Category: upright brewing

legacy liquor store

newly stocked beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Founded by Alex Ganum, the owner and head brewer at Upright. Alex grew up drinking his father’s German pilsners and his older brother’s Bells Porter before moving to Portland in 2002 where he decided to give brewing a go. He never looked back, and seven years later opened Upright Brewing, specializing in farmhouse-inspired beers rooted in France and Belgium but made with local ingredients and a Pacific Northwest twist. The name “Upright” is in reference to the primary instrument of Charles Mingus, a musician whose compositions defy categorization. At Upright the recipes and processes are decidedly unbound, making for a true hybrid style that shares Mingus’ spirit of creativity and craft. Each beer combines the best of French style beers with the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer, making for some truly wonderful brews.

Upright Brewing Co. Seven – $12.55
French-inspired ales with a West Coast twist to give them an identity all their own. This Portland brew has a slight haze to its brassy golden colour, and once it hits the glass you immediately plunge into an intense aroma of fruit and white pepper with a touch of Belgian malt. A dry beer with pear and apricot on the palate that hides the 8% ABV perfectly, it’s a simply remarkable offering from the state of Oregon.

Chris Bonaille | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

Upright Brewing Co. Six – $13.15
This dark saison is burgundy in colour and textured with spicy rye across layers of flavourful malts contrasted by delicate fruit notes that finish dry. Spicy rye takes the lead on the nose followed by caramel and a touch of alcohol. On the palate, rye, rye and more rye with a symphony of chocolate, barley and so much more in between make this velvety brew a real winner.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Upright Brewing Co. White Truffle Gose – $17.55
Based on an obscure, centuries’ old German style that incorporates salt and coriander into a distinctly tart wheat beer with a dry, champagne-like finish, this variation of a classic uses over five pounds of Oregon White truffles to lend it a more grounded flavour. Savor this bottle, as you won’t be disappointed.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

legacy liquor store

new and delicious beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Upright Brewing Co. Seven – $12.55
French inspired ales with a West Coast twist to give them an identity all their own. This Portland brew has a slight haze to its brassy golden colour, and once it hits the glass you immediately plunge into an intense aroma of fruit and white pepper with a touch of Belgian malt. A dry beer with pear and apricot on the palate that hides the 8% ABV perfectly, it’s a simply remarkable offering from the state of Oregon.

Evan Doan | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Fernie Brewing Co. Snowblind Belgian IPA – $6.95

The second installment of Fernie’s Bucket List Series, this Belgian IPA combines the traditional style with new hop varietals from Australian and New Zealand. Unfiltered and hazy with a 7.9% ABV and a 68 IBU kick, this little treasure from the BC interior boasts the best of a Belgian IPA and the brews currently coming out of British Columbia.

Chris Bonnallie | Beer Supervisor | Legacy Liquor Store

Micro-Brasserie Le Trou Du Diable La Buteuse – $11.35

Paying tribute to Jacques Buteux, sent down the Trou Du Diable (Devil’s Hole) in 1652, this brew is clear and gold in colour with a big, bold, Belgian malt nose, with fruit and a bit of pepper to back it up. A balanced palate of fruit, pepper and a strong Belgian malt backbone ties up beautifully with a full body. A delicious take on a Belgian Tripel.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

great canadian beer festival – part 2

oh gcbf!
oh the good times!
oh the good beers!
oh thank dog there were no cameras at certain after-parties!

first of all, let me extole the virtues of flying from vancouver to victoria
so quick, so easy, so fun!
(caveat:  i would not want to be on that tiny plane if there was ANY turbulence though – that would be very, very, very frightening)
i left from my office at 5:45 on friday evening
and i was in victoria by 7:00 for the start of the copper & theory tap takeover at the guild
so civilized!

watching the pre-flight safety film on an ipad

the guild was a fun venue
although, as nigel from the alibi room ironically pointed out, it was a hard place to socialize properly as you had to be seated to be served – darned restaurant licenses!
i had hoped to have some beer & cheddar soup or welsh rarebit, but alas they don’t do either of them vegetarian
instead i ate other people’s curry & chips
as for beer, i stuck with the gigantic ipa because gosh darnit, that’s what i was in the mood for
i did sample all the uprights that passed by me though
for quality assurance purposes of course

saturday dawned rainy and coolish
after an enormous breakfast at spoons we hit the park
it brightened up as we drank our way through remaining casks and never-tried-befores
for the run-down on those though, you’ll have to wait, cuz i’m outta time right now

tasting night

the cask at the yaletown brewpub last night was cocoa ipa
it was a bitter little beer to swallow
so of course i loved it!
a bit sedimenty with cocoa at the bottom, but what do you expect from a cask?

i also ventured to bitter for their sour flight
for $18 i got to try three sour beers

the upright 4 is not really a sour beer if you ask me
it is just a slightly sour saison, you know?
so, not my favourite…

the jolly pumpkin grand cru – luciernaga the firefly
was starting to get sour
still, i can see why it calls itself a belgian pale ale
tasty for sure but not quite sour enough for me
would i have it again?  sure!

the verhaghe vichte duchesse de bourgoyne was sour
not mouth puckeringly so, but enough that it pleased my sourpuss tastebuds
iain hill described it to me before i had tried it as balsamic vinegar
and he was right!  totally got that flavour from it
my favourite of the three and one i would happy have again

portland

my friend is on her way to portland
i am jealous
i have a trip in the works, but not for at least another month dammit!

anyway
in advising her of where she HAS to go i came across this site that provides pub crawl suggestions
so if you haven’t yet purchased the beer goddess’ guide, which of course you need to go do now, this site can tide you over

tasting notes

march 2, 2011
beernesday
st. augustine’s

i have been having fun making up samplers for some of my friends
they say “what should i have?” and i get to play dictator!
it works for me, and so far they say i haven’t yet steered them wrong
so it appears to be making everyone happy!

for stacy i put together:
howe sound rockfish red ale
lost coast raspberry brown ale
driftwood farmhand ale
lighthouse rip tide pale ale

she said it was so good jackie decided to have it too
and i put a second sampler together for stacy:
howe sound high tide hemp and honey ale
howe sound rockfish red ale (she insisted on having this again!)
upright brewing seven
lost coast great white
and she liked all of those as well
woot – i rock!

my sampler was:
tree brewing double hop head ipa
st a’s says: 8% loaded with five different hop varieties, this bold imperial ipa is not for the faint of heart
i say: i really like it

deschutes mirror pond pale ale
st a’s says:  5% the quintessential american pale ale, mirror pond elegantly blends the sweetness of malted barley with the bit of hops
i say:  lovely as usual!  less hoppy than the others in my sampler (duh, its a pale ale not an ipa) but it sure can hold its own

crannog ales insurrection ipa
st a’s says: 5.4%  100% organic.  pale amber malt body emphasizes, with enough sweeness to hold up the rather large volumes of fresh hops
i say:  pretty good, how good oscillates wildly depending on what i drink before it

howe sound pothole filler imperial stout
st a’s says:  9%  this beer is a strong, inky dark ale, brewed with 6 malts and blackstrap molasses.  it is a thick beer, with an intense roasted barley flavour, with notes of chocolate and licorice
i say:  i think i got the wrong beer – my sheet said it was the right one, but there’s no way the light brown beer is the pothole filler.  i wish i knew which beer i got instead though, cuz its lovely!

after my sampler i moved along to the howe sound total eclipse of the hops and the dead frog citra ipa

upright’s clash ale

i am a huge clash fan
so when i heard upright brewing was doing an ode to the clash in beer form i just about peed my pants i was so happy
its been on my “beers i wanna drink” wish list for a while now
then it arrived at the alibi room
too cheap to pay the $22 for a bottle right then and there, i got my insider beer buddy to find out where i could buy myself a bottle retail
turns out they carry it at brewery creek
so i got me one for the lower price of $12
which for 1 pint, 9.4 fluid ounces seems like a good deal!

okay, so nowhere does it actually say its an ode to the clash, or even to punk rock in general, but i’m going to say that it is and go with it, because that makes me happy
and i like to be happy
it works for me

can i just say its got way toooooo much head?
frothy frothy head
that pours inches tall for each cm of beer i managed to get into my glass
its been a long several minutes and i’m still waiting for the head to go down enough to get to the beer without wearing an entire face worth’s of froth
and its pale
even for a pilsner, its a pale creature
like a true punk rocker, it appears never to see the sun
quite hazy too

first sip is hoppy
and pilsner malty
and the uber carbonation is tickling my tongue
it is crisp though
are they sure its a pilsner?
seems to have a belgiany yeast going on
not so strongly that i hate it, but enough that i’m disconcerted
i wanted to love this beer…
i like it, and i’ll happily have my second glass
but i’m not sure i’ll buy it again

not loving it more the further down the bottle i get
too bad, so sad
but clash, i love you still!

from the website:

Upright Lager uses a simple recipe to highlight its ingredients. This strong beer has a delicate balance of subtle malt sweetness and hop bitterness.
Hops: magnum, liberty, tettnanger
Malts: pilsener, carapils
Yeast: Munich lager
6.75% abv
and for their blog post about the beer, click here