited i am
and the beer hasn’t even been poured yet:

course one:
northcoast scrimshaw pilsner
winter salad and chicken strips
(salmon salad and salmon strip for me!)

course two:
steamworks oatmeal stout
meat pie and bbq pork sandwich
(veggie pie and thai sub for me!)

course three:
odin brewing sigrun ipa
mini burger and poutine
(fish burger and veggie poutine for me!)

course four:
elysian brewing super fuzz orange pale ale
flat bread and chopped chicken salad
(i skipped this food course – tooooo full! but there’s always room for beer)

course five:
driftwood fat tug ipa
deep fried lime tempura prawns and butter chicken
(prawn and butter prawns for me!)\

and here’s the full long table menu for anyone who wants to check out what some of the new offerings at the pumphouse are likely to be:

beer column

here are my notes from yesterday’s beer column on cbc radio one’s on the coast

As we near the end of November, you may be planning a holiday party. Would you like to make it stand out? How about having a beer and cheese party?  It’s pretty easy to make your party the talk of the season!

Beer and cheese go together like chocolate and peanut butter! If you have ever hosted a wine and cheese party, putting together a beer and cheese party is just as straight-forward. I know wine lovers will hate me for saying so, but beer is actually a better pairing for cheese than wine is! The hops in beer, along with the carbonation, cleanse the palate between bites so you can enjoy the full flavour profile of each different food you nibble on. Also both beer and cheese have a similar origin, grass. Barley is a cereal grass used in making beer and milk is a by-product of a cow eating grass. As a result, beer and cheese complement each other by sharing some common characteristics in both aroma and flavor, such as the nut and caramel aromas found in aged cheeses which are also present in malty beers like brown ales, stouts and porters. Beer is also much less acidic than wine making a pairing with creamy cheese more harmonious.

A beer and cheese party can look however you want it to look.  The basic concept is the same as a wine and cheese: the host provides different beers and different cheeses for people to enjoy together. Or the host requests that guests bring a beer and a cheese to pair and share. If your guests are just getting into craft beer, it might be easier for the host to provide the beers and cheeses so that no one feels too much pressure to come up with a good pairing. If your friends are more adventurous and/or beer knowledgeable, it is interesting to see the different pairings that they can come up with. I do want to add though that there are no hard and fast rules to beer pairing – just like with wine and cheese there are a few guidelines that you can follow to increase your odds of coming up with a good pairing, but taste ultimately comes down to the taster. 

 

A beer and cheese party is the perfect time to experiment. You could stick to one family of beers, such as winter themed beers, and try a bunch of different cheeses with them to come up with favourite pairings; you could choose several styles of beers to do a compare and contrast kind of tasting with various cheeses; you could choose regions of the world to follow like German beers with German cheeses; or stay local with growlers of local beers paired with locally produced cheeses. The sky is really the limit on twists you can throw into a beer and cheese tasting.

There are several short-cuts to planning your beer and cheese pairing if you don’t have time to spend on the pairings, or fear you don’t have the expertise to make executive decisions.  The first is to call Benton Brothers Fine Cheeses in Vancouver and get them to choose the cheeses to match your beers. They’ll also provide the bread and crackers to put the cheeses on (neutral flavours of course), and dried fruits to complement the cheeses. 

 

If you prefer to remain hands-on in the putting together of your party, get on the internet and find combinations that have already proven themselves to be winners. TheBeerStore.com has a very simple chart of suggestions that you can follow. Thenibble.com also has a more comprehensive pairing chart, including wine pairings in case you want to do a beer and wine and cheese! If you want to pair other foods as well as cheeses with your beers, The Brewers Association has come out with a wonderful chart that even includes suggested beer glasses and serving temperatures for each pairing. If beer pairing is something you think might become a habit, you can also pick up Garrett Oliver’s book, the Brewmaster’s Table, and have a handy resource always at the ready (p.s. this is also a great gift for the beer-lover on your holiday shopping list!).

Below are a couple of the pairings I put together with an abundance of help from Benton Brothers for a beer and cheese tasting I held last week.   

 

Bridge Brewing’s Northshore Pale Ale with Red Leicestershire

Driftwood Brewing’s Fat Tug IPA with 4 year Artisan Gouda

Also, any kind of beer tasting is a great time to pull out that bottle of special beer that you’ve been waiting for the right occasion to crack open. A 650oz bomber bottle or a corked bottle of beer are akin to a nice bottle of wine and add to the party atmosphere! If you don’t have any on hand, I suggest picking up one or all of the following:

Chimay Grand Reserve Blue ($12.25 at Legacy) – Belgian Strong Dark Ale, which should pair nicely with a strong gouda or a washed-rind cheese

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace ($13.35 at Legacy) – Saison with lemonly Japanese hops, which should pair nicely with goat cheese on an apple slice (thanks Brooklyn website for that idea!)

Moon Under Water 1 year anniversary Red Wheat Wine ($12.55 at Legacy) – a whopping 11.5% beer, which should pair nicely with a gorgonzola (or if like me you just can’t do the blue, a Mont Jacob semi-soft washed rind cheese)

 

For those too lazy to follow the link above (and no judgment from me on that), here is a quick and dirty pairing chart from TheBeerStore.com:   Fresh, very soft cheeses that are uncooked and unripe or barely ripened. For example, cottage cheese, cream cheese and ricotta pair well with wheat beers or lagers
Soft, spreadable cheeses, such as Camembert or Brie that have bloomy rinds pair well with pilsners, pale ales and porters
Semi-soft cheeses including many monastic cheeses and washed-rind cheeses. Good examples are Gouda, Havarti, Colby or Monterey Jack pair well with brown ales, amber ales, bitters and belgian pale ales
Semi-hard, sliceable cheese as Cheddar, Edam or Jarlsberg pair well with pilsners, extra special bitters and ipas
Hard cheese is very firm, grainy, cooked and pressed or grating cheeses as Parmesan pair well with strong ales, doppelbocks, stouts or porters
Blue vein, marbled cheese, strong flavoured and crumbly, including Roquefort, St. Gorgonzola, and other blues pair well with stronger porters, stouts, old ales and imperial stouts
Goat cheese, Roquefort, Romano and feta pair well with ipas, brown ales, stouts and porters
Pasta filata (the stretched curd cheeses of Italy, such as mozzarella and provolone) pair well with wits and wheat beers

legacy

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2013 – $141.35
North America
 
Many of us remember the good old times, back in the days when we were kids, and Christmas time was fast approaching. In order to make us count the days leading up to Christmas Day, our parents or grandparents gave us advent calendars filled with small chocolate treats or toys. Now Craft Beer Importers Canada Inc. has recreated this great gift and made it suitable for the beer lover. No, this one is not filled with chocolate. Craft’s advent calendar features 24 windows, and behind each window is one full-sized bottle of beer. These will go fast!
 
 
Moon Under Water “Harvest Ale” Pumpkin Pearzen – $8.75
Victoria, BC
 
Moon Under Water’s Pumpkin Pearzen Harvest Ale combines local pumpkins and pears with subtle banana and clove flavours. By celebrating the season and championing the local farmers that contributed, this brewery continues to impress. Well done.
 
Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store
 
 
Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider – $16.35
Portland, Oregon
 
The making of Hallelujah Hopricot starts with heirloom American apples as a Belgian wit-style cider steeped with coriander, bitter orange peel and paradise grains, fermented with French saison and Belgian ale yeasts. On top of that rich base they’ve added apricot juice and finished with whole-leaf Cascade and Amarillo hops. A fresh and fruity concoction not dulled by any sweetening, this off-dry cider is my bestseller, and for good reason. ABV 6.9%.
 
Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

legacy liquor store

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Elysian Brewing Nightowl – $7.85

Straight from Seattle comes one of the finest pumpkin beers available on the market today. Hazy and tawny in colour when poured into a glass, accompanied by a myriad of spices associated with the season (allspice, ginger, clove, etc.), its caramel, starchy malt and of course pumpkin flavours all come together to produce a medium-bodied beer that is not only amazingly approachable, but also extremely quaffable. Don’t miss out on this fantastic beer.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Moon Under Water Year One – $12.55

Happy Anniversary, Moon Under Water! After one year under new ownership and a revitalization that has been truly remarkable, a single-batch Red Wheat Wine ale has been produced to mark the occasion. Hopped throughout with Citra, and fermented dry with three yeasts on yellow birch to create an outstanding beer to be enjoyed with friends, this one-of-a-kind offering is worth grabbing before it’s gone, because year two isn’t coming for another 364 days. Big fan of this up and coming brewery!

Ryan Hooper | Assistant Manager | Legacy Liquor Store

Red Racer Pumpkin Ale – $6.15

’Tis the season for pumpkin, spice and everything nice, and Red Racer certainly isn’t going to let us down in that regard. This autumnal brew pours the same colour as the autumn leaves – copper and orange. Sweet pumpkin flesh, citrus and highlights of spice fill out the nose, while pumpkin, cloves and cinnamon balance one another to produce a tasty beer for these chilly days.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

i absolutely loved the moon anniversary cask at gcbf
i strongly suggest picking up a bottle of the red wheat wine while you can!

link love

i have mentioned this a few times before
i would love to have the work ability to just drink beer for a whole month
in the meantime, here’s a guy in france who is doing just that
replacing all water with brewdog’s nanny state beer

joe wiebe (thirsty writer) on victoria’s beer mile
how many of these stops have you made it to?
me, i’ve made it to all of them, but not on the same day

speaking of moon under water (which we were if you clicked the link above)
here’s a review of their overhaul from the times colonist
their pots pils continues to make me very happy every time i quaff it!

fourteen best and worst gluten-free beers
greens comes out on top, new grist on the bottom

another view of gcbf
and it makes me feel better that other bloggers have trouble getting out their posts about beer festivals!

legacy liquor store

fun new beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Moon Under Water Brewery This Is Hefeweizen – $7.05

From across the Strait of Georgia, Moon Under Water holds to the classic stylings of a Hefeweizen with this phenomenal seasonal brew. Pouring a hazy amber with a fluffy head and aromas of earth, wheat and cloves, this beer shows more cloves and bananas on the palate with citrus bringing up the rear. A classic beer taken to the next level.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Bridge Brewing Hopilano IPA – $7.55

One of our favourite Nano breweries from the North Shore is back for more with their distinctly Pacific Northwest Hopilano IPA in tow. This gem of an India Pale Ale pours a cloudy amber orange with a distinctly floral- and citrus fruit-anchored nose. The palate matches the bouquet, with the citrus eventually winding down into a tropical fruit finish.

Chris Bonnallie | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

Driftwood Brewery Gose-uh – $6.95

A popular beer style from Leipzig, Germany, this unique beer style has met with near extinction twice in its lifetime. Pulled back from the precipice of doom, it pours a hazy yellow with notes of coriander and sweet malt in its bouquet. On the palate coriander plays a large role, while an almost unperceivable tartness helps balance out the sweetness. A truly unique treat.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Lighthouse Brewing – Anniversary Ale – $8.75

They grow up so fast! Happy 15^th anniversary, Lighthouse, and here’s to many more! This robust brew has plenty to boast about, with loads of malt and hop (including but not limited to Maris Otter, Crystal and Chocolate malt, as well as Cluster and Fuggle hops) making for an exciting new beer with all the characteristics of a familiar friend.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Parallel 49 Brewing – Red Eye Red Rye Lager – $7.55

A partnership between the boys in our backyard, Parallel 49, and Eugene, Oregon’s favourite son, Ninkasi Brewing, has produced this dark brown brew with notes of fruit, graphite and earth. On the palate, earth, spice, hop and malt all come together to provide a pleasurable experience with a touch of bitterness to round it out. An excellent collaboration that should not be missed.

Chris Bonnallie | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

Tofino Brewing – Reign in Blonde – $6.65

Far, far away on the western shores of Vancouver Island you’ll find a brewery, and in that brewery you’ll find beer. An homage to Slayer, this Blonde pours a pale clear amber with a bouquet of grass, slight hop and malty sweetness, notes that make themselves known without affecting the light, crisp body forming the base of this brew.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

legacy liquor store

new beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Unibroue – Éphémère Cherry – $7.30

We’ve all had a number of offerings from the Quebec-based Unibroue, but Cherry Éphémère is certainly perfect for the season at hand. Peach in colour with a lovely pink head paired with wheat and cherries in the aroma followed by more of the same on the palate, this is a well-balanced and superior summer brew.

Tasted by Evan Doan Beer Team at Legacy Liquor Store

8 Wired Brewing – Rewired Brown Ale – $10.55

It’s a brown ale revolution! Hailing from New Zealand, Rewired aims to pull brown ale back from the precipice, pouring the same colour as a dark red brick with a nose of citrus hops, caramel, malt and chestnuts. All these flavours play their own roles on the palate, too, in combination with a medium body and delicious finish, to make for a truly exciting brown ale.

Tasted by Chris Bonnallie Beer Supervisor at Legacy Liquor Store

Whistler Brewing Company – Chai-Maple Ale – $7.25

A mild ale with springtime spice has arrived for these warm spring days. With maple syrup added to the mash and chai to the filtration process, this beer pours a dark bronze with notes of malt, maple and chai in the bouquet. Even more maple and chai are found on the palate to help create a solid brew for those long spring afternoons.

Tasted by Conor Marshall Beer Team at Legacy Liquor Store
Scaldis – Blonde Ale Tripel – $14.05

The Belgians know what they’re doing when it comes to beer, and this Scaldis is testament to that. Lemon in colour, this blonde ale shows citrus, spices (cloves and cinnamon) and a hint of Belgian yeast on the nose followed by more citrus, sweet spices and green fruit (pears to be precise) on the palate with a surprisingly dry and lingering finish.

Tasted by Chris Bonnallie Beer Supervisor at Legacy Liquor Store

Lakefront Brewery – Rendezvous Biere de Garde – $8.35

From the great state of Wisconsin, in the city of Milwaukee situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, comes a little piece of Northern France. This fine French-style ale pours a hazy dark orange while emitting an aroma of sweet malt and coriander. In the mouth, malt and honey fade into yeast and spice with a smooth palate-coating finish.

Tasted by Joel Wilson Beer Team at Legacy Liquor Store

Moon Under Water Brewery – Brewvic Maibock – $7.55

Victoria’s local home brewing club (BrewVIC) and Moon Under Water have come together to brew a delicious Maibock using malts sourced from the Skagit Valley and single-hopped with Meridian. Pouring a golden brown in colour with sweet malt on the nose, more malt follows through on the palate accompanied by a typical German-hop characteristic. A smooth finish rounds this beer out.

Tasted by Evan Doan Beer Team at Legacy Liquor Store

MOA – Pale Ale – $11.35

This New Zealand beer takes the idea of American Pale Ale and runs with it, utilizing famous Cascade and Nelson Sauvin hops in the brew. Orange in colour with aromas of tropical fruit, flowers and citrus that press through to make an appearance on the palate of this tasty Kiwi gem.

Tasted by Chris Bonnallie Beer Supervisor at Legacy Liquor Store

Brasserie du Bocq – Blanche de Namur – $12.55

A family-owned brewery first established in 1858 is responsible for this Belgian wit. Coriander, orange zest and spice dominate the nose of this cloudy yellow wheat beer, while on the palate even more orange zest and spice are found with subtle notes of wheat. Crisp, dry and refreshing.

Tasted by Conor Marshall at Legacy Liquor Store

American Brewing Co. – Flying Monkey – $7.55

Our friends across the border have been hard at work to bring you this particular brew. Hazy orange in colour when poured into a glass with a nose of citrus, pine and a touch of malt, aromas that show through on the palate with more citrus and pine to help complete the beer. A special release in honour of Emerald City Comicon, which should be on your radar.

Tasted by Mike Dolan Beer Team at Legacy Liquor Store