Category: st. augustine’s

legacy

oh, my, [insert diety of your choice here]
i went for a run this morning for the first time in (obviously) far too long
this clean livin’ is gonna kill me!
that, after i sat through a beernesday at st. augustine’s without drinking any of the fabulous beers on tap
my virtuousness is nauseating, i know
(day 17, 14 to go)

anyway, the new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Granville Island Brewing Barley Wine – $10.35
The folks down at GIB have decided to turn up the heat with this barley wine. Aged in bourbon barrels, this particular brew has caramel malt character, vanilla and oak flavours and a dose of Pacific Northwest hop.
Parallel 49 Russian Imperial Stout – $13.75
Brewed dark and strong just like they did it in the 18th century, this Russian Imperial Stout is whiskey barrel-aged with flavours of smoke, vanilla and dried fruits. Pick up a bottle and drink like a czar.
Phillips The Hammer Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – $7.85
The boys at Phillips know what they’re doing when it comes to beer. Their Imperial Stout has been barrel-aged in bourbon-soaked American oak and boasts rich roasted caramel warmth.

on the coast leftovers

my beer selections for this week’s beer column on cbc radio’s on the coast:

american brewing company’s breakaway ipa and caboose oatmeal stout

lazy boy brewing’s oktoberfest and ipa

diamond knot brewing’s brown ale and industrial ipa

all three are available in bottles at hastings, legacy and brewery creek liquor stores
the lazy boy and diamond knot are also available on rotating taps at the usual suspects like st. augustine’s, the alibi room and portland craft.  in fact, i had the industrial ipa at st. augustine’s last night!  they are also being poured at rogue waterfront, queen’s cross pub, fets bar & grill, biercraft and tangent cafe, among other places

like modern malt on facebook and you can keep up to date on where these fine beers are available!

on the coast

i always run out of time during my radio spot on cbc’s on the coast!
six minutes just isn’t enough time for me to say all i want to say on a subject
(which is good, because i can save up all that unsaid stuff and have topics for 100 more shows…)

so,
i am going to use this, my lovely blog, to finish saying what i didn’t have time for on the air
(and i will try to do it in a more timely manner next time!)

what makes a good beer joint?
imho it doesn’t matter what style of beer joint it is, fancy, british, dive, restaurant, brewpub, pub…
these four things NEED to be present to get repeat beer loving customers:
clean lines
interesting beer choices
food for pairing with beers
knowledgeable staff

if i hate your decor i may not have my birthday party at your establishment, but it won’t stop me from coming back if the beer’s good
if the beer is off, i definitely won’t be back
if there are few to no craft beer choices, i won’t willingly be back
if the food is lousy, you won’t be my beer establishment of choice
if the staff is unhelpful or not at least trying to be helpful about the beer choices, you’ll be way down my list of watering holes

best practice is to clean beer lines every two weeks
more often if they are longer than 25 feet
most people i have talked to clean their lines once a month
and i have heard horror stories of places that never clean their lines
guess which places i won’t drink draught beer at?

and now for my sour beer suggestions:

cantillon kreik – $17.95 at legacy liquor store, $17.55 at firefly fine wines and ales
lindemans kreik, framboise, peche and cassis – $7.85  and $12.35 at legacy liquor store and firefly fine wines and ales

oud bruin by iain hill of yaletown brewpub – only to be found on tap at yaletown brewpub and alibi room
imperial flanders red by storm brewing – currently on tap at st. augustine’s
mad bruin by driftwood – 650ml bottles at specialty liquor stores
i found this one a little bit young, why not buy two bottles?  one for now and one to cellar for a few months to see how it matures!

#yvrbeertweetup

instead of going home after my cbc gig last night
like i should have done and been a responsible human
i went to smiley’s pub and had me some wonderful cask ale
like an interesting and beer-engaged human

#yvrbeertweetup was having a hopscotch festival precursor
there were five casks on offer, all with whisk(e)y in them
that is a recipe for an intoxicating evening!

two casks were pumpkin ales, two were stouts
the fifth was an ipa
i know we’re all very shocked here, but i went with the ipa!
lighthouse provided a marmalade imperial whiskey ipa
using quince and citrus and i can’t remember what all else fruits
and a whole 26er of whiskey,
that 9% fruity ipa went down far too easily
delicious!
i coulda drunk that all night
but fortunately for my head this morning, it ran out pretty quickly!

they’re doing the whole thing over again tonight
with different casks
at the bimini in kits
i have my regular beernesday group tonight so i won’t be making it out
but it is definitely worth considering if you’re not joining me at st. augustine’s!

i even won a prize!
which if you know me in person is probably shocking the hell out of you right now
yup, me the luddite and worst tweeter on earth actually managed to tweet the answer to a question first and win two tickets to a hopscotch event
pigs did not fly, but i definitely looked around to make sure they weren’t!

bc craft beer month

its only the first week of craft beer week
and maybe its because i’m getting over my man-cold
but i feel like its been all beer all the time for me so far!

monday i skipped the craziness of st. augustine’s sartori cask night for the calm of monday night football at a friend’s house, with me supplying the beers
which included an ipa homebrewed by matt, rod and ryan’s that was needing to be drunk before it lost all its hoppy goodness,
a true northwest ipa that went down far too well!

tuesday i went to two cask nights
the railway club had a lovely r&b ipa cask
very satisfyingly delicious
rogue broadway had their very first cask night, also with an r&b cask
blueberry cranberry esb, which their front office person, lundy dale, who is also the president of camra bc, helped to brew and was thrilled to unveil at the start of bc craft beer month

wednesday was my usual beernesday club night at st. augustine’s
omg, the cheese stromboli currently on their fresh sheet is to die for!
get some while you can!

last night the cask at the yaletown brewpub was unadulterated ipa
nick, the new assistant brewer there, has been making some really amazing casks
several of them straight up, no funny business, and the beer geeks are loving it

yaletown ipa cask

(last week nick created a dry-hopped brown ale that went down awfully well!
he’s a great addition to the yaletown brew team)

yaletown dry-hopped brown ale

after the yaletown we hopped over to the alibi room for the sartori cask
lord, that is one delicious beer!
i also managed to find room for a hopworks ipx as well
what an amazing night of wonderful beers

this weekend i am skipping town and heading to seattle
hoping to hit pyramid brewing as i have not managed to make it there before
perhaps ubertavern, brouwers and seattle beer deli mart, who knows!?

but before i leave, here’s jan zeschky’s article on bc craft beer month

driftwood sartori

bc craft beer month is in full swing!
the belle of the ball so far is driftwood’s sartori harvest ale, a fresh-hopped ipa
sold out of stores the same day it arrived in them
it is the star of several cask nights around vancouver
and one beer-pairing dinner

st. augustine’s had a cask of the elusive sartori that sold out in 24 minutes
that was monday
tuesday there was a cask at the cascade room
thursday there was a cask at the alibi room
neither of those casks beat the 24 minute record, but neither lasted very long either

missed out on the sartori both in the bottle and on cask?
well, you’ve got three more opportunities that i am aware of to get yourself some:

if you’re a camra member and you have a ticket for the now sold out harvest fest / bc beer awards at chapel arts on saturday the 13th, you can have some of the members only cask that will be available there

the whip has a cask of sartori on sunday the 14th
tapping at 4, i expect this one will be gone in very short order

the sartori is also one of the driftwood beers being paired with food at biercraft cambie’s beer-pairing dinner on october 25th
as of tuesday there were still a couple of tickets available for this event

me, i managed to get two bottles of this ambrosia
one of which i enjoyed on the air on cbc on tuesday evening
and i got some of the alibi cask last night
(thank you nigel for dealing with the slam of people last night with such grace and making sure everyone got some of the cask!)

i plan to be at the whip on the 14th for more
because i just can’t get enough of this limited release
it is not a hop monster, even though it weighs in at 75 ibus
the wet-hopping leaves it smooth rather than bitter
and just so very drinkable

when i’m going to crack my second bottle, i’m not sure
its not a beer you want to keep, it needs to be drunk fresh
but i think i’d like to make an occasion out it!

so many beers…

so many beers, so little time…

tuesday’s cask at the railway club was central city’s hoppy apple pie esb
and it was really quite delicious
their amazing extra special bitter amped up with some apple and nutmeg notes
it really worked!
(now i just need to find someone who can bake me a hoppy apple pie… ryan?)

after the railway i went out with a friend to mahoney’s pub by canada place
i had no idea it even existed – really should get out more!
for an irish pub they have a pretty darned good craft beer menu
and the food was amazing!
nice view of the water too

and last night at st. augustine’s i tried the anderson valley brewing bahl hornin’ wee geech pale ale:  4.4% designed to satisfy the hop heads out there, while still offering a sessionable and balanced ale.  the aroma hops have a very piney, citrusy, and grassy element which we further emphasized by adding fresh cut lemongrass late in the kettle.  it also imparts a spicy ginger character.

i didn’t really like this one at all
couldn’t put my tongue on the exact flavour that i didn’t like, but it might well have been the grassiness
i didn’t get any citrus hop or ginger
just lots of ale and that je ne sais quoi that i didn’t care for

oh well, it had a fun name, so i’m glad i tried it!

tonight i am off to the yaletown for a pint of cask there
then the granville room for the elysian / ninkasi collaboration pumpkin ipa
very much looking forward to all of that

tin whistle and half pints

last night i needed nachos
it was imperative that i have some
and who does better nachos on the drive than st. augustine’s?
no one!
and what goes down better with nachos than ipa?
nothing!
so i had a tin whistle scorpion double ipa for double the fun
8% – “loaded with citra hops and a huge malt backbone. brewed in small batches”
they weren’t kidding about that huge malt backbone
it was teetering awfully close to the ‘too much’ precipice
i could have used a little less
but then i do like my ipas bitter(er)
darker in colour, dense head, clear as the day is long
its a fine beer for sure
its not going to crack my top ten list though

and… i’ll be making a brief appearance at st. augustine’s again this evening
its the beerthirst half pints re-launch in bc
i hear there will be swag as well as good beer!