beernesday

from last week's beer column : Spring beers offer diverse mash-up of flavours 'It's nice to get out of the dark days of winter and celebrate with a beer that looks lighter in the glass' CBC News March 30, 2017 Beer writer Joe Wiebe says, 'Beer has never been as good as it is right now in B.C.' (Getty Images) 31  shares Believe it or not — it's finally spring out there. Despite all the rain, we are seeing daytime temperatures creep into the double digits and that's good enough for  On The Coast  beer columnist Rebecca Whyman to shift into spring mode when it comes to beer. "I think we can all agree, though, that it is nice to get out of the dark days of winter and celebrate with a beer that looks lighter in the glass." Spring has the fewest beer styles associated with it, Whyman says, but the beer history buff pulled out a few traditionally seasonal recommendations. Bock beer Bock beers are strong lagers from G...

my notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio one's on the coast with stephen quinn: I'm feeling optimistic enough about the arrival of Spring to talk about Spring beers. I think we can all agree that it is nice to get out of the dark days of winter and celebrate with a beer that looks lighter in the glass than a stout. Of all the seasons of the year though, Spring has the fewest beer styles associated with it.  Traditionally, and when I say traditionally, I mean in the Olde Worlde of beer (aka Germany and Belgium) – traditionally a bock was the beer style that indicated spring had arrived. Bocks are strong lagers from Germany.  You know it’s a bock if there’s a goat on the label.  The beer style is said to have originated in Einbeck, and then when it was adopted by Munich brewers in the 17 th century, it was often mispronounced as Ein Bock, which means a billy goat.  So the beers became known as Bocks and often the label goes for the pun with a ...

Apparently I am over my seasonal denial and  willing to admit that it’s not summer any more.  So I guess it's time to talk about winter seasonal beers. As you may recall,  I’m not at all a fan of the heavy-handed use of vanilla in winter ales.  I find that cloying and annoying. Vanilla isn’t a traditional winter ale flavouring.  Spicing beers is fairly traditional – before the wide usage of hops to bitter beer it used to be herbs and spices and tree bark that were used.  It was a natural progression from there to add some spices to a nice winter ale, but these spices tended to be nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice . Vanilla is a recent trend, and seems to have really caught on here in the Lower Mainland.  For those who, like me, aren’t big fans of the vanilla trend, there are more traditional winter ales, and other experimental ales around, in a variety of styles and flavours. One such beer is the Postmark Red Winter Ale.  The new bre...

in case you missed me on the radio last night here are my notes from my "spring beers" chat with stephen quinn: The warmer weather makes you want to drink a lighter beer, to start putting aside those stouts and porters in favour of beers with crisper finishes and flavours that dance on the tongue. This is traditionally the time of year when lagers come to the forefront of beer consumption. I think the word of the season moves from "comforting" or "warming" to "refreshing" There are two traditional beer styles that are associated with Spring.   Maibock, or May bock, which is brewed specifically for springtime consumption and Saisons which, before the invention of refrigeration, were brewed in the Spring to be consumed over the summer when weather got too hot to support brewing. Maibocks are light in color with that refreshing lager crispness, but they have a heavier body and generally higher alcohol content than other light colored beer s...

fun beers available at legacy liquor store in vancouver: Parallel 49 Brewing – From East Van With Love - $13.75 A collaboration between Parallel 49 and Gigantic Brewing is responsible for this Bourbon Barrel-Aged Maple Stout. Rich and dark, with notes of maple subdued by barrel-aging, makes this beer a must for your cellar. Alameda Brewing – Bad Bunny - $7.75 Easter may be in the rearview, but Alameda is leading the pack with Bad Bunny, a lightly malted and hopped Cream Ale with subtle malt and fruit on the nose. On the palate fruit dominates, making this an excellent Cream Ale by any standard. Tree Brewing – Captivator Doppelbock - $7.75 Once a staple of fasting monks, this style of beer has recently exploded in popularity in the modern world. Sweet, malty and lightly hopped, this strong ale is full of dark fruits and biscuit, making it an excellent variation of a European classic.

Instigating a Trainwreck Just in time for the Holidays December 3rd, 2012 -- As the calendar turns to the darkest month of the year and the mercury continues to plummet, craft beer lovers are looking for something to help insulate from the extremes of the season. To that end the Instigator Doppelbock is crawling out of his snowy mountainside cave after a year of hibernation. He's ready to toast the season with a beer packed with full-roasted flavour and featuring a proud, deep amber body. Trainwreck Barley Wine is also rumbling down the tracks back to your local liquor store. Lightly carbonated and full of rich malt sweetness to warm you from the inside out, this year's vintage was barrel-aged in Kentucky bourbon oak, adding even more warmth and complexity to a brew as dark as your late afternoon walk home from work. Both releases can be found at your favourite craft-friendly private liquor store while quantities last, and there will be a free tasting at the brewer...

last week's cask at the yaletown was the downtown brown ale dry-hopped with uk goldings! deeeeelicious! last week also saw us get to taste imported beers ryan brought back two from his trip to winnipeg one, from half pints, tasted exactly like apple crumble! he also traded a growler of yaletown with the half pints guys for a bottle out of their cellar collection the 3 musketeers grand cuvee doppelbock holy divinely fabulously delicious batman! no one got the chocolate from this one at first but after we visited a couple of other beers and revisited it everyone got the chocolate notes funny... iain then raided his cellar and produced a couple of belgians for us i translate this one as ringing bell i do not speak flemish or any related language, so i'm totally making it up! and i'm having too much fun with my invented translation to look up what it actually means not all of us are belgian fans (yay, so nice to have company on that one!) but we...

Vancouver Island Brewery:  These are our upcoming casks designed exclusively in extremely small batches by our Caskmaster Chris Graham! October 5 - Bard and Banker Pub - "Cremation Scottish Ale" October 12 - Irish Times Pub - "Confessional Festbock" October 19 - Bard and Banker Pub - "Doppelbock" October 26 - Irish Times Pub - "Hangman IPA" October 30 - Irish Times Pub - "Puca Pumpkin Ale" (who is Puca?) November 2 - The Strathcona Hotel - "Hermannator" More to come at the Beagle Pub in December!