beernesday

i always run out of time during my radio spot on cbc's on the coast! six minutes just isn't enough time for me to say all i want to say on a subject (which is good, because i can save up all that unsaid stuff and have topics for 100 more shows...) so, i am going to use this, my lovely blog, to finish saying what i didn't have time for on the air (and i will try to do it in a more timely manner next time!) what makes a good beer joint? imho it doesn't matter what style of beer joint it is, fancy, british, dive, restaurant, brewpub, pub... these four things NEED to be present to get repeat beer loving customers: clean lines interesting beer choices food for pairing with beers knowledgeable staff if i hate your decor i may not have my birthday party at your establishment, but it won't stop me from coming back if the beer's good if the beer is off, i definitely won't be back if there are few to no craft beer choices, i won't willingly be ba...

this week's yelp is all about beer in vancouver: Beer-ly beloved, we are gathered here to honour the union of parched lips and everyone's favourite patio pleaser. Be it pilsner or stout, lager or ale , this Weekly vows to bond Vancouverites with ice-cold suds . Offering 300 brews on rotation and a "dizzyingly diverse beer menu," Alibi Room holds Jordan Y 's heart. "There's something for every taste; it's the place to bring that friend who professes to hate beer just so you can blow his/her mind." Meanwhile, Malloreigh M proclaims, " St Augustine's has a selection of microbrews on tap that's unrivaled ." Their pint-priced, four-beer taster "allows customers to quell a bit of that overwhelmed feeling that comes from reading a double-sided, tightly-packed beer menu." We're foaming at the options! L James V prefers to tap into Six Acres for his fix: "The beer is vast, varied, unique, and sometimes very rar...

vancouver winners of the golden plates awards beer-related spoilers: Best Pub Food 1.Irish Heather Gastropub, 210 Carrall 2.Yaletown Brewing Company, 1111 Mainland 3.Doolins Irish Pub, 654 Nelson Best Restaurant B.C. Beer Selection 1.Alibi Room, 157 Alexander 2.St. Augustine’s, 2360 Commercial 3.ensemble Tap, 990 Smithe 3.BierCraft Tap & Tapas Bar, Various locations Best Restaurant Imported Beer Selection 1.BierCraft Tap & Tapas Bar, Various locations 2.Alibi Room, 157 Alexander 3.Bitter Tasting Room, 16 W. Hastings Street Best Pub 1.Irish Heather Gastropub, 210 Carrall 2.Lamplighter Public House, 92 Water 3.Doolins Irish Pub, 654 Nelson Best Brewpub Restaurant 1.Yaletown Brewing Company, 1111 Mainland 2.Steamworks Brewing Company, 375 Water 3.Dockside Restaurant, 1253 Johnston, Granville Island 3.Central City Brewing Co., 13450 102 Avenue, Surrey Best Imported Beer 1.Heineken 2.Stella Artois 3.Guinness Best Microbrewery Local 1.Granv...

i spent my lunch hour today at firefly and biercraft success at firefly!  bit of fail at biercraft :(  shopping with shans at firefly my hoppy haul biercraft has a new lunch menu and were offering $2 lunches between 11:30 and 1:30 today, plus a $2 coupon for your next lunch visit, meaning that your net spending would end up being zero a free lunch who doesn't want a free lunch? alas, because of the deal they were not able to make substitutions or deletions to their menu items and this vegetarian who isn't eating cheese these days was shit outta luck on menu items bummer but on the bright side, i made it back to work on time! i'm surprised there weren't more people in there taking advantage of the special, but then again, i only heard about it at about 11 this morning...

well, its not beer, but wine is pretty good stuff too... here's some yelp advice about good places to get yer wine on in vancouver: Why Doesn't Yelp Wine About It? This Weekly Yelp brought to you by Make It Vancouver It’s that time of year, Vancity... that cold time of year when all we want to do is curl up beside a fire with a big, bold, smooth, elegant, full-bodied… glass of wine. And because not all of us have the knowledge of a sommelier, this Weekly is about finding a way to vin your oenophilic heart. Meet Scott P's latest crush over at Liberty Wine Merchants, where “they have a great selection from throughout the world. If you want a nice bottle of BC wine, the staff will take care of you.” Yunn A sips over to Taylorwood regularly “to pick up a bottle or two because of the friendly service, great BC wine selection, and knowledgeable staff.” As someone who’s seen her fair share of stores, Kimberley B toasts the manager at Village Wines. “He never judges me if ...

gosh darn it, i think this person got my pint of sartori at st. augustine's last night i just, just, just missed out [insert majorly pouty face here] now i must find me a bottle somewhere viti??? firefly??? brewery creek??? who has some left?

when i went to firefly to pick up my hop in the dark about a month or so ago, lundy (the beer expert) told me i needed to get fish brewery's reel ale swordfish double cascadian dark ale because i am obedient where beer commandments are concerned, i did so however, i didn't get around to drinking it until last weekend what can i say, my beer fridge runneth over! "Swordfish Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) is dark in color, with a prominent “Northwest” hoppy aroma – citrusy, piney and resinous – with sweet malt, hints of roastiness and toasted malt. The flavors strike a beautiful balance between citrusy Northwest hops and, to a lesser degree, roasted, chocolate malt or caramel notes. Despite it’s rich color, the body is more reminiscent of an India Pale Ale, not heavy like a porter or stout. It takes the very deft hands of our Fish brewers to make these flavors play well together so that they don’t fight one another. But as you’ll see with Swordfish CDA, when that perfect b...

oh, by the way firefly has a couple of cases of deschutes' hop in the dark in i of course relieved them of a few bottles of it!

our very own vancouver local lundy dale gets quoted in this article about women in beer and barley's angels ! go lundy! i'm looking forward to the upcoming beer and chocolate event...

time once again for photos of the posters in the bathroom at firefly liquor store!

"fifty ways to love your lagers knock that lager back, jack open a new can, stan you don't need to be coy, roy listen to lundy hop on the beer bus, gus you will need to discuss much tasting's the key, lee" paul simon, as revised by sheila of firefly as i said, i am not the biggest lager lover but i was game to have lundy at firefly show me 50 ways to love my lagers!  lundy, loving her lager  i was pretty happy to see some favourites on the line up for tasting on tuesday night like the lighthouse overboard imperial pilsner, rogue's dead guy and dirtoir black lager! we began light, with the samuel adams noble pils which totally smelled like a lager but it tasted alright - crisp and clean, some resin and bitterness, but no aftertaste then we went overboard with the lighthouse imperial pilsner twice the hops, twice the malts, twice the flavour and colour i'm a fan! still smells like a lager, but its smooth and fuller-bodied and delici...

this week's yelp is all about the beer in vancouver! Yelp's Pint Runneth Over This Weekly Yelp brought to you by Velopalooza "Howe" does a beer sampling "Sound"? Vancouverites aren't exactly shy about their suds. But alas, a good micro can be hard to find at your average Cold Beer and Wine Store. So your Weekly Yelp is here to hop you up on the freshest spots to find a frosted barley pop worth drinking. You betta beer-lieve it! “With over 40 craft beers on tap,” St. Augustine’s is a “must for anyone who likes craft beer,” promises Brad T. He considers himself quite the cicerone and recs "pairing their Flintstones-sized ribs with a pale ale and the oysters with a wheat beer." Kat S gives The Whip and its collection of all the "great microbrews our province has to offer” a crack. The "specialty cask openings on Sunday afternoons" also sound like the perfect cure for what ales us! Andy Y prefers to fill up his beer belly w...

busy beer night for me tonight! first stop:  the railway for cask night - tonight is russell's wee angry scotch second stop:  50 ways to love your lager at firefly - i don't generally love a lager so i hope to develop some appreciation of lagers beyond pilsners!

and another installment in the "it happened a while ago" vcbw posts... women in beer the thursday of vancouver craft beer week held at republic first of all, they asked me to speak right there you know i'm gonna gush just a little bit about this event secondly, there were so many amazing women there you know i'm gonna gush just a little bit more! rebecca of crannog hammers the hand truck porter cask because i was speaking, i got to go in early you know, to help stuff the swag bags aaaaand schmooze with the brewers and lisa morrison! it was great being in there early i got to see all the casks get sprung and talk to everyone before they got swamped by the loving hoardes claire of big river brewing helps with the howe sound cask the beer goddess also helped out with the howe sound cask at 6:00 the doors opened and the lovely supporters of women in beer arrived we had all expected that it would be set up differently more places to sit, a proper pl...

what a great beer week this one's gonna be! tonight is the "beers with benefits" tasting at firefly, hosted by the amazing lundy tomorrow is beernesday, natch thursday is st. patrick's day and the beernesday gang has decided to hit the whip in an effort to make merry without worrying about inferior beer choices or gasp! green beer details of all the fun to follow when i've managed to catch up on my sleep!

i attended the "evolution of the ipa" tasting at firefly last week i was so excited that they were having a whole night of ipas! and i wasn't disappointed there were only two ipas on the list that i hadn't yet tried (one because its limited release and the other because it was only just released) but that meant that i could focus more easily on comparing and contrasting the hops varieties, strengths and malt balances between the beers we got lots of great hand-outs a hops profile chart, a beer evaluation sheet, the history of ipas and a beer aroma wheel not to mention all the great information our fearless leaders had to impart i feel like i got a lot more than just a tasting we began the night with samuel smith's india ale (5%) from england this is one that i had tried just the night before and not liked i found it had a biscuity nose and felt kind of belgian but the further i got down my taster glass of this semi-traditional british ipa, the more ...

ron dyck, the marketer for cannery brewing was at firefly on friday evening to do a tasting. he brought the cannery line featured in the mixed six pack with him, as well as the limited release wildfire ipa and seasonal maple stout. i of course had several tipples of each, because you want to make sure that the quality remains the same from can to can and bottle to bottle just trying to be the best beer taster i can be you know, taking one for the team and all that.... i am really very in love with the wildfire dark ipa and everyone i've shared some with is loving it too and its working for me as a session beer gotta love it when someone does the black ipa right! (even if i'm supposed to call it a cascadian brown ale now) cannery only makes one batch of it a year, so when it's gone, there won't be more until next year good thing i bought another six bottles... i quite enjoyed the maple stout as well for a sweetened beer, i didn't find it overly sweet ...

more beer posters from the washroom at firefly circa october 26th

i was sad to think that i'd be missing the ipa tasting at firefly this evening of all the tastings, this would probably have been my favourite and i have a hankering to learn all the different flavours all the different hops varieties offer but alas, i have a conflict i will be watching very tall men be very athletic this evening yes, the suns and the raptors will be celebrating beernesday with me today! but then, i checked the firefly website again, and the date has been moved to october 26th joy abounds!!! i can go, i can go! north west ipas for me! IPA Evolution - October 26, 2010   In this edition of ‘La Table Commune’ we will taste IPA’s form some the most progressive microbrewers of Canada and the USA. While we will discuss the history of the style and taste some traditional versions, we will focus on the North American brewers who are pushing the boundaries and examine the influence that they are now having on the old world breweries.

the beer posters in the firefly washroom circa september 21st