beernesday

i finally brewed my own beer yesterday! with my intrepid friends bridget and amanda (and coaching from the one and only matt anderson) we boiled water like champions! we brewed a stout based on this recipe, called bitch's brew: i got all the ingredients from dan's homebrew shop, bridget got all the equipment from broadway brewing, and away we went we overlooked getting a grain bag, so i made one out of cheesecloth handy, aren't i? the grain bag held up to the job, the pennies saved us from a boil-over, and all went well on the inaugural brew! steeping the grains in the grain bag steeping the oats and 2-row malt bridget adds the oat water to the grain water malt extract is in, hops are in, on the boil! woohoo! now we just have to wait two weeks to see how we did on our first try...

happy birthday to me happy birthday to me happy birthday dear myself happy birthday to me!

bottle cap art

i posted a photo of the beerbulance before but had no idea about the story behind it ! thanks laughing squid, and minerva and giselle for for forwarding it to me at what was practically the same instant as each other its like my friends know i like beer or something...

new green flash and founders collaboration brew! Green Flash has done it again! We have teamed up with another World Class Brewery, Founders Brewing Co. to produce a new collaboration, Linchpin IPA! Join the Green Flash team in the Tasting Room on Tuesday, May 1st for a special Release Party! “There’s a lot going on in this beer with two yeast strains, copious amounts of wheat malt, and a big focus on ‘C’ hops to deliver a citrus explosion,” explains Green Flash Brewmaster, Chuck Silva. “In fact we lined up more than a dozen hop varieties in the brewery to select three hops with the biggest citrus character to dry hop the beer. “This golden beer pours with beautiful, frothy white beer foam that lasts due to bottle conditioning. Gently rousing the yeast that settles in the bottle will result in a fuller texture and a more cloudy white appearance. The citrus aromas that jump from the glass are largely tangerine up front with other types of citrus notes that mingle with the Belgian yea...

redhook brewery issues update about lethal keg explosion

the beer wench  introduces us to  10 amazing women in craft beer the vancouver sun's map of beer venues for vcbw brilliant way to inspire the troops at work !

the camra vancouver kits cask carouse on sunday was chock-ful of good beer and good times! and it only mostly kicked my ass! the carouse was divided up into two groups, hitting pubs in a scissoring order i was one of the fearless leaders of group b b for beer b for best stop one:  darby's pub yay for bright and cheerful and wifi!  wonderfully attentive service (and the new summer food menu looks ah-mazing!) talk:  paddy treavor of camra vancouver talked about... camra verdict:  interesting and informative and got us several new members! cask:  lighthouse switchback ipa verdict:  as tasty as outta the keg or bottle - pretty carbonated for a cask though! carnivore food:  wimpy burger with roasted garlic polenta fries veggie food:  vegetarian wimpy burger with roasted garlic polenta fries verdict:  delicious and perfectly sized! stop two:  displace hashery lousy cell reception and no wifi, but pleasant s...

sad news from red hook today one of their employees was killed when a keg exploded a very sad day for red hook and all craft beer drinkers more coverage of the story official statement from red hook

craftbeer.com on food and beer in san diego new tasting room opens in san diego

tuesday night at the railway club the cask was central city's dry-hopped esb stout it was so delightful i had too many of them! thursday night at the yaletown brewpub the cask was their nagila pale ale "straight up" it was alright i thought it had a bit of an aftertaste...

what's coming out this summer? lots of delicious local beers!

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go: 1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big? 2. Give up your n...

the 100 mile diet means something a little different in ontario here in southern british columbia, we can easily live off what's around us, especially in terms of beer ingredients no such luck in onterrible!

praise the lord and clean your draft lines!

ramping up to vancouver craft beer week ! just one month away some tix still available, but get 'em soon

so, apparently kickstarter is for reals! and breweries are using it to raise funds thanks craftbeer.com for doing my research for me!

next instalment is due for release:

according to craftbeer.com these are the brewer's association  top 50 breweries in the u.s. of a. in 2011: Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies (Based on 2011 beer sales volume) Rank Brewing Company City State 1 Boston Beer Co. Boston MA 2 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA 3 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO 4 The Gambrinus Company San Antonio TX 5 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR 6 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY 7 Bell's Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI 8 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA 9 Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA 10 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO 11 Stone Brewing Company Escondido CA 12 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE 13 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY 14 Alaskan Brewing & Bottling Co. Juneau AK 15 Long Trail Brewing Co. Burlington VT 16 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME 17 Abita Brewing Co. Abita Springs LA 18 Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland OH 19 New Glarus Brewing Co. New Glarus WI 20 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR 21 Summit Brewing Co. S...

i'm leading a group for the camra kits cask carouse - join me wontcha?!? four stops four casks food, food, food! Displace Hashery Beer – R&B Raspberry IPA Food Pairing – TBA Guest Speaker – Duncan Stewart on ‘Cask beer 101′ Darby’s Pub Beer – Lighthouse Switchback IPA Food Pairing - Wimpy Burger (Fraser Valley beef patty, with lettuce, tomato, crispy onions, mustard & mayo on a brioche bun) with roasted garlic polenta fries, or Vegetarian Wimpy Burger with roasted garlic polenta fries. Guest Speaker – Paddy Treavor, CAMRA Vancouver President The Bimini Beer – Parallel 49 Imperial Wit Food Pairing – Slow-roasted pork tacos with smoked pepper hot sauce, pickled vegetables & avocado mash. Served with a side of roasted corn & potato salad. The vegetarian option will replace pork for squash and asparagus. Guest Speaker – Mike Tod of Parallel 49 on ‘Laws surrounding opening a brewery and the challenges’ Sunset Grill Tap House & Whiskey Bar Beer ...

look!  they like craft beer in toronto too

and everyone drinks craft beer!

the cask last night at the yaletown was cory's trojan horseradish ipa you gotta like horseradish if you're gonna get through this one! me, i like it so it went down just fine! and kudos to cory for making this experiment work the seasonal at yaletown is now the framboise a sour little number!  delicious! get some before its gone and speaking of sour, there's still some ould bruin on tap as well 

i am thoroughly exhausted and cranky! stayed up last night to buy tickets to hoppapalooza (the went on sale at midnight and were guaranteed to sell out before the morning) only to have the vcbw ticketing site crash repeatedly i kept trying for half an hour and then gave in and went to sleep lucky for me one of my friends kindly stayed awake and kept on trucking until she got me my ticket yay friends! boo! on the ticketing people though and vcbw for releasing tix at midnight in the first place that was just mean and now i'm tired and cranky and wondering if any of it was worth it bah! humbug! and wah, wah, wah, first world problems

tickets go on sale at midnight tonight! here's a sneak preview of the events

i must still be recovering from my whirlwind tour of craft beer portland! been back for a couple of days, but still haven't caught up on sleep or found time to upload photos forgive me? in the meantime, here's some link love for ya: custom wood beer pong table brewdog ipa is dead lives paddy's open file story on craft beer in vancouver restaurants opening soon in vancouver - beer and sausage in chinatown

hoppy easter!

the hopside down glass

the session beer project at craftbeer.com i like the efficiency of high-test beers but for the summer, on a sunny patio?  session is the way to my beer heart!