What's Brewing Fall 2015 Final

BC'S CRAFT BEER COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

Month Of Beer We talk BC Craft Beer Month with the Executive Director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild

FALL 2015 Vol. 25 Issue 1 Online Edition

Mild toWild!

Four writers dish on beer styles from sessionable to extreme

GCBF 2015

Photo Retrospective Still The Best Fest?

Lundy Dale & Ken Beattie at BC Hop Fest

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WHAT'S BREWING

Fall 2015 Contents BC'S ORIGINAL CRAFT BEER JOURNAL

BC BEER SCENE

Yeast Van comes of age! pp. 28 & 36 6

25 Years of What's Brewing

BC beer pioneers share their thoughts on a quarter century.

36 Vancouver’s New “Neighbourhood Brewery” Model

BUSINESS & POLITICS

AB InBev empire strikes back p.34 10 What is a Craft Brewery? Part I

by Jeremiah Thunderfoot. Essay: Craft Beer is becoming big business. One day your favourite brewery might not be called "craft" anymore; find out why.

Joe Wiebe examines BC breweries' new tasting lounge approach, and finds Victoria lagging behind.

12 Is the Middle Kingdom the Next Beer Export El Dorado?

16 BC breweries kick Eastern butt

by Rick Green. Explore the BC-China connection with a guide who would know.

by Ian Lloyd. BC compares well with Ontario and Quebec at this year's Canadian Brewing Awards

14 Recent Craft Beer Price Hikes

24 Spotlight: The Growler

Paddy Treavor vents his spleen at the current government for their short-sighted taxation strategies.

There's a great new publication serving craft beer fans in BC. We go behind the scenes with the editor.

34 What is a Craft Brewery? Part II

28 Yeast Van Beer Walk

The essay concludes with a definition of 'craft brewery' that has nothing to do with size or ingredients.

Jeremy from CraftBeerVancouver.com shares his clever Hastings Sunrise walking tour map.

FALL 2015

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On the cover: it's Beer Month Find out all about BC Craft Beer Month from the leaders themselves. Turn to page 8.

BEER I.Q.

4 beer styles from Mild To Wild!

19 Session Beers and India Session Ales J. Random looks at the recent history of sessionable ales, including hoppy ones.

18 What the Heck is Mild?

Adam Chatburn explains a delicious UK brewing tradition.

20 Evolution of BC's West Coast IPA

TOURING & EVENTS

Beer Beat notes & upcoming events 32 Out & About Scottie's back with his first colum since Spring 2014.

Catch up with what you've missed.

26 BeerSeeking in UFO Country Ivana Smith reports from McMinnville, OR, the UFO capital of the Pacific Northwest. There's more craft beer there than you would think.

by Joe Wiebe. How the signature style of the modern craft beer movement developed in BC.

37 Powell River Craft Beer Festival

30 On Extreme Beer

38 BC Beer Awards & Festival

Book Review: Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers

By Ted Child.

What to expect at this year's sold-out celebration.

A great success in 2014; back for 2015!

22 GCBF 2015 Retrospective Relive BC's classic fest with this pictorial montage.

A few BC beer society pioneers share their thoughts upon this quarter century occasion.

Phil Atkinson

Plus Ça Change…

T

he phone rings. Normally I scrutinize the caller id and return calls once I have an answer composed that doesn’t commit me to something I’d rather not do. This time for some reason, I answer without looking at the display panel. It’s Dave Smith. Would I like to revive What’s Brewing? Absolutely not. Probably not. Tell me more.

I’d carried What’s Brewing for more than two decades and I admit I was both weary and attached in a way one adheres to familial relationships; good and bad, sickness and health, I wore my editor’s hat and made sure the magazine made it out into the world six times a year. But as I passed a landmark birthday and faced the reality that the finish line is much closer than the starting blocks, I decided I was no longer willing to play silly buggers with persistent detractors. It simply became a torch I was unwilling to carry.

But then … acolytes! It transpires, in fact, there were quieter voices out there that were never heard in making the decision to abandon the magazine that had been a draw-feature of the Campaign for Real Ale in British Columbia since the get-go.

And it turns out What’s Brewing is much missed in certain quarters. Writers, in particular, like it. Readers who are not limited to explication in 140 characters or less like it. Craft beer evangelists like it. Discerning beer lovers suspicious of craft beer evangelism like it.

So … in brief … we’re back! What drew me back chiefly is the enthusiasm and respect displayed by those who approached me to ask what I thought of the idea. I like that they share the notion of non-constraint in opening up the field to criticism of what we hold dear, as well as continuing the support and joy we have always shown when it comes to good beer.

So where does it go from here? What’s Brewing still has the dependency of relying on unpaid writers for contributions as well as the difficulty of discovering and nurturing younger people to risk the ride. It shares a two-edged dilemma of being perceived as an old-fashioned kind of publication. I am assured it will retain that charm of being armchair-friendly while flying closer to the cutting edge of technology in presentation and delivery.

But I especially love that someone other than me will be in the editor’s chair, and from my safe and paternal oversight distance, I bless this relaunch and all who sail in her.

We have come a long way since the days when your choice of beer was take-it-or-leave-it flavourless sub-arctic fizz. What’s Brewing has been there through the entire journey, from its first edition as a photocopied two-sided piece of paper to the iteration you are reading right now. I hope you will become part of the tradition, subscribe and enjoy What’s Brewing, and I hope you will feel comfortable enough to comment on the articles and perhaps even write something yourself. Welcome home.

Phil Atkinson is a former President of CAMRA BC and the founding editor of What's Brewing.

In The Beginning...

W

e've come a long way since April 7, 1990 when seven of us sat down at Spinnakers and decided we would get CAMRA going. The next meeting was in May at Swans in the Gold Room (now the Collard Room). Everybody chipped in a dollar to cover newsletter mailing costs! We were written up in Monday Magazine, so in June when the meeting was held at Vancouver Island Brewing (on Keating Crossroad) some 70 people showed up and we were away.

John Rowling

That summer we decided to ask for dues to cover CAMRA's costs. Having done that, we went to open a bank account, only to find that we needed to be an incorporated society. So the “Campaign For Real Ale Society of British Columbia” was officially incorporated on September 24th 1990.

This month then is the 25th Anniversary of CAMRA as an incorporated society in BC. I would like to thank Ian Lloyd for editing What's Brewing last year, and now Dave Smith for keeping What's Brewing alive. It seems so different to the single newssheet that we mailed out to the 30 or so members that we had 25 years ago. Welcome back, What’s Brewing!

John and Carol Rowling are founding members of CAMRA BC. Read John's column in Celebrator magazinne.

I

’m one of the grandfathers of BC’s Craft Beer Movement. When we came together in the beginning we were the Pioneers, involved in anything and everything beer. That means we were starting from scratch on every front, in a movement which we now take for granted.

All we basically had early on for beers in pubs were just “take it or leave it” beer choices. Anyone who travelled the world knew there were better beers out there than on offer in Canada at the time. Those who had tasted European offerings knew we had to try and make changes. Everyone who gets it knows real beer is best.

Stewart ('Scottie') McLellan

We had scores of breweries across Canada in the period 1890-1924 or so. Every style brought by all the brewing immigrants: Bohemian, Croatian, English, French FR, Scottish, Bavarian, Latvian; Czech, German, Polish, all doing what they brought from the Homelands to Canada, real beer styles. Across the land, they all but disappeared.

Thanks to the supporters of the past decades. Many of the Victoria originals of the movement come to all the local events. Some of the best friends I’ve ever had are beer folks, from all over the world.

I’ve been to every GCBF; all the folks involved are friends of What’s Brewing. In the past decades, Phil Atkinson and I worked the beer beat, with many of our beer friends, John Rowling, Dave Preston, et al. Thanks to Dave Smith for taking up the What’s Brewing brand.

Hey friends. What’s Brewing is back.

Read Out And About, Scottie's BC beer beat column for What's Brewing, on page 33

BC Craft Beer Month 2015 It's back for Year Five!

Are You In? In 2011, the Minister of Agriculture Don McRae officially proclaimed October to be BC Craft Beer Month. It was a month of celebrating BC Craft beers, and of course, the brewers behind those great beers. We have never looked back.

With almost 100 breweries in BC, more than ever we have so much to celebrate. Not only that, local BC cideries are opening up throughout the province. We are also noticing more local production of malt and hops- a win-win for breweries, cideries and consumers.

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR? • We’ve revamped our logo, courtesy of the creative people at Line49 Design • The BC Craft Brewers Guild and BC Craft Beer Month have joined forces in a partnership to leverage and promote the celebration of BC Craft beer in October • A province-wide Kick-off party and awareness campaign aimed at celebrating BC Craft beer. All will be revealed on the site as plans and events unfold.

• Brew Culture is one of our major sponsors. They provide hops and many products that are needed to create the great beers that we want to drink.

• The inaugural BC Hop Fest, Canada’s FIRST fresh beer festival on a hop farm!

Saturday October 3rd.

WHAT’S COMING BACK IN YEAR FIVE? • We have partnered up once again with BC Beer Awards festival and beer award at the Croatian Hall in Vancouver-with an expanded area, with more breweries, and now also cideries! It all happens Saturday October 24th.

• While the BC Craft Packs are gone, the BC government liquors stores will have a designated area in some of their key stores to highlight a variety of BC craft beers.

• Special release beers? There will be the third BC Craft Brewers Guild collaboration coming out, and you can be sure there will be some great fresh hops and pumpkin beers available.

• Harrison Beer Festival, now in year four, with a cask night, a beer festival and an Oktoberfest.Women and Beer event?

Yes – maybe even two.

• Brew Master dinners? Tap takeovers?

Beer pairing events? Yes, they will be there!

• Oktoberfests? Cask events? Pumpkin beer fests and competitions? You bet!

ARE YOU IN? WANT TO GET INVOLVED? Sponsorships start at $100 and will get your logo and link on the BC Craft Beer Month website along with Social media support on Facebook and Twitter.

For more info, write bccraftbeermonth@gmail.com or visit our website: www.bccraftbeermonth.com - Lundy Dale, Founding Director

FALL 2015

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Craft Beer Month Q&A with Ken Beattie

Executive Director, BC Craft Brewers Guild WB: I understand that the BCCBG has gotten involved in BC Craft Beer Month this year. What led to that, and how do you see the Guild's role in it?

During the past two years, [BCCBM founding Director] Lundy Dale and I had discussed the Guild’s involvement in this.

Lundy secured the designation from the BC government four years ago, and has done an admirable job of getting the whole concept off the ground. I reached out to Lundy to make the program a truly provincial month-long celebration. I see our role as taking Craft Beer Month to the next level involving our member breweries as well as licensees, retailers, tourism organizations and government in order to support all the activity.

WB: I seem to sense slightly more buzz around BCCBM this year. What has the reception been in the community so far?

Thankfully the community is extremely supportive and has an almost insatiable appetite to experience BC craft beer. Ticket sales have been at or near capacity for our Kickoff event at Red Racer, the BC Hop Fest in Abbotsford and Brewphoria in Kelowna on October 8th. We know that the BC Beer Awards always sells out, which I would say indicates a buzz in the community. Victoria Beer Week is also doing two events in October that should be similarly successful.

WB: Are the Guild’s members demonstrating interest and support for continuing to expand and grow Craft Beer Month?

The reception has been excellent with many of our members

organizing their own events. In the coming years I envision a model along the lines of Dine Around Victoria or Dine Out Vancouver where we split the province into 4 regions and each region holds at least 1 event every day resulting in 124 events throughout the province. This can be a simple as a food truck in front of a tasting room, a seasonal beer launch, a beer dinner with an on-premise partner or a tasting at a retail store.

We also plan to continue the marquee events we already have in place. This is our first year working directly with BCCBM so we want to crawl before we run. It is important to understand what types of events we can handle and that are interesting and unique for our loyal customers while attracting new customers.

WB: BCCBM seems focused on events for beer lovers. Is there any discussion of further leveraging it to help increase craft beer awareness and/or drive craft sales in the general marketplace?

That is certainly one of our goals moving forward. In the past year, we have spent much of our time on government policy, as well as establishing ourselves as a key stakeholder on industry issues and consultation. Several of our recommendations from the initial consultation to the Liquor Policy review have been accepted. A number of these specifically address marketing, promoting and supporting BC craft beer in the all retail stores but also as a viable tourism driver. We are once again working with the provincial government and Minister Oakes to review these recommendations and to execute the opportunities we feel our breweries can deliver in the over 50 communities where we are currently brewing.

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WHAT'S BREWING

BUSINESS & POLITICS

10 Barrel's new downtown Portland facility, built after AB InBev takeover

Craft Beer is Big Business now Part I of What is a Craft Brewery?

A

recent trip to Portland furnished a perfect opportunity to observe the tectonic collisions caused by the slow evolution of the craft brewing industry into a credible form of competition with “Big Barley”. The world’s largest brewers are considering the prospect of even more of their revenue river being diverted down a rapidly widening channel called Craft, and have decided that they want to ride that current too. So, wisely, they buy craft breweries.

OK, it’s not an unusually wise, nor a terribly new move. In all business sectors, large companies buy smaller ones; it’s happened in the world of beer many times including the crest of the ‘first wave’ of the craft revolution two decades ago. Small business operators will always face the fundamental choice of whether to stay small and scrape by for the love of it, or grow just large enough to risk eventual collapse and/or attract the attention of a giant. At least the latter provides an exit strategy and justification for risking one’s life’s savings. A handful of breweries you love today will ultimately decide to swim with the bigger fish and they should feel no shame or failure in that.

The macros won’t buy ‘em all, and they don’t have to. They need only enough to present a portfolio of tap handles suitable to please owners of establishments ranging from Irishthemed pubs to baseball stadiums. The large segment of the

by Jeremiah Thunderfoot

public that perceives themselves to be selective about beer, but which doesn’t form the stubborn core of the evangelical ‘movement’, will happily select one of their brightly-coloured taps to sip from.

When is Craft Beer not craft beer? Apparently, when it’s brewed by a “non-Craft Brewer”.

Earlier this year, Barley Mowat wrote a piece about Beer Standards that poked a finger full of fun into the way organizations try to separate craft from non-craft breweries. Accompanying the article is a photo of Deschutes’ holding tanks with the caption, “Full of Inversion IPA, but you wouldn’t want it since it’s not ‘craft’”. BM rightly ridiculed the way that people try to delineate craft from macro beer, and pointed out that it can’t reliably be done by defining brewery size or beer ingredients.

The definition of craft beer been attempted by many. Certain groups like the Brewers Association (BA) and our own BC Craft Brewer’s Guild try to document such things as part of their perceived organizational role. The BA, which represents small brewers in the US, wisely avoids defining craft beer itself and sticks to drawing a line between craft and non-craft breweries based on quantity of output. The BA uses a numeric definition, which, as Barley Mowat notes, is a recipe for com-

FALL 2015 promise and ongoing revision. I think this was viable to do during the first wave of the craft revolution, when these new businesses were known as ‘microbreweries’. That term clearly deals with size. ‘Craft’ deals with something more esoteric.

Defining an actual beer product as ‘craft’ by ingredients, quality or style is a fool’s errand, for certain. Any given macro can make amazing quality ales and lagers when it wants to, and any given craft brewery makes poor quality brews from time to time. Sometimes they do it deliberately for fun or profit. Philips Phoenix, Howe Sound Lager, VIB Islander and Russell BC Lions Lager might all be examples of macro-like products from non-macro sources.

S

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One of the best examples of the awkward transition from craft toward macro is Samuel Adams. A few years ago, Boston Beer Co. was in danger of no longer measuring up as craft by the numeric definition of the BA, who originally set the bar for microbreweries at 2 million barrels per annum. They raised it to 6 million in 2010 to accommodate the growth of Sam Adams and keep them nominally in the craft ‘fold’. Recently though, new US legislation designed to favour ‘craft breweries’ has been proposed which happens to again use 2M bbl as a classification threshold. Once you pass this limit you would be taxed like a regional brewer, in the same class as Pabst, even if you’re making boundary-pushing extreme beers. Either way, Boston Beer will likely outgrow the BA’s 6M bbl threshold in a few years, and under this new legislation with then be taxed like giants AB InBev and MillerCoors.

eparating brewers by size was viable back when newcomers were all called ‘microbreweries’. ‘Craft’ deals with something more esoteric.

Even the normally great beers made by these and other craft brewers can’t qualitatively be grouped together as one class of beverages distinct from all of those made by larger international brewers. Many small brewers would love to be able to make a Czech lager as well as Pilsner Urquell or a porter as well as Fuller’s. Is the “craft” of brewing a great beer the domain only of start-ups and small operators?

One day your favourite craft brewery might not be craft anymore.

Remember that all of the industrial brewers you might hate started as small businesses. Heineken was just a mid-sized Dutch brewery until grandson Alfred H. grew it to huge international proportions in the mid-20th century. All of the rest have some kind of similar breakthrough story, many in the late 19th century. With massive growth came compromises, which is the part you rightly despise.

A similar transformation may occur with breweries like Central City, Philips or Red Truck one day. You might swear that this will never happen, and that you’ll disown them if it does.

But how do you know that you’ll stop loving their beer if it ever so slowly evolves into a different product over time?

As described in another story in this edition of What’s Brewing, my wife and I frequent the Oregon-based McMenamins group, a chain of about 55 brewpub and/or hotel properties. By these numeric definitions regarding output they are a craft brewery group. Yet they operate more brewing outlets (about two dozen) than some states have breweries. More importantly to some, their core beer lineup is very conservative and their seasonal beers tend to be less than stellar. They may not meet the qualitative expectations of the modern craft beer enthusiast. In spirit, Sam Adams is probably closer to a craft brewer than McMenamins.

Based on sales in 2011, the Boston Beer Company was tied with Yuengling for the largest American-owned beermaker.

Samuel Adams and the Boston Beer Co. might one day outgrow mainstream rivals like Pabst and could represent the far future of macrobrewing. The fledgling craft breweries of not long ago may be the behemoths of tomorrow.

In Part II I’ll tell you why the difficulty separating craft from noncraft breweries made the mainstream news in Oregon, and how this clarified my view as to what defines a Craft Brewer.

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WHAT'S BREWING

BUSINESS & POLITICS

Is the

Middle Kingdom the Next Craft Beer

El Dorado?

W

ith the craft beer market share in BC at 20% and the number of craft breweries in the province approaching 100, the landscape is starting to look a lot like Downtown Vancouver's skyline. That's not to say the market can't sustain more breweries, given the other 80% that hasn't come under the craft beer umbrella, but there will need to be more growth. The question is, where will it come from?

No Sure Bet The easy days – if there really ever was such a thing – are over.

Considering names like Surgenor, DIX, Taylor's Crossing and many more, opening a craft brewery in BC is not a sure thing.

Having a passion is not enough to carry a business. Now, a lot more dispassionate business acumen has to go with it. Marketing needs to be a fundamental component of one's business plan, not an afterthought. That means realistically analyzing the market to find your niche and developing a strong brand around it before spending a cent on real estate and plant. Or for those with an existing business, it's time to take a hard look at where the industry is going and ask yourself if major changes will be needed in how you operate to stay in the game.

As I anticipated, increased competition has breweries – especially those without a clearly defined niche – increasingly searching for new markets. Logically, the first forays outside BC have been to Alberta and Washington. Then, it's only natural that the rest of North America eventually came into view.

Anywhere else?

The ideal market doesn't have a lot of competitors and is at

by Rick Green

an early enough stage where the growth curve is steep. That actually describes China well. Since 2011, when I saw the foundations of a craft beer culture being developed in Beijing and Shanghai, I've been quietly telling BC brewers to look into exporting there. A few have. Only Russell has a physical presence via a licensee.

Texas Isn't Big Four years on, the Chinese beer market is now the largest in the world. The leading brand – surprise! – is a watery lager called Snow, of which 100 million hectolitres are brewed every year in over 90 breweries. SABMiller owns 49% of the parent company that controls 24% of the national beer market.

If pushing back the fizzy straw-coloured tide sounds like déjà vu, you're right. But things move faster in China than here.

Growth in the craft beer market is drawing in interest from more and more European, American, Aussie, Kiwi, and Japanese breweries. We shouldn't be late for the party. At the same time, we need to be realistic.

When I talk to people about exporting to China, one of the first things to always come up is the country's population of 1.4 billion people. Yes, that's a big pie, but all of them don't drink beer! And for those who do, how many can actually afford to drink your expensive import, even if they happen to be inclined to try something that looks nothing like what they know as beer? Old Hundred Names in Zhengzhou certainly can't. For him, a US$1.10 500ml bottle of Snow is affordable.

FALL 2015

All Look the Same?

So first you're going to need to figure out who in China will likely buy your beer. Realize that as the third largest country in the world in terms of land area, China is quite diverse. There are 56 officially-recognized ethnic groups speaking over 290 languages living in 33 province-level administrative divisions spanning five physical macro-regions that range from alpine in the Tibetan Plateau to tropical in the far south.

The good news is that it's highly unlikely you're going to need to get into that much detail since China's economic powerhouse is the east coast. With a population of over 24 million, Shanghai is China's commercial capital and most cosmopolitan city. This makes it a popular entry point for many foreign businesses. It may just be enough for you to focus on carving out a niche in Shanghai alone.

Alternatively, the Pearl River Delta megalopolis in southern Guangdong province is the largest urban area in the world.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen, its leading cities, are among the wealthiest in China. Their close links with neighbouring Hong Kong mean they are China's earliest adopters of international trends. Hong Kong also offers a convenient, reliable business base that is a dynamic craft beer market in its own right. The Cantonese culture of this region is one we are most familiar with in BC since it was the source of most of our Chinese immigrants prior to 1997.

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you'll need to plan a suitable entry strategy, then develop the necessary relationships to make it happen. Unless you see it for yourself, you can't assume a distributor has the reach they say they do, understands your product well enough to market it effectively, or cares that their retail accounts will handle and sell it properly after it gets in their stores. They will, however, quickly recognize an opportunity and go after it, no matter how unprepared. Ask any craft brewery in China what is needed most and they will all tell you it's education. Sound familiar?

Fortunately, a convenient solution may be at hand. CRAFT Beer Market will open its first location in Shanghai within the next six months. A second Shanghai location is planned with additional restaurants being considered for Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macau. They will need beer. I would also suggest finding ways to support them in any way possible because their success can also be yours in the most cost-effective way that I can currently see. Keep in mind that the US Brewers Association has a very active export development program and they have received assistance from the US Department of Agriculture.

Ready to take the first step?

To keep up with craft beer developments in China and Hong Kong, follow me on Twitter @GreatHopForward.

It's Who You Know

Originally published on the B.C. Beer Blog.

To have any chance of developing significant sales in China,

Read Rick's blog at bcbrews.wordpress.com

WHAT'S BREWING

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BUSINESS & POLITICS

Recent Craft Beer Price Hike$ ...are nothing more than BC Liberal ass-hattery

by Paddy Treavor "Let's put things in perspective: every month, some prices go up and some prices go down -- just as any other retail cost or good -- but we're talking about cents here."

- Suzanne Anton as quoted by Bill Tieleman in The Tyee, June 9, 2015, concerning BC beer prices.

I

know just a short month ago I stated I was packing it in as a blogger, but this latest BC Liberal move, which saw them randomly hike the prices of beers, mostly craft beers, without telling the breweries ahead of time or giving them a cut of the increase, has me foaming at the mouth and I feel compelled to vent here before I explode.

The reality since April 1, 2015: • 55 beer products deceased in price; • 19 beer products showed no change in price; • 94 beer products increased by less than 1%; • 219 beer products increased between 1% and 5%; • 123 beer products increased between 5.01% and 10%; and • 74 beer products increased by more than 10% Damn you BC Liberals and your BC liquor policy reforms. This latest price hike on June 2nd was a blatant kick in the crotch to BC craft beer consumers who have been the driving force behind the growth of the flourishing BC craft beer industry.

What an asshat move!

As a side note, I am submitting to the Urban Slang Dictionary the following: Asshat- (noun), definition, "BC Liberal politician".

Asshattery - (verb), definition, "actions taken by BC Liberal Party related to BC liquor reforms").

Okay, back to my rant. Approximately 40 new breweries have opened in BC the past few years and many more are in the planning stages. Yes, BC breweries are producing world-class brews, but without consumers to purchase them these beers would most likely never be brewed commercially. As well, businesses and jobs associated directly and indirectly with the craft beer industry would not be supported or created, and local economies not spurred on in communities across the province.

I wish the BC Liberals would at least buy me dinner and give me a little kiss before bending me over the table and, well, you know where I am going with that one. I'm going to let you fill in the blanks and keep this PG-rated.

This price hike could finally be the move that kills the goose laying the golden eggs. We already pay outrageous prices for craft beer in BC and this is not because of the craft breweries that produce it. There is a tipping point for prices where consumers get turned off (and pissed off ) with the cost of the goods in question and begin to think long and hard about making purchases and look for other options.

Restaurants, pubs and private liquor stores are just starting to support the industry and offer craft beer products regularly.

Many businesses were previously hesitant to sell craft beer due to the fact that it was a new in this market and, more often than not, more expensive than the national brand lagers. Pricing is far more important in communities where jobs, especially higher paying jobs, are hard to come by.

Most of the smaller breweries operate with a slim profit margin and are trying to find the balance between making a reasonable profit and not alienating consumers due to price. Our liquor prices are artificially high in BC, boosted by our government who rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year on booze.

We are paying high prices because the government controls the

FALL 2015 final prices of booze in this province, not the manufacturers.

A prime example was just prior to the April 1st change over to the government's new alcohol pricing system. The Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) contacted craft breweries (and I am sure all booze manufacturers in the province) and gave them a chance to adjust their wholesale prices; the price manufacturers set to sell their products to the LDB. The catch was that the government was not telling the breweries how much the government was going to mark up these prices, so the breweries had no idea what the final price on their products would be on the shelves.

The brewery folks in BC literally had to guess as to how much consumers would be paying for their beer and were hoping they guessed right on their wholesale pricing. Setting the price too high (underestimating the mark-up) meant potentially alienating customers because of price increases and setting the price too low meant a decrease in revenue for the brewery for no reason whatsoever.

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by a little, some will go down. This is the reality of the consumer market. It is only a few cents here and there..."

Yes Minister Anton, let's put things in perspective.

The reality is that since April 1st (stats from CAMRA Vancouver update): • 10% of Beer products have dropped in price. • 3% of Beer products have shown no change • 87% of Beer products have increased in price If you look at which products have been increased, the majority are craft beer products made here in BC. How the Hell is that a sign that the government is supporting the BC craft beer industry and small businesses, under which category most craft beer breweries fall under?

These price hikes are stacked on top of the price hikes many BC communities endured last year when the BC Liberals reintroduced "happy hour" which they paired up with new minimum But at least both drink price the industry and scheme (click consumers were here to read) aware that prices Image courtesy Vancouver Sun which impacted were about to shift April those going out to a licensed establishment for a drink.

1st and were, although in most cases unhappy, prepared.

Then June 2nd, prices went up again for some craft beers without warning or consulting the craft beer breweries or explanation to consumers that this was government driven and not a decision from the breweries themselves. I know of one brewery partner who found out about the price hike when they saw the increased price of their products on the BC Liquor Store shelves!

Now we are getting nailed on our take home purchases.

Wake up consumers. Start writing letters, e-mails to those in charge. Start letting your local MLA, no matter what party they are from, know this is unacceptable. If not, we are going to continue to see the government choke off the industry until it stalls out due to decreased sales secondary to ever-increasing prices.

And not a penny of the latest increase is going to the breweries.

Suzanne Anton and her crew in charge of all things boozy in BC keep up the mantra, of "don't worry, some prices will go up

Originally published on VanEast Beer Blog, June 19, 2015 Paddy Treavor has been President of two different CAMRA BC branches.

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WHAT'S BREWING

BC breweries kick Eastern butt at CBA

by Ian Lloyd

I

was asked for my thoughts on the 2015 Canadian Brewing Awards. I thought: let’s break down the medals to prove that British Columbia is the best place in Canada to drink craft beer.

In terms of medal breakdown, BC breweries cleaned up. Of the possible 123 brewing medals, BC took home 45, Ontario 41 and Quebec racked up 23. Perhaps the perfect place to start is with the Brewery of the Year, Delta BC’s Four Winds Brewing. This brewery just celebrated its second birthday with a very prestigious present: five medals from 14 entries at this year’s CBA. This is a 36% success rate (most of my analysis of the CBA will feature this measurement).

BC had a higher percentage of winners based on entries. BC claimed medals 13.4% of the time, while Ontario only took the podium 10% of the time.

To make BC appear even more awesome, let’s look at this based on our provinces population. In January 2014, BC had a population of 4.61 million and Ontario 13.6 million. This means that BC had a medal ratio of just less than 1:100,000, while Ontario trailed far behind with 0.3:100,000.

More great beer per capita!

We will conveniently ignore the fact the Ontario took home 15 golds and BC only 12. Mind you, BC did lay claim to the best IPA, which is the only category anyone seems to care about.

Well done Russell Brewing! Apparently Mike’s Craft Beer also really liked their Punch Bowl.

Macro-breweries are allowed to enter this contest. As a side note, macros took home 11 medals, or 9% of the total. I’m not sure who is and who is not considered a macro back East, so this is an estimate.

Macros only scored higher than a craft brewery in 5 categories. Most of these were the ones you would expect: lagers, wheat ales, light lagers and cream ales. In comparison, Victoria breweries alone fared almost as well as the macros with 9 medals or 7%. In fact, Victoria received 23% of the medals won by BC breweries.

More BC successes: Category 12 in Victoria took home gold in the BIPA category. Bad Tattoo in Penticton took home two silvers. Rossland Beer Company’s Seven Summits Milk Stout outclassed last year’s beer of the year, the Sasquatch Stout from Old Yale.

BC breweries also swept two entire categories: Black IPA and Red/Amber ales. Ontario swept two: Wood/Barrel aged and Honey/Maple beers. This seems about right: we like our hoppy beers, but don’t get a lot of maple syrup on this coast.

As for the failures: they all happened back East. Amsterdam Brewing entered the most beers, 29 in total. They only took home 2 medals. Mill Street entered 26 beers and took home nothing. Ouch.

At this point the comparisons between BC and Ontario breweries might seem pretty close. These next numbers pull BC to the front of the line. Of the 1097 total entries, BC submitted 336 and Ontario 408. While Ontario did enter more beers,

Ian Lloyd is a certified Cicerone© and past editor of What's Brewing.. Read this and other blog posts at www.left4beer.com

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18

WHAT'S BREWING

What the Heck is Mild?

by Adam Chatburn

G

rowing up in the north of England there was a beer in almost every pub called “mild” - sometimes it was called “dark” but it was all basically the same: a cheap, low-hopped, low-alcohol, malt-forward session beer. It was generally favoured by older drinkers who could pound them all day and so was often over-looked by those whom, in our callow youth, favoured high-test yellow fizz.

The name “mild” is believed to originally come from a term for “fresh”—a quickly fermented ale that could be blended with older “stale” or aged beers—rather than a specific style. Nowadays “mild” is a style but the name generally refers to the level of hoppiness and/ or alcohol, which is quite low - especially when compared to West-Coast hop bombs.

One of the reasons it was cheaper was the UK alcohol duty system of charging tax on a sliding system based around percent alcohol by volume (ABV) ; consequently, lower alcohol beers like Mild often cost half as much as a premium beer.

War dawned, His Majesty’s Government clamped down on breweries, forcing them to make some lower ABV beers, Milds were the style sacrificed, falling to around 2-3%.

The darker Milds we know today were developed during the 1930s using caramel. WW2 caused the ABV to drop again but it bounced back slightly afterwards. In the 1960s, mild was the most popular beer style in the UK, but as the foreign keg lager revolution arrived with heavy advertising and “exotic” marketing the humble mild fell from popularity, By the 1990s it was almost completely gone from the south of England; the North & Midlands held out a little longer but by the early 21st Century, like so many other historical British ales, it was in danger of becoming extinct as a commercial style.

However, just as the death-knell was beginning to toll, milds were thrown a lifeline by CAMRA UK, which has an annual campaign called “Make May a Mild Month” (#mildmonth).

Each May, every pub is encouraged to have a mild on tap all month. Last year the campaign spread to the USA and next year we few mild enthusiasts are planning to bring it to Canada now that some BC breweries are experimenting with the style. Parallel 49 had a tasting-room-only “North American” Mild brewed by British ale savant Tak (“North American” = “over-hopped with the wrong hops”). Red Collar has a lovely bottled version, Doan Craft Brewing are working on one which should be available by the time this hits print, and Real Cask in Vancouver has a traditional cask mild on permanently in the Callister tasting room. Props also to home brewers across the world for helping to keep the style alive.

So next time you're thirsting for something light but dark, tasty but not hoppy, full-bodied but not heavy, malty but not sweet and not too boozy, repeat after me: Make Mine Mild!

19th Century Milds were available in a variety of strengths and colours. It wouldn’t be uncommon for a brewery to have an X, XX, XXX and even XXXX at over 7%. As the First World

Adam Chatburn is Associate Brewer at Real Cask Brewing in Vancouver and a former President of CAMRA Vancouver.

FALL 2015

Session Beers

and India Session Ales

W

hat is a session beer?

According to that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, a definition of 4.5% ABV or less has been proposed by beer writer Lew Bryson. I would heartily support that notion. In contrast, the Brewers Association has adopted a new session beer category within their Great American Beer Fest competition, with an alcohol content not to exceed 4.1% ABW (5.1% ABV). Beer Advocate (www.beeradvocate.com/ articles/653/) also suggests 5% as the dividing line because the average alcohol content of all the beers in their database is 5.9%. Hardly a good reason, and I suspect that average is skewed by a few very-high-alcohol beers. The great majority of beers on the market are 5% which makes that definition pretty much useless. In Southern England, where I come from, a session beer was typically around 3.5% ABV, but it also had that perfect balance of malt and hops that meant you could have several in a session. You could not detect any one flavour predominating so you never got fed up with it and moved on to another beer. A session merely meant a period of time when you were planning to have several beers, typically the then limited lunchtime or evening opening hours of the local pub.

Many British Bitters and Milds (see Adam Chatburn’s article in this edition) are ideal session beers.

I am not going to get into an argument as to who produced the first session beer or the first session IPA in Canada. To my mind Gary Lohin set a new standard for beer in this province with his India Session Ale (ISA), launched in February 2014.

He called it “craft brewing’s answer to Bud Light”. It was not the first ISA in BC but it was the first which truly merited the title, coming in at 4% alcohol. I know to some IPA-fiends, anything less than 7% alcohol is a session beer, but their idea of a session may be a lot shorter than mine, or it comes with major consequences. Despite a Canadian Food Inspection Agency requirement to put the words “light ale” on the can, Gary’s ISA has some serious flavour with plenty of aromatic hops backed up by an adequate malt backbone. Don’t expect the same hop wallop as Red Racer IPA but this is not just a hoppy pale ale.

Mosaic gives it that highly distinctive soft-citrus hop aroma and flavour (not the viciously citrusy or piney type). A touch of Munich and Caravienne (a Belgian Vienna style) malts provide the backbone that makes it taste stronger than 4%. I was surprised to find out it was rated at only 40 IBU. To my uncultivated taste buds, it seemed higher than that, possibly due to the lower malt bill. A low malt flavour in many other ISAs takes them out of the session beer category for me because they are not well balanced.

19

Ullage and Spillage

by J. Random

There are now several ISAs or session IPAs that can be found at the liquor stores or as growler sales at our smaller microbreweries. BC drinkers are becoming more familiar with this style. For more information on this category in the USA see allaboutbeer.com/article/session-beer-revolution and (though the writer adopts the less than 5% definition) www.craftbeer. com/craft-beer-muses/7-india-session-ales-for-summer.

I guess we have to acknowledge that ISAs have finally gone mainstream in BC with the introduction of Granville Island Two Tides ISA (4.6% ABV) which, presumably, is brewed at the giant Molson facility in Vancouver.

CAMRA Vancouver can take considerable credit in pushing brewers to experiment with lower alcohol beers via the Fest of Ale Spring Sessional which has now being going since 2010. I think the brewers surprised themselves how good a beer they could make with a 4.5% ABV maximum. However, at the 2015 event held at Steel Toad, I noted that there were many beers over 4.5% and one over 5%, which I believe is an unfortunate shift in the definition.

The three enemies of hop flavour and aroma are light, oxygen and heat. Aluminum is completely impervious to both light and oxygen. Although a crown cap does a great job of maintaining carbonation, it is not a 100% gas seal. Oxygen can diffuse into the bottle due to the difference between the high partial pressure of oxygen on the outside and the low partial pressure of oxygen on the inside. There is a reason Rogue Brewing puts oxygen absorber on the inside of their caps. Heat is less of a problem when there is no light or oxygen, but cans also cool faster than bottles. It is very rare for me to say this but, on a really hot day, I will even drink Red Racer ISA straight out of the food fridge.

It may be a personal preference, but I believe a good session beer should not have too high a carbonation level, and this has become a problem since can manufacturers discovered carbon dioxide as a structural material. To save weight and presumably cost, the sidewalls of modern cans are so thin that if the contents are not highly carbonated the cans will collapse when stacked. To my mind, this results in an excessive potential for eructation and way too much carbonic acid flavour for my liking. But then I am just a crabby old warm flat beer drinker.

What do I know?

Well, I know one thing. Gary Lohin and numerous other brewers have shown that it is possible to make a great beer with an alcohol content of 4.5% ABV or less and to my mind, if it can be done, it should be done.

20

WHAT'S BREWING

The Evolution of BC’s

by Joe Wiebe

W

West Coast IPA

hen the contemporary craft beer revolution reached BC back in the early 1980s, it was led by styles that hailed from the British brewing tradition: pale ales, stouts and bitters. This was no surprise given the heritage of our craft beer pioneers, Frank Appleton and John Mitchell, both from the U.K. When the two joined forces to build B.C.’s first microbrewery in Horseshoe Bay in 1982, the first beer they produced was a bitter styled after Fuller’s London Pride. And when Mitchell went on to help start up Canada’s first brewpub, Spinnakers, in 1984, his stable of beers included a pale ale, ESB, dark ale and stout. No lagers or IPAs in sight.

Granville Island Brewing, which opened the same year, launched with Island Lager, a German beer that was intended to outclass the big breweries’ products at the time and was priced to compete with import beers from Europe. Island Pacific Brewing (which later changed its name to Vancouver Island Brewery) began with Piper’s Pale Ale and Islander Lager, adding Hermann’s Bavarian Dark Lager (a German Dunkel) a little later.

Over at Okanagan Spring Brewery, which opened in Vernon in 1985, the German-born founders did brew a lager, but they decided a pale ale would better appeal to West Coast beer lovers more familiar with the English tradition.

Okanagan Spring Pale Ale became the most popular and widespread beer in BC by the early 1990s, though it was technically an Altbier, a German style that uses an ale yeast.

mainly, which he doesn’t think other brewers used much then.

Herdman says Tall Ship’s version mainly used English hops, Kent Goldings, along with Chinook “to punch it up.” It ran to 7.5% ABV and was first released in single-sale 500ml bottles, then later in regular six-packs, but the brewery closed after a few years.

Gary Lohin kept brewing IPAs when he opened the Central City Brewpub in 2003. His Red Racer IPA, which was launched in cans in 2008, really brought the West Coast IPA into public awareness, blazing the trail for Driftwood’s Fat Tug IPA, which was first brewed in 2010 and has since become the most popular and well regarded IPA in B.C. In 2010, Iain Hill won Best in Show at the BC Beer Awards for the Brick and Beam IPA he brewed at Yaletown Brewing. Now the brewmaster at Strange Fellows Brewing, he gives the credit to David Woodward, who was brewing at the Whistler BrewHouse at the time and is now in the process of opening the Loghouse Brewpub in Langford.

Hill says, “Dave had been paying attention to Vinnie at Russian River Brewing [in California] who was talking about this warm dry-hopping method. He tried it and then I tried it. Even Gary [Lohin] wasn’t warm dry-hopping at the time.” Hill says that method, which extracts “tons more flavour” from the hops, is standard practice in the industry now.

If you’re wondering about Storm Brewing’s James Walton who always seemed to be blazSo who brewed the first West Coast IPA in ing trails with new styles, he says he considered B.C.? If you polled folks in the craft beer indusbrewing an IPA when he first opened in 1994, try who can remember that far back, the results but thought Tall Ship was doing one well and he would likely be split 50-50 between Gary Lohin, didn’t want to step on their toes. After Tall Ship currently the brewmaster at Central City Brewclosed, he “waited a suitable mourning period” ing, and Bill Herdman, currently brewing at Big and then introduced Hurricane IPA, which River Brewpub in Richmond. Back then, Gary Storm still brews today. He admits the original was the brewer at Sailor Hagar’s Brewpub in was not very well received, partially because he North Vancouver, and Bill was brewing at Tall dry-hopped every keg, which sometimes left Ship Ales in Squamish. The two often compared Bill Herdman's Tall Ship IPA chunks of hops floating in pint glasses. He laughs Courtesy Gerry Hieter archives notes as home brewers in the ’80s. at the memory of Steve Forsyth, then at the Railway Club, balking at the sight, saying he couldn’t sell it. ForHerdman says he brewed a draft version of Tall Ship IPA in syth recently opened Off the Rail Brewing in Vancouver, which 1993, and a bottled version followed a year later in 1994. Lohin lists three IPAs on its website, though none, presumably, with says he brewed his Bengal IPA, which had a tiger face on the chunks of hops floating in them. label, at Sailor Hagar’s in 1994.

And how hoppy were they by contemporary standards? “They were big at the time,” Lohin says, “but we didn’t have the hops we do now. We had Cascade but I didn’t use much, because I thought they were overused.” He remembers using Centennial

This article originally appeared in the Growler Craft Beer Handbook (Issue 3). For more information, visit thegrowler.ca

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GCBF 2015 Re

Still the b

It's hard to argue with the proven mode of beers, on the grass under the late sum it was this year (and it always is)

Great Canadian September 11-12 2015 at Roy

etrospective

best fest?

el. Dozens of booths, featuring hundreds mmer sun. When the weather is as nice as ), there is no better place to be.

n Beer Festival yal Athletic Park, Victoria BC

WHAT'S BREWING

24

Have you seen

Y

ou may have heard of it but never seen it. It’s eight inches long, thick (and getting thicker), and meant for adults only. You'd like to lay your hands on it, but it's gone from taprooms as fast as a Driftwood wet hop IPA. Spawned from the pages of the Vancouver Westender, The Growler debuted at the beginning of 2015 and caught people's imagination right away.

Unlike the humble publication you're reading right now, The Growler is exceedingly professional in presentation, eye-catching, and clever. Also, it's useful.

sample brews listed.

Clearly inspired by Vancouver's recent craft beer explosion, the book downplays brewpubs (so 1990s) and focuses mostly on straight brewery operations, which is aligned with modern Cascadian craft beer culture's zeitgeist. The second and third editions have expanded to cover more of BC. All the while the price remains at $0.

The Growler bills itself as a Craft Beer Handbook. Its core content is a directory of BC breweries with useful information about

There actually are some locations that have copies left.

A handy list of outlets to call is here: www.thegrowler.ca

3 questions with Stephen Smysnuik Recently, What's Brewing caught up with editor Stephen Smysnuik to learn about all things Growler.

WB: You’ve been writing about beer for the Vancouver Westender for some time now. How did you convince them to take a chance on a quarterly beer-only publication?

It all kind of came together unintentionally. I started working for the Westender May 2014 as their digital editor. At the same time, I had pitched the parent company, Glacier Media, on the idea of The Growler – I had the name, the concept, everything ready to go. I started writing a weekly beer column last October, which in turn helped to promote The Growler. Because I was already at the Westender, which is a lifestyle publication with a staff with experience in what I was pitching, the powers-that-be decided that we’d go ahead and run it out of the Westender office until it could stand on its own as a business.

WB: It looks fabulous. How has the response been?

The response has been huge. We can’t print enough copies – they’re gone within a week or two of any given brewery having them. I think people like how comprehensive it is, along with the aesthetic and the humour. Facebook and Twitter engagement has been a bit tough for us because we don’t publish online yet, but we’ve built a decent Instagram following.

WB: You’re working on a website. When should we expect it, and how will it complement the printed Growler?

We’re hoping for a late fall/early winter launch of the site. It’ll be very simple. The Growler really is about selling a tactile experience like the craft beer industry is, so the book is the main focus. We’ll have online versions of all articles in the books, some original web-only content along with more comprehensive brewery profiles, including up-to-date info on the beers on tap at all the breweries.

FALL 2015

Great content Let's Take a Peek Inside Aside from the directory aspect, The Growler contains original writing by outstanding authors. Here at What's Brewing we're loving that. However, the book contains no index or table of contents, so it's easy to overlook these great stories. Here is a handy sampler tray of some of the must-read material published to date.

Issue 1 How Did We Get Here?

Explaining Vancouver's Craft Beer Boom. by Joe Wiebe, p.4 The Rise & Fall of Brewery Creek

by Jesse Donaldson, p.26 Rushing the Growler

by Joe Wiebe, p.15

Issue 2 Are We Heading Into a Craft Beer Bubble

by Jan Zeschky, p.94 Fill 'Er Up The future of growlers in B.C.

by Joe Wiebe, p.7 The Great Prohibition Debacle

by Jesse Donaldson, p.34

Issue 3 The Beer Out Here

by Jan Zeschky, p.110 Shock Top is a Great Thing For The Craft Beer Industry

by Stephen Smysnuik, p.96 Beer Barons of British Columbia

by Jesse Donaldson, p.82 Das Bloat The uncomfortable science behind beer and bellyaches.

by Michael Kissinger, p.64

25

26

WHAT'S BREWING

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS of the beered kind

by BeerSeeker Ivana

M

cMinnville, Oregon, is a small city of approximately 33,000 people in the heart of Oregon's wine country. Its main claim to fame, besides wine, is the famous UFO sighting in 1950 reported by a local farm couple.

Mr. & Mrs. Trent claimedthey saw a "slow-moving, metallic, disk-shaped object" flying low near their farm on the evening of May 11, 1950. They took some photographs which eventually made their way via the local newspaper to Life magazine.

These images were analyzed by experts during subsequent decades and, while skeptics have concluded that the pictures are a hoax, many others consider these particular photos as some of the most credible evidence ever of an actual UFO sighting.

To that end, McMinnville now hosts the largest annual UFO festival in the Pacific Northwest, and the second largest in the United States.

We’ve visited the town before. So what brings the BeerSeekers back to the middle of wine and UFO country? As it turns out, seeking and discovering great new beers!

McMinville was a midway point on a two week loop through Oregon planned around our standard mix of beer, sports, and McMenamins brewery hotels. The objective, besides relaxation, was to uncover new ales, cheer on the Whitecaps in Portland and Seattle, and get as many stamps as possible in our McMenamins passports.

For those not familiar with McMenamins, they run a chain of eclectic brewpubs with properties throughout Oregon, and some in Washington. They have a number of unique, historic properties that they have redeveloped into hotels. While the accomodations are often "European style" (the rooms can be small, with shared bathrooms down the hall), they have a whimsical, funky atmosphere that you can't get at other hotels.

The Beer Seekers: Dave & Ivana Smith enjoying a hand-crafted glassful at McMinnville Malthouse Hotel Oregon, we happened to be assigned the one and only UFO Room, which featured a brief description of the aforementioned UFO sighting upon its walls.

After settling in to our room, we were ready to explore the town and seek beer. Our two day visit took us to three breweries and a taproom, all within walking distance.

In McMinnville, we stayed at their Hotel Oregon, a landmark not short on historical significance. This 4-story brick building has stood in McMinnville since 1905 and has been, among other things, a restaurant and lounge, a banquet hall, a bus depot, a soda fountain and a beauty parlour. It currently sports 4 bars including an incredible rooftop patio which gives the patrons a 360 degree panoramic view of the local valley.

Grain Station Brew Works is a small family-friendly brewpub, in operation since 2013. It is set at the back of a large barn-like building with a large patio featuring a beanbag throwing game.

At the time we visited, they had nine of their 10 beers on tap, plus a guest cider that rounded out our sampler tray. We particularly liked their Pilsner (just a little hoppy), their White IPA (notes of pink grapefruit), their Red ale, their IPA (citrusy with just the right amount of hops), and their Stout (nitro and a little chocolatey).

Each room at a McMenamins hotel is given a meaningful name, often based on the unique character of the local area. At

McMinnville Malthouse is in the very same building—access is literally just down the hall, past the bathrooms. They are, how-

FALL 2015

27

Artwork from the walls of Hotel Oregon, in McMinnville, Oregon, the UFO capital of the Pacific Northwest ever, a separate entity. According to state liquor laws, you cannot even purchase a beer in one establishment and walk with it the few steps down the hall into the other. The two share a symbiotic relationship, serving food from the same kitchen.

The offerings on tap vary according to how busy they are, and are always changing. During our visit there were five beers on tap: a cream ale, a Hefe, an ESB, a Pale Ale, and a Rye Ale. After some discussion amongst the husband/wife ownership, we were also served a sample of a black IPA that was not on tap (awaiting carbonation). Oh, was it tasty!

McMinville bills itself as a wine and UFO-history destination.

With at least five establishments brewing or serving crafted malt beverages, it can also appeal to the beer tourist and is a worthwhile stopover when discovering Oregon.

Golden Valley operates a brewpub in McMinnville and another in Beaverton, Oregon. The family also owns the Angus Springs Ranch, which supplies beef and produce from their gardens in season.

Growlers Tap Station is a small taproom with a great variety of fresh craft. There are over 20 beers on tap, mostly brewed in Oregon along with a few beers from California and elsewhere.

A sampler tray consists of four 5-ounce beers of your choice.

Heater Allen Brewing brews German-style lagers. We were unfortunately unable to visit because their taproom is only open the second Saturday of each month.

Golden Valley's arching sampler tray holds all 10 beers they brew on premises.

28

WHAT'S BREWING

YeastVan Beer Walk

by Jeremy Nemanishen

Editor's Note: as part of our #YeastVan series, What's Brewing is pleased to spotlight a Vancouver beer blogger who has created a very tidy Hastings Sunrise walking tour Google map.

T

his summer, I took a long-overdue trip down to ‘Yeast Van’ to check out Callister Brewing and Doan’s Craft Brewing Company. Simply put, it was great to finally visit these two welcome additions to the neighbourhood.

Cycling down to the area was a breeze with the two-way bike lane past the Cordova Diversion and over the new Powell street overpass. There are certainly other ways to get down to the area by bike, but coming from downtown, this was the best.

The first stop was Callister. Their bright red facade was a welcome sign amongst the other drab, light industrial buildings and warehouses on Franklin Street. Inside is bright and airy, with skylights letting in plenty of natural light that reflects off the white walls and stainless steel brewing equipment.

There are two things I loved immediately about this brewery: first, that they had three hand-pulled taps with proper English-style ales in them; second, they bill themselves as a collaborative brewery, encouraging people to work together that may not have the means or equipment to brew beer. The cooperative nature of that endeavour really makes me smile, and you can feel it in the atmosphere—both in terms of the brewery, and the people themselves. It just feels great to be there.

The next stop was Doan’s, where they offer you something a little different than anywhere else I’ve been in Vancouver. The artwork displayed around the brewery gives a feel like Strange Fellows’ own gallery space, but it’s a little smaller and cozier. The brewery is housed in Powell Street’s original location, and they’ve already more than made it their own.

FALL 2015

29

Yeast Van Series Finally, I went and stopped off at Doan’s predecessor, Powell Street Brewing. I’ve been to Powell a number of times and I always love going back. Without fail their beer is delicious, their staff knowledgeable, and their atmosphere simultaneously clean and quirky. From the vintage sofa in the corner to old paintings scattered throughout, the brewery is certainly not without its charm and personality. I love staring at the brewery through the glass in the tasting room, though I often wish it were open so we could see, hear, and smell the brewing process while there – but that’s personal preference, I suppose.

A stark reminder of why you’re visiting Doan's…

Their beer is great, but you can’t miss the awesome mural in their tasting room. It’s almost worth going just for that. Friendly and inviting, Doan’s is more of what you’d expect from a smaller brewery with a smaller tasting room, but in no way does that drown out their personality. From labels, to decor, to staff, to merch, to music, it’s all there and you can tell that Doan’s wanted the space to reflect them as people and as brewers, just as much as their beer does.

What I really love about Yeast Van is how incredibly accessible it is from all transportation options, and how many breweries you can visit, particularly on foot or by bike. East to West you can visit Parallel 49, Doan’s, Storm, Powell, and Callister. Head South for another short walk or bike and visit Off The Rail, Bomber and Strange Fellows. Truly, Yeast Van is an epic place for your own personal brewery crawl.

- Ed. note: add Coal Harbour Brewing and you now have nine breweries operating in the Hastings Sunrise area.

This story was posted Aug 12, 2015 on CraftBeerVancouver.ca.

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WHAT'S BREWING

FALL 2015

31

On Extreme Beer Book Review: the Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers

by Ted Child

T

he very first thing I would like to mention about Adem Tepedelen’s The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers is how much my pocket book and liver suffered from researching this book. This, of course, is par for the course for us extreme beer drinkers and we would probably not have it any other way. Though there were a few moments, universal to all craft beer drinkers, I’m sure, when I wished for a superhuman liver and an endlessly deep wallet.

Reality soon returns however and I just count myself lucky that there are such strange and wonderful beers to ruthlessly abuse my liver, so unlike the beer wasteland that I read about in 70’s North America.

The next thing I would like to mention is that Tepedelen passes my personal grade of all critics, beer, wine, literary or otherwise, in that he makes me want to participate and, although honest, puts his subject in a very favourable light. The obvious fact in writing about extreme beers is that although they might be extreme, some of these beers might not be without flaws or, much more probable, is that many extreme beers might create such unique flavor profiles that it alienates many drinkers.

Portland’s Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB)’s Ace of Spades, for example, is not a beer without flaws, in my opinion, but reading Tepedelen’s entry makes me want to drink one. A good critic is one who gets you excited, interested or curious about something that you might otherwise have dismissed or put off. Tepedelen sees the best in some sometimes very difficult beers. Another example of this is his entry on Russell Brewing’s Hop Therapy, here included for its 100 IBUs, which I had tried before and wasn’t overwhelmed with but was glad I was convinced to try again.

Hop Therapy is, unfortunately, one of only two BC beers included in the book. Although Tepedelen states in his introduction he avoided overly obscure beer in his book I haven’t seen Driftwood’s Son of the Morning in a long while, although knowing my luck as soon as you read this it will be back on the shelf. The only other Canadian beer is the lovely L’Impératrice

by Le Trou du Diable. This beer only gets a single star in Tepedelen’s rating system, not because it isn’t good, but because it isn’t very extreme. The two BC beers get three stars respectively. Looking at the shelves of BC-made beer recently makes one think that BC might be on the verge of an extreme beer outburst.

All that said, the very obvious next thing to mention is that

this book has a massive double personality that might not be apparent by the title. In case you were not aware, Decibel Magazine is a metal magazine and this book is the collected columns from that magazine. So this book is mostly about extreme beers but it also has a second book about the relationship, or similarities between craft beer and metal music and culture, slipped in between the pages. Two whole chapters are devoted to beers that aren’t necessarily extreme but would be interesting to metalheads. One of the chapters is devoted to beers whose names or labels make reference to the devil, hell or Satanism in some way and the other chapter profiles beers that make reference to metal music or culture either in the name or label, explicitly or subtly. Tepedelen reviews on these beers are still very readable and many are still genuinely extreme but the reader who was only expecting a guidebook to extreme beers and has little or no interest in metal music might be irked by this inclusion.

As the day grows long and our book shelves of beer books grow increasingly large, more and more books will target a smaller and smaller niche readership. Just for an example, a book about cooking with beer or about aging beer might not be for every beer drinker. A book discussing the similarities and relationship between beer and metal culture is not necessarily a bad idea but forcing it into a guidebook about extreme beers might further limit that books already limited readership. If you’re a metalhead who likes extreme or even craft beer then this is clearly a must-own. I dabble in metal music so I took this book, once I figured out what it was doing, as an opportunity to discover or rediscover some metal (BC’s own Bison BC is highly recommended). Tepedelen’s music pairings, much like a food pairings, did that wonderfully and with the help of YouTube, much more easily then tracking down a cheese you might not like. An extreme beer drinker who doesn’t like metal music might not be so enthused.

A guidebook to the increasingly deep waters of extreme beers is needed. I’m just not sure that this two-books-in-one, despite Tepedelen’s affable writing, is the one for non-metalheads.

However, if you’re an extreme beer drinker who hates metal music this book should still not be ignored, the only one of its kind, and maybe the one that all other extreme beer guides will be compared to. And, who knows, maybe you don’t hate metal music as much as you thought you did. Drink a couple of these beers and you might find it the only fitting accompaniment.

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32

WHAT'S BREWING

FALL 2015

by Scottie McLellan

W

33

Out and About Two Summers Underground

hat’s Brewing attends a lot of events. In the past year, since we’ve been unplugged, we’ve continued to do many of the island festivals, beer events and everything in between.

Hot Kelowna days, extremely friendly crowd of beer educated folks strolled the brewery tents drinking and talking beer. Lots of thirtysomething folks, looking to drive the beer market mad with pleasure, purchasing varieties across the board.

The last What's Brewing was spring 2014. Here’s a sample of events covered since we’ve been out of print.

What’s Brewing visited with the whole gang of brewers, patrons and staff at the following good beer destinations, where the partying was flowing; The Curious, Old Train Station and Micro Bites; to name but a few real beer places. It is the place folks. Kelowna for a festival; it’s the ticket ; it was a good one.

You wowed us Kelowna. Come to Kelowna. Wow.

Victoria Beer Week; assorted events throughout town ; noteable for us at Whats Brewing the closing Cask Night; having ales with friends and reps. Also open forums for dialogues in all areas of the industry. Great Job ; see you all next year 2016.

Robbie Burns, Spinnakers Cask twice. Anything goes in these casks it seems. Always a good time here. Plus the piping in of the HAGIS. Parksville Untapped at Tigh-Na-Mara Resort (switches annually between Beach Club). We always go. Good crowd in Parksville; out for a beer night. Taste, education and entertainment. Great. Victoria Vancouver people would be able to attend this one; many of you do. It’s a busy and energetic small festival. Food top notch included in the full price offering.

8th Annual Alberni Hops Fest: Growing the movement in Port Alberni, reigon. Whats Brewing has attened all but the first one. We’ve seen you grow. Everything local food and folks.

Port Alberni tries so hard; it’s totally grand to meet folks up there; lots of younger folks move here ; its affordable.

Crofton Volunteer Firefighters Beer Festival (the smallest event we cover). The most intimate and fun for us. Every year it’s themed; this one was 70s music, costumes, and real ale. As always amazing spirit and energy directed toward beer education and fun times with good ale. Grassroots dedicated; check it out.

Nanaimo Beer Festival moved back to Beban Park auditorium; after a couple of years absence, expanded space this year opening partitions and adding a number more breweries; Yea Nanaimo Grand Night. Last year was the end of the hockey rink locations of the last couple years.

Great Okanagan Beer Festival: What’s Brewing visited the inaugural event in May.

June we attended Hopoxia in the back yard at Phillips; always an event bringing out the locals. Great Music; food truck. Nice to see everyone. We attends every season. The brewers nail it at this one. Hops.

Matt Phillips was just putting the finishing touches on his maltings; which he talked to me about. Everyone likes Matty since forever. Great Success and good friend to What’s Brewing.

In August we covered Galliano Wine and Beer Tasting Festival for the 6th year. This is the down home one, accessed by both Mainland and Island ferries. Walk on/walk off festival.

New brewers showing at this one. Happy volunteers; great day.

It’s grand.

Last July What’s Brewing visited Toronto and explored the burgeoning scene. It’s a great city and almost everywhere people are talking the good beer talk. Notable was Bar Volo on Yonge Street.

Now it’s time for the annual Great Canadian Beer Festival, and no words can describe this event; they could probably fill the park twice back to back and still have patrons wanting to attend. We see everyone in the business; the old hands, the new startups, the aficionados, all in one place. Biggest selection of the best beer in the world all in one place. Huge statement; true and getting better every year.

It’s great to be back.

Scottie

WHAT'S BREWING

34

BUSINESS & POLITICS

Craft Brewing is an Ethos What is a Craft Brewery? Part II of a series

Did you miss Part I? Read it online at www.whatsbrewing.ca

C

raft Brewery status has its privileges.

The Oregon Brewers Festival, in the opin-

ion of some, got itself into a pickle this summer by attempting to curate the list of ‘craft breweries’ presenting at their annual event, which has attendance of up to 85,000 over five days. The criteria for vendor entry to OBF is apparently aligned with the Brewers Association’s definition of ‘craft brewery’, which states that “less than 25 percent of the craft brewery [must be] owned...by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer”.

Such curation is a noble ambition, but the realities of business are making it difficult to pursue without conflict. Namely, the OBF has de-listed Elysian and 10 Barrel Brewing Co. as participants due to their acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev, yet allowed Widmer Brothers and Full Sail to continue to attend.

News item: Chris Crabb of the Oregon Brewers Festival says Widmer is exempt because they’re one of the festival’s three founding breweries.

Widmer’s grandfathering is a case of straight hypocrisy, because founder status is clearly a subjective decision by OBF management. (Matter of fact, Kurt and Rob Widmer were Grand Marshals of the 2015 Festival and participated in the opening ceremonies.) Full Sail will apparently be re-reviewed

by Jeremiah Thunderfoot

for inclusion next year based on its deal backed by a San Francisco-based investment firm. It will be sad if the change in majority ownership to the new “Oregon Craft Brewers Co.” causes the exclusion of a good community brewery that had always prided itself on being employee-owned.

10 Barrel, a relatively young company, provided the most popular entry at last year’s OBF 2014: a radler named Swill that was slurped up in the hot July sun that year. They did not take rejection from the followup 2015 event lightly. A major publicity campaign was quickly organized around the social media hashtag #bannedsoweparty. The story got picked up by the mainstream Portland media and got exposure in their news cycle. The somewhat subjective OBF selection process was highlighted, no doubt to the chagrin of some involved.

So do I, unlike OBF and the BA, consider 10 Barrel to be a craft brewery?

The beer itself is not a reliable deciding factor, as noted in Part I of this story. Many breweries have managed to be acquired without it materially changing their recipes or approach. Here in BC, Granville Island continues to be reasonably well respected, brews occasionally interesting beers in its original location, and attends the Great Canadian Beer Festival without fear of disqualification.

FALL 2015

35

10 Barrel vs. Rogue: old vs. new

Craft Beer culture is about an ethos.

10 Barrel recently used their AB InBev money to open a spanking new taproom in downtown Portland’s Pearl district, directly across from stalwart Rogue Brewing. 10 Barrel was standing-room-only when we arrived to check it out, so we headed over to Rogue while we waited for our table. When comparing the two outlets, the juxtaposition between older and newer generations is striking.

That’s what led me to conclude that the line dividing craft breweries from otherwise isn’t about numbers, or about a style of beer brewed. It’s about a mindset, and about behaviour. Craft brewing, like the slow food movement and other similar back-to-basics initiatives, involves an ethos. Stephen Beaumont defines it as (paraphrased by me): “creating beer for the sake of the beer itself, not primarily for marketing or business reasons”. As soon as that AB money got used to rent and brand a giant limo with a 10 Barrel logo, this spirit was violated. The big bad wolf just couldn’t stay in sheep’s clothing, and ultimately by its own behaviour justified, to me, the ban it was protesting against.

Behind the bar at Rogue, truculent middle-aged men rule their roost, dispensing service as they see fit. If you want to use a mobile phone, you need to leave the premises or be ostracized in an old-fashioned red phone booth until your call is over. Decades-old Rogue is anachronistic in this way, stuck in the values of its time.

E

In Part I, I mentioned that sometimes “real” craft brewers make not-so-crafty beers. Occasionally they also act in less-than-neighbourly ways. Case in point is California’s Bear Republic, who threatened to sue our own Central City just for using the words Red and Racer in their brand, and forced them ultimately to label their US product line Red Betty. They’ve gone after others using those generic words as well, some who aren’t even in the beer business. When a brewery conducts business in that manner, they don’t meet my new personal definition of a “craft brewer”, which is “a brewer that consistently conducts itself according to the ethics and standards shared by the craft beer community”.

verything was fine with 10 Barrel's position until the branded Hummer limo and the contrived Bud Lite/Spuds McKenzie partying

The taproom experience at 10 Barrel was certainly more friendly. The service was above and beyond the call of duty: our taster tray was comped by our friendly young female server simply because the place was busy and the tray came out late. It felt no different than innumerable other craft outlets we’ve visited, aside maybe from the gleaming new brewhouse... and we’ve seen many of those without a macro being involved. My take was that the patrons present viewed 10 Barrel as a craft brewery, and a great addition to downtown PDX. I would have tended to be sympathetic to 10 Barrel’s plight, based on the above factors, however, something happened along the way to change my viewpoint.

The Empire Strikes Back When we strolled by 10 Barrel the next day, we saw the #BannedSoWeParty campaign in full action. In what their management must have felt was a brilliant move, they had procured a giant black Hummer SUV limousine with a 10 Barrel logo on the side, and were using it to ferry passengers from the Oregon Brewers Festival back to the 10 Barrel taproom.

Young people hooted and shrieked from the sunroof as the limo pulled up out front. The message was clear: if you want to party, get in the limo because good times are what’s really important.

That same message was driven home by a Twitter post that featured a gratuitous shot of what apparently were key 10 Barrel personnel in full-on party mode, flaunting foam in the face of big bad OBF. Comments posted were divided between those supporting the campaign and others who pointed out that shaking hands with the devil comes with consequences.

For me, everything was fine with 10 Barrel until I saw the Bud/Coors Lite-beer-ad-styled social media posts and the contrived Spuds McKenzie partying. It really felt like a case of The Empire Strikes Back: AB InBev money being used to fund a campaign against an independent brewers’ festival which attracts mega-sized crowds without allowing mega-breweries.

Fortunately, the great thing about this definition is that a brewery can always change its ways, and eventually in doing so, regain the trust of the community and be regarded as a true member of the craft beer brotherhood once again.

Epilogue Will I drink 10 Barrel beers from now on?

Despite the call by many to boycott AB-acquired breweries, I don’t really feel that it’s practical to swear off all brewers who have accepted investment by larger entities. There is already a very long list, and it includes breweries that probably don’t deserve to be punished for getting financial help or having an exit strategy. I have no problem drinking Elysian or Granville Island knowing that there is a brutally massive corporation up the chain; same with standalone giant Samuel Adams and their experimental beers. I’m not aware of something specific they, as opposed to their majority owners or shareholders, have done to lose my respect yet—to their beer, or to the community.

But the next time I have a choice between a Bear Republic or 10 Barrel vs. say, a Central City or Rogue, I’ll think of Red Betty or the Hummer limo and my decision will be made.

Jeremiah Thunderfoot may or may not exist. But existential threats to the craft beer movement always will.

36

WHAT'S BREWING

Yeast Van Series Vancouver’s new Neighbourhood

by Joe Wiebe, the Thirsty Writer Brewery model

T

here is a new breed of craft brewery that has taken Greater Vancouver by storm. Recently opened outlets feature customer-focused tasting lounges where beer lovers can enjoy a flight of samples or drink beer by the glass, acting as “locals” in their neighbourhoods much like the traditional English pub. This model is yet to be seen in Victoria, for years known as B.C.’s “craft beer capital.”

The new taproom model only became possible in 2013 when the provincial government announced that breweries could apply for lounge endorsements that would allow them to open on-site tasting rooms, adding an entirely new retail option to their business plans. Since then, several new breweries have opened with tasting lounges front and centre, and some pre-existing ones have also added tasting lounges.

Breweries such as Parallel 49 and Bomber produce a significant amount of packaged product for liquor stores and sell kegged beer to restaurants and pubs, so their tasting lounges are an add-on to their business model, but at places like Brassneck, 33 Acres and Main Street Brewing, the tasting lounge is the primary way they sell their beer. Brassneck is the most extreme model of this: with no packaged product and only the occasional kegged beer going on tap elsewhere, pretty much the only way you can taste its beer is to go there in person.

From the consumer’s perspective, the lounge endorsement is fundamental to Vancouver’s unique beer experience. Each brewery has its own unique style: 33 Acres’ clean, whitewashed design feels like a Scandinavian café while Brassneck’s rugged wood paneling and rough concrete pillars embrace the industrial side of craft beer. Main Street’s look is somewhere between the two, with the old bones of its building, built in 1913 as part of the Vancouver Breweries complex, visible above the tasting room’s walls. The lounges at Powell Street, Bomber, Strange Fellows, Parallel 49 and Off the Rail each have their own character. Most have arrangements with food trucks to park out front; Main Street even has its own kitchen.

Many of the suburban breweries around Vancouver have tasting lounges, such as Moody Ales and Yellow Dog Brewing in Port Moody, which also feature picnic areas. New Westminster’s Steel & Oak Brewing is a popular spot for local beer lovers. Over in Burnaby, Dageraad’s cozy tasting room always seems to have someone hanging out even though it’s tucked

away inside an industrial complex in Burnaby.

Owner/brewer Ben Coli was not sure if it would be part of the picture when Dageraad opened in 2014, but between people working nearby, students at SFU, and others living in nearby residential neighbourhoods, the brewery has definitely proven that “if you build it, they will come.”

The brewery tasting lounge is also an ideal model for smaller communities around the province where it’s more about serving the whole community than just a neighbourhood. Cumberland Brewing opened last November with a focus on the tasting lounge as the main customer experience. It helps that the business is partnered with Rider’s Pizza next door, so that folks can order some gourmet pizza to go with their beer. Cumberland added a patio in time for summer, and now the place is so popular that virtually every drop of beer brewed is sold right there, either by the glass or in growlers heading out the door.

A few kegs go to local restaurants, but mainly just as form of marketing, and the brewery has no plans to package its beer for sale outside the town.

Gladstone Brewing, which opened in Courtenay in January, has a similar setup, although with a bigger capacity, that brewery does intend to package in the future. Forbidden Brewing, also in Courtenay, is a tiny nano-brewery with a tasting room.

You’ll also find brewery lounges in Tofino, Kamloops, Quesnel, Prince Rupert and Valemount.

Just not in Victoria, at least not yet. And it’s not because the City of Victoria has turned down local breweries, as some persistent rumours suggest. In fact, none of Victoria’s breweries have even applied for the endorsement yet. Until that changes, Victoria’s craft beer lovers will just have to settle for trips to Vancouver or up-Island to enjoy the experience.

Joe Wiebe is author of Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to B.C. Breweries.

FALL 2015

37

Powell River Craft Beer Festival

by CAMRA Powell River

F

or the second straight year, the first weekend in October will see Powell River host a major craft beer festival, and the buzz is starting to grow in Pow Town.

Last year, CAMRA Powell River’s President, Paddy Treavor, took it upon himself to organize PR’s first large scale craft beer festival, talking many of his brewery friends into coming up to take part. In total there were seven breweries, one cidery and one distillery pouring. Many were offering their products for the first time in Powell River.

The Inaugural CAMRA Powell River Craft Beer Festival was a huge hit with locals and those who braved the ferries to attend. Treavor was surprised when the 150 tickets for the event sold out in 10 days. “I had people literally knocking on my front door the week before the festival asking me if I had any more tickets,” stated Treavor. “It took me by total surprise.”

CAMRA Vancouver even sent a bus of merry makers to last year’s event and, from all accounts, it was a bus trip of epic proportions.

This year’s event, which takes place October 3rd, 3-7 PM, at Powell River’s Beach Gardens Resort, is shaping up to be bigger and better than last year’s. The lineup (below) is set; in total there will be 15 breweries, two cideries and two distilleries in attendance. Treavor hopes that all 225 tickets will sell out.

“Beach Gardens is a great venue,” says Treavor. “We have two large, connecting rooms with a beautiful view of the ocean as a venue. There is a hotel on site and a very good restaurant and bar downstairs. The night before our festival, the Savoury Bight Pub (located at the venue) is having a mini-cask tap takeover event with some of the festival breweries supplying the casks and kegs.

“CAMRA Powell River has expanded this year’s festival due to last year’s demand. I had a great response when I sent out my first round of invitations this year and every participant from last year, save one, is coming back, which tells me it was a good time for those pouring as well. If things go as well as they did last year, I may have to make this a two day festival next year.”

Treavor is hoping the festival is successful not only to help bring more attention to Powell River as a craft beer destination, but also because partial proceeds from the event will go to PR’s Friend of the Library group who are trying to raise money to buy books for the city’s soon-to-be-expanding public library. CAMRA already helped raise close to $1000 in May when they sponsored the “From Beer to Eternity Beer Cocktail Challenge”, which saw Team CAMRA win both the People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice honours for creating their original recipe, craft-beer-based cocktails.

Craft beer is fairly new to Powell River, arriving in town with the opening of Townsite Brewery a little over three years ago.

Townsite took Pow Town by storm and played a huge role in changing the drinking habits of many beer consumers there.

Now, beers from other breweries are starting to make their way into the local Powell River market.

CAMRA itself has been well accepted with a paid membership of just over 100 in fewer than two years of existence. CAMRA-organized events have been regularly selling out and many craft beer “newbies” have been discovering craft beer for the first time. CAMRA’s great relationship with Townsite Brewery has really helped both expand the craft beer culture in Powell River. If things continue, Powell River Tourism may have to change their slogan from “Coastal by Nature” to “Craft by Nature”.

2015 Festival confirmed participants include: Breweries: Townsite*, Persephone*, Cumberland, Gladstone, Driftwood*, Dageraad, Real Cask Ales, Red Truck, Howe Sound*, Bomber, Four Winds, Wolf, Cannery, Parallel 49*, Tofino* Cideries: Merridale*, Sea Cider Distilleries: Longtable*, Shelter Point * Participated last year For more information about the festival, check out www.camrapowellriver.ca, or go to CAMRA PR on Facebook.

38

WHAT'S BREWING

BC Beer Awards & Festival Saturday October 24th, 2015 Croatian Cultural Centre Vancouver, BC

What's new in 2015?

There are now 20 beer categories that will be awarded this year, including two new categories. Also, we’re excited to announce the inaugural ‘Richards Buell Sutton LLP Rookie of The Year Award’ for BC’s top new brewery!

At the Festival This year’s festival is bigger than before! We’ve taken over the whole Croatian Cultural Centre and we'll have over 50 breweries pouring craft beer on the day.

The Brewers Challenge this year is Sour Beer. Keg or cask; just make us pucker! There have been over twenty entries so far, so you know that means?!? That’s right; you get to try at least 20 sour beers at this festival, guaranteed!

We’ve invited a handful of BC’s cideries to join us for your tasting enjoyment, too. Next year they will be part of the judging and awards.

The BC Craft Brewer’s Guild will be hosting a Rookie Buzz Tent for our newest BC breweries. Every hour, they’ll be tapping kegs by newbies who weren’t able to participate in the awards competition. Taste beers you’ve most likely never tried before and may not try again until they’re in full production!

Also look for the artisanal craft vendors associated with The Craft Council of BC. This is your chance to get

that custom growler holder, hop necklace or soap made from hops.

Lastly, bring on the fun with Beer Can Derby! For a small donation to the Food Bank you can build your own beer can car on site and test it out on their track.

Transportation Vine & Hops Wine and Craft Beer Tours will be providing a free shuttle service from Commercial Drive Station to Croatian Cultural Centre for the hour before the event (3 - 4pm). Pick up location will be at Skytrain entrance

by Safeway on Commercial drive going Eastbound (there will be signage). Get Home Safe by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch has supplied us with transit tickets for your ride home. Pick them up at the event.

After Party We’re pleased to announce the official BC Beer Awards After Party will take place at Doolin’s and The Belmont Bar. They will provide 2 complimentary buses to transport guests to their establishments immediately following the event. Buses will fit roughly 110 guests. All guests to receive complimentary cover and VIP access with either promotional pass distributed throughout the event or with their event ticket.

FALL 2015

39

The Last Word Dave Smith, Editor

Well, there you have it.

Profuse thanks for making your way this far into our little magazine. Of course, it's possible that you started at the back page; if so: modest thanks for reading these three sentences so far.

Here at What's Brewing we take nothing for granted, especially the attention of a busy public.

those people, you are a suppressed writer. Suppress yourself no longer. Unleash your immortal dissertation in the direction of editor@whatsbrewing.ca. Fear not any lack of penmanship; we're happy to help in that regard and we proudly maintain a 0% rejection rate.

We're also a Writer's Digest

Maybe you've picked this up weeks after stuffing it into your bag at GCBF. Perhaps this was mailed out in an effort to harass you into advertising. Or perchance some reader actually printed out a copy and left it laying around their living room or taproom, and now you've picked it up out of 20% curiosity and 80% bored desperation. Allow us to borrow your eyeballs for just one tiny moment longer, in order to share with them, and you, why we're manufacturing this whimsical publication.

Starting now, we engage in highlighting some of the best recent articles by BC beer bloggers and journalists on the Web. WB will help bring attention and focus to some of the insightful opinions and great writing talent that may have escaped the notice of those who haven’t been constantly monitoring every single BC beer blog. We package up the greatest hits of the last 3 months and deliver them to you. Think of WB as, partly, a soggy, beer-stained Reader's Digest.

Because People Have Thoughts and Opinions About Breweries and Beer

So you see, What's Brewing features original beer writing, and showcases great beer journalism, at all levels from amateur to professional. We are in the business of empowering and recognizing beer writing in BC, and one day maybe even Western Canada.

Craft beer is a lifestyle pursuit. One of the things that many people notice they like to do after making new beer discoveries is to share their thoughts. Modern social media makes simple sharing easily accessible, but sometimes people want to express a thought or story that requires more than a tweet, perhaps in the form of brewery reviews, tasting notes, travel stories, or even business, political or community beer news. This leads to "beer writing".

It's quite easy to become a blogger, but that doesn't make it any simpler to gain an audience. Many potential bloggers don't bother to get started, because there are already so many blogs and they'd have to make a huge noise in order for anyone but their close friends to notice. We have a platform which eases that burden.

Community Message Board By the way, WB originated as newsletter, and as such, has always provided a list of coming events and community goings-on. They're nearly absent from this edition but we aim to restore that service. Are you a member or leader of a CAMRA branch, brewing club, or beer-related organization? Be a dear and help by throwing at us any information you want made public; don't wait for us to track you down. Although we eventually will.

Sometimes people don't share their thoughts because they feel that nobody would want to read them. If you are one of

There's nothing Dave can say in this space that will impress you enough to change your opinion of him. He'd better not try.

What's Brewing

BC's Craft Beer Community Journal

Editorial Team: D. Smith, P. Morris editor@whatsbrewing.ca

Š 2015 What's Brewing Published by Line49 Design Group Inc. 300-1275 West 6th Avenue Vancouver BC V6H 1A6

Advertising Sales: Scottie McLellan, Susan Jones sales@whatsbrewing.ca

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