beernesday

warm woollen mittens: whiskers on kittens: clothes made out of curtains:

love this! and love this year's total eclipse of the hop it was my bevvie of choice at the pink pints meeting at rogue this week its their current rotator ipa

i love jet-setting! okay, well, my version of it anyway freshly back from mexico last week, i jumped on over to whistler this weekend outlook tv was covering the winter pride celebrations so i got me a free trip to whistler woo hoo! i love hitting a ski slope with a tan while i was there i stopped in at whistler brewing for a post-snowshoeing whiskey jack ale which i also managed to find on tap at the garibaldi lift company where a couple of parties were held into each life a little corona must happen its unavoidable really and can you blame a gal for having one when it comes in a double margarita?? finally, on the drive back to vancouver the lovely outlook crew stopped in for dinner at howe sound brewpub i had a delicious devil's elbow ipa with my 4 cheese penne and picked up 3 litres of total eclipse of the hops to bring home with me i love the total eclipse!

tasting vancouver wants to know what your favourite local(ish) ipa is! so far their list is: Red Racer IPA (getting lots of love) Driftwood Fat Tug IPA Russell IP’EH Dogfish Head IPA 60 Double Daddy Imperial Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA Elysian Jasmine IPA Tree Brewing Hop Head Dead Frog Citra IPA Stone IPA Ninkansi Total Domination Howe Sound’s Devil’s Elbow West Coast Green Flash Deschutes Inversion DF 90min IPA Hopsickle Elysian Immortal Bridgeport’s Hop Czar Hale’s Ales Moosehead and i'm happy to say i've had almost all of the above but there's the total eclipse of the hops? the hop circle? the hop henge? the unearthly?

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...

tasting notes from february 16th's beernesday: you know the notes are gonna be interesting (trying not to insult myself here) when the top of the sheet has a little note that says "its official, i heart ipas, i heart being a little drunkish" i went with five pints of ipas no samplers, just jumped right on in there with full pints pint #1 was the crannog insurrection ipa st. a's said:  5.4 %  100% organic.  pale amber body emphasizes munich and caramel malts, with enough sweetness to hold up the rather large volumes of fresh cascade and golding hops i said:  bitter - goes well with the smell of bbq wings.  i like it, but not my fave.  not super hoppy pints #2 and 5 were howe sound's total eclipse of the hops around which i drew a heart and said:  i love this one.  so happy its back! pints #3 and 4 were the dead frog citra ipa i said:  okay, i like this like a whole lot.  so nice i gotta have it twice and what did others h...

gwen brought over the breakfast beers a few weeks ago and managed to bring over three i hadn't tried before way to go gwen! mt. begbie tall timber ale mt. begbie bob's your dunkel dead frog chocolate mint brown ale i thought perhaps chocolate mint was not going to pair very well with the mexican eggs i was making for breakfast, so we began with the mt. begbie tall timber ale and i'm glad we did - i'm a fan! it was a great pairing with eggs, veggie chorizo, goat cheese, hot sauce, guacamole and hash browns! its an english brown ale finished with kent golding hops and their website says it goes well with red meat and cheddar cheese to that i can add veggie chorizo and goat cheese! not too malty, not too hoppy, like goldilocks says, it was juuuuuust right! then we moved onto the dunkel which not very surprisingly i didn't like i mean, i have yet to meet a belgian beer i do like... so gwen gamely finished that one off while i moved on to the dead fro...

howe sound's three beavers is back! the total eclipse of the hops was very briefly back, but is apparently so popular that it's sold out everywhere i've looked for it (did manage to get me a couple of pints at st. augustine's last week... maybe there's a little tickle of it still left there...) the beavers though, those you can find and you should! for a review, click here

at this past week's beernesday i had an ode to the ipa sort of evening it seemed like it hurt my head too much to come up with beers for a sampler and i knew they had some great ipas on tap... so i just went with four pints of four different ipas (and didn't love myself as much as usual on thursday morning when i woke up...) howe sound's total eclipse of the hops:  8%  a supremely well balanced and drinkable imperial ipa weighing in at 90 ibus and 8% alcohol. you know i love this one! so happy to see it back in the rotation at st. augustine's its a damned fine day when a seasonal that you thought was all sold out comes back to let you savour it again! driftwood's fat tug ipa:  7%  a northwest style india pale ale that is characterized by an intense hop aroma i do love this brew very aromatic hop nose not quite as balanced as the howe sound but oh, so delightful to drink! hopworks ipa:  6.6%  rich and resinous flavours of citrus fruit and pi...

i finally made it to a cask night at st. augustines's normally i'm a norwegian poseur and curl on monday nights but i took a pass this week and instead let my personal viking drag me out for beer and you all know how much arm-twisting is involved in making me drink beer... this week it was crannog's gael's blood potato ale conditioned with root vegetables and carrot seed sounded like a meal in a glass, but i was game to try it anyway! very hazy and full of particles i figured that must be the stewed veggies that they were boiling down to make into beer.... definitely drinkable on a very cold night not a beer i'd want to session, but it was damned interesting seemed a bit like a science experiment turned tasty... as i got further down my glass it became sweeter... the sugar in the carbs maybe? and oh, the sediment in the bottom of the glass forget guinness, if you're feeling down, have a glass of this! forget v8, if you need your veggies, have a g...

i got the opportunity to try two of howe sound 's limited edition fall beers at st. augustine's the other day and had to have them again at beernesday! just to make sure i know what i'm talking about... total eclipse of the hops:  "A strong india pale ale brewed with 100% barley, six varieties of hops, water and yeast. Extra barley balances the large volume of hops in this brew. This is definitely for the hop lover. This beer is brewed in limited quantities as part of the John Mitchell series. As a highly hopped specialty this ale goes well with spicy cuisine such as curry and Mexican favorites. Also good with fried foods such as halibut and chip and hot wings." 8% 90 ibus 17 degrees plato comes in the 1L pot-stopper (and on tap at various fabulous establishments) totally worth waiting for - i'm in love with this beer! not totally clear definitely bitter, but not overly hoppy nose why oh why is this only a limited release? i want to drink it ...

i need to try howe sound's Total Eclipse of the Hops not just because it is an ipa and hoppy hoppy goodness, but also because i am totally in love with the name!  yes, i am that shallow, and i'm okay with it. bastards have their site on flash though, so i can't copy all their bons mots over here. suffice it to say that this hoppy beast is 90 ibus and 8% - right up my alley.  brewed with 100% barley, six kinds of hops... but only brewed in limited quantities. i must get my hands on some, and soon!