beernesday

apparently this summer is 'pub crawl summer' for me two crawls over two weekends (and one last month) - i guess this is what i do when i'm not galivanting out of town on the weekend and i gotta tell ya, i like it! on the long weekend i went on a crawl organized by a friend and we hit a whopping 7 places (loosely calling them all pubs...) some peeps continued on to an 8th, but i tapped out after 7 (i'm not old, i'm sensible... yeah, sensible, that's it) where did we go? parallel 49 odd society storm brewing bomber brewing windjammer restaurant biercraft stateside craft (some to st. augustine's) odd society so what was the mission statement of this particular crawl? get hammered on a sunny saturday afternoon? well, that may have happened, but the purpose was to show off the incredible bounty of craft beverages within walking distance of our east van homes 3 breweries - parallel 49 tasting room, bomber brewing tasting room and storm br...

i so want this place to be my perfect bar it's close to my house it has 40 taps of beer i like (and yes i know they rotate, but c'mon 40 taps of great american beer?  of course i'm gonna like them) it has yummy food including the best beer and cheese sauce on earth but... and you knew there'd be a but! they have some work to do for my drinking pleasure, the place is too dark i can barely read the menu ambiance is one thing, dimness is another for my drinking pleasure, the music is often too loud and no, i'm not eighty years old! seriously, i don't want to be yelling at the friend next to me at the pub i am at a pub so that i can converse with my friends if i want pumping, thumping techno beats i'll go to a club honouring the $2 off parking that avanti's used to would be nice making the waffle the same size as the 'put a bird on it' at portland craft would be nice and yes, i have made all these suggestions to the very f...

quietly opening on commercial drive last week, stateside craft is the newest craft beer bar in the city portland craft's younger, over-achieving sister will officially open on july 4th but until then, they are soft launching and you can stop in for some wonderful brews and yummy food located in the former avanti's pub in il mercato mall at gravely and commercial it is a whole lot prettier inside than the former pub the female-identified bathroom is 8 million times nicer (thank dog!) bright (or as bright as a place with only a couple of windows can be), polished, open and airy this ain't avanti's, that's for sure and i couldn't be happier now, don't get me wrong, avanti's did me right for many years but their refusal to get any craft beer on tap led me to move my commercial drive beer drinking to st. augustine's as soon as that alternative presented itself now that st. a's has line-ups all the time, i've been jonesing for anoth...

don't forget to get your ticket to saturday's bc beer awards there are still a few left, but they won't be selling them at the door, so go online now and get yours! hosted by cbc radio's stephen quinn this is going to be a very fun afternoon of beer sampling! 1-6 at the croatian cultural centre on commercial drive me, i'll be leading a vip tour group around the place early on then drinking liberally after that woohoo!

vancity buzz offers this list of cheap craft beer in vancouver it is a pretty good list, but it does not correctly identify that a pint is 20oz and doesn't list serving sizes of a lot of the sleeves however, i figure if you're looking for a beer bargain, its a great list of places to try and you can figure out for yourself where the best deal is (and when you do, tell me please!) on a related note i handed out my first camra fuss card last night what's a fuss card you ask? well, its a card that camra vancouver members can use to inform beer sellers that they are not living up to their provincially mandated duty to properly list serving sizes for their beers last night's card giving was at windjammer on commercial drive who advertise on their sandwich board and their menu that they serve 20 oz pints when the beer arrived, it was in a branded sleeve, not a pint glass this is not the first time i have been served less than 20oz there the beer is cheap at...

last night i needed nachos it was imperative that i have some and who does better nachos on the drive than st. augustine's? no one! and what goes down better with nachos than ipa? nothing! so i had a tin whistle scorpion double ipa for double the fun 8% - "loaded with citra hops and a huge malt backbone. brewed in small batches" they weren't kidding about that huge malt backbone it was teetering awfully close to the 'too much' precipice i could have used a little less but then i do like my ipas bitter(er) darker in colour, dense head, clear as the day is long its a fine beer for sure its not going to crack my top ten list though and... i'll be making a brief appearance at st. augustine's again this evening its the beerthirst half pints re-launch in bc i hear there will be swag as well as good beer!

On April 10th, Beerthirst is teaming up with our friends at Russell Brewing for a night of craft beer and BBQ at Memphis Blues BBQ! It's a 5 course dinner with 6 beers, and we will be pouring the Bear Republic Racer 5, North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner, and Green Flash Double Stout. 7 - 10pm, $50 per person. 1342 Commercial Drive.

whatcha doing monday evening? will you be on commercial drive, vancouver? want some free beer and nibblies? hit up the charlatan - oktoberfest lives on!

oh yeah, more self-promotion! i have a table at the artful sunday art market at britannia community centre on commercial drive on sunday come and buy stuff!!! 12 to 5 live music fabulous local arts and crafts an excuse to play on the drive on sunday and me! what more incentive do you need? well, i'll be selling my hops sachets again drift off to sleep easily with the scent of hops!

st. augustine's has a new logo !

wanna party with the central city crew for new year's eve, but don't want to go all the way to surrey to do it? fear not, timbre on the drive is having a red racer new year's! Red Racer Beer Timbre Restaurant is hosting a rocking New Year's Eve party for all you who cant make it out to the brewpub. Taps of Red Racer Beer flowing till 2:00am!

where do you think the next brewdog pub should be? they have some interesting ideas, see the blog here , but i think good old commercial drive in vancouver should get the next one! the newly opened brewdog pub in aberdeen, scotland

jan zeschky talks to james walton of storm brewing for the link, click here

my latest brewery discovery is elysian in seattle tried the immortal ipa at timbre the other night while its not my favourite ipa (gawd there are so many great north west ipas out there!) it was darned delicious! and speaking of timbre, along with a great menu and cool vibe, they've added a whole bunch of great beers to their offerings. upcoming (as soon as the gib in the kegs is done) are central city esb and ipa - yay!  also driftwood's farmhand ale and the bottles list is quite impressive go there, its worth the trip to commercial drive! (the website hasn't yet been updated to reflect the new offerings...) ELYSIAN BEER At Elysian we pride ourselves on our versatility and the variety of beers we produce. Whether classic ale and lager styles or their Northwest-themed interpretations, idiosyncratic treatments with unusual ingredients, or altogether new beers never brewed anywhere else, ever, we tend to have an astonishing array of offerings on tap. Because we h...

perhaps you are wondering "just what is beernesday?" quite simple really beernesday is the brain child of bridget and i it is the reason we give our friends for getting off the couch in the horrible winter months and coming out to hang with their buddies every wednesday from late september until softball season, we gather at a local watering hole and drink beer together beer on wednesdays why that makes them beernesdays and there you have it the last two years we've been hosting our beernesday gatherings at avanti's pub this year we are moving the party to st. augustine's still on commercial drive, but i'm hoping to improve on everyone's gastronomical delight by offering them 40 beers to choose from, and a great food menu this also works very well for me as i will be at st. augustine's on a weekly basis and should be able to more easily keep up with all their rotating tap goodness! i want to sample everything! tonight's the first ...

The Charlatan on commercial drive boasts 15 shiny taps. they say:  "The Charlatan is Commercial Drive’s best Gastro-Pub. Offering 15 fresh tap beers with 12 imports, its the best place to enjoy the perfect pint. The relaxing 80 seat south-facing patio is East Vancouver's crowning jewel. The contemporary downstairs bar is hidden away from the busy street and is ideal for relaxation, experiencing our inspired menu and a cocktail with friends." and sure, i'd say its the best gastro-pub on the drive.  the food is upscale pub grub and darned delicious (the tuna bites make me swoon).  and the beer offerings are quite sufficient and varied.  the bathrooms aren't amazing, but for the drive, they're darned good! but... lately they've got the same service issues as st. augustine's pub - uninterested and slow servers. i'm not sure if this is a terrible trend going on in the service industry right now, or if i'm just unlucky enough to keep finding th...

patron saint of beer, and venue for my birthday bash just past! located on commercial drive, this spacious beer and sports bar features more than 40 taps - yes more than 40!  most of those 40 are their staple offerings, but they do have a list of seasonal offerings and bottled beer too. they were very able to accommodate a large group of us (any night but canucks or fight night) and by all accounts the burgers are to die for (my vegetarianism gets in the way of me personally confirming that fact).  monday nights are cask nights, and every night they offer tasters of four beers for $8. love the direction they are taking their decor (this is a mash tun isn't it?) on the downside, service was not as quick as one might have hoped and the bathrooms are not fabulous.  otherwise, you better believe i'm recommending the place!  and going to make it my regular watering hole. bring on the casks, bring on the good times!