beernesday

my notes from last evening's beer column with stephen quinn on the coast: It's the most wonderful time of the year for hop-heads! It's hop harvest time, and to beer geeks that can mean only one thing: fresh-hopped beers.  Fresh-hopping, also referred to as wet-hopping, is the process of using fresh hops to bitter the beer. Hops are ready for harvest at the end of August or the beginning of September in this part of the world. Growers know they are ready when the cone is plump and the lupulin is at a maximum. If you look at a hop flower, the lupulin is the yellow stuff between the green bits. This is where the oils come from that impart the bitterness and flavour to beer. Despite looking hardy, hops are actually quite delicate. They don't survive long after being cut. To preserve the oils and resins they need to be dried right away. . Most of the hops harvested are dried right after picking and then frozen, or ground into pellets. These are then sold to b...

okay, ball was fun last night i'm just a lazy ass for wishing it had been rained out... and if we didn't have our finals tournament on july 21st, you know that i'd be hopping on a ferry over to victoria to attend hopoxia It's back!! Our 2nd annual BC Celebration of Hops is going down in our back lot on July 21st from 3pm-7pm . It's a beer tasting festival that proudly lends its weight to the hoppier side of the scale. This year is sure to be bitter and better than ever with the following brewers descending on our back lot armed with their favourite hop-infused brews: Hoyne Brewing Co. Driftwood Brewing Co. Canoe Club Brewpub Vancouver Island Brewing Co. Moon Under Water Brewpub Lighthouse Brewing Co. Spinnakers Brewpub Salt Spring Island Brewing Co. Tofino Brewing Co. Wolf Brewing Co. Whistler Brewing Co. Howe Sound Brewing Co. Central City Brewing Co. Granville Island Brewing Co. Tree Brewing Co. Coal Harbour...

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...

from last week's beernesday at st. augustine's: i began my night with a sampler dead frog's christmas beeracle!  5%  a festive, rich, warm amber ale with a medley of spices including cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. cannery's no jail pale ale:  3.05% a lower-alcohol beer with an authentic ale taste!  a clean, crisp ale with a bright hop finish and about 40% less alcohol than conventional beer salt spring's golden spike ale:  5%  voted "best golden ale" at the canadian brewing awards paddock wood's london porter:  5.3%  a dark ale based on a recipe from 1850 which lets chocolate malt take the lead.  smoother than stout, but still holds a deep roast profile i very much liked the christmas beeracle! gingery goodness (reminiscent of the steamworks ginger from last spring) and no vanilla!! i would definitely have this one again and i don't say that about many christmas or winter ales bridget liked it a lot too! the no jail was a little...

the tasting notes from this week's beernesday at st. augustine's and i had help this week, from both lara and ananda - thanks friends! i started my night with a sampler, as always mill street brewery original organic lager:  4.2%  100% organic.  brewed with imported malt and hops, this german pilser offers a light, crisp and refreshing flavour with a clean finish. rogue ales brutal bitter:  6.2%  an imperial bitter with exotic traditional floor malts, citrusy, hoppy flavor, stupendous hop aroma. salt spring ales whaletail ale:  5%  an altbier that is amber coloured and packed with flavour. pike brewing xxxxx stout:  7%  full-bodied velvety malt texture with hints of chocolate, licorice, and espresso on the palate. amanda hated the mill street when she tried it a few weeks earlier (and since i didn't see it on the intervening beer lists, perhaps this is from a different keg) so i thought i'd see if i agreed with her!  brave of me...

i rounded out my sampler at st. augustine's last night with rogue's yellow snow ipa, cannery's squire scotch ale and longwood's russian imperial stout. i love the rogue, and the yellow snow is no exception.  i add it to my sampler somewhat regularly out of an abundance of caution.  i had a bottle of it once that must have been quite off because it was one of the worst things i've ever tasted.  as that was my first yellow snow experience i thought maybe it was just a bad beer.  luckily i trusted in rogue and tried it again on tap.  and loved it.  so i tried it again on tap.  and loved it.  and now i'm caught in the cycle of having to check back in with it from time to time just to make sure that first bottle was off... the scotch ale had lovely smoky malty notes in it, balancing nicely with hoppity hops.  i quite enjoyed it.  but like several of the more novelty beers, the smoky flavour didn't particularly make me want to have more ...