vancouver craft beer week

my liver is happy that vcbw is over for another year
the rest of me is a little relieved too - so many good times and good beers, but a person's gotta sleep!

i may have only made it to a few events
but those events were of the all you can drink persuasion
and i do take the list as a personal challenge to complete

i have already given my low-down on the business of craft beer
so i will begin my vcbw list with the opening night last friday
i was volunteering, so there wasn't much drinking at all for me
holding this event at a nightclub (gossip) was great from a couple of standpoints:  the performance space was in the same room so there was no need for anyone to have to choose between beer and the show; all the breweries were pouring their beers from an actual bar with access to water so there was no running out of rinse water; and the club provided plenty of different areas, including several with seating, to get away from the fray
somehow though, it still managed to be crowded
i think if they hold opening night at gossip again next year i'll give it a miss

sunday found me at my favourite event of the year, the alibi room's hoppapalooza
it felt like there were fewer people there this year
which was a very good thing - no crowding, short lines for beer and chili and none of the beers ran dry
nigel opened up the cellar and brought out some vintage sours, barleywines and imperial stouts
such a great way to spend an evening
it was over far too quickly!

on wednesday i went to pdx love at portland craft
this is quickly becoming one of my favourite events of the year
where else can i find all my favourite portland people in one place at the same time, without having to travel?


obviously i'm having a really rotten time
photo by Two Peas Photography

there were sixteen beers on tap

i made it through all sixteen

and still managed to have my wits about me - i do love small pours for that!



photo by Two Peas Photography

 

attendees included abe of cider riot

jamie of hopworks

gigantic ben love

base camp, upright, occidental, the commons, breakside and alameda

highlights for me were the commons madrone which i hadn't had the pleasure of trying before and the breakside india golden ale, which i just can't get enough of

photo by Two Peas Photography

my only complaint about this is event is the lack of a vegetarian option for dinner

i'm sure everyone else loved the pulled pork on a bun though

how everyone will be wearing their beard next season
photo by Ben Love

thursday my oregon love continued at brothers in hop (or bros in hip-hop this year) at the butcher and bullock
plenty of delicious food, including oysters and crab cakes, accompanied the beers by parallel 49, central city, gigantic and ninkasi
there were some service issues at the beginning of the night, but as it wore on the hard-working staff ironed out the kinks and brought the beer faster than i could drink it
i think i made it through the list again
which, even though it was a bit shorter of a list, was an accomplishment because they were bringing sleeves of many of the beers rather than all taster sized pours
the highlight of the night was gigantic's too much coffee man, which i had not had tried before

photo by Kurtis Sheldon

my liver hurts!
i would say that i'll never drink again
but that would be a really big lie!