beernesday

been wondering what the beers on offer at harvest haus will be? need to plan what to pair with your pretzel before you arrive and get overwhelmed with the choices? never fear! i have the low-down on what's on offer at harvest haus, starting tonight: "Some of these are quite new to the Vancouver market, especially the Icelandic Brio pilsner and German Crew Republic IPA." HARVEST HAUS BEER SELECTION Erdinger Weissbier - Germany Erdinger Dunkel Weissbier - Germany Krombacher Pils - Germany Krombacher Radler - Germany Krombacher Weizen - Germany Russell Märzen - Vancouver Russell White Rabbit Hoppy Hefeweizen - Vancouver Birra Moretti - Italy Murphy's Irish Stout - Ireland Strongbow Gold - UK Strongbow British Dry - UK Strongbow Elderflower - UK Newcastle Brown Ale - UK Steam Whistle - Toronto Samuel Adams Boston Lager - USA Samuel Adams Octoberfest - USA Leffe - Belgium Hoegaarden - Belgium Löwenbräu - Germany Goose Island - USA P...

in honour of the upcoming canada up of beer, my notes from last year's event (such as they are - arranged alphabetically, not in the order in which i imbibed): barefoot wines:  didn't try any!  but good on them for taking the plunge to attend a beer festival beverage concepts:  i think this is the booth that offered several imports.  we had the menabrea from italy and anchor steam from san francisco.  liked them both. cariboo:  didn't hit this booth (i think we thought it was too generic, silly, silly us!). central city brewing company:  fabulous swag for sale!  we tried their lager and their pale ale.  jackie and julie both loved it.  i wasn't a fan.  which is so odd for me to say now that i can't get enough of their ipa or esb... guess i should have tried those instead of the lager and pale ale. dead frog brewery:  they didn't show up.  rumour has it internal strife kept them from appearing. dockside brewin...

i had cause to be out and about near 10th and alma, and in need of sustenance, so i stopped in at Browns Social House.  i'd never heard of this chain before, and can't imagine why not.  i guess i just don't get out as much as i'd like to pretend i do. their beer selection leaves an awful lot to be desired, but the atmosphere and the food were pretty fabulous.  and the bathroom was pretty darned wonderful, and you know how i like a good bathroom in my drinking establishment. featuring only granville island, okanagan spring 1516, guinness, sleeman's honey brown and grolsch on tap, they also carry the following bottles:  coors light, kokanee, sol, sapporo, guinness and strongbow.  like i said, not much of a selection.  they do offer sleeves of the taps for $3.95 or pitchers for $14 on sundays and mondays.  the "social lager" specially brewed for them by granville island brewery tasted pretty much the same to me as regular gi lager, but at only $4.95 ...