pat’s pub

12 craft taps at pat’s pub?
anti-hipster heaven!

well, i’m not sure the 12 taps really all qualify as craft
but i’m not going to quibble with a place that’s trying to reinvent itself through craft beer
they’re trying!

and, you know, they do brew and can their own lager on-site
and its pretty good
no really, it is
try it, you’ll like it!
dude, its $3.50 a pint, $13 a pitcher and only $12 for a six-pack to go

i’m not going to lie to you
it was a couple of weeks ago that i stopped in at pat’s pub on a tuesday night around 9
there was no one else there
which just meant the bartender gave us lots of attention and back story on the lager
but…
it also means that i do not have total recall of what’s on those 12 taps…
thank goodness they list them on the website!!

cannery:  ipa and blackberry porter
r & b:  red devil pale ale
russell:  cream ale, wee angry scotch
tree brewing:  cut-throat pale ale
big rock:  traditional ale, grasshopper wheat, rock creek cider
pat’s pub:  lager
molson:  canadian
and a rotating tap

ooh, and they do off-sales too
of all the big rock line
and the cannery ipa, anarchist amber and naramata brown

wee angry scotch

the cask of oak-aged wee angry scotch at the railway on tuesday night was a whole lot of delicious!

malty and dark

roasty and smooth

deep mystery in a pint glass!



i much prefer the oaked to the whiskeyed
i think this might be my favourite wee angry scotch cask to date!

it was a bit too dark for my lager loving friends
so they went for the red racer lager

it was a darned fine way to begin an evening of beering it up!

railway cask night

last week`s cask…

served a little too cold on the tapping
the further we got into our potent little glasses the more the whiskey made itself known
warm for sure, to much alcohol, i didn’t think so

i had a dinner to get to right afterwards so i tried to be prudent and only have the one glass
prudent or not, that one glass went right to my head!

and in honour of the play-offs to begin the next night, railway staffers got creative and built their own arena, fully equipped with jumbo-tron as well!
i love crafts!

if my plans do not go ahead tonight, i am intrigued to try the r&b agave cactus wheat ale on tap this week

russell’s wee angry scotch ale

love the name “a wee angry scotch ale”
and love the beer!

wonderfully dark and malty
pours with an insanely huge head on the vigourous pour
wafts malty aroma
but has a lovely hop bitterness about it
6.5%
30 ibus

from the bottle:  “a wee angry scotch ale is part of the russell brewmaster series: a succession of small batch beers that push taste boundaries and explore new styles of beers.  this beer has been brewed with a blend of scottish specialty malts in the style of a 19th century 90 shilling scotch ale – a strong, dark ale with a dominant malt accent that originated in edinburugh.  this batch of beer was brewed by jack bensley, eric dubuc and anders mckinnon, russell brewing company, 2010.  russell brewing company has been brewing premium craft beer in british columbia since 1995.  our beer is 100% natural and has no preservatives.  we don’t pasteurize which means that we don’t kill the taste – you drink it the way it is brewed.  fanatical about beer, we believe that the passion and quality that goes into creating russell beer comes through in the taste.  enjoy!”

such a great beer when i still want my hops, but i want some malt to go with them
and drinking a dark beer just feels right when the weather gets cooler
not that i’ll ever abandon my ipas
just that sometimes i feel like a nice dark ale
an angry scotch ale!

st. augustine’s sampler

over my last two visits to st. augustine’s i tried seven beers in my samplers
i’ve already blogged about the total eclipse of the hops and pumpkineater by howe sound

the other beers i tried in my samplers are:
– red truck’s limited steam beer:  a hybrid beer style brewing using ale yeast fermented at lager temperatures. the result is a full flavoured, yet surprisingly crisp beer.  5%
– driftwood brewery farmhand ale:  southern-belgian farmhouse ale uses a partial sour-mash and the addition of freshly ground black.  a unique strain of yeast from belgium adds further layers of complexity to this rare style. 5%
– rogue ales john john hazelnut: a nutty twist to a traditional european brown ale.  dark brown in color with a hazelnut aroma, a rich nutty flavor and a malty finish. 5.6%
– russell brewing’s wee angry scotch:  a malty scotch ale with canadian two-row, crystal, chocolate and a touch of peated malt, and lightly hopped with willamette. 6.5%
– crannog ales gael’s blood potato ale:  100% organic.  this rich irish red ale is made with organic potatoes for an exceptionally smooth, rich body.  5.2%

now, please keep in mind that these are social outings focussed more on chat with my friends than on actually reviewing beers
not that i’m a professional reviewer in the first place, of course
but, my notes from nights like these are gonna be brief!

found the wee angry scotch to be wonderfully chocolatey and malty – nice and clear and quite yummy
the gael’s blood potato to be well-balanced, cloudy, a nice red ale (and chan who doesn’t love the beer even liked this one!)
the farmhand ale is too belgiany for me – its that darned yeast strain, i just don’t like it.  cloves were nice… bridget and amanda loved it, so i thought i’d try it, but nope, still don’t like the saison / farmhouse style
john john hazelnut was lovely – nutty and malty, rich yet still crisp.  quite enjoyable, and everyone at the table liked this one
steam beer – yes, it is crisp, so crisp!  i love it!  delish!

i hope to get the opportunity to have the limited steam again…
the rest of them, except the saison of course, i’d happily have again as well
you know, if there aren’t other beers i NEED to try on the menu!