women in beer

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 place to speak from, actual food

but alas, republic had a different view of the set up

what we got was a great mingling space

with a few roving servers with tiny tapas

and a lower platform to speak from

so we improvised

speeches got cut from five minutes each to 30 seconds

people went out for food after the event

and more schmoozing happened

lisa morrison double-fists it at big river's station

i began my drinking at claire connolly's station

she's the brewmaster at big river brewpub in richmond

she had the women's collaboration beer on tap

along with her esb

i loved them both!

the women's collaboration beer was a smoked saison

look at me, i liked a saison!

i wish this beer had been available at more events - it was a gooder

at the beginning of the night it was a bit too cold

but i had it again at the end of the night after it had warmed up a touch and it was a thing of beauty

i next wandered over and met kala hadfield of spinnakers brew pub in victoria

(if you've read any of my other vcbw posts, you'll notice that i ran into kala several times over the course of the week, and she was enjoying herself each and every time!)

she brought an ipa

she figured it might not go over with all the women new to beer

but hoped it might convert some, and would please the hop headed women

and boy, was it ever a hop bomb!

i loved it!

next up for me was the howe sound menage a trois - mango, passionfruit and raspberry wheat ale with coriander

there was a whole lot going on in that beer!

but it worked

the coriander kept it from being too fruity

i said "it tastes like a patio"

and not five seconds later someone else came over to try it and quipped that they felt like they were on a patio drinking it!

rebecca kneen of crannog brought two casks with her

the handtruck porter, which has molasses in it to make it a little bit smokey

and the backhand of god stout

all hail the mighty organic beers!

we were supposed to pair the porter with the chocolate course

but since that came right at the end of the night i had my hand truck porter all by itself

and it was amazing

at the end of the night, when the chocolate finally came out, i had it with the backhand of god

and found that to be quite a divine pairing

more on the chocolate later...

saltspring island ales was represented by two of their womenfolk

heather kilbourne, a brewer, and becky julseth one of the co-owners

they brought heather's heather bottles and a cask of the big maple

i really enjoyed the heather ale - finished with heather instead of finishing hops

the heather made it sweet rather than bitter at the finish

but not sweet in a sugary sense

delicious!

the maple was quite nice too

(i'm not such a big maple fan...)

r & b brought a cask of ipa that lundy dale of camra bc and firefly collaborated on

lundy juiced ruby red grapefruit, mandarins, clementines and naval oranges to add to the brew

it was delicious!

not too tart, not too bitter

just like a grapefruit ipa should be!

next i met tracey larson, a brewer at mt. begbie brewing

tracey's favourite is their cream ale, so no worries that that will ever go off the market!

i am a big fan of their nasty habit - such hoppy goodness

she brought bottles of the atilla the honey with her

i'm not a big honey beer fan, but it is a lovely brew!

i tried the r&b alt next

found it wasn't at all carbonated and that just ruined it for me

and now, i must admit i am pre-blogging this so as not to be dead air over the long weekend while i camp

and its late at night and i haven't packed yet...

so i must leave you now and finish my long-winded review another time!