beernesday

i'm back from my amazing week in tofino quickly: i spent an awful lot of time at tofino brewing filling my growlers with hoppin' cretin ipa and reign in blonde and tuff session (and then drinking them) on the way home we stopped overnight in victoria we stayed at swans , drank at garrick's head pub (10 new taps!!) where i had lighthouse 15th anniversary amber ale, elysian men's room red and driftwood fat tug next morning we got growler fills at lighthouse (switchback) and driftwood  (fat tug) (such incredibly friendly staff at both places), stopped in at spinnakers for a pint, and came home in time for me to not be on cbc radio on tuesday due to a mix-up it just didn't happen i apologize if you tuned in and were disappointed i was most disappointed not to talk extreme beers silver-lining, i have my topic all ready for september 3rd tuesday evening i attended camra vancouver's hops 101 class at steamworks and got to try the brand spanking n...

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver: Double Trouble Brewing Hops & Robbers IPA - $5.60 Two Ontarians had a dream and this is the result: a clear straw-coloured IPA with notes of pine, herbs and tropical fruits on the nose with more of the same on the palate. Ringing in at 50 IBU's, this is a true east coast treasure. HaandBryggeriet 'Norwegian Wood' - $8.95 This little treat comes to you all the way from Norway. Brewed in traditional Norwegian style, this brew boasts smokiness all the way through with a touch of juniper for a little pep. Swans Legacy Ale - $7.25 Brewed to commemorate the legacy of Michael Williams and his ongoing support of the arts and Marine Sciences at UVic, this smooth, complex barley wine-style ale has aromas of orange peel, biscuits and molasses with lots of malt to back it up.     i love the hops and robbers - best part of my trip to onterrible was getting to drink it!  and its only 50 ibus... cr...

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store (aka your last minute shopping destination!!) St. Ambroise Stout Extra Forte More of what you love, but in a Extra Strong Stout and aged in Bourbon Wood...Mmmm Swans Black Swan Imperial Stout Yes you guessed it, another Imperial Stout aged in oak. This local brewery is putting out some great bottlings, come try this special one off today. Swans Seven Swans A Swimming "Tis the Saison" - Unfiltered, with the addition of raisins and spice, you know this seasonal is gonna be a beauty!

better late than never, here are some of my photos from the proclamation of bc craft beer month, held september 30th at steamworks: bob mcrae - minister of agriculture, lundy dale - president of camra bc, and terry lake - minister of the environment, with the proclamation lundy introducing the minister bloggers, writers, brewers and john mitchell eli - owner of steamworks, bob mcrae, lundy dale and john mitchell, with the proclamation   fabulous examples of bc's craft beer 

sloppy seconds, hoppy seconds, spring hop whatever the heck it officially ended up being called the camra members-only hopfest at the alibi room on monday night was lots of fun the goal of the evening was to give members who missed out on tickets for hoppapalooza to try the hoppy casks and kegs leftover from hoppapalooza so for $20 members bought themselves entry to the alibi room, a burger dinner and a pint of cask not tapped at hoppapalooza after that pints and sleeves were on at regular price, less 10% as i lamented in a previous post, i shoulda had half pours at hoppapalooza so that i could have made it furher through the list since there was no way i was going to finish the list at $5 sleeves i began with the included pint of swan's scotch ale which was uber-sedimenty and too boozey for me i made a concerted effort, but i just couldn't finish the whole pint then my new friend from edmonton bought me a pint of north coast's acme ipa which had an amazing n...

some random tasting notes from the weeks passed had the swans coconut porter with anna definitely not a session beer that first sip is way too sweet but i like the coconut aftertaste quite an interesting little brew... but i feel like now that i've tried it, i won't be going there again also with anna i tried the noire de chambly by unibroue i don't like unibroue as they use belgian yeast, but i thought i'd try the dark since it was on offer quite carbonated and yes, it is dark but its still belgiany and that makes it unenjoyable to me at the alibi on november 27th i had the opportunity to taste dave varga's dry-hopped indian arm ipa from the cask it was full of dry-hop floaties, which look so pretty when the light hits them quite a pale golden colour amazing hop aroma and flavour so good i wanted a second... but instead moved on to the howe sound gathering storm which i've said before in previous posts that i do love had i known i'd ...

at beernesday last week i decided to begin my evening with a pint of the howe sound gathering storm it seemed appropriate since i'd had the keg at the alibi, the cask at the railway... why not the keg at st. augustine's? and i would have had the cask again at winterfest, but it was acting up by the time i got around to it darned dry hops getting in the spout! i do like this brew and suggest that if you get a chance to try it before its all gone that you do so! after that, i was at a loss of what to try next then i saw that there were 8 ipas on the menu there are 4 glasses in a taster by this point i was still able to do good math and figured out that if i had two samplers i could fit all the ipas into a head to head ipa off! to be fair, i went with the first four on the menu then the second four on the menu saving a sip or two from the winner of round 1 to go against the winner of round 2 however, that's where the science stopped and the subjectivity fully to...

tasting notes back from my july 14th visit to st. augustine's... odds aren't good that all of these will still be on the menu... quote of the evening is that we "came for the basil, stayed for the huckleberry" in my sampler were: fernie brewing's what the huck huckleberry wheat storm brewing's basil ipa old yale brewing co pale ale swans brew pub arctic ale the huckleberry wheat was cloudy, but not overly yeasty. there were but a touch of huckleberries blended with the wheat - smooth, creamy, crisp finish. most delightful the basil ipa was phenomenal not a session beer, but omg it would pair with so many foods! amazing basil nose, in an ipa freaking delightful i want this all year long i am not happy that it is a limited edition dammit! the old yale pale ale is very much a pale ale would be a great session beer crisp finish i like it!  i can see why it got voted canada's best pale ale. the arctic ale is a "mild-tasting, cold...

and now for the first guest post on my blog! this one is from the lovely and talented amanda: Swans Buckerfield's Brewery Berry Ale: 7%. Not extremely cloudy, unfiltered: contains malted barley, malted wheat, raspberries, hops and yeast. Brewed in Victoria, Vancouver Island.  A mid amber colour or perhaps the colouring of the raspberries??? When poured, doesn't have the biggest head, light and bubbly and light in carbonation. At 7% the label doesn't lie when it says strong beer... But not too strong. Has a very berry hay taste at first....  Very light bodied and fresh on the palate. The raspberry flavour really kicks in as an after taste. Delightful and delish.... raspberries being my favourite of the berries, I find it quite the flavoursome treat!  The hops are ever so slight, a pleasure to drink. One wee glass would be sufficient... Not a sessioner. I think the berry would become too over powering -  more citrus notes are needed!  

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 ...

here for your reading pleasure is my real time reviews of Swans Extra IPA and Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial Ale. didn't have a great day today, so its a two beer review this time folks!  and two heavy hitters!  the extra ipa is 6.8% and the moylan's is 9.2%.  forget what ails you! swans was incredibly carbonated and heady.  unfiltered, so kinda cloudy.  had kind of a belgian lager taste to it to me... you know, on the sour yeasty side...  definitely not my favourite flavour... so not my new favourite ipa.  would i drink it again if you bought it for me?  for sure.  would i drink it instead of coors light - doubly for sure.  will i buy another big bottle for myself?  doubtful. i find the hopsickle a little on the malty side... drinkable for sure, but one the malty side for me.  good head, some lace remaining... live yeast, so its a bit sedimenty and cloudy.  the alcohol is nicely tempered though, it just feels a little...