beernesday

From On the Coast on Tuesday: Just when you think you’ve got a handle on craft beer, another brewery opens up, another style becomes popular or a new trend pops up.  Mariner Brewing is poised to open on the Barnet Highway in Coquitlam in August.  I understand it will have a 50 person tasting room and a steam-powered brewery.  So watch social media for the opening announcement! One potential new trend is hop powder.  I’m not hearing a lot about it in Vancouver yet, but there are some breweries in the US who are experimenting with it, including Georgetown Brewing in Seattle. Hop powder is pretty much what it sounds like – it is a powdered form of hops.  The powder is an essential oil-rich concentrate made by extracting resin glands from the hops at very cold temperatures in a nitrogen atmosphere to preserve the quality of the oils.  The resulting powder contains twice the percentage of alpha acids – which is what bitters beer - as the origi...

from the cbc website , from my beer column yesterday: Get the raw story on raw ale, the newest trend in craft brewing Plus, check out Rebecca Whyman's picks for great summer beers CBC News   Posted: Jul 18, 2017 5:52 PM PT  Last Updated: Jul 18, 2017 6:14 PM PT Category 12 is a B.C. brewery that makes a beer using raw ale techniques. (Category 12 Brewing/Facebook) 5 shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Share Email Related Stories OTC Beer and Wine Beware of 'crafty' marketing, beer columnist says Are new B.C. craft breweries struggling to distinguish themselves? The newest trend in B.C. craft beer is old school — very old school. Raw ale is a type of beer made when the wort — the sugary liquid extracted from malted grains — is not boiled. "Most traditional farmhouse ales are raw and probably prehistoric beer was all raw ale,"  On The Coast  beer colu...

Summer is finally here, and there’s no better time for a BC road-trip! Some of my vacations come about because of beer, and some fit beer in along the way.  With breweries popping up around every corner, it is easy to include stopping in to check out the vibe and sample the wares any time I find myself travelling.  If a locale has a large concentration of breweries, I’ll visit based on that alone - and discover the other wonderful things it has to offer along the way. I know not everyone is as craft beer obsessed as my friends and I are, but if you like beer, even a little, it is really easy to include brewery stops on your vacation – or to use visiting breweries as an excuse to take a vacation! It’s easy!  You don’t even need a travel agent!  If your vacation destination is in BC, there is a great planning tool available online – the BC Ale Trail .  It is a website that offers sample itineraries for self-guided tours in many areas around the Prov...

from the CBC website Beware of 'crafty' marketing,  beer columnist says Check out Rebecca Whyman's beer picks for this week CBC News   Posted: Jun 20, 2017 7:39 PM PT  Last Updated: Jun 20, 2017 7:39 PM PT A California beer drinker sued MillerCoors LLC in 2015, claiming their Blue Moon beer is not actually craft beer and marketing it as such was deceptive. Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Share Email Related Stories OTC Beer and Wine Are new B.C. craft breweries struggling to distinguish themselves? New model of craft brewing coming to Vancouver, says beer columnist Is the beer you drink craft? Or is it merely craftily marketed? On The Coast  beer columnist Rebecca Whyman says it can be hard to tell sometimes. Between acquisitions of craft breweries, shadow brands and marketing elements that make a beer look craft, there are several ways big breweries ar...

my notes from yesterday's cbc on the coast radio beer column: The 15th Annual Canadian Brewing Awards were held in Ottawa on May 27th. As is becoming the norm, BC breweries shone on the medal podium! Our breweries won 51 of the available 164 medals – tying with Ontario for the most medals won. If you were at the Vancouver Craft Beer Week tasting festival at the PNE on the weekend, you no doubt saw many of the trophies on display at the brewery booths. Mt. Begbie Brewing in Revelstoke was the big winner! They walked away with the coveted “Best Brewery in Canada” award, plus Gold medals for their High Country Kolsch and Cream Ale, and a Bronze medal for the Brave Liver Scotch Ale. Mt. Begbie began brewing in 1996, and just underwent an expansion to a new larger space with a tasting room and retail store. It’s great to see that expansion paying off for them in having their beers recognized country-wide. British Columbia swept the medals in three style categories: English Style P...

from the cbc website A beer by any other name: sexism in craft beer labels Beer columnist Rebecca Whyman weighs in on controversial labels and marketing CBC News   Posted: May 10, 2017 5:00 PM PT  Last Updated: May 10, 2017 5:00 PM PT Steamworks Summer Ale is one of Rebecca Whyman's beer picks for this week, and she highlighted the sunny label as one of the things she likes about it. (Steamworks Beer/Facebook ) 74 shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Share Email Related Stories B.C. craft brewers know how to share the love, columnist says Are new B.C. craft breweries struggling to distinguish themselves? New model of craft brewing coming to Vancouver, says beer columnist Don't forget a pretzel necklace: 5 tips for a better beer festival experience It is getting harder and harder to find unique beer names as more breweries enter the market, but the supply of off...