beernesday

Green Reaper Returns! October 5th, 2015: It's hop harvest season and Green Reaper, our annual fresh-hop IPA, is back!  This year's Reaper uses Vancouver Island barley malted right here at our malting facility!  We are so excited to be able to partner with local farmers to use island-grown grain in our brews, that we've updated our name to Phillips Brewing & Malting Co! On the hop side of things Green Reaper is packed with fresh centennial hops which were shipped straight from Sartori Farm in Chilliwack and into our brew kettle. Grapefruit aroma and flavours are underpinned with slight floral hints.  This IPA remains subtly sweet, featuring a vibrancy and delicacy that can only come from full-cone, never-dried hops. Harvest your bottle at private craft-focused liquor store...

eeesh, it's nice to be on the cbc website , but remind me never to read the comments! i keep forgetting how mean people can be... NEW Hoppy beers for 2015 that you won't want to miss Fresh hops add a different flavour to beers, says On The Coast beer columnist Rebecca Whyman By On The Coast,  CBC News   Posted: Sep 29, 2015 4:51 PM PT  Last Updated: Sep 29, 2015 4:51 PM PT Bottles of Bomber Brewing’s East Van Smash. On The Coast beer columnist Rebecca Whyman says this beer, made with B.C. hops, is one to try this fall. (bomberbrewing/Instagram) Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Share Email Related Stories B.C. beer festival highlights coming up for fall 2015 3 unfiltered, dry-hopped beers to try this summer For beer drinkers, it's the most wonderful time of the year according to  On The Coast  beer columnist Rebecca Whyman.  Whyman says t...

my notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio one's on the coast with stephen quinn wherein he told everyone that i skip and prance around town this time of year (which may or may not be an accurate portrayal) and we drank fresh-hopped beer, and extolled its virtues: I tend to think most times of the year are the best times of the year for beer, but there is one time of year that trumps the others – and we’re in that season right now – Fresh hop season!! Hops are harvested once a year, and must be preserved in order to brew with them all year round.  They’re either frozen whole or ground up into pellets... But at harvest season you can use them fresh, which you will also hear referred as wet or green. When you use the hops wet instead of dry, you have to use them right away.  They are very delicate little flowers and the oils degrade quickly.  They must either be dried right after picking, or immediately thrown into a brew.  We're talking within 24 hou...

With the change in the weather comes a change in seasonal beer styles.   Oktoberfest beers and fresh-hopped beers are two of my favourites that often get overshadowed by the arrival of pumpkin beers to the market. Fresh-hopped beers have just started to hit stores and these are beers with a very limited shelf life.   You have to get them fast and drink them soon.   Fresh-hopping, also known as wet-hopping refers to using freshly picked hops while brewing rather than dried or pelleted hops. We are very lucky in the Lower Mainland to be located in a hop-friendly growing environment.   This means that our brewers can obtain fresh hops when they ripen and use those immediately to brew beer.   Driftwood Brewing in Victoria drives out to the Sartori ranch Cultus Lake to help harvest the hops and then drives them back to Victoria that same day to be put right into the brew.   Storm Brewing and Persephone Brewing use hops they grow themselves whi...

so, did you get your driftwood brewing sartori harvest ipa yet? if not, you're probably outta luck finding a bottle in vancouver the brewery in victoria is offering growler fills and there will be more casks about town (vancouver, victoria, chilliwack) i got my bottles at viti (vancouver) i tried to be greedy and get some more at liberty on the drive, but they were out of their 15 cases already i have tried two casks so far: monday night at st. augustine's (that was not very good) and tuesday night at the railway club (that was down-right ambrosia) i have only had a wee sample from the bottle - and it was so delicious i am on a quest to find more bottles!

if you missed me talking about fresh-hopped beers with stephen quinn last week on cbc radio's on the coast, fear not!  you can still have a listen follow the link, and if you just want to listen to me, fast-forward to the 2:17 mark and if you missed getting your driftwood sartori harvest ipa yesterday, get out there right now, there may still be some left, but it won't last for long!

my notes from last evening's beer column with stephen quinn on the coast: It's the most wonderful time of the year for hop-heads! It's hop harvest time, and to beer geeks that can mean only one thing: fresh-hopped beers.  Fresh-hopping, also referred to as wet-hopping, is the process of using fresh hops to bitter the beer. Hops are ready for harvest at the end of August or the beginning of September in this part of the world. Growers know they are ready when the cone is plump and the lupulin is at a maximum. If you look at a hop flower, the lupulin is the yellow stuff between the green bits. This is where the oils come from that impart the bitterness and flavour to beer. Despite looking hardy, hops are actually quite delicate. They don't survive long after being cut. To preserve the oils and resins they need to be dried right away. . Most of the hops harvested are dried right after picking and then frozen, or ground into pellets. These are then sold to b...

- from yaletown brew pub (fyi, i will be pouring beer at this event): This Saturday, November 10th, we will be having a mini-Caskival featuring 11 different casks from 11 different breweries! Doors open at 11am. DRINK FRESH BEER - from railway club: Todays cask for Rail Ale Tuesday is a Vanilla-oaked Pumpkin Ale from Central City Brewing - tapping at 5 - what i drank for monday night football last night: - lastly, can craft beer use mega-breweries to succeed? the mega-breweries think so, and say craft brewers do too me, i'm not convinced...

its only the first week of craft beer week and maybe its because i'm getting over my man-cold but i feel like its been all beer all the time for me so far! monday i skipped the craziness of st. augustine's sartori cask night for the calm of monday night football at a friend's house, with me supplying the beers which included an ipa homebrewed by matt, rod and ryan's that was needing to be drunk before it lost all its hoppy goodness, a true northwest ipa that went down far too well! tuesday i went to two cask nights the railway club had a lovely r&b ipa cask very satisfyingly delicious rogue broadway had their very first cask night, also with an r&b cask blueberry cranberry esb, which their front office person, lundy dale, who is also the president of camra bc, helped to brew and was thrilled to unveil at the start of bc craft beer month wednesday was my usual beernesday club night at st. augustine's omg, the cheese stromboli currently on their...

bc craft beer month is in full swing! the belle of the ball so far is driftwood's sartori harvest ale, a fresh-hopped ipa sold out of stores the same day it arrived in them it is the star of several cask nights around vancouver and one beer-pairing dinner st. augustine's had a cask of the elusive sartori that sold out in 24 minutes that was monday tuesday there was a cask at the cascade room thursday there was a cask at the alibi room neither of those casks beat the 24 minute record, but neither lasted very long either missed out on the sartori both in the bottle and on cask? well, you've got three more opportunities that i am aware of to get yourself some: if you're a camra member and you have a ticket for the now sold out harvest fest / bc beer awards at chapel arts on saturday the 13th, you can have some of the members only cask that will be available there the whip has a cask of sartori on sunday the 14th tapping at 4, i expect this one will be gon...

the cask last night at the railway club was central city's pumpkin ale it was quite a nice pumpkin ale is it too early in the season to be over the pumpkin? and speaking of the lovely railway club, if you ever frequented that joint you would have been served by the fabulous natasha well, she has retired from slinging beer at the railway and there's a party in her honour on sunday at 5 come out and hoist a glass to this wonderful woman bc beer blog reports that a few victoria beers are ready for release including hoyne's wolf vine ipa and driftwood's sartori harvest ipa, both wet-hopped a couple of pieces of gossip as well: there will be a new beer and vodka distributor in town official announcement coming shortly, but i can tell you oregon beers will be featured this bit of news is unsubstantiated... steamworks is opening a new brewery i would assume to brew their bottled beers and restaurant beers currently being brewed off-site makes sense to me ...

on remembrance day i give you a post about fat tug vs sartori oh sartori, i remember it fondly and will miss it profoundly until next fall oh fat tug, i love that you're always around reminding me how much i love an ipa "One thing is for sure, they’re both incredible."

last night was allll about driftwood's sartori ipa the fresh-hopped deliciousness was on cask at st. augustine's it sold out in 38 minutes i was a glutton and had two pints of it! and more nachos than any one person should ever eat in one sitting (that pre-mexico diet is working out great, thanks for asking) very happy-making sad-making was the fact that this was the final cask of the sartori for 2011 but!  in addition to it being cask night, i got a text from my lovely friend sarah, who was visiting the wilds of victoria, telling me that she came across a whole cache of sartori bottles over there because she is delightful, she is bringing me back a couple yay!  there will be a bit more sartori in my depressingly grey november! getting more of a previously-thought-sold-out limited release beer makes me feel like i've pulled one over on the universe i feel powerful! need a favour from me?  now would be the time to ask!

the last cask of sartori is being tapped tonight at st. augustine's you know i'm going to be there with bells on! conveniently camra vancouver will also be there to renew memberships offer new ones and give you a pint glass for signing up! cask gets tapped at 6 camra is there from 6 until 7 cask will sell out quickly so be there for six

in case you haven't yet had your fill of the fresh-hopped sartori get your ass down to the whip for the penultimate vancouver cask tapping at 4 today! the new oxford one tapped out in an hour... just sayin' oh, and its dockside's 10th anniversary party tonight (at dockside of course!)

the driftwood sartori cask at the new oxford last night was awesome! there were a whole gaggle of beer geeks there not so patiently waiting for 5:30 and the tapping thanks ian!! alas, the service at new oxford left a lot to be desired amanda thankfully took it upon herself to fetch us all our glasses of cask as ian endeavoured to get it poured as quickly and foam-free as possible on the upside, ian says that there will be another cask of the sartori at the whip he's not sure when they'll be tapping it and... another cask coming to vancouver no word yet on who will get it or when they will tap it, but keep yer ears peeled if you're a sartori lover (and if you're not, what's wrong with you???)

i broke my camera at oktoberfest... so no photos of recent casks last week's rail ale tuesday at the railway club featured vanilla bean oatmeal stout from r&b brewing i was scared by the "vanilla" aspect but it was subtle and barely discernable - which made me happy! delicious!  made having to go to the dentist beforehand feel like it happened to somebody else! last week's cask at the yaletown brewpub was an unadulterated nagila pale ale and it was delicious it really is quite nice to have an unadulterated cask from time to time! and happy birthday to matt! this week i will be heading over to the new oxford on tuesday evening because driftwood has gifted them with a cask of the sartori fresh-hopped ipa and i simply cannot miss that!

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?

deliciousness abounded at the railway club last night! holy crap, did i ever enjoy the central city sartori dry-hopped esb cask beer i must have had four pints of that ambrosia before i stumbled my way to the alibi room for more casky hoppy goodness... that ambrosia must have been a good 9%... bitter, full of flavour with hop particles suspended in the glass, sparkling in the light making the beer look as good as it tasted everyone went back for more (but probably not quite as much as we did...) see how it sparkles in the glass hoppy hallowe'en