beernesday

a master cicerone's view of the state of the craft and are we losing sight of the craft in craft beer? lagunitas chicago opens 5 tips for better ipas 14 ways to make craft beer part of your wedding (obviously a list for the slightly less beer obsessed people out there - craft beer is automatically part of everything i do...) more annoying reporting about women in beer calling them babes and broads and making it seem newsworthy that women brew beer don't get me wrong, i'm thrilled women like beer i'm thrilled women brew beer and i support any woman who wants to be in a women's beer club so she doesn't get mansplained to or hit on but c'mon people, can't we just get past gendering beer? fuggles & warlock's newest gypsy brew happy hour arrives in bc but is it really cause for celebration?

lots of delicious new beers at legacy liquor store while i was away: Freigeist Bierkultur Geisterzug Spruced Traditional Gose - $6.95 From the far-off continent of Europe, in the great land that is Germany—Köln specifically—comes a simply delicious brew. Amber in colour with a hint of grapefruit pink, its nose of German yeast, faint lemon peel and a touch of spruce pairs perfectly with a palate of gentle acidity, more yeast, zippy salt and once again a touch of spruce in the finish. A session-able and refreshing beer all the way through. Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store Elysian Brewing Co. Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout - $8.15 The ultimate collaboration of two of the best things Seattle has to offer: beer and coffee. Rich and dark in the glass with a big robust nose of espresso and just a hint of dark chocolate, followed by more coffee and chocolate in perfect harmony on the palate. Robust and creamy, this brew was made for the lover of all things Seattle. Evan Doan...

fabulous beers now available at legacy liquor store in vancouver: Stillwater Artisinal - Beer Table Table Beer - $12.95 An East Coast American Craft Beer you can really quaff. Brewed to meet all the imbibing desires of brewer Brian Strumke, this Belgian pale ale has a little bit of everything. Light and golden in colour with spice, pineapple, citrus and brett owning the bouquet, with malts and a touch of citrus rounding out the palate. A beer worth checking out. Tasted by Chris Bonnallie - Beer Supervisor at Legacy Liquor Store Parallel 49 - Hopnotist - $8.25 Happy Birthday, Parallel 49! Their gift to us is their Hopnotist single hop (Mosaic to be specific) Imperial IPA, appearing hazy amber in the glass with notes of tropical fruit and grapefruit to envelop the senses. On the palate more tropical fruits and citrus can be found, balanced with sweetness. The bottle is also 3D, which is amazing. Tasted by Evan Doan - Beer Team Phillips - Electric Unicorn - $7.45 You can thank...

the beers consumed at this week's monday night football fest: the rogue was from last year and was pretty sedimenty thank goodness the bc relaunch of rogue is next week and i can get some more recent juniper pale ale it was a hit with everyone, even with the sediment hope they still like it when it tastes like it should! both the lone wolf and the lucky 13 went over well so far I haven't taken anything to mnf that people hated i love having non-beer-obsessed friends willing to try whatever i bring along for them!

all i can say is "you're welcome"! beer cupcake recipe :  dark beer chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting (this recipe has been reprinted on several blogs and beer websites, but i think the link above is to the original recipe... if not, i apologize profusely) Cake: 1 cup flavorful dark beer– I used Rogue Mocha Porter but Lagunitas Cappucino Stout and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (hometown love!) are also faves. Ask your favorite beer geek for a recommendation. 1/2 cup unsalted butter 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa 2 cups dark brown sugar 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder 3/4 cup sour cream 2 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 cups flour 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda Combine the beer and butter in a large sauce pan and heat to melt. Remove from heat; whisk in the cocoa, sugar, and espresso. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then whisk into the beer mixture. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter. Pour into...

i began beernesday last night with two martinis i love the holiday season! anyway, after my after-work-schmoozey-do i dutifully headed off to st. augustine's to imbibe in craft beer i love craft beer! lagunitas sucks holiday ale - 7.9%  a "cereal medley" of barley, rye, wheat and oats.  full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.85% abv, then joyously dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor i love when they joyously dry-hop my beer! and i am in love with this beer - so much hoppy goodness, so many grains - i may have found my new breakfast of champions... seriously, loved it so much i had to have a whole pint after my taster tree spiced reserve ale - 7.5%  brewed using a special blend of brewer's spices special indeed! no vanilla in sight, just subtle spices all blending nicely on the tongue this is the tree winter ale i will choose to drink from now on (no vertical vanilla for me!) rogue yellow snow ipa - 6.2%  pale...

and no, i'm not actually talking about the weather! sierra nevada kills one seasonal in favour of a new one lagunitas runs out of room to brew their winter seasonal and comes up with a replacement buh-bye old favourites and hello fabulous newness? not sure we'll get the new seasonal brews up here, but i do hope so

i hit up a birthday celebration at st. augustine's on wednesday evening and got to try the red truck limited release ipa! ( as featured in scout magazine ) when i first got to st. a's the staff were not aware of the ipa being on the premises after i told them it had been tweeted about they searched around and asked enough boss-type people until the keg was unearthed and hooked up yay! during that time i consoled myself with a deschutes inversion defintely my go-to ipa and a staunch member of my revolving evolving top ten beers list i am very happy that the red truck ipa was found! the juxtaposition of malts and hops, sweetness and bitterness was like a perfect tango on my tongue i really hope there is some left in the keg on sunday when i next get to stop by st. a's couldn't remember if i'd had the lagunita's lucky 13 before so i ordered me one "plenty of light roasted malt to keep it rich and mega-dosed with loads of hoppy - sweet and sp...

made it to cask night at the railway club on tuesday it was a dry-hopped with tomahawk pale ale by russell brewing i honestly have no idea how i feel about this cask definitely drinkable some haze, nice head, amazing nose tastes like a pale ale that has been dry-hopped you know, hoppy and malty but there's just something about it that i can't make up my mind about do i love it? do i hate it?  am i indifferent to it? i have no idea how's that for a review? that's what i'm here for folks - clarity and articulation yup, umm hmm but all was not lost i kept drinking i thought that was the best way to deal with my weird taste buds had a phillips hop circle at the railway then lagunitas ipa and acme ipa at malones followed by central city red racer at rogue (sounds a bit like the pub crawl for ipa day doesn't it? but nope, just any old tuesday night in vancouver...) my palate recalibrated itself and all was right in my world thank dog! 

the fourth stop on my little san francisco pub crawl and the last stop where i took any notes or photos was gestalt, a bike courier bar a couple of doors up 16th from monk's kettle totally down to earth food and decor i want to know how they came up with a vegan tuna melt... the vegan brats are amazing - i don't think any meat-eater could find fault with them (my very cocky notes read:  "i challenge any meat eater to NOT be satisfied by the vegan brats here.  challenge.  it's open.  name your price.  but be willing to LOSE!" - i think it is a very good thing this was the last of the notes i managed to take!) unfortunately they were out of my first two choices (wipeout ipa and tricerahops) so i went with one i've had before in a bottle, lagunitas hop stoopid delicious and oh so hoppy also quite a high alcohol percentage (which seemed to be the theme of my night - ouch!) stacey had the pilsner, alison had a weihenstephan (dark wheat) and alex went...

city beer is a beer store extraordinaire in san francisco located on folsom between 7th and 8th city beer features a gazillion craft beers from all over the world and several taps to drink from while you shop! just check out the incredible selection of beers on offer: like a kid in a candy shop its rebecca in city beer store! i think i am in love with the stillwater labels must investigate this brewery more thoroughly... and these were the beers they had on tap when i was there (june 23rd...): we tried the lagunitas, the allagash, the drakes and the lambic not each one, just one each! i am trying the lambic in this photo, ordered by alison i ordered the lagunitas double ipa, which she is holding in this photo i guess alex lapped us cuz his black ipa looks empty... (not pictured is stacey, who had the allagash) it was a wonderful atmosphere everyone was smiling and chatting and getting drinks we were drinking while we perused the shelves it w...

had me a sampler the other night (ha, more like a week and a half ago...) at st. augustine's and so did amanda i went with hopworks' organic rise-up red, bear republic's peter brown tribute ale, lagunitas undercover investigation shut-down ale and sierra nevada's pale ale i loooved the undercover ale - bitter but not in that amazing northwest ipa way, it was actually kinda sweet, like brown sugar malty hoppy, which sounds like a weird combo but it was very much working for me! the sierra nevada is not the hoppiest pale ale, but definitely more hops than some of my friends would like! the rise-up red is a full-bodied wonderfully hoppy number, and i really like it! the peter brown tribute ale was malty as f*ck, roasty but not too sweet - molasses yay! very nice addition to my sampler!

gonna be in cali on may 22nd? why not stop by the circus?? Join us for a day of circus entertainment, live music, craft beer tastings, food and a whole lot of freaky fun! A benefit for the Petaluma Music Festival featuring... Vau De Vire Society, Gooferman, Stilters, Clowns, Moral Minority, Kehoe Nation, Mimes, The Bed of Nails Guy, Swing Band, Neal Barbosa, Plate Spinners, Roller Girls, Sword Swallowers, Sideshows, HotDogs, Burlesque Acts, Contortionists, CornDogs, Trapeze Artists, BlockHeads, Cotton Candy, Jojo the Dog-Faced Boy, Jugglers, BBQ'd Oysters, Snake Dancers, Those Fabulous Fickle Brothers... 21 & Over Only! Tickets: $40, includes 10 tokens for the finest craft brew tastings Purchase Tickets at   www.lagunitas.com   or at the brewery in our Gift Shop!

best breweries in america! the top 50 named by the brewers association very happy to see so many of my faves on the list!! Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies (Based on 2010 beer sales volume) 1. Boston Beer Co. Boston MA 2 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA 3 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO 4 Spoetzl Brewery* Shiner TX 5 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR 6 Independent Brewers United (IBU)* Burlington VT 7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY 8 Bell's Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI 9 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA 10 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO 11 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE 12 Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co. Juneau AK 13 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT 14 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA 15 Abita Brewing Co. Abita Springs LA 16 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY 17 Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA 18 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR 19 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME 20 Summit Brewing Co. St. Paul MN 21 New Glarus Brewing Co. N...

tasting notes from february 23rd's beernesday i began this night of far too many beers and a nasty thursday morning with a sampler howe sound's high tide hemp and honey ale st. a's said:  a smooth lighter ale brewed with barley, hemp and honey.  brewed for the annual test of metal mountain bike race in squamish i said:  i like it.  not so light but i can see it being awfully refreshing after biking lagunitas brewing's the hairy eyeball (i mean how could i not with a name like that??) st. a's said:  big, brown warmer with several types of chrystal malt i said:  dark and delicious howe sound's rockfish red ale ( fundraising ale for cpaws ) st. a's said:  a red malty ale with a pleasant citrus note brewed with chinook, cascade and mt. hood hops and munich, caramalt, chocolate and roasted barley i said:  i like it, i like it a lot.  looking forward to buying a case in squamish on march 19th in support of the fishies.  i have a...

from beernesdays all the way back in january when i was on the wagon quotes and bons mots from those who were imbibing: amanda: on the rogue mogul madness:  i taste the hops and only the hops, maybe in another year [i will appreciate it] on the lost coast raspberry brown ale:  of course i love it - very berry raspberry, not so chocolate on lagunitas brown shugga:  uggh on storm highland cream ale:  love, love, love, so creamy, so nutty, not so dark but yum and caramel finish on hopworks 7 grain stout:  strong, hello america! yum, espresso taste that is so good!  can taste the 7 grains, not sure what they are, but good!  like having a shot of espresso with a shot of alcohol on moylans' irish stout:  low hops, defs malty, roasty & rich 4 sure, not chocolately or coffee flav like most.  delish bridget: on the crannog backhand of god:  makes the day bearable gwen: on russell's black death porter:  mediocre, wouldn't...

the best beers of 2010 available in the bay area of california (read san francisco, oakland and other places i love to visit!) click here  for brooks on beer's top 10

i began and ended last wednesday's beernesday at st. augustine's with hopworks' abominable winter ale i love this beer! just can't get enough of it too bad i'm cleansing now and won't be done until its gone... boo! i had two samplers one a winterish ode the other an ipa off rogue ales mogul madness:  6.3%  hoppy, caramel aroma, burgundy in colour with an off white head.  intense flavours of citrus, and complex notes of nuts, berries and mocha. howe sound woolly bugger barleywine:  11%  a rich dark amber barleywine brewed in extremely limited quantities dead frog mandarin orange amber ale:  5%  combines the aroma and flavour of a fresh mandarin orange with a light amber ale salt spring fireside ale:  7%  with a rich ruby colour, and a complex fruity nose.  low hop bitterness allows notes of fresh fruit to come through backed by a flavourful malt i had the mogul madness the week before, but it was my final pint and i took n...

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the wonderful, the darned good, the pretty good and the also-rans of hopscotch, according to moi firstly, the beers i've had before and love, so i had them again! efes dark efes pilsner rogue yellow snow red truck limited steam moylans double ipa steamwhistle pilsner the wonderful: odell brewing ipa - 7% with simcoe and amarillo hops, out of colorado - this one has won awards, and i can see why! caldera ipa - 6.1% with cascade hops, out of oregon great divide double ipa - 85 ibs out of denver, colorado stone's ruination ipa - 7.7%, 120 ibus - the stuff of legends i tell ya, legends! stone's self-righteous ale - 8.7% - malty hoppy and makes you believe you could session it... but at 8.7% i think you'd hate yourself later if you did! smuttynose ipa - their single ipa - delightful and deliciously hoppy smuttynose big a ipa - their double ipa - just as delightful and even more hoppy... i might actually like the single better though... ballast amber ale - p...