beernesday

my friend went to austin texas and all i got was... amazing beer! the doggie style, i know i love the stash, i am looking forward to falling in love with! thank you thank you thank you giselle for actually falling for the "bring me back some beer okay?"

talk about a blast from the past here's what i can remember from the rogue kitchen & wetbar beer pairing dinner with central city brewery way, way, way back on january 18th  when going to a central city dinner, you gotta warm up the taste buds with the red racer ipa! course one: tai snapper crudo with pickled kumquat, red chili, orange oil and crispy yam paired with red racer wheat ale tai snapper crudo look ma!  magnetic cutlery! red racer wheat ale course two: hot smoked trout with assorted beets, almonds, arugula, raspberry paired with red racer extra special bitter red racer extra special bitter hot smoked trout course three: duo of duck with seared breast, confit leg, barley risotto, baby fennel, citrus paired with red racer india pale ale red racer india pale ale the pescatarian salmon option the duo of duck, up close and personal-like course four: spiced honey tart with gorgonzola, poached pear, chantilly cream paired wi

for the latest newsletter from seattle's elysian brewing, click here

tasting vancouver wants to know what your favourite local(ish) ipa is! so far their list is: Red Racer IPA (getting lots of love) Driftwood Fat Tug IPA Russell IP’EH Dogfish Head IPA 60 Double Daddy Imperial Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA Elysian Jasmine IPA Tree Brewing Hop Head Dead Frog Citra IPA Stone IPA Ninkansi Total Domination Howe Sound’s Devil’s Elbow West Coast Green Flash Deschutes Inversion DF 90min IPA Hopsickle Elysian Immortal Bridgeport’s Hop Czar Hale’s Ales Moosehead and i'm happy to say i've had almost all of the above but there's the total eclipse of the hops? the hop circle? the hop henge? the unearthly?

march 16, 2011 beernesday st. augustine's i put together another sampler for stacy: elysian brewing bete blanche belgian tripel rogue marimoto soba ale red truck big black bock rogue brutal bitter i especially enjoy putting together a sampler for someone who likes belgians i don't myself, and feel kind of guilty about it so it pleases me when i can assuage that guilt a little by putting belgians in a sampler for someone else! for my sampler i chose: rogue morimoto soba ale st a's says:  6.5%  part of rogue's signature series, designed with iron chef masaharu morimoto.  soba, also known as buckwheat, is not a type of wheat but a member of the rhubarb family and has been a longtime staple of japanese cuisine because of its nutritional value i say:  not soo sure what to make of this one, i think i will have to spend some time with a larger serving to make up my mind red truck ltd. series big black bock st a's says: 7.2% a strong black lager interpre

quotes from march 23rd's beernesday: bridget:  "i'll have one more before i go.... if i have to." me i think:  "any friend of tasha's is a friend of beer"

march 23, 2011 beernesday st. augustine's bit of a short beer menu this week... but short at st. a's is insanely long for most other places! began my evening with a sampler northcoast brewing scrimshaw pilsner st a's says: 4.4%  has a subtle hop character, a crisp, clean palate, and a dry finish i say:  pretty good.  not going to be a favourite, or even something i have a full pint of... elysian brewing co. men's room red st a's says:  5.6%  amber in color with a light hop aroma and toasty malt finish i say:  i like it.  red and hoppy!  its not an amber, its not an ipa, but it sure it their love child! taylor's crossing mad scow stout st a's says: 4.2% a dark irish ale having a rich, roasted coffee bitterness and a smooth creamy finish i say:  yes there's coffee bitterness, yes, its smooth and creamy but it feels kinda thin to me (gwen agrees) vista d'oro homestead estate cider st a's says: 7% an exceptionally dry and tart

lots of recent posts on the brewdog blog for the new beers in their shop, click here for the new brewdog edinburgh, click here  for how an increased beer duty is a boon to craft beer, click here for how the interns exploded the brew, click here for some potential new brewdog ingredients, click here

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:

oh happiness is drinking a fabulous beer! with a fabulous friend! in honour of tasha's birthday we cracked not one, but two big ole bottles of dogfish head's squall ipa this is not just any bottle of beer you know its a premium bottle that costs more than the dinner we went out for afterwards and according to dogfish head themselves, its hard to find but its worth every penny and an immense joy when it can be found! pours up rather clear for a bottle conditioned beer, with a lovely head its a 90 minute ipa that is also dry-hopped after the boil dogfish head is out of delaware, so i wasn't expecting northwestern hops (even though there are cascades in there) but it still always takes me a little aback when they're not there! "unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented" true dat! " An unfiltered, 100% bottle-conditioned, super-pungent imperial I.P.A. clocking in at 9% ABV and dry-hopped with Palisade, Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, CTZ, and Willa

the march 23rd edition (aka yay for spring!):

i'm off to spend some quality time with bon jovi tonight just me and a few thousand of their fans... what that means though is stadium beer blech, i hate stadium beer and paying an outrageous sum for the displeasure good thing we'll be starting out at the railway and i can get my hop on with the hop circle first!

from the camra newsletter: At last year's Vancouver Home Brewing Awards Matt Anderson and Danny Seeton took the Best in Show award for their 'Rocket to Russia' bourbon oak-aged Imperial Stout, and as part of their award they've brewed a full 14000 litre batch of this beer with Yaletown Brewing brewmaster Iain Hill. After spending over a month and a half conditioning, Rocket to Russia will go on tap this Thursday at Yaletown Brewing. Matt, Danny, and Iain describe this 10.5% abv Imperial Stout as being very smooth with a distinctive American oak flavour reminiscent of new world red wines. Matt, Danny, and Iain will be on hand for the launch at this Thursday's cask event. i hear that the launch went really well and that you can still try the rocket to russia - so get on over there and try some!! way to go guys!

the loop: brewer's association newsletter rogue wire service flying dog newsletter

tuesday's beer and food pairing dinner at rogue kitchen and wet bar was another fabulous evening of good food, good beer, bons mots from owner and brewmaster and good times! the evening got off to a bit of a late start - first tasters of beer arriving at 7:30ish and first dish at 7:40 but that just ensured that we were all drooling a little when it did arrive the menu we began with the king heffy imperial hefeweizen, a 7.7% behemoth of german yeasty goodness - bananas and cloves galore 45% wheat and 55% barley mash it won 2 gold medals last une at the american beer awards the king heffy the king heffy taster wedged between the double decker ipa from vancouver island brewing and crannog's back hand of god paired with braised pork belly, which we were told is its traditional food pairing seeing as i had fish instead of pork belly and don't actually enjoy the wheat beers i couldn't tell you if it actually did pair well first course - carnivorous

next week's beernesday marks a beeriversary! Hopworks Urban Brewery Mark your calendars... next Wednesday, March 30, HUB will celebrate our 3rd Anniversary... beer, food and merch specials all day. Keep checking in for more details.

hahaha, so the r&b cask of smoky pineapple goodness that was supposed to be tapped at the railway last night apparently blew up! mon dieu! so r&b delivered up their esb instead. and it was quite lovely, if a touch young... and really, who likes pineapple anyway?

hahahahaha!

obviously i need to work less either that or stop needing sleep there just isn't enough time in the day after working too many hours to both go drinking and blog about it and naturally i'm choosing to actually go drinking over blogging about it most of the time! speaking of which, i'm off to rogue wetbar tonight to do some beer tasting and food pairing yup, its a four course meal by the rogue chef made to complement four lovely beers by howe sound (and yes, i did just tour their brewery on saturday - apparently its just all about howe sound right now - oooooh, not to mention that they've got a sale on today and tomorrow and if you can get your ass to squamish, you could be the proud owner of cases of beer for 30 - 50% off - sadly i cannot get my ass to squamish to partake...) i have also signed up to partake in rogue's phillips pairing dinner on april 12th menu is not out yet, but i'm sure it will be delightful! and maybe by next year i'll have

my march additions to the 50 book challenge: louise welsh - naming the bones jack whyte - order in chaos

i may have finally recovered from the camra spring trip to howe sound brewing in squamish and mark james group 's high mountain brewhouse in whistler the trip was saturday... lord but those camra vancouver people know how to toss back the beer! for now, a few of the less incriminating photos: still sober aka just got on the bus monty, the bus that broke down sampler at howe sound the bar at howe sound brewery tour hanging with the fermentors the last ever cask of dix ipa taking some of the last cask to go - because we love tasha double fisting aka comparison between the ipas (note the grip is to warm them to equal temperature, not to make sure i don't drunkenly drop them!) a few of the ne-er do wells and there it was, the last cask of dix ipa gone forever the cask is dead - long live the cask!