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...

last night i needed nachos it was imperative that i have some and who does better nachos on the drive than st. augustine's? no one! and what goes down better with nachos than ipa? nothing! so i had a tin whistle scorpion double ipa for double the fun 8% - "loaded with citra hops and a huge malt backbone. brewed in small batches" they weren't kidding about that huge malt backbone it was teetering awfully close to the 'too much' precipice i could have used a little less but then i do like my ipas bitter(er) darker in colour, dense head, clear as the day is long its a fine beer for sure its not going to crack my top ten list though and... i'll be making a brief appearance at st. augustine's again this evening its the beerthirst half pints re-launch in bc i hear there will be swag as well as good beer!

yay beer garden! eat vancouver last weekend was good times! we showed up nice and early and ate our way through half of the exhibitors and then hit the beer garden! who was there? well, let me tell you: yangjing russell brewing granville island brewing cannery brewing tin whistle and mt. begbie dead frog brewery r & b brewing   driftwood brewery - check out all the awards from vcbw! singha and central city... lots of wine and spirits as well fun fun fun on a weekend afternoon! we ate our way through the other half of the exhibitors and returned to the beer garden for more and had us some absinthe from taboo i hear it makes the heart grow fonder... first you pour the shot over a sugar cube then you flame the sugar cube then you dissolve the sugar cube with 2 parts water then you muddle it all and drink it (you may note this was more than 2 parts water... disappointing for $3 a shot) hightlights: nando's giving ...

last week`s house party edition:

last weekend i had the opportunity to try a couple of beers again - yay! as part of anna's and my tasting afternoon on friday, we went with the tin whistle black widow ale i thought this would be a good one since anna likes the dark beers, but not the terribly hoppy ones i already knew i liked it, would it be a good choice for anna? you better believe it - she liked it too! black as night and opaque as treacle this truly is a mild ale very nicely roasty malty not much on the hop side, nor the thick and creamy side this one is just a very drinkable black ale i could drink it all day i tell ya! on saturday night at timbre while everyone else was eating the elk and playing with the kangaroo balls bottle opener, i had the elysian immortal ipa again its not the hoppiest ipa on the block but it is quite a lovely brew floral and aromatic and bitter delicious! i must admit that I did happily move on to the red racer ipa to finish the night though i am a very...

i have been remiss i just found my tasting notes from beernesday back on september 29th bad, bad beer blogger! i had two samplers 1. brooklyn brewery post road pumpkin ale:  5%  subtly spied, orange-amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt center, and a crisp finish 1. hopworks uban brewery ipa: 6.6%  100% organic. rich and resinous flavours of citrus fruit and pine.  the finest organic canadian pilsner malt and organic munich and caramel malts then bring balance to your new favorite beer 1. old yale brewing sergreant's ipa: 5.5%  uses special pale and crystal malts and loads of golding hops 1. storm brewing 12 year black current lambic: 7%  not for the timid! this beer is INTENSELY sour, dry and complex 2. red truck limited steam beer: 5%  a hybrid beer style brewing using ale yeast fermented at lager temperatures. the result is a full flavoured, yet surprisingly crisp beer 2. mt. begbie nasty habit ipa: 6%  a perfect balance bet...

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...

rather than sampling too many beers in one night, tippling at st. augustine's the other night featured a few bottle or pint choices after a single sampler each. the thought was to try four beers we weren't sure we'd want a whole pint of, or were already in love with.  then follow those with choices we were sure we'd want a whole pint (or bottle) of.  and it turned out to be a sound plan! alison was the smartest about this method - she got them to let her have a sip of her choices first, then ordered the pints.  she had the r&b red devil ale and the tin whistle killer bee dark honey ale.  she's in love with both of these so much that she went to the beer store last night to buy herself bottles for home!  of the red devil she said:  "nice hop - really not sweet... great depth.  keeps on going."  of the killer bee she said "i'm a killer bee!" (yes, we were a bit tipsy by this point in the evening) and inspired by the mohammed ali docume...