Beers on the BrewPub Crawl
okay, here's the scoop on the beers we enjoyed on the four beers and a funeral brewpub crawl, part of vancouver craft beer week, held on saturday. as usual, i had lots of beers, so the notes start out legible and sensical and quickly degenerate. here they are, sometimes verbatim, edited for sense and to protect any pride i might still have left!
steamworks: ginger beer - amazing, if i had more than two thumbs, they'd be up too. an ale with lots of ginger flavour and carbonation. makes the tongue tingle and the tummy warm. great alternative to a lemon or lime lager for refreshment. we all tried this beer, and were all mighty glad that we did.
even though i swore i would only have one beer per stop in an effort to keep my wits about me, i broke that oath at the very first stop and had a second beer. apparently it only takes 1 beer to make me forget all my good intentions. bridget and i ordered ipas and amanda ordered the wheat beer. bridget and i were disappointed. there were no hops... we think perhaps we got a lager by mistake. we were however very happy to have amanda with us so she could try all the wheat beers and hefeweisens instead of us! she found the hefeweisen very citrusy and although it was cloudy as all hell, she did not find it yeasty. paired with pub grub appys: jalapeno poppers, garlic cheese toast, tempura prawns, chicken drumettes, chicken skewers, veggies and dip.
bathroom sitch: we had our own two private bathrooms, which were beautiful and clean. the room was pretty swank too!
insert musical march through downtown to yaletown - accompanying the cask casket and regaled by the carnival band. this much fun has got to be illegal. whoever came up with the idea is a genius, perhaps an evil genius, but a genius nonetheless!
dix: for everyone it was the ipa. bridget and i were most pleased - we do love us hoppy goodness! great pairing with veggie curry on rice. hops and spice go together so nice... ly. we weren't fond of the ipa bread though. it tasted like hops were the only ingredient. we love hops, but give us some other ingredients to mellow them out a little! "is there even yeast in the ipa bread? its a dense little fucker. too much hops with nothing to dilute it."
the ipa was sheer heaven. amanda was a trooper and drank hers down even though she is "not a fan of the ipas. love the lemon, zest, citrus taste". she got a lemon to add to it and reports that it helped take away the intense bitter. then she tried salting it, verdict was that was not a good idea. don't be insalting your beer. ba dump bump.
bridget and i savoured every last drop of our ipas and it took more will-power than i thought we possessed to resist the urge to get another as we knew there were many miles left to go. about the only will-power we exhibited all day (and night) so kudos to us for having had any at all!
bathroom sitch: only one of three stalls was working in the women's - leading to quite long line-ups and the using of the men's. not beautifully appointed, but they were clean!
yaletown: choice of all their taps. i had the brick & beam ipa, amanda had the hills wheat and bridget got her dark fix with the warehouse stout.
amanda found hers delightful, cloudy (natch) and already decided that she was going to have a second one. "hells yes" and definitely tasted the banana notes.
bridget's stout was opaque and dark as treacle with that lovely brown head she loves so much. coffee notes but no chocolate. thumbs way up. and a second was necessary.
i found the ipa had a nice head, it was quite carbonated with a hoppy nose, lovely and clear in my glass and easy to drain far too quickly. i preferred the dix ipa, but only by a small margin. i had two as well.
it was a whole round of happy, followed by a second round of the same. we enjoyed the opportunity to have chosen our own beers, and then went and had the same thing again. but we liked having the right to choose! and i liked having tomato pesto olive thin crust pizza, the carnivores enjoyed the pepperoni basil.
bathroom sitch: well-appointed and clean.
on to the aquabus ride over to granville island - such fun. of course we took photos of our shoes and not the scenery, but had a great time regardless.
dockside: again a choice of beers to sample, and two beer tickets for this stop. yay! i was not in the know that there were cask beers available, so i used my first ticket on a keg pilsner and then had the cask ale for my second after i was illuminated by new-found friends.
vancouver craft beer week merchandise was available at this stop - so we bought tee shirts - yay! and sat outside with the caution tape. amanda says "sun is shiningish, the day has been fan'fuck'n'tastic so far! meeting interesting people, must say i love the citrus."
johnson pilsner - i liked it, would have preferred an ipa since i was full on into my hops mode. usually find pilsner kind of bland, delicious but bland. this one is full of subtle goodness.
bridget had the grand crew dark something or other. tasted like red wine to me and molasses to amanda, but bridget really dug it. "its kicking her ass though. lots of flavour. cherry"
shockingly amanda had the hefeweisen. she liked it. it was almost clear, quite carbonated and lighter as far as the citrus and other fruit notes went that she'd been drinking earlier. kinda nondescript.
bathroom sitch: lots of them!
oh, and as an aside, i also had the following in my notes: woman to man ratio was very close to 1-1... thumbs up to his great idea for an afternoon of drinking that appeals to everyone!
so endeth my notes from the day. i do recall enjoying the cask pale ale, it just that we were in a rush to get our food, drink our beers down and get to our next event on time. next year, no second event. we needed more time to savour this one!
all that remains is to thank my fabulous tasting buddy dates for enabling me so galantly, and to thank all our new friends for being so friendly and willing to share their insider knowledge and opinions and laughter, and of course major thanks to the organizers for coming up with, and then executing flawlessly, such an amazing afternoon. i'd do it again in a heartbeat, and certainly won't miss it next year for anything less than my own funeral.
steamworks: ginger beer - amazing, if i had more than two thumbs, they'd be up too. an ale with lots of ginger flavour and carbonation. makes the tongue tingle and the tummy warm. great alternative to a lemon or lime lager for refreshment. we all tried this beer, and were all mighty glad that we did.
even though i swore i would only have one beer per stop in an effort to keep my wits about me, i broke that oath at the very first stop and had a second beer. apparently it only takes 1 beer to make me forget all my good intentions. bridget and i ordered ipas and amanda ordered the wheat beer. bridget and i were disappointed. there were no hops... we think perhaps we got a lager by mistake. we were however very happy to have amanda with us so she could try all the wheat beers and hefeweisens instead of us! she found the hefeweisen very citrusy and although it was cloudy as all hell, she did not find it yeasty. paired with pub grub appys: jalapeno poppers, garlic cheese toast, tempura prawns, chicken drumettes, chicken skewers, veggies and dip.
bathroom sitch: we had our own two private bathrooms, which were beautiful and clean. the room was pretty swank too!
insert musical march through downtown to yaletown - accompanying the cask casket and regaled by the carnival band. this much fun has got to be illegal. whoever came up with the idea is a genius, perhaps an evil genius, but a genius nonetheless!
dix: for everyone it was the ipa. bridget and i were most pleased - we do love us hoppy goodness! great pairing with veggie curry on rice. hops and spice go together so nice... ly. we weren't fond of the ipa bread though. it tasted like hops were the only ingredient. we love hops, but give us some other ingredients to mellow them out a little! "is there even yeast in the ipa bread? its a dense little fucker. too much hops with nothing to dilute it."
the ipa was sheer heaven. amanda was a trooper and drank hers down even though she is "not a fan of the ipas. love the lemon, zest, citrus taste". she got a lemon to add to it and reports that it helped take away the intense bitter. then she tried salting it, verdict was that was not a good idea. don't be insalting your beer. ba dump bump.
bridget and i savoured every last drop of our ipas and it took more will-power than i thought we possessed to resist the urge to get another as we knew there were many miles left to go. about the only will-power we exhibited all day (and night) so kudos to us for having had any at all!
bathroom sitch: only one of three stalls was working in the women's - leading to quite long line-ups and the using of the men's. not beautifully appointed, but they were clean!
yaletown: choice of all their taps. i had the brick & beam ipa, amanda had the hills wheat and bridget got her dark fix with the warehouse stout.
amanda found hers delightful, cloudy (natch) and already decided that she was going to have a second one. "hells yes" and definitely tasted the banana notes.
bridget's stout was opaque and dark as treacle with that lovely brown head she loves so much. coffee notes but no chocolate. thumbs way up. and a second was necessary.
i found the ipa had a nice head, it was quite carbonated with a hoppy nose, lovely and clear in my glass and easy to drain far too quickly. i preferred the dix ipa, but only by a small margin. i had two as well.
it was a whole round of happy, followed by a second round of the same. we enjoyed the opportunity to have chosen our own beers, and then went and had the same thing again. but we liked having the right to choose! and i liked having tomato pesto olive thin crust pizza, the carnivores enjoyed the pepperoni basil.
bathroom sitch: well-appointed and clean.
on to the aquabus ride over to granville island - such fun. of course we took photos of our shoes and not the scenery, but had a great time regardless.
dockside: again a choice of beers to sample, and two beer tickets for this stop. yay! i was not in the know that there were cask beers available, so i used my first ticket on a keg pilsner and then had the cask ale for my second after i was illuminated by new-found friends.
vancouver craft beer week merchandise was available at this stop - so we bought tee shirts - yay! and sat outside with the caution tape. amanda says "sun is shiningish, the day has been fan'fuck'n'tastic so far! meeting interesting people, must say i love the citrus."
johnson pilsner - i liked it, would have preferred an ipa since i was full on into my hops mode. usually find pilsner kind of bland, delicious but bland. this one is full of subtle goodness.
bridget had the grand crew dark something or other. tasted like red wine to me and molasses to amanda, but bridget really dug it. "its kicking her ass though. lots of flavour. cherry"
shockingly amanda had the hefeweisen. she liked it. it was almost clear, quite carbonated and lighter as far as the citrus and other fruit notes went that she'd been drinking earlier. kinda nondescript.
bathroom sitch: lots of them!
oh, and as an aside, i also had the following in my notes: woman to man ratio was very close to 1-1... thumbs up to his great idea for an afternoon of drinking that appeals to everyone!
so endeth my notes from the day. i do recall enjoying the cask pale ale, it just that we were in a rush to get our food, drink our beers down and get to our next event on time. next year, no second event. we needed more time to savour this one!
all that remains is to thank my fabulous tasting buddy dates for enabling me so galantly, and to thank all our new friends for being so friendly and willing to share their insider knowledge and opinions and laughter, and of course major thanks to the organizers for coming up with, and then executing flawlessly, such an amazing afternoon. i'd do it again in a heartbeat, and certainly won't miss it next year for anything less than my own funeral.
Thanks for the kind words!
ReplyDeleteWe're glad you enjoyed yourselves and it seems like you nailed our intentions to a tee. A fun afternoon that would appeal to everyone!
Look forward to seeing you around town with a pint of craft in your hand!