beernesday

my notes from last evening's on the coast with matthew sitting in for stephen:   There are so many places to drink beer in Vancouver and surrounding area. And more breweries and tasting rooms expected to open up this year. What sets them apart from each other?    There are breweries that just brew beer for bottling and supplying to restaurants and bars, there are breweries that are combining bottling, kegging and tasting rooms, there are nanobreweries, microbreweries, macrobreweries, there are older breweries and newer breweries and there are brewpubs, just to start the list. Let's start on Main Street.  R&B Brewing is one of Vancouver's oldest breweries, opening their doors in 1997 at their current location at 54 East 4th Avenue at Quebec Street, just West of Main Street, in the old Brewery Creek district of East Vancouver. Rick and Barry, the R and the B in R&B used to brew for the big boys back in the day and left to pursue brewing better be...

another set of hallowe'en candy and beer pairings what i drank during monday night football/frankenstorm porn last night (not all by myself, i shared!): what i drank for #champagneday (also not by myself, we all shared!): champagne and champagne sake i didn't bring it, but i sure as heck was gonna try it! i didn't bring this either, but it has a cork, that counts!  

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store: Coal Harbour Brewing Black Sunshine Blackberry Weizen Refreshment exploding on your tongue like the rays from the summer sun. True taste: Refermented with blackberries for a subtle tart fruit flavour. Granville Island Limited Release Ginger Beer Spiced with the blog flavour of hawaiian ginger. This sessionable ale combines water, malt, hops and yeast. Big kahuna ginger creates a refreshing taste with a spicy kick. Urthel Hop-It Special Blond Through the use of large quantities of aroma hops, the hoppy character and bitterness of Urthel Hop-it are unequaled. Hops, water, malts, hops, sugar and yeast. there is also a free tasting on saturday: STANLEY PARK BEER TASTING 2:00 to 6:00 PM Aug 11, 2012

joe wiebe on coal harbour brewing beer acquisition syndrome, from which i will admit i suffer... james bond swaps martini for heineken

too many beers i wanted to try at beernesday at st. augustine's last night! had to have me two samplers to fit them all in look how well my iphone camera works when there is light whistler brewing cheakamus chai maple ale - 5%  this dark bronze ale is made with real maple syrup, added right to the mash.  then, a trace of chai tea is added during the filtration process.  the result is a highly complex, mildly spicy palette structure hoooo boy that is sweet!  it would be awesome in pancake batter or over ice cream a bit too much maple sweetness for me in a beer though, the chai notes were subtle, but appreciable chuckanut brewery pilsner - 5%  in 1842 a bavarian monk smuggled lager yeast from munich to the bohemian town of pilsn where they used the yeast with british pale malt, crafting a beer golden in color.  chuckanut pilsner is truly mouthwatering, deeply satisfying, and refreshing! i do love me a pilsner, and this one did not disappoint chuck...

joe wiebe thinks 2012 is going to be THE year for craft beer in british columbia read his openfile article and see for yourself

i more or less divided my beernesday into two sessions this week after the r&b cask of kumquat ale at the railway club on tuesday night i took off with my beer husband for taps and apps at st. augustine's (happy valentine's day to me!) and got a start on the long list of beers the current menu is featuring that i NEED to try (the kumquat was an interesting beer - those guys at r&b sure do love to get creative with their cask offerings!  but, um, i don't think i know what kumquat actually looks or tastes like... the beer was quite yummy and if that's what a kumquat tastes like, i'll have some please!) at st. a's i began with the hopworks abominable because its one of my favourites and i have to get it while its still available! followed by the coal harbour triumph cascadian rye ale because its a new vancouver brewery and it was the keg with the lowest volume left in it! "5.2% brewed with a high portion of rye malts lending a spicy and uniqu...