beernesday

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YEAR WITH NEW EXCITING BREWS AT HOPWIRED FESTIVAL 2019. VANCOUVER, B.C.  – Very limited quantities of tickets remain. Hopwired Festival, presented by Espressotec and The World Famous CFOX, was so well received with the 2018 festival that it is returning February 23, 2019 to the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver. “The festival blended people’s favourite pastimes into one experience and received a ton of attention through from Vancouver, to North Carolina, and Auckland.” says Mike Willis, of West Craft. “We were interested to move-on to another new and exciting [unannounced] collaboration concept festival but people kept asking for mo

24 th Annual Okanagan Fest of Ale - Tickets On Sale Now Whether you're new to the brew or a seasoned craft beer connoisseur you won't want to miss the 24th Annual Okanagan Fest of Ale April 12 & 13, 2019 in Penticton BC! Join 65 craft brewers and 5000+ craft beer enthusiasts at one of the largest and longest running beer festivals in the Pacific Northwest. This 2-day festival features 175+ quality crafted brews, ciders and cask ales for tasting in a unique indoor/outdoor venue. Great live entertainment, fabulous food and more!  This festival takes place in the heart of beautiful Penticton and has been an annual "must attend event" for patrons and participants alike for over 20 years!   "2018’s Fest of Ale was the largest in our 23 year history in terms of the number of participating breweries and ciders with 69 different vendors joining us.  Attendance continues to grow and this year we were able to donate $60,000 to 20 different charities and n

my growler article from back in january: BEER GIMMICKS, PRETENTIOUS NONSENSE AND OTHER HIPSTER FUCKERY REBECCA WHYMAN •  JANUARY 16, 2018 iStock photo This past fall, gruits – that ancient, hopless beer style flavoured with herbs that seems to be all the rage right now – got me thinking about the elusive line that divides fads, trends, and gimmicks from creative innovations and emerging styles. How do beer geeks decide where they categorize any given beer? Are gimmicky beers harming the reputation of craft beer? I like to think of myself as a beer evangelist (also brilliant, witty, gorgeous and humble…). It is therefore my self-appointed duty to bring people into the fold. I love finding the craft beer that makes a former macro lager drinker’s eyes light up, and introducing a non-beer-drinker to a style they can’t believe is actually beer because it tastes so good. I worry, probably too much, about how people perceive craft beer. Craft beer gets kudos for qualities lik

from the folks at Goose Island: Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout is coming to Vancouver for THE FIRST TIME EVER! This limited bourbon-barrel aged beer is coveted by beer lovers and their annual Black Friday release guarantees line-ups every year across North America. This year, a coveted 80 bottles will be for sale at the Liquor Depot ( 3415 Cambie Street). It’s first come first serve and we wanted you to be the first to know. Below are the details for the limited release.  This is a can’t-miss Black Friday sale and line-ups are expected! Marc Mammoliti, assistant brewer at Goose Island, will be on-site. Looking forward to seeing you there! Limited Bourbon County Original Brand Stout release in Vancouver When:  Black Friday, November 23 Time:  Doors open at 9 am Where:  Liquor Depot – 3415 Cambie Street Price:  Free to attend, bottles available for purchase (must be legal drinking age) Perks:  Coffee and pastries will be served to keep you war

my first article for the growler , back in July 2017: DOES BEER HAVE TERROIR? REBECCA WHYMAN •  JULY 13, 2017 iStock photo The concept of terroir and its influence are enthusiastically debated in the wine world. Very few of the beer geeks I asked cared one whit about terroir, and hadn’t even given it a thought before I asked. After some debate, they decided that although it was an interesting philosophical question, terroir didn’t matter to their beer drinking experience or influence their beer purchases. The casual beer drinker isn’t interested in the minutiae of which malts or hops are chosen for the beer, let alone where they’re grown. They just care that the final product tastes good. So there you have it. The beer world doesn’t care about terroir. Enter Harley Smith and Tracy McLean of Longwood Brewing. They care. They care a lot. But before we get to why they care, and why you might also, allow me to drone on about what “terroir” means. Indulge me please, I read

my growler article from last november: FREE THE HOPS! REBECCA WHYMAN •  NOVEMBER 24, 2017 iStock photo Of the four ingredients in beer, hops are the New World’s contribution. It seems rather fitting then, that North America has its economic paws  allll  over hops. Trademarks, patents, royalties – how are these business-y things having their way with our beloved hops? It must be big beer’s fault! I understand why you’d want to make hops proprietary – it takes time, effort and money to painstakingly develop a new hop, test it eight ways to Sunday, and devote acreage to propagating it. It can take 15-20 years before any money starts coming in, and then on only a fraction of your experiments. But do you really need 20 years of royalties to recoup that investment? Off the backs of your growers and the lovely brewers who exalt your wonder-hop? C’mon, only big beer would do such a greedy thing. Experimental breeding has brought us wonder-hops that can do it all: higher yields,

My low-down on the 2018 BC Beer Awards ceremony, festival and winners is up on the BC Ale Trail website!

I know it's more than half over, but here's my BC Ale Trail blog post about BC Craft Beer Month - and yes, I am now blogging for the BC Ale Trail!  My next post for the Ale Trail will be about the BC Beer Awards, coming up this Saturday!

LABEL OF LOVE: THE CREATIVE WORLD OF MODERN BEER CAN ART REBECCA WHYMAN •  OCTOBER 15, 2018 Clockwise from top left: Electric Bicycle Brewing Co.; Mikkeller’s Hallo Ich Bin Berliner Weisee; the beer label artwork of Vancouver artist Patrick Wong; Superflux’s Superfluousness. Contributed/file photos You can’t help it, I can’t help it—we all judge beers by their labels, maybe as much as we judge the beer itself. Beer labels have been around for ages: 83 years on cans, and much longer than that on bottles. It appears we’ve been loving beer labels for that whole time—just check out all the vintage labels you can buy on eBay! Doesn’t it seem, though, that we’re loving beer labels extra hard right now? Maybe it’s that size matters. Beer cans, especially those tall boys, offer lots of real estate for labelling. Large-format bottles provide a sizeable canvas as well. Maybe it’s as simple as habituation. Humans aren’t that different from crows; we’re attracted to bright, shiny obje

POSTMARK BREWING ACQUIRED BY CRAFT COLLECTIVE BEERWORKS One of the province’s first major acquisitions in the ever-expanding craft beer market Vancouver, BC. (October 15, 2018) – Postmark Brewing is pleased to announce that the brand has been acquired by Craft Collective Beerworks , official today. This acquisition, which was negotiated over a six-month period, will allow Postmark to increase production, sales and distribution ultimately creating a new nationally focused trajectory for the established West Coast brand. Postmark’s founding partners, Steve Thorp, Nate Rayment and Reuben Major, will continue to own and operate the original brewery site, including its tasting room and retail store located at 55 Dunlevy Avenue, Vancouver (Railtown neighbourhood). In addition, the founders will continue to manage the overall brand vision and marketing strategy for Postmark. The acquisition will free up production space at the Railtown brewery, allowing the building to pivot into the

The 23 rd Annual Okanagan Fest of Ale ™ Donates $60,000 For Immediate Release – October 12, 2018 Penticton, BC As a result of the very successful 2018 Okanagan Fest of Ale Craft Beer and Cider Festival, the Okanagan Fest of Ale Society was able to donate $60,000 in net proceeds to charity in the community.  At a presentation held on October 11 th , 2018 in Penticton Okanagan Fest of Ale Board of Directors, event volunteers, sponsors, supporters and charitable recipients gathered together to celebrate the success of the 23rd annual Okanagan Fest of Ale Craft Beer Festival.  The Okanagan Fest of Ale Society Board was thrilled to announce that a total of $60,000 was to be distributed amongst 20 well-deserving, local charitable organizations at the combined charitable grant presentation and volunteer appreciation event.   “This is one of the largest disbursements to charity we’ve had the pleasure of distributing and brings the total donations made by the Society to $

my growler article from April's edition: A BREWERY BY ANY OTHER NAME… REBECCA WHYMAN •  APRIL 2, 2018 Anyone who’s done it will tell you that opening a brewery isn’t easy. Choosing the name? Even harder. Despite all the time and effort involved, and having so much riding on choosing the right one, some of B.C.’s breweries have still managed to saddle themselves with confusingly similar names. Maybe this is only a big deal to beer geeks like me, who try to keep track of all the breweries and maniacally check off every beer on Untappd. I find I can’t keep track of who’s who any more because many of the names sound alike. My own discomfort aside, I worry that confusing consumers will turn them off craft beer. Regardless of how good a brewery’s beer is, or in how many venues it’s available, it is still down to the customer to choose to drink it. With 150ish breweries all brewing multiple year-round beers, plus seasonals, there’s a dizzying amount to keep track of. Conf

plan your november drinking accordingly! Donnelly Group might be best-known for pubs, craft beer, and cocktails,  but over the past 18 years, its Toy Drive has donated $1 million in toys which have been distributed to deserving local families over the holiday season. Each year, the goal is to expand the program and find ways to donate even more money and toys to the cause, involving more people in the process. To that end, this year, Donnelly Group has teamed up with Red Truck Beer to brew the first-ever “ Goodwill Lager ” which will be released on November 1 st and sold at all Donnelly Group establishments and the Truck Stop Diner at Red Truck Beer. $1 from each beer sold is being donated to the Toy Drive which means that hundreds of extra toys will be donated just because people drank a local craft beer.

I love to travel.  I look forward to the next time I get to hop on a plane or go on a road-trip. But I am a total Vancouver snob.  I rarely leave the city to go anywhere else in the Lower Mainland. This Saturday though, I'm heading out to Surrey! BATTLE OF THE BREWS Beer Tasting for charity Saturday, August 25 th from 2pm-5pm at Surrey City Hall Plaza The Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society and 102.7 THE PEAK will host the 2nd Annual Battle of the Brews beer fest on Saturday, August 25 at Surrey City Hall Plaza from 2-5pm (right off the Surrey Central Skytrain Station). This fun charity event will offer attendees a great afternoon of craft beer tasting, delicious food sampling and attendees will be able to vote for their favourite beers!   All net proceeds from the event will go to Athletics 4 Kids and Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society youth initiatives. Tickets include everything! Entrance, souvenir tasting mug, all your beer samples and all your foo