beernesday

in honour of the upcoming canada up of beer, my notes from last year's event (such as they are - arranged alphabetically, not in the order in which i imbibed): barefoot wines:  didn't try any!  but good on them for taking the plunge to attend a beer festival beverage concepts:  i think this is the booth that offered several imports.  we had the menabrea from italy and anchor steam from san francisco.  liked them both. cariboo:  didn't hit this booth (i think we thought it was too generic, silly, silly us!). central city brewing company:  fabulous swag for sale!  we tried their lager and their pale ale.  jackie and julie both loved it.  i wasn't a fan.  which is so odd for me to say now that i can't get enough of their ipa or esb... guess i should have tried those instead of the lager and pale ale. dead frog brewery:  they didn't show up.  rumour has it internal strife kept them from appearing. dockside brewin...

i'm not really going to weigh in on the "is beer really so bad out of a can" battle.  that would be silly.  i've got nothing earth-shattering to add to the debate. i will say though, that i like the option of beer in a can.  i find it very handy for excursions such as camping, hiking, dining al fresco and the like.  cans are lighter than bottles or kegs, and crush up really small when you stomp on them after emptying them.  and if you happen to be by a source of cold water, they chill much faster than bottles.  i haven't carried a keg around with me, so must reserve judgment on their ability to chill as fast as cans. on my most recent camping trip i decided to take my can appreciation a step further and go with the cheapest cans i could palate.  did you know you can get six Hell's Gate Pale Ale for a mere $7.99 at government stores?  they're practically giving it away!  and its a perfectly drinkable little pale ale. [i chatted up the re...