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
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!
i am turning into quite the beer snob!
drinking craft beer has made me not want to drink anything but the best
which is making it hard to visit many of my old haunts
and me less likely to be enthusiastic about trying some new places
their beer lists just aren’t inspiring
so, my snobbery aside, how hard is it to bring in one or two local craft brews?
it shouldn’t be that hard…
and it would please me to no end!
i’m tired of granville island and okanagan springs being my only two “local” choices
and corona and stella being the “imports”
sadly, this critique extends to several pubs who pride themselves on having several taps as well
but how inspiring is a choice of local taps that only include granville island, big rock, sleeman, okanagan springs and keith’s?
i.e. the charlatan: “Located in the heart of Vancouver’s Commercial Drive, The Charlatan, is the areas best Gastro-Pub. Offering 15 fresh tap beers with 12 imported brews, its the best place to enjoy the perfect pint.”
i beg to differ!
okay, okay, they also carry whistler, but only the weissbier, and i don’t love that… cuz i’m a picky-pants as well as a snob!
and for imports they have the lovely, but entirely uninspiring guinness, kilkenny, stella and strongbow
a bit more fun are their belgians (fruili and delerium tremens) but again, my picky-pants don’t love the belgians…
okay, okay and i guess i should try the austrian stiegl before i knock it…
but dammit! i love the food there
and at brown’s
and several other places
but i want more of a beer menu!
i want to be inspired every time i enter a pub
so yes, i am a beer snob
and i’m okay with that
from today’s province newspaper (see the save on foods insert):
“Behold the best B.C. brews
GRANVILLE ISLAND’S RASPBERRY WHEAT ALE
One of the annual summer highlights from the Granville Island Brewery, the Raspberry Wheat Ale is once again available to consumers — but only for a limited time. (Six weeks!)
The GIB Raspberry Wheat Ale is a combination of malt, water, hops, yeast and Fraser Valley raspberries that — according to brew master Vern Lambourne — is a “perfect compliment to a fruit-filled dessert, or perhaps a grilled chicken salad.”
It should be noted that sales of the Raspberry Wheat Ale will aid a great cause — 50 cents from every bottle sold goes toward the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers. Visit gib. ca for more.
PHILLIPS BREWERY’S BIG TIME KOLSCH
This ale is quickly becoming a favourite among music festival goers in British Columbia. Phillips’ Big Time Kolsch was originally brewed for attendees of the Big Day Up festival (featuring Cat Empire and Daniel Wesley) and the Big Time Out festival (featuring K’Naan and Broken Social Scene) but after proving to be a hit on the concert tour, Phillips decided to make the ale available in stores.
You can get your hands on Big Time Kolsch by purchasing one of Phillips’ Showcase Mixed Packs, available at various government and private liquor stores. To find out more, visit phillipsbeer. com
OKANAGAN SPRING’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY HOPPED LAGER
The Vernon-based brewery is celebrating 25 years in the beer game by rolling out this light, fragrant lager.
Okanagan Springs has spared no expense in creating a beer rich in colour and flavour — the Hopped Lager brewing process involves the late addition of Saaz hops which gives the lager a full flavour and a remarkably clean taste. Because of that full flavour, the Hopped Lager is suggested to be paired with “robust” dishes — cream-based soups, seafood, spicy chicken — but would probably work well on its own, perhaps on a shaded patio. Visit okspring. com for more.
DEAD FROG BREWERY’S PEPPER LIME LAGER
A refreshing lager with a lime aroma and hint of black pepper, this new release from the Aldergrove-based brewery has become a hit on the Canadian tasting circuit.
In May, the Pepper Lime Lager was voted the People’s Choice Beer of Show at the Calgary Beerfest and received rave reviews at July’s Canada Cup of Beer at Thunderbird Stadium.
You can get Pepper Lime Lager in individual six packs or as part of Dead Frog’s Summer Mixer, available at most government and private liquor stores across the province.
To learn more about the lager, visit deadfrogbrewery. com.
TREE BREWING’S HOP HEAD
A two-time medallist at the Canadian Brewing Awards, this India Pale Ale is regarded as one of the finest IPAs made from a craft brewery. It’s got all the bold, rich flavour one would expect from a hearty IPA, yet finishes neat with a crisp aftertaste.
Hop Head is available in most retail liquor stores and can also be found online at treebeer. com
© Copyright (c) The Province
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/life/Behold+best+brews/3326767/story.html#ixzz0v0wGumMt “
and more tasting from the canada cup of beer!
last year the efes guys gave me a t-shirt. this year they were wearing the same ones, and offering token-free beer if you could toss your token into the cup. we all came close, but had to part with our tokens in the end.
the guys were nice enough to let me have a half pour of each of the pilsner and the dark ale so that i could try them both on one token. the pilsner is so refreshing and perfect for a hot day. the dark was nicely malted. i’d like to find these at a local store some time to properly enjoy them.
russell brewing has come out with a fabulous summer concept – a citrus twist pack! half lemon ale and half lime lager, its the perfect summertime mixer pack. both flavours are well filtered, crisp and refreshing. the lemon has more citrus flavour, but both are delightful. we strongly suggest picking some up – everyone liked these babies!
then we made it over to the cariboo booth to try the honey lager brewed by the german brewer of natureland fame. quite a drinkable beer. that german guy is onto something!
after that the scotch drinkers enjoyed the innis & gunn and i had the tyskie. both were enjoyed by their particular followers.
i ended my day with the howe sound bailout bitter. its a very fine beer and i wanted to go out on a high note!
there were quite a few other breweries in attendance. we skipped several of them because they didn’t have beers on offer that we hadn’t tried already. like red truck (without the red truck this year, apparently it was there friday night, but had somewhere else to be on saturday), dead frog, okanagan springs, alexander keiths, central city, tree brewing, moosehead, hell’s gate, bowen island, rickards…
i had cause to be out and about near 10th and alma, and in need of sustenance, so i stopped in at Browns Social House. i’d never heard of this chain before, and can’t imagine why not. i guess i just don’t get out as much as i’d like to pretend i do.
their beer selection leaves an awful lot to be desired, but the atmosphere and the food were pretty fabulous. and the bathroom was pretty darned wonderful, and you know how i like a good bathroom in my drinking establishment.
featuring only granville island, okanagan spring 1516, guinness, sleeman’s honey brown and grolsch on tap, they also carry the following bottles: coors light, kokanee, sol, sapporo, guinness and strongbow. like i said, not much of a selection. they do offer sleeves of the taps for $3.95 or pitchers for $14 on sundays and mondays. the “social lager” specially brewed for them by granville island brewery tasted pretty much the same to me as regular gi lager, but at only $4.95 i felt it was most palatable option.
the food though, the food was fabulous. i had the cowgirl salad and dynamite roll combo – fabulously delicious, i’d totally go there again just for that meal. although it might take me a while to do so – kits is not my usual stomping ground.
and i liked the decor, particularly the industrial look ceiling, all the light fixtures and the embroidered leather bar stools. nice place to watch the game and people.
verdict: thumbs way down on the beer selection, thumbs way up on the atmosphere and food. i’d definitely go again, just not with a beer loving friend!
Beck's Beer Blog - test 