and another installment in the “it happened a while ago” vcbw posts…
women in beer
the thursday of vancouver craft beer week
held at republic
first of all, they asked me to speak
right there you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit about this event
secondly, there were so many amazing women there
you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit more!
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| rebecca of crannog hammers the hand truck porter cask |
because i was speaking, i got to go in early
you know, to help stuff the swag bags
aaaaand schmooze with the brewers and lisa morrison!
it was great being in there early
i got to see all the casks get sprung
and talk to everyone before they got swamped by the loving hoardes
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| claire of big river brewing helps with the howe sound cask |
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| the beer goddess also helped out with the howe sound cask |
at 6:00 the doors opened and the lovely supporters of women in beer arrived
we had all expected that it would be set up differently
more places to sit, a proper place to speak from, actual food
but alas, republic had a different view of the set up
what we got was a great mingling space
with a few roving servers with tiny tapas
and a lower platform to speak from
so we improvised
speeches got cut from five minutes each to 30 seconds
people went out for food after the event
and more schmoozing happened
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| lisa morrison double-fists it at big river’s station |
i began my drinking at claire connolly’s station
she’s the brewmaster at big river brewpub in richmond
she had the women’s collaboration beer on tap
along with her esb
i loved them both!
the women’s collaboration beer was a smoked saison
look at me, i liked a saison!
i wish this beer had been available at more events – it was a gooder
at the beginning of the night it was a bit too cold
but i had it again at the end of the night after it had warmed up a touch and it was a thing of beauty
i next wandered over and met kala hadfield of spinnakers brew pub in victoria
(if you’ve read any of my other vcbw posts, you’ll notice that i ran into kala several times over the course of the week, and she was enjoying herself each and every time!)
she brought an ipa
she figured it might not go over with all the women new to beer
but hoped it might convert some, and would please the hop headed women
and boy, was it ever a hop bomb!
i loved it!
next up for me was the howe sound menage a trois – mango, passionfruit and raspberry wheat ale with coriander
there was a whole lot going on in that beer!
but it worked
the coriander kept it from being too fruity
i said “it tastes like a patio”
and not five seconds later someone else came over to try it and quipped that they felt like they were on a patio drinking it!
rebecca kneen of crannog brought two casks with her
the handtruck porter, which has molasses in it to make it a little bit smokey
and the backhand of god stout
all hail the mighty organic beers!
we were supposed to pair the porter with the chocolate course
but since that came right at the end of the night i had my hand truck porter all by itself
and it was amazing
at the end of the night, when the chocolate finally came out, i had it with the backhand of god
and found that to be quite a divine pairing
more on the chocolate later…
saltspring island ales was represented by two of their womenfolk
heather kilbourne, a brewer, and becky julseth one of the co-owners
they brought heather’s heather bottles and a cask of the big maple
i really enjoyed the heather ale – finished with heather instead of finishing hops
the heather made it sweet rather than bitter at the finish
but not sweet in a sugary sense
delicious!
the maple was quite nice too
(i’m not such a big maple fan…)
r & b brought a cask of ipa that lundy dale of camra bc and firefly collaborated on
lundy juiced ruby red grapefruit, mandarins, clementines and naval oranges to add to the brew
it was delicious!
not too tart, not too bitter
just like a grapefruit ipa should be!
next i met tracey larson, a brewer at mt. begbie brewing
tracey’s favourite is their cream ale, so no worries that that will ever go off the market!
i am a big fan of their nasty habit – such hoppy goodness
she brought bottles of the atilla the honey with her
i’m not a big honey beer fan, but it is a lovely brew!
i tried the r&b alt next
found it wasn’t at all carbonated and that just ruined it for me
and now, i must admit i am pre-blogging this so as not to be dead air over the long weekend while i camp
and its late at night and i haven’t packed yet…
so i must leave you now and finish my long-winded review another time!
Beck's Beer Blog - test 