rogue – the vancouver kitchen and wet bar, not the oregon brewery!
i had the distinct pleasure of hanging out with my good buddies at rogue a couple of weeks ago – how time flies, i’m only now finding a moment to blog about it!
shhh, don’t tell them at rogue, but their samplers are bigger and cheaper than st. augustine’s! keep that one under your hat – we don’t want them to change anything! 4 four ounce tasters for 5.99!!! and the promise that if you don’t like your food, or don’t think its worth the price they’re charging, you don’t have to pay that price, or any price, for it. what a concept!
located right in waterfront station, its a large space divided into smaller sections to feel more intimate. we keep sitting right by the bar, but i’m sure the other rooms are great too!
and they have a fabulous selection of taps.
not just beers on draught, but the pulls too!
local, imports, they’ve got plenty of both!
great decor, lovely bathrooms… and the food is fabulous! you’ll pay full price, happily! this place is a winner!
we began with a pitcher of storm’s highland scottish ale. talk about local, storm brews this stuff right down the street from my house! an old favourite of bridget’s and mine, we started our night on a hearty note!
after the pitcher was done, i moved on to a sampler pack. i decided to go with a head-to-head ipa/esb showdown: central city’s esb vs. tree’s hop head ipa vs. dogfish’s 60 minute ipa vs. rogue’s (the brewery this time) yellow snow ipa.
good lord, i couldn’t pick a favourite! so much hoppy goodness!
the central city esb is a well-balanced little number – so well balanced even hop-hater amanda likes it!
[“the label has a hot girl on a bike, but you get it on tap so you don’t get to see her”]
the hop head is clear and bitter – is that a juniper nose?
[“it’s kind of a big deal. google it. no really, pull out your smart phone & google it. it’s won awards & stuff”]
the dogfish is clear, well-balanced and as i kept going back and forth between all four, seemed a little bland in comparison to the bitterness of the hop head and yellow snow – can you say session?
[“the defacto session beer for hardcore hop heads!”]
the yellow snow is cloudy and hoppy and fruitily bitter
[“write your name in this IPA you rogue you”]
bridget skipped the taster and just went for a pint of her favourite, crannog’s back hand of god.
[“ever felt the back hand of god?… it has a coffee cocoa presence.”]
amanda decided to mix her sampler up a bit and not go with all fruity or wheaty beers. she had her favourite pyramid audacious apricot [“pyramids = cool, apricots = tasty. pyramids + apricots = audacious”], driftwood’s white bark wheat [“quaffably orange… as it should be.”] (and now for the mixing it up part) howe sound’s honey pale ale [“brewed in recognition of the sea to sky regions highest peak”] and crannog’s bogtrotter brown ale [“it doesn’t taste how a bog smells… we promise!”].
amanda ended up preferring the pale ale over the wheat ale and wonders if this is a turning point in her palate? she also liked the brown ale “quite nice, most def has the malt taste and the faint taste of molasses… with the nut aftertaste, perhaps for now only the taster” size, not a whole pint.
also among us that night was a non-beer drinker – anathema i know, but she’s a good egg so we put up with her non-beer drinking ways. she went for some of the cocktails, and let us all have sips. the cougar juice is tasty, but not recommended for a pitcher – tooooo sweet. the seductive sangria has more alcohol than the other jugs, but was sadly disappointing. the satan’s angel martini was tasty, but too sweet for a second one. the wine gum martini was heavenly – so much lychee goodness! that one could be dangerous cuz it goes down a little too well!
we all had an irish car bomb to end our sojourn at rogue – even non-beer drinking tamara. yummy! tamara would have even had another one – and wanted “mad props for that guinness man, and whiskey!” i tell ya, hang out with us long enough, and we’ll drive you to drink beer!
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