The What's Brewing Tasting Panel Debuts • Winter Ale Showcase • Book of the year Excerpt • Making an Advent Calendar • Year of the mild
Year In Review The Top Stories from A Memorable Year In Beer
Winter 2016-17 VOL. 26 ISSUE 5
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Winter 2016-17 Contents THE JOURNAL OF BC'S CRAFT BEER MOVEMENT 9 10 14 16 19 20 22 24
Make your own Beer Advent Calendar News Story of the Year: The BC Ale Trail Brewer of the Year: Julia Hanlon Author of the Year: Frank Appleton Beer Trend: Year of the Mild More News Stories of 2016 Homebrew Happenin's: Wet Coast Winter Wishes The What's Brewing Tasting Panel: Winter Ale Spotlight
32 37 38 40 42 43 44 46
48 Hours in Brooklyn Out and About Bridges to Beer La belle province Teaching the Old World New Tricks The State of Ale in the UK Beers, Beaches & Breweries A View from the Cellar: Cask Troubleshooting Guide
VOL. 26 ISSUE 5 WINTER 2016-17
OPENING REMARKS We’re four decades into the microbrewery revolution in North America. Every year in that span has heralded significant, newsworthy developments regarding the business, politics, community, and craft of small-scale brewing. In this issue, we celebrate the most interesting stories from the past year here in BC. BC's craft wave began in the early 1980s, spearheaded in large part by the man whose book we feature in this issue. Enjoy our introduction to it as well as the amusing anecdote we’ve excerpted. That book, along with many of the other items spotlighted in this pre-holiday issue, would make an excellent gift for the beer nerd in your life (gifts to self are OK). Speaking of gifts: editors usually don’t draw attention to advertising, but I have to mention that there really are some great ads in this issue that are well worth checking out. Another eye-catcher: this issue’s winter illustrations, crafted by beer fan Emile Compion, aka montevarious. Check out his 'beerflakes'. What’s that medal on this page for? WhatsBrewing.ca was recently rated by Feedspot, an international blog aggregator, as one of the best 100 beer websites on the planet. Congrats also to BeerMeBC, The Growler, Mike’s Craft Beer, and Beer on the Rock for making their list.
Contributors’ Picks In anticipation of this issue, I asked What’s Brewing contributors and some of our fellow BC beer writers/bloggers for their input regarding 2016’s most newsworthy stories. Some of those picks are spotlighted in the following pages, led by their first choice, the BC Ale Trail initiative. Their input also informed our selection of Julia Hanlon as the Brewer of the Year. Given that there are already existing end-of-year public beer surveys, we’re not giving out awards in every category. Our focus is on topics that made news, so not everything the writers voted on got a spotlight. For instance, you’ll notice that Brewery Of The Year is conspicuous by its absence. I can confidentially tell you that the writers did have a favourite: unsurprisingly, it was Four Winds—not exactly newsworthy, but worth recognizing here. If we were awarding a Beer of the Year, by extension to the story about Julia it would have to be Steamworks’ Flagship IPA. That is, unless the Year in Review stretches back to include the
© 2016 What's Brewing The Journal of BC's Craft Beer Movement Published by Line49 Design Group Inc. 300-1275 West 6th Avenue Vancouver BC V6H 1A6 info@whatsbrewing.ca www.whatsbrewing.ca Social Web: @whatsbrewingbc
past 12 months as of this writing, in which case James Walton’s Glacial Mammoth Extinction wins as easily the most headline-grabbing BC beer since December 2015. Curious about other things that these beer bloggers like? Despite the tiny sample size, I can confirm that there is continued support for some of BC’s craft stalwarts, including recently-singed Spinnakers as our most cherished brewpub and Great Canadian Beer Festival as top event. But enough about that; what the public thinks matters more, and for a full report on that, turn to BeerMeBC’s annual survey results, or your local CAMRA BC branch for their membership survey where available.
The What’s Brewing Tasting Panel During its quarter-century lifespan, What’s Brewing has documented the BC craft beer movement, in the process mentioning hundreds of products from many dozens of breweries. All the while, aside from the occasional contributor’s opinion, we have tended to be hands-off in terms of actually rating those products. In recent years, BC’s blogging community has produced excellent beer rating websites with dozens of reviews produced every month. Some of us at WB have also considered offering similar guidance as part of our self-imposed mandate to provide education to BC’s new craft beer enthusiasts. Similarly to the survey thing, we knew we’d only engage in this niche if we could bring something new to the table. As a result, WB is proud to introduce BC’s first ongoing multi-person, multi-gender ongoing beer rating resource. Our inaugural effort spotlights a handful of Winter Ales. Many thanks to the breweries that, via our partner Legacy Liquor Store, submitted their products for this public grilling. All of the beers rated have a devoted following, so you may disagree with our results. And the winner is…
Dave Smith, Editor
Communications Director: Monica Frost monica@whatsbrewing.ca
Contributors: Warren Boyer, Adam Chatburn, Ted Child, Lundy Dale, Bill Herdman, Kim Lawton, Roy Leeson , Chelsea McDowell, Lynn McIlwee, Stewart 'Scottie' McLellan, Mallory O'Neil, J. Random, John Rowling, Brian K. Smith, Jeremiah Thunderfoot, Paddy Treavor, Joe Wiebe
Advertising & Corporate Sales: sales@whatsbrewing.ca
Chief Photographer: Brian K. Smith Illustrations: Emile Compion (montevarious)
Editor: Dave Smith Associate Editor: Paul Morris Copy Editors: Ivana Smith, Wendy Barron Contact: editor@whatsbrewing.ca
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O8 b²ËF²bÉ u¢O New perks for sponsors: Preferred Level Corporate Membership entitles you to a business card ad & a Community Profile page on WhatsBrewing.ca. Full directory info and links to your Web presence included. Find out more here: whatsbrewing.ca/corporate
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How to make your own Super Awesome Beer Advent Calendar™ 1. Find a beer-loving friend/spouse/ neighbour—anyone breathing, really—to trade with. 2. Pick how many days you want to count down. No one’s the boss of you; you can have a nine-day advent calendar if you want. 3.
A
Set an overall value for the box.
4. Get a box. Wine/bomber boxes work well. Any big ol’ box works.
>> Lynn McIlwee
s a kid, I looked forward to the chocolate advent calendar. You know the one—Mom bought it for 99 cents and the chocolates tasted like cardboard dipped in waxy chocolate syrup. It was glorious.
5. SHOP! Whee! I know you’ll have fun with this one, picking great beers for your friend. Don’t say I suggested this, but a gag bottle of Colt 45 is always a big hit. Yuh-huh.
Now that I’m a bigger kid and can’t stomach the chocolate cardboard, I need something else to entertain me through the holidays other than playing “spot the Northern Reflection Christmas sweaters”. Well, lo and behold, some local breweries and an importer make pre-boxed Beer Advent Calendars for your holiday drinking pleasure. Thank you, Santa!
6. Disguise the bottles. Wrap them in tissue/newspaper or, for a bomber box, just cover up the top of the bottle with more cardboard.
Something to keep in mind, though, especially with the imported beers, is the length of time it takes them to get to your fridge. Let’s work backwards: they’re in stores in October/November, so they get packaged in a warehouse in about September, having sat at the LDB for most of August, after being shipped from Europe in June (mmm, hot cargo ship), which means they were brewed in about . . . March? Low ABV beers that travel from Europe and then sit at a warehouse for months taste like regret to me.
7. Number the bottles or cardboard covers 1 to 24 (or 16–24 for your rebellious 9-day box). Maybe make 24 a special beer (no, not the Colt 45). 8.
Trade (no peeking) and enjoy!
What we’ve done the past few years is make our own Super Awesome Beer Advent Calendar™. This way we choose the beers for each other and get to stuff the boxes full of the styles we love. A nice bonus is that it reduces our cellar by 48 bottles, so I can start shopping again. Having a great advent calendar helps to make up for having to listen to Boney M from the moment the pumpkin spiced lattes have overstayed their welcome until the big day. But really, the anticipation of what each day’s beer will be, drinking some great beers and sharing them with someone is really what this is all about. If you use Instagram or the Twitters, tag your posts #beeradventcalendar so we can all follow along. Cheers!
On HopsCanary.com, Lynn writes about our beer related travel around the world, beer festivals, local beer events and other beer topics of interest. 9
Year In Review
BC Craft Beer News Story of the Year:
The BC Ale Trail initiative >> Dave Smith
As detailed on page 5, the BC Ale Trail initiative was chosen as 2016’s top news story by canvassing a group of avid BC beer bloggers. Self-tasked with writing a synopsis, I sat down to regurgitate some copy about the Trail based on news releases like the one we published back in August. Of course, that meant I’d effectively be turning our lead story into a BCAT website product brochure. That's not a bad thing, but instead let me present you with my own editorial view on BCAT. First, the 101 in case you haven't heard: the BC Ale Trail is a tourism initiative. You'll get the idea as you read along. The BC Liberal photo op above gives you a good starting point.
Or take Powell River’s Townsite Brewing, which certainly appreciates tourist traffic to supplement the locals. Some promising news: Townsite GM Chloe Smith has reported an uptick in traffic since the groundwork for the Ale Trail began. It may help that one of the key figures on the team Trail—Sunshine Coast Tourism manager and general beer tourism mastermind Paul Kamon—also lives in PowTown. Not coincidentally, the Coast/Island region has been one of the most proactive in establishing cooperation between adjacent tourism boards, hosting numerous beer writers on a brewery-rich circuit which includes Comox Valley and Nanaimo.
My take on this project is based on my experiences during the 16 years or so that I’ve been a beer tourist and evangelist. To support craft beer tourism, we ran a Staycation BC travel theme in our last two issues—but our magazine is geared only at locals. As BC has become more and more a worthwhile destination for other Canadian and US beer travellers, I’ve entertained thoughts about how to lure outsiders here. I’m sure I’m not the only proud BC beer fan who’s considered the topic.
A few years back, an agency named Travel Portland kicked off a marketing campaign whose reach extended to our parts. “Portland is Happening Now” demonstrated that the bohemian cachet that made Portlandia popular could be bottled and sold as a lifestyle aspiration, with Oregon’s largest city as Mecca. Those of us who had already made numerous pilgrimages recognized via our own expenditures the value such traffic brings along.
Of course, we simple beer fans without skin in the game don’t rely on beer tourists for our income. However, of the new wave of breweries from the past four to five years, a large percentage are based outside of the metro Vancouver and Victoria areas, and they need visitors coming through to stay healthy. Case in point: 100 Mile House’s short-lived Broke ‘N Rode Brewing Co.
Travel Portland got my attention when their TV ads focussed around craft beer, with some clever spots featuring beer geek personas. That was a revelation, confirming that our nichegone-mainstream hobby was bringing serious cash into that city. I was naturally envious and wanted to see the same thing done here.
What is an Ale Trail? Convenient built-in rhyming factor aside, an "ale trail" is at heart the same proposition as a wine trail or any other themed vacation trip plan. Before DMOs discovered them, such trails were created by enthusiasts who used maps and research (pre-dating the Web, using actual paper and maybe a telephone!) to pin their holiday hopes on a tentative dotted line of potential targets. In our current Google-aware society, trails can be determined by anyone who cares to look (yes, even the editors of What's Brewing can do it, as evidenced by our online map). Where tourism marketers provide value is they bring a level of assurance to those prospective travellers that the dotted line of their dreams will actually be there—maybe better than expected—when they come calling.
Is this the first ale trail? No. Did you see the sidebar? You'll find tourism or business-initiated trails in many parts of the US. Typically, a printed brochure or scorecard is offered to visitors at participating breweries, with incentives for visiting an entire checklist. (Langley's KPU Brew School recently made up such a passport with Fraser Valley breweries; it contains an impressive 17 stops). Ale trails have certainly grown in number as the craft movement has gone near-mainstream.
So is BCAT any different than the others? Yes. Most of the web initiatives you'll find linked at right are focussed on one specific trail. Often, the web presence consists merely of a page or section of a tourism board's already-existing main website. BC Ale Trail might be unique in that the scope from the beginning involved many regional trails.
What about driving? Alcohol-centric trip planning has an underlying purpose: to maximize the number of map pins while minimizing the need to drive. The absolute best way to get from one target to the next is by walking, but clearly that's not possible on long trips. Each trail on BCAT is given a recommended duration in "number of days" for that reason. Of course, the DMOs would never want you to just roll into town, have a beer and leave; their investment in Ale Trails is predicated on the likelihood of keeping visitors busy with other vacation options at each stop.
What else do people do besides drink beer?
Team Trail
Some people will want more urban experiences while others will want to go somewhere where they can experience BC’s spectacular scenery along with visiting a few breweries.
Let's ask BCAT Content Director Joe Wiebe!
Is Port Moody really an 'ale trail'? Let's bug Joe again! He doesn't mind. See? He's still smiling!
An Ale Trail can be as big as a multi-day road trip between breweries in the Kootenay-Rockies like Mt. Begbie in Revelstoke, Nelson Brewing and Arrowhead Brewing in Invermere, or as small as Brewers’ Row in Port Moody.
Ale Trails? America's Got 'Em
DAY 1 Begin your coastal adventure with an arrival mid-afternoon - just in time for a stroll down Marine Ave to take in all the artisanal shops. Afterwards, head over to the brewery for a pint in the historic Townsite District after checking into The Old Courthouse Inn. Complete your first day with dinner at Costa Del Sol for the best fish tacos in town followed by a walk down to the pier for an epic Powell River sunset.
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
Start with a wonderful breakfast at Edie Rae’s just downstairs from your room. Afterwards, gear up and take in the beautiful views after a hike to the top of Scout Mountain. Treat yourself to a delicious lunch at Sli City Grill just outside of town followed by a walk along Gibsons beach. Pre drinks at Townsite’s tasting room before heading to Westview for dinner at any one of the great internationally inspired restaurants such as Little Hut Curry, Minato and Vietnam Cuisine.
Continue with breakfast at Magpies in quaint Cranberry followed by a Townsite heritage tour, a visit to the Henderson House and Manager’s Row. Wet your whistle at the brewery along side chips and dips before heading across the street for popcorn and a show at The Patricia Theatre - Canada’s longest running movie theatre.
Remember to fill your growlers before heading out for coffee at 32 Lakes, Base Camp, or River City Roasters and remember to save some time for window shopping before heading off to the ferry. Bon voyage!
In late 2013, my wife and I took a tour of the beer scene developing in Vancouver around Hastings Street and near Main. It resulted in an early 2014 What’s Brewing article called “Pitching the East”, in which I yelled to myself about the beer tourism opportunity growing in what would soon become known as #YeastVan. I had my hopes, but no real way to help. Here in BC, small breweries have long had the option, via what is now the BC Craft Brewers Guild, to work together to market themselves. My perception has been that the Guild alone can’t produce the marketing budget that could tackle the type of project Travel Portland has been pulling off. So I was pleased to see BC CBG Executive Director Ken Beattie get involved with other stakeholders and approach the provincial government to push a new idea forward last year. Destination BC is a Crown corporation created in 2012 in consultation with tourism industry groups to work hand-in--hand with them. As BCAT Content Director Joe Wiebe told me back in late May: "[The BC Ale Trail idea] came about when we heard that Destination BC was offering matching funds for province-wide marketing campaigns designed to bring tourists to BC for specific pursuits. The application procedure required a major commitment of funds from a variety of local tourism partners, so we worked at a furious pace last fall [2015] to confirm a group of local Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). For 2016, we are working with Comox Valley, Kootenay-Rockies, Nanaimo, Port Moody, Sunshine Coast, Victoria and Whistler, and we hope to sign on other regions in 2017 and possibly 2018."
The BC Ale Trail www.bcaletrail.ca info@bcaletrail.ca @bcaletrail
Today, browsing the BCAT website, you’ll notice that the most obvious part of BC to draw beer tourists towards—Yeast Van—isn’t listed amongst the Ale Trails presented. This is a direct result of the funding model; there was no organization within Vancouver that ponied up to be part of this. For that same reason, the Thompson Okanagan region, long home to a thriving beer scene in Penticton and now Kelowna is not presented as such. The omissions are a lost opportunity that Joe candidly acknowledges, and hopes are temporary. I certainly perceive that developing external awareness about BC’s craft (not just beer) tourism opportunities is a time-consuming endeavour. I won’t claim expert status in this area, but I can see that a slick Portland-style TV campaign probably isn't as efficient a spend in the long run as grassroots network marketing, which is what I think BCAT is doing. Whether or not the Ale Trail group has nailed it out of the gate, the important thing is that there’s groundwork in place to build on.
The BCAT Website: a mini review OK, that's a lot of talk about why there's an Ale Trail. How about I actually say something about the most visible face of the project: the website they've created. Victoria web firm The Number was already a digital creative group at or near the top of the Rolodex for beer insiders around the Coast/Island region, due to their work with Joe Wiebe and others on Victoria Beer Week, as well as work for breweries like Driftood and Category 12. Project Manager Chris Long's team has certainly nailed a design aesthetic that appeals to proud BC-based crafty types, and stands up well in its niche. In comparison with some of the other Ale Trail web offerings from around North America, the BC version is visually understated in a slick way that intimates its direct connection with provincial tourism funding. The Super Natural logo in the footer could be swapped into the site's branding without a ripple. Prior to launch, Joe described the project to me as "a website platform that will offer a variety of regional Ale Trails...
Each will have its own video and an itinerary...a blog, event listings, a list of all the breweries in BC, and other useful content". I was expecting a more application-centric interface (eg, an interactive trip planner), or perhaps a sales funnel that would capture visitors' travel interests for direct followup. What we have is a content-first experience that eventually drills down to some map planner interfaces. It's essentially a brochure, pointing visitors off-site to tourism partners. What's next? Joe indicates that they’re still working on functionality ideas, and looking into ways to incorporate offerings into the current platform, such as ads from the various brewery tour providers, including in Vancouver. As a web creator by trade, I give BCAT's website two thumbs up for content and presentation, but a question mark for features that close the deal. 13
Year In Review
Brewer of the Year:
JULIA HANLON
At the BC Beer Awards in October 2016, Steamworks Brewing received a pleasant confirmation: a product it was just in the process of launching received an unbuyable endorsement in the form of a First Place trophy in its category. Better yet, it also garnered Best Of Show honours. That distinction brought an immediate wave of attention to the person overseeing the product's creation. That's only natural, because Steamworks' Head Brewer Julia Hanlon is one of just a tiny handful belonging to the unbearded gender who is steering a brewhouse in one of BC's many dozens of breweries. Now she's also the first female brewer to win Best Of Show at the BCBA. Julia, profiled by What's Brewing's Lundy Dale in our Summer 2016 issue, has had quite a year in the public eye. Aside from awards and community profiles, the media spotlight included a political stint alongside Steamworks owner Eli Gershkovitch as photo-op centrepiece for the BC Liberals' "Hopportunities" announcement, itself one of BC beer's news stories of 2016. She also participated as one of three speakers, all respected industry females, at the Drink In The Story event held on International Women’s Day at Victoria Beer Week in March. All of those points are newsworthy—and at What's Brewing, we're about news—but you don't get to be named Brewer of the Year based simply on gender or media exposure. So what distinguished Julia in 2016 as a brewer? The easy answer is the beer that won her the aforementioned award. Flagship IPA is an eye-opening brew because of its style, one relatively new to this part of the continent. East Coast IPAs bring a fruity, juicy, malty approach to a beverage class that West Coast craft drinkers traditionally associate with aggressive hops. Julia's take clearly left an impression on the BCBA judges.
BC Beer Awards images: Brian K. Smith
For a brewery that isn't always at the top of trendy 'best BC brewery' lists, Steamworks has done unusually well with BCBA's Best Of Show award this decade. Long the home of current Brassneck brewer/partner Conrad Gmoser, Steamworks took consecutive top honours in 2011 and 2012 for his Pilsner, a bizarre feat. Conrad's departure after 17 years prevented him from vying for the personal hat trick with Steamworks; instead, he picked up a third for Brassneck's One Trick Pony last year. Losing a head brewer like that isn't great for any brewery. There is an element of the craft beer business that is driven by the presence of star brewers; breweries that overlook this have been known to suffer loss of cachet. Now, Steamworks can once again rightly boast that it has an A-list celebrated Head Brewer at the wheel, and and that's good news for the immediate future of the 21-year-old operation. Maybe East Coast IPAs will be the theme at an upcoming BC Beer Awards. OK, probably not, but the publicity this success has generated has certainly paved the way for adoption of the style in our province. It's finally given Steamworks a year-round IPA, and maybe a needed bit of swagger as it competes with the hordes of breweries less than a quarter its age. It's also firmly established Julia's replutation as an innovator, and garnered her one more honour in 2016: our Editor's Choice for Brewer Of The Year.
Year In Review
Author of the Year: Frank Appleton
I
n 2016, a group of BC beer writers, bloggers and other brew-centric media types got together to swap ideas and build camaraderie as a loose group called BC Beer Media. Amidst us are professional journalists, newspaper columnists, and magazine editors; you would think, in other words, the cream of the crop amongst those writing about beer in this province. Amusing it is, then, that our Editor's Choice for Author of the Year is someone who wrote the words that define the Canadian craft beer ethos before many of today's top bloggers were born. Before he wrote professionally, Frank Appleton brewed beer for a living; after the writing career, he became a craft beer Godfather (to a number of breweries, maybe closer to just 'Father'). In 2016, we finally received an inside look at his journey. Here to tell you about it is What's Brewing's in-house book reviewer, Ted Child (with an additional word from another BC beer icon, original WB columnist John Rowling). Enjoy also the excerpt reprinted with kind permission from Frank's fans at Harbour Publishing. Chapter 6 is BC beer's Book Of Genesis equivalent: the meeting of Frank and John, thanks to Canadian beer history's most famous magazine submission. Shockingly, we will not reprint said 'manifesto' here, but you can find it easily online (or in the book). Let's instead find out what transpires when these two complementary personalities come together after John gets his hands on the article. The passage enclosed contains just one of many endearing glimpses into the relationships with people of beer Frank provides in his new book..
Books In Review >> Ted Child Frank Appleton’s new book Brewing Revolution has immediately become a must-read for fans of BC craft beer. Aside from the simple fact that this story from the pioneer days of BC craft beer needed to be told in greater depth than before, Appleton provides the tale with intelligence, knowledge and personality. From the first page to the last, Appleton surpasses the reader’s expectations with a personal recounting of the craft beer movement both inside and outside of BC. One might know the broad details, such as that partners John Mitchell and Frank Appleton opened Canada’s first microbrewery, whose beers were served at the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, BC, or that Appleton helped start up the first true brewpubs such as Spinnakers and Swans. But the story is much more interesting in Appleton’s capable hands, and includes his years at the O’Keefe Brewery, owned by Canadian Breweries Limited (CBL), one of the “Big Three” corporate breweries in Canada (later Carling O'Keefe). The book recounts many of the corporate breweries’ hair-raising business and brewing practices in the dark ages of Canadian beer. Appleton provides an insider’s first-hand viewpoint about these practices and the corporate mentality that encouraged them. Another vital but little-known part of the story is that after Appleton left CBL, he spent the next decade or so working as a freelance journalist. His now-famous article on home brewing, ‘The
Underground Brewmaster,’ caught the attention of Troller Pub owner John Mitchell. Mitchell had visions of opening a brewpub whose beer offered an alternative to the bland corporate lager that dominated the shelves, and he approached Appleton for help. Appleton tells the rest of the story very well. Indeed, those years of journalism experience have served Appleton and his readers well. He not only recounts his own personal experiences but is able to explain complex subject matter including microbiology, brewing science and practice, BC’s liquor laws and political changes, and much else. My personal test for books on beer is: how badly would I want to have a drink or two with the author? Let’s use a 0 to 10 scale, in which 10 is writing a fan letter inviting the author to have a drink when in town, and 0 is if you saw the author at your favorite pub you would have to find a new favorite pub. Based on my scale, the author of Brewing Revolution should prepare for a lot of new drinking buddies. Appleton comes across as that intelligent and thoughtful friend who can explain complex subjects in easy terms with almost no ego. He seems like the beer nerd we all wished we knew. Perhaps Mr. Appleton will consider this brief overview as my own personal invitation to join me for pints. Barring that, re-reading his book will have to serve as the next best thing.
From the desk of
John Rowling
Frank Appleton is a plain-speaking Englishman, and his book—especially his descriptions of early days working at Carling in the 1960s and 70s—is a delight to read. He trained in his native Manchester in microbiology, milk processing and brewing technology, then emigrated to Vancouver in 1964. He landed a job as a quality control supervisor in the O’Keefe brewery (part of the Carling empire) and learned, to his surprise, that the beers were brewed with 40 percent corn and that the O’Keefe dark beer, Gold Label, was just their standard lager darkened with caramelized sugar. His comments about these things to his management were not very well received!
1982: Appleton (left) and Mitchell in Canada's first microbrewery. Priceless.
L
eaving Vancouver for the wilds of the Kootenays was both scary and exhilarating. Scary because I had no job or income, exhilarating because a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders after my trials with the CBL hierarchy... There were no buildings on my rocky, treed hillside... So I set about falling trees and building a house. “What you goin’ to do with that piece of land?” asked an old widowed farmer who had taken a shine to this curiosity with the educated vocabulary. “You can’t farm it. It’s all stood up on end!” I couldn’t argue with this pronouncement. “You goin’ to work out in the bush?” I shook my head and explained that I’d had some success in writing and getting published in magazines, and my plan was to expand my writing talents into a freelance career. “You can make money at that?” he asked, incredulous. ------
He would have to come to me. “It’s a drive of 600 kilometres,” I told him, thinking that would put him off. But John was full of surprises. “No problem,” he said. “I have the map of BC out and I can see where you are. Jenny and I have a week off. Should be there day after tomorrow.” ... 48 hours later, here is this guy walking up to the house. From the start I wondered how I, from my gritty working-class Manchester neighbourhood, would get along with this London-accented fellow from the upper middle class… John [with wife Jenny] produced a bottle of beer made by an English craft brewery. It was dressed up in a fancy package, all British flags, crowns and stuff. “For you,” he said. “I brought two back from England. It’s a commemoration special, but you have to drink it on Charlie’s wedding day.” I was a little bemused. “Charlie who?” I asked. “Why, Prince Charles, of course,” John said with some astonishment. “He’s getting married tomorrow!”
A few years after I had proudly moved into my new house, I got a phone call from a man with a very English accent. His name was John Mitchell, and he and two partners owned the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. He was fed up with the bland sameness of the Big Three beers on offer and he had an idea: why couldn’t he brew and sell his own beers like the brewpubs he had known in England?
“Oh, him,” I said. “I haven’t thought about him in a decade or two. Not a big fan of the royals.”
“I read your article [“The Underground Brewmaster”, Harrowsmith, 1978] and was wondering if you could help me,” John said on the phone. “I want to make a beautiful beer, a beer with character, like some you can still find in England. We’ve just been back there, and real ale is making a comeback, y’know.”
We had a fine meal and lashings of good beer and wine—and I think a bottle of Scotch appeared later. I was more than tipsy when the evening ended.
After I got over my amusement at the enthusiasm of this guy who had no idea what he was getting into, I agreed to talk to him. But I wasn’t going to Vancouver to do it.
Oh, right, the bloody wedding! “You can turn it on,” I said, “but if you wake me up, I’ll show you the door.” And I threw myself into bed.
John and Jenny exchanged looks. “But you do have a television set?” asked Jenny hopefully. I told them I did, a little black-and-white model, rarely used. Reassured, they accepted my invitation to stay overnight, though it meant camping on the living room floor in their sleeping bags...
John and Jenny were preparing their sleeping bags in the living room, [when] Jenny asked, “Is it all right if we turn on the TV in the morning? It starts at 5 a.m.”
During this time, Frank wrote technical papers (which his jealous supervisors did not appreciate) and general articles for Canadian news magazines. When the Carling business crumbled, Frank finished up out of a job, living on 20 acres in the heart of BC. In the late 1970s, he wrote an article titled “The Underground Brewmaster”, on the right way to brew good-tasting beer. The article was also condemnation of the “mega brewing factories” he had worked in. The final part of the book includes Frank's take on the recent history of the craft brewing industry, including blasting the false and misleading marketing used by some breweries. He always has had strong opinions on what is good beer and what is not! Frank Appleton tells it like it is in a very entertaining book.
John and Carol Rowling are pioneers of the BC craft beer movement. The above is excerpted from John's column in Celebrator magazine. The next morning I became conscious through a dull, painful fog. Oh God, what had happened last night? Had I insulted my guests? Had they left? I became aware of the sound of ethereal organ music. I thought, Oh, right, I must be dead, and it’s just like they said all along—it’s going to be nothing but beautiful music and love, love, love from now on. The angels will be along in a minute. But the awful fog cleared after a while, and I gradually realized I had not achieved my apotheosis but was lying in my bed with a prizewinning hangover. Still the beautiful music continued, though very faint. I crawled out of bed and peeped around the door. There were John and Jenny, sitting up in their sleeping bags, sipping tea and watching Charles and Diana coming down the aisle to a wonderful, gentle organ passage. “Good morning!” they said. “Like some tea?” It was July 29, 1981. I groaned and went back to bed.
Excerpted with permission from Chapter 6 of Brewing Revolution: Pioneering the Craft Beer Movement by Frank Appleton. Published by Harbour Publishing Company, Limited, 2016, Paperback, $24.95, 216 pages, 8-page B&W photo insert.
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Year In Review Beer Trend: Year of the Mild Ullage & Spillage
F
Illustration: montevarious
or me, the best thing that came out of 2016 was the rise of Mild Ale in the consciousness of our craft beer community. Until very recently, you would encounter this style only at CAMRA Vancouver’s annual Session Cask Festival, where most examples were one-off casks, and Tak Guenette (then at Steamworks Brewing, now at Gladstone Brewing) was king of the milds. Some will say the style has been widely available in BC for a while, but the brews they are probably thinking of are not true to style, or are not called mild, or both. In my view, anything close to 5% ABV is too high for true mild ale. However, R&B’s Raven Cream Ale (4.8% ABV) medalled twice as a Dark Mild in the World Beer Cup, winning silver in 1998 and bronze in 2006. Some describe Nelson’s After Dark (5% ABV) as a mild ale, though Nelson calls it an “organic brown ale.” BeerAdvocate describes Pacific Western Brewing’s Canterbury Dark Mild (5% ABV) as a Euro Dark Lager, and who am I to argue? Black Tusk Light Ale, as produced by the first incarnation of Whistler Brewing, was close to mild at 4% ABV, and was originally a dark lager, I was told at the time. At some point it became 5% ABV, “light” was removed from the name, it became described as an English-style dark ale. There were signs of a Mild Ale renaissance as early as June 2015, when Ravens Brewing Company brought their English Dark Mild to the Vancouver Craft Beer Week Beer Festival. I was stunned and amazed, not to mention delighted. Real Cask Brewing started regular production of Burnley Bastard Mild when they opened on July 1, 2015. I got to try it on cask at CAMRA Vancouver’s Session Cask Festival 2015, held that July at Steel Toad. Then things went quiet for about six months.
>> J. RANDOM
What people have been calling “the year of the Mild” started, for me, with the first taste of Brassneck’s Old Money Mild at Central City Brewing’s Winter Cask festival in late January 2016. With such gorgeous full flavour, you would think it was a lot stronger—one key sign of a really good mild ale. Unfortunately for me, this is one of Brassneck’s continuously changing array, rather than a regular brew. Also early in the year, I encountered a bottle of Red Collar Mild in a liquor store. It’s another great example of the genre, but seasonal for fall and winter. The slow build continued in May, with CAMRA Vancouver’s first ever Mild May cask festival. This was a cozy little event at The Belmont on Granville Street, with five casks contributed by Powell Street Craft Brewery, Moody Ales and Doan’s Craft Brewing, Real Cask (who brought a hazelnut mild), and Ravens, whose English Dark Mild was a real treat. The best Mild event of the year, for me, was the British Columbia Beer Awards 2016. The Timber Brewer’s Challenge theme was—you guessed it—Mild. I only managed to taste half of the 27 mild ales produced for the festival, but there was not a dud among them. The winner was Brassneck’s Old Money Mild. Style 11A in the Beer Judge Certification Program (http://www.bjcp. org/2008styles/style11.php) describes how a mild ale should taste. Several brewers I talked to noted that it is not an easy style to brew. To get the depth and complexity of flavour, the mouthfeel, and the rich creamy head characteristic of the really great mild, you need to add a fair quantity and variety of modified malts to offset the low pale-malt content associated with the low alcohol content. Contd. on page 50
The 'Hopportunities' announcement 2016
More 2016: the Canadian Brewing Awards & Conference comes to YVR
MAY
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2016
O
MAY Minister Coralee Oakes & Parliamentary Secretary John Yap The Ale Trail wasn't the only beer-related BC Liberal announcement of 2016. On May 20th, the government finally rectified an age-old cashflow bugaboo that forced brewers to send 100% of certain sale funds to the Province and wait for their portion back. Along with a reduction in small brewery markup, it was deemed by most to be positive, if showy, progress.
Brewers’ Row in Port Moody becomes a quartet
Four Winds takes Canadian Beer of the Year for Nectarous at CBAC 2016 For the first time, Canada's main beer awards show came to Lower Mainland. Overlapping with the kickoff of Vancouver Craft Beer Week, it made for the most hectic weekend of the year in BC craft journalism.
BC Craft Cider comes of age
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Se 2016
jun Vern Lambourne & Sam Payne Photo: Rick Green Following the opening of The Parkside Brewery, PoMo's Murray Street established an informal, ongoing marketing cooperative known as #BrewersRow (now with Skytrain service).
2016 saw the debut of BC's (Canada's?) first Craft Cider bar, and the arrival of a new batch of estate cideries in the Okanagan. What's Brewing covered cider extensively in Summer/Fall 2016, including a debate about how BC Liquor treats farm-based vs. urban craft cideries.
Click on the images for links to articl Find these and more end-of-year stories
he Year In Beer Business of Craft Beer 2016 is a panel-packed day
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New breweries make the scene 2016
JanDec
Oct
Don Gordon, David Bell and David Clarke speak in 'Expanding Your Sales Empire' The learning continued: the seminars at CBAC were followed by the third annual BOCB, one of the headlining events of BC Craft Beer Month. Six panel discussions were jammed into a single day conference.
Tony Dewald: opening day at Trading Post Brewing. Photo: Brian K. Smith From the opening of East Abbotsford's Field House Brewing in mid-January to Golden's Whitetooth on December 1st (and likely right until the end of 2016), breweries opened at a rate that came close to that of 2014 and 2015. The slight slackening of pace, plus the loss of two short-lived breweries, causes some observers to conclude that the next plateau is on the horizon.
Beer Agriculture takes off: hop farming returns BC to start accepting applications for liquor licenses from anybody?
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ep 2016 Brent and Kari Tarasoff of Square One Hop Growers Reversing a decades-old trend, a new wave of hop growers emerges in the Okanagan and Fraser Valley to provide regular and specialty hops to BC's growing craft industry. Barley farming may be next.
les and photo galleries. s at www.whatsbrewing.ca
Nov
Matt Phillips & John Yap with Matt of Victory Barber & Brand
After announcing that certain businesses like salons could apply, John Yap's post that " ANY biz (not operating from a vehicle, not aimed @ minors) can apply 4 a liquor license!" drew negative and satirical reactions on social media. Look for message refinement to be the first order of business when this rolls out in January.
Wet Coast Winter Wishes
Homebrew
>> Warren Boyer Winter is upon us, and I am excited. Not about the weather that winter brings to the “wet coast”, though. Not even about the holidays, although it’s nice to see family and friends and have some food and drink, preferably with an amazing craft beer pairing. I am excited about the Winter 2017 Pro-Am Cask Festival, brought to us by the amazing people at the Tri-Cities Cask Festival Society.
What's a Pro-Am? It’s a chance for home brewers to have their cask served at a public event. In the past, the prevailing liquor laws prohibited serving home brew in a licensed space. To serve beer under a special occasion license, you had to purchase product from the official, regulated product stream. And that makes sense; there are taxes, public safety, and other concerns that come along with serving alcohol. Legally, home brewers could only give their beer away; it was illegal to sell or barter. But it is now possible to get that delicious home brew out there for the fans to consume. I'm no lawyer, but from what I understand, this is how it works. If the local home brew club heads down to one of its local craft breweries and makes a beer there under that brewery's license, that beer can be sold and consumed in a licensed space. In November 2015, Tri-Cities Cask Festival tested this out. Half a dozen local clubs—Brew Westminster, BrUBC, Chilliwack Homebrew, Fraser Valley Fermentalists, Tri-Cities Brew Club, and VanBrewers—submitted casks. Attendees voted for the best home brew club cask as well as their favourite of eleven commercial brewers’ casks. The winners would collaborate on a brew.
Illustration: montevarious
The winners were the Fraser Valley Fermentalists, with their Drunken Pig bacon and bourbon mesquite smoked porter, and Fuggles and Warlock with the Icarus Mosaic Saison. I hear they will be getting together very soon to make that collaboration beer. The January 2017 event is shaping up to be incredible. It will feature eight club submissions and twenty or more commercial casks. The venue (Executive Hotel Coquitlam) is easily accessible by SkyTrain, and a limited number of tickets will include a free transit ride home. Admission will include burger and poutine bars. My home club is Fraser Valley Fermentalists. It will be a ton of fun to make something delicious and defend our title. Tasting the other clubs’ casks and networking will be fantastic. Swapping stories and talking technique over the product of our hard work; it doesn't get much better for a home brewer. I hope to see you all there! 22
OK, now here's your winter recipe Another reason I am excited about winter is barleywine. There are plenty of other styles that are appropriate in the late fall and winter, but for me, barleywine is the perfect match for a dark, damp, and cold day. Some of you probably just thought, “no thanks—too thick, rich, and boozy for me.” I understand. Many examples of barleywine are just that: thick, viscous, syrupy, overly sweet and malty, with very little to offer on the bitter-hop side of things. At ten to twelve percent, it may even be “hot” and burn a bit going down. Beers like British Strong Ales, Old Ales, Wee Heavy, or English Barleywine can be rich and strong. I can see how that might seem overboard to some. Double IPA, done well, can be amazing. It can have huge hop flavour, aroma, and high ABV without being sweet and chewy. American barleywine is similar, but stronger. Think of it as a Triple IPA. Original gravity should be between 1.080 and 1.120, leaving you with between 8 and 12 percent ABV. IBUs needs to be above 100 to handle the large malt bill. I was very happy with a recent brew of barleywine, and others enjoyed it, too. I have changed the recipe just a bit, dropping a darker malt and upping the hops a tiny bit. If you make this recipe, I guarantee that you will have a new appreciation for barleywine. If you already like barleywine, this will make you love it. This barleywine will be ready to drink in about six weeks, and will age wonderfully. Bottle condition and store in a dark cool space. The hops will die down a bit with time and the flavours will smooth out. Now go make some beer!
Warren Boyer is an award winning homebrewer, Certified Beer Judge, Past President of CAMRA Vancouver, and and occasional Professional Brewer. Reach Warren at homebrewboy@shaw.ca
Santa's Sack Barleywine
Happenin's
What you nee d:
// 24 lb Pilsner mal // 1 lb Munich Da
Single infusion at 152°F (66.6°C) for an hour. Collect enough wort to finish with 22 litres after a 60-minute boil. Add 3.5 oz Galaxy hops at the beginning of the 60-minute boil. When the boil is finished, add the Chinook, Centennial, and El Dorado hops.
t
rk malt (15 lov) // 1 lb Caramun ich III or Crystal 60 malt // 1/3 lb CaraA roma malt // 3.5 oz Galax y hops 14.6 AA fo r 60 min // 1 oz Chinoo k hops 13 AA fla me out // 2 oz Centen nial hops 8.5 AA flame out // 2 oz El Dorado hops 14.6 AA fla me out // 24 g WLP090 San Diego Supe r Yeast in a starter
Chill and collect into a primary fermenter. Aerate well. Pitch with San Diego yeast. Ferment at 20°C until you get the same gravity longer than three days. Rack and bottle with 3/4 cup of dextrose and 1 tsp of gelatin. Condition at least 4 to 6 weeks. Enjoy fresh or age up to several years.
S u n d ay J a n u a r y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7
pro-am 2017
11am to 5pm
Coquitlam Executive Plaza 405 North Rd, Coquitlam
49 bucks!
includes 10 tokens s o u v e n i r ta s t i n g g l a s s
custom burger
(animal or plant)
& craft poutine
tickets available @ tricitiescaskfestival.com
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Winter Ale Primer What is a Winter Ale? The beers selected for this feature are all called by that name in some way, but that doesn't mean that they're all the same style. Some classes of beer, of which "Winter Ales" is a good example, encompass a wide range of interpretations. Townsite's offering differs here in that it is now clearly labelled as a Belgian Dubbel, but it's also still a 'Winter Beer' in name (en franรงais, naturellement).
Big, bold, coloured red through black and often spiced, Winter Ales are heavier beverages whose higher alcohol content is warming. Speaking of that, don't drink them ice cold; let a chilled bottle warm up, then pour into a beer chalice. Related names and adjacent styles include Winter Warmers, Old Ales, Imperial Stouts, Barley Wines, as well as various porters, stouts and similar heavy ales. You'll find a wide range of such products released in November and December each year; just ask your friendly retail liquor outlet.
presents...
THE WHAT'S BREWING
TASTING PANEL Winter Ales Edition
Introduction
How the beers were scored
This inaugural seasonally themed feature focusses on Winter Ales. In concert with our partner, Legacy Liquor Store, we've selected products from five breweries located around BC that you will find fairly widely available during the winter months. We think comparing products in a particular style or range is a great way to challenge ourselves to share information about how and why we would assess and drink a certain beer.
Our community panellists were instructed to give an honest
This season’s winner is Townsite Brewing for their Biere d’Hiver (formerly Winter Ale, now marked Belgian Dubbel). It got a near-perfect score from WB columnist J.Random, but that doesn't mean everybody agreed: BJCP Judge Warren B. wasn't as impressed. That's the fun of having a panel—everybody has different tastes, and they're not all supposed to agree.
Appearance/First Pour: 3 points: colour, head size and retention, natural carbonation
Although What's Brewing doesn't make product recommendations, we certainly can and do act as a platform for our individual contributors to provide their candid opinions. Our volunteer judges don't claim to be perfect, so pick up a bottle of these products and taste along at home to see if you agree with their findings. Many thanks to all participating breweries!
Palate/Mouthfeel: 3 points: judging texture in accordance with style
rating, so don't expect a sugar-coating. Our unsanctioned competition uses a Zagat-like 30-point rating based loosely on the BJCP Scoresheet, including a weighted scale as follows: Blind Tasting: optionally judged without product identification, where indicated
Aroma: 6 points: descriptive terms related to hops, yeast, esters, etc. Flavour: 8 points: terms related to malt, hops, yeast/esters etc.
Overall impression: 10 points: summary notes Drinkability: would you drink a full pint of this beer?
Disclaimer: neither What’s Brewing nor Legacy Liquor Store bear responsibility for the opinions stated within. Opinions expressed are solely those of the individual contributors.
Jordan's Seasonal Tip Jordan Knott, craft beer expert at Legacy Liquor, says: "Cozy up on those cold winter nights with a robust ale to match the season. Higher alcohol and flavours of holiday spices will keep you warm during the frigid months."
Got questions about craft beer? Talk to Jordan at:
Legacy Liquor Store 1633 Manitoba St, Vancouver, BC 604.331.7900 info@legacyliquorstore.com
Online Order Desk
www.legacyliquorstore.com/shop
Fantastic photo on facing page: Lynn McIlwee. Insanely clever Beerflake illustrations: montevarious
A solid offering and an great example of a more traditional olde English winter ale, dare I say Dickensian! (Bah humbug). Score: 27/30
Good and hoppy strong ale. Wet Coast style winter ale. Score: 23/30
Wild Bill Warren
I liked this beer. Soft malty aroma, subtle spice, with just enough hop bitterness to keep it balanced. Score: 28/30
J. Random Basic malty winter ale, reminiscent of Young's Winter Warmer (UK). Score: 24/30
Rich, fruity, boozy winter ale.. Score: 29/30
The Panel's Pick Townsite Brewing Biere d’Hiver Average Panel Score Appearance
3.0 /3
Aroma
5.4 /6
Flavour
7.0 /8
Palate/Mouthfeel
2.8 /3
Overall Score
7.8 /10
Total Score
26/30
Turn to next page to view the panel's scorecards for full details on all beers reviewed.
Survey says: The Panel speaks
The Christmas Day drinking plan: Black Mammoth before present opening. Fireside after breakfast. Townsite while the turkeys cooking...and after that it's IPA until the relatives go home!
Impressive and wonderfully similar to Chimay Blue yet subtly different.. Score: 26/30 Very robust raisin aroma and flavour to start. Improves with further exploration. Score: 28/30
Caramel, Rich, Chocolate, vanilla. Score: 21/30
Great aroma, very coffee/ chocolate with hint of caramel. Score: 28/30 Rich aromas and flavours make this an enjoyable winter ale. Score: 24/30
Chelsea Great aroma: ... and with the right amount of sweetness. Enjoyed this one. Score: 27/30
Those that enjoy a sweeter beer would enjoy this interpretation of a winter ale. Score: 18/30
Lynn
More where that came from
We can only review five beers per issue, but that doesn't mean that these are the only Winter Ales out there! Find out what else is out this winter from your favourite retailer. Need a recommendation? Legacy Liquor is BC's largest single liquor store, with 1,000 types of beer to choose from.
Here's are the Panel's findings in full detail. Score along at home and compare with our volunteer judges!
Warren
Lynn
BJCP-Certified award-winning home & commercial brewer Warren Boyer is a Past President of CAMRA Vancouver.
On Hops Canary, experienced beer event judge, homebrewer and collector Lynn McIlwee blogs on all things beer.
Average Rating: 21.4
26/30 Townsite Biere d’Hiver
Average Score ABV 7.5% Style: Belgian Dubbel
Score: 20/30
Score: 27/30
Clear copper brown, med tan head, good retention
Medium head, some retention
Hops followed by malt, bready, rich, dark fruit, citrusy, herbal, dried fruit, molasses Malt forward, grainy, rich, dark fruit, roasty, citrussy, herbal, dried fruit. Detected bit of a metallic taste Med to heavy, sweet
I might not drink a full pint of this
25/30 Fireside Winter Ale
Average Rating: 22.4
‘Fruity’, Dried Fruit, Stone Fruit Biscuity, Bready, Caramel, Rich, Dark, Toasty, Roasty, Chocolate Great aroma: caramel, biscuit, stone fruits that follow through on the flavour and with the right amount of sweetness. Enjoyed this one. I would recommend this beer to a friend
Average Score ABV 7.0% Style: English Winter Warmer
Score: 23/30
Score: 23/30
Clear copper , large head, good retention, beige head
Medium head, some retention
Soft grainy malt forward, bready, dark fruit, floral, grassy, fruity, powdered milk
‘Fruity’, Apple/Pear
Caramel, bready, rich, roasty, spicy, dried fruit
Biscuity, Bready, Caramel
Big mouthfeel, med carbonation, a bit of warmth, creamy
A good interpretation of a winter ale with mild, non-overpowering spices.
I would recommend this beer to a friend
I would drink a pint of this beer
Chelsea
Wild Bill
J. Random
CAMRA South Okanagan's Chelsea McDowell is an avid homebrewer, event judge and blogger on Brewtiful BC.
Celebrity guest judge and general hellraiser Bill Herdman has three decades of professional brewing experience.
Mystery man J. Random has been a real ale enthusiast since the 1970s. He's been writing for What's Brewing since 2003.
Average Rating: 24.2
Average Rating: 20.2
Average Rating: 24.0
Score: 26/30
Score: 28/30
Score: 29/30
Modest bubbly head
Dense, rocky head with serious lace
Medium head, some retention
Very robust raisin aroma and flavour to start. Hints of chocolate orange in aroma.
‘Fruity’, Chimay type phenolics, clove
Berry, Dried Fruit
Flavour is rich, dry fruit, dark, hints of chocolate and caramel.
Bready, Caramel, Rich, Toasty
Juicy, Rich, Chocolate
Improves with further exploration. I liked this one, but my newbie drinking friends did not.
Impressive and wonderfully similar to Chimay Bleue yet subtly different.
Rich, fruity, boozy winter ale.
I would definitely seek this beer out again. I will be buying one for the cellar.
I would definitely seek this beer out again. Send more.
I am leaving for the liquor store right now and they'd better have it.
Score: 27/30
Score: 24/30
Score: 27/30
Medium head, some retention
Dense, rocky or nitro head with serious lace
Medium head, some retention
Sour/Acidic (Tartness,sharp/lactic,vinegar/acetic), hint of sour aroma
‘Fruity’, Peppery/Alcoholic (Heat/warming effect of alcohol)
Dried Fruit
The smell is heavy caramel, with a slight tinge of sourness
Biscuity, Caramel, Rich, Chocolate, Toffee, treacle, bubblegum
Rich, Toasty
The flavour is quite clean, and does not linger as some of the other beers with caramel notes have.
A solid offering and an great example of a more traditional olde English winter ale, dare I say Dickensian! (Bah humbug)
Easy drinking for a winter ale - could have multiple.
I would definitely seek this beer out again. Send more.
I would definitely seek this beer out again. Send more.
Warren 24/30 Fernie Black Mammoth
Score: 21/30
Score: 25/30
Opaque brown black with deep tan head
Black. Medium head, some retention
Roasty, toasty, rich, earthy, coffee
‘Fruity’, Stone Fruit, Astringent (Puckering,dryness)
Roasty, toasty, grassy, dried fruit, smoke, slightly malt forward
Biscuity, Bready, Rich, Dark, Toasty, Roasty, Coffee
Medium high, med carbonation, apparent warmth, creamy, balanced finish
Rich aromas and flavours make this an enjoyable winter ale.
20/30
I would recommend this beer to a friend
Average Score ABV 6.0% Style: Spiced/Flavoured Winter Ale
Score: 23/30
Score: 19/30
Very clear amber to copper, beige to tan head with good retention
Copper. Medium head, some retention
Hop forward, caramel, bready, floral, herbal, fruity, apple/pear, citrus
‘Fruity’, Herbal, Dried Fruit. Spices are very prominent on the nose and palate with ginger standing out the most.
Caramel, bready, rich, dark fruit, floral, herbal, hoppy
Biscuity, Bready malt. Citrusy, Earthy, Spicy hops
Med to high (high carbonation)
Those that like ginger beers would enjoy this version.
I would drink a pint of this beer
17/30 Granville Island Lions
Blind Session
Average Score ABV 8.0% Style: 'Winter Black Ale'
I would drink a pint of this beer
Central City Winter Ale
Lynn
I might not drink a full pint of this
Average Score ABV 5.5% Style: Spiced/Flavoured Winter Ale
Score: 20/30
Score: 18/30
Clear copper brown with beige head
Copper. Medium head, some retention
Grassy, herbal hops. Vanilla.
‘Fruity’. The vanilla was overpowering on the nose
Malt forward, caramel, bready, toasty, grassy, herbal, fruity, dried fruit, vanilla
Biscuity, Caramel malt. Citrusy hops. Vanilla was overpowering
Well made beer, but I'm not a fan of vanilla in beer.
Residual sweetness. Those that enjoy a sweeter beer would enjoy this interpretation of a winter ale.
I might not drink a full pint of this
I might not drink a full pint of this
Chelsea
Blind Session
Wild Bill
J. Random
Score: 28/30
Score: 22/30
Score: 26/30
Brown. Modest bubbly head
Opaque. Medium head, some retention
Black. Modest bubbly head
Great aroma, very coffee/chocolate with hint of caramel. Peppery/Alcoholic (Heat/warming effect of alcohol),
‘Fruity’, Dried Fruit, Stone Fruit, Hi
Dried Fruit
Biscuity, Rich, Roasty, Coffee, Chocolate, Burnt, Smoked Everyone [of my friends] liked this one especially as we drink more the flavour grows on us. I would definitely seek this beer out again. Send more.
Biscuity, Caramel, Rich, Dark, Toasty, Roasty, Coffee, Chocolate, Cocoa,with coffee less roast Nice stout, low bitterness allows cocoa taste to come through, no noticeable astringency. Good beer for Christmas morning!
Blind Session
Roasty, Chocolate Dark slightly roasty winter ale reminiscent of King and Barnes Old Ale (UK) I would definitely seek this beer out again. Send more.
I would recommend this beer to a friend
Score: 19/30
Score: 15/30
Score: 24/30
Copper .Modest bubbly head
Amber. Modest bubbly head
Copper .Modest bubbly head
Not much aroma. ‘Fruity’, Stone Fruit
Neutral yeast character
Dried Fruit
Biscuity, Juicy, Caramel, Toasty malt. Citrusy hops.
Caramel, Sweet! Hops not detectable
Caramel
Toasted/roasted flavour to start with a buscuit mid-taste followed by a caramel aftertaste. Aftertaste to be a bit much
I don't care for most spiced beers, that being said if you enjoy pumpkin spiced beers, you'll probably like this one
Basic malty winter ale, reminiscent of Young's Winter Warmer (UK)
I would drink a pint of this beer
I might not drink a full pint of this
I would drink a pint of this beer
Score: 21/30
Score: 12/30
Score: 14/30
Amber. Flat/Still
Copper. Medium head, some retention
Copper. Modest bubbly head
Dried Fruit, Astringent (Puckering,dryness)
Bland and sweet
Vanilla
Caramel, Rich, Chocolate, vanilla. Strong aftertaste of butter/caramel.
Caramel, One dimensional caramel flavour. Hops not detectable
Caramel
On repeated sips I'm not really digging the overwhelming caramel finish.
This beer is bland and sweet in an unpleasant way, overcarbonated.
Way over the top vanilla for my taste but some might like it
I might not drink a full pint of this
I might not drink a full pint of this
Would finish my pint but likely not buy another
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1. Brooklyn Bridge Bikepath 2. Threes Bar 3. Threes IPA 4. Threes Brunch 5. Manhattan View 6. Manhattan View 7. Other Half Beerlist 8. Threes Yard 9. Beer Can Wall 10. Brooklyn Bridge 11. Torst Hotdog 12. Radegast Beerhall 13. Brooklyn Brewery Tanks 14. Brooklyn Brewery Exterior
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hours in Brooklyn >> Joe Wiebe Just two days. It isn’t much time to really explore a city’s beer scene, but it was all I had, so I did what I could. From my base at the Dazzler Brooklyn Hotel, centrally located near the entrance ramp to the Manhattan Bridge, I spent Saturday afternoon and evening in breweries and beer bars in the south Brooklyn neighbourhoods of Gowanus, Crown Heights, and Carroll Gardens. On Sunday, I cycled from my hotel and rode up to Williamsburg and Green Point to the North. On Monday, I squeezed in one more stop before my flight home. I had a rough itinerary mapped out based on internet research, and suggestions from Joshua Bernstein, a beer writer who lives in Brooklyn (who was unfortunately out of town on the weekend I was visiting). Here’s how Josh described the first brewery I planned on visiting: “Amazing Brooklyn brewpub. Great food. Family friendly.”
Threes Brewing 333 Douglass St, Gowanus
Saturday 2 p.m. – 48 hours remaining The entrance to Threes Brewing takes you into a long narrow room, not much wider than a hallway with a row of small booths along one side, that opens into the main bar area at the back of the building. Beyond that is “Threes Yard,” an attractive outdoor patio area with several small tables, communal long tables, and benches without tables. A hop-covered trellis covers one side, and a cloth awning angles over the other. The sunlit patio drew me out of the dark bar area to a seat at a small table. About half of the other tables were occupied—the larger ones by groups in their 20s or 30s enjoying weekend brunch. I followed their lead and ordered a Felimon Burrito filled with scrambled egg, black beans, and Oaxaca and Chihuahua cheese. I could have stayed all afternoon, but a large engagement party arrived and I felt like I was hogging a table while others were forced to stand. And my time was tight, so I left to check in to my hotel, already imagining a future return visit.
Highly recommended.
Berg’n 899 Bergen St, Crown Heights
Saturday 6:30 p.m. – 43.5 hours remaining After checking in and unpacking, I headed back out for dinner and visits to a couple more breweries. Berg’n is not a brewery but a big beer hall, with three rows of communal tables in front of a long bar, four food vendors at one end and an outdoor patio at the other. The patio was booked by a wedding party, so I sat at the bar. The place was close to full, including several
families with young kids. The Yankees game played on the big screen without sound; light music played on the speakers. While I decided what to eat I ordered a gose, which turned out to be more sour than I expected. I had noticed the same thing when I tried a couple other goses in Washington, DC, earlier in the week, so maybe it’s an East vs. West Coast approach, or a Canada/US difference. I ordered brisket from Mighty Quinn’s Barbecue, along with a pilsner that cleansed my palate nicely after the overly tart gose. Berg’n seems like a popular spot for locals. Tuesdays are Trivia Nights and Wednesday nights are all about board games. Beers sampled: Suburban Beverage gose by Perennial Artisan Ales (good, if surprisingly sour); Bohemian Pilsner by von Trapp Brewing (excellent); and Meek Millet, a farmhouse ale from Other Half Brewing (interesting if not amazing).
Recommended.
Other Half Brewing 195 Centre St, Carroll Gardens
Saturday 8:20 p.m. – 41.5 hours remaining I had recommendations to visit Other Half from Brent Mills of Four Winds Brewing, who had raved about it after his visit earlier this year, and from Joshua Bernstein, whose email said simply, “hop bombs, ahoy.” The brewery is in a run-down area in the shadow of an elevated expressway that leads to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. I was a little uncertain, but Lucky, my Uzbekistani Uber driver, called the neighbourhood up-and-coming because “it has an IKEA and a McDonald’s.” Inside, the aesthetics didn’t improve. The tiny, square tasting room’s rough decor was dominated by a large antelope head mounted on the wall (a kudu, judging by its spiral horns). Loud music bombarded the dozen or so beer lovers inside, and there was nowhere to sit, so I propped myself in the corner, next to the kudu. The chalkboard beer menu on the wall behind the bar offered some great choices. I tried a couple, but the brewery only offered full glass pours—no sampler flights—and the room’s vibe wasn’t working for me, so I soon went to another nearby brewery. Beers sampled: Other Half Brewing’s Brettarillo (good but not very Brett-forward), and a collaboration beer called Debbie Downer, a multi-grain IPA with mango and white chocolate, which was a mixed bag.
Maybe visit during daylight hours when it isn’t quite so dingy. 33
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WHAT'S BREWING
Strong Rope Brewing 574 President St, Gowanus
Keg & Lantern Brewing 97 Nassau Ave, Williamsburg
Saturday 9:30 p.m. – 40.5 hours remaining Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 27 hours remaining Strong Rope is about five blocks southwest along 4th Avenue from Threes Brewing, where I started my beer explorations earlier that afternoon. Behind its green-framed door, I found a welcoming taproom with a live-edge bar top and several tables along the whitewashed brick walls. The bartender told me that Strong Rope is classified as a farm brewery: 100 percent of the hops and about 95 percent of the malts they use are grown in New York state. The menu was dominated by malt-forward styles, which probably reflects the lack of diversity of hops grown in New York; none of the three I tried had a big hop presence, but a couple of them were quite good. With another big day ahead, I called it a night after Strong Rope. Beers sampled: Strong Rope’s Young Lion of the West, brewed with malted corn and barley as an homage to Genesee Cream Ale (tasty); Far Country Rye, malty with a rye undertone; and Icarus Predicament, a honey red rye ale that was a little too dominated by the honey.
Visit if you're more malt-meister than hop-head.
S U N D A Y Sunday was my bike day. The Dazzler Hotel loaned bicycles, and the day was forecast to be hot and sunny, so I planned my route over breakfast and got a bike from the front desk. This turned out to be a low-slung cruiser model with high handlebars and a laid-back setup that made me feel like I was going to fall off backwards, but it was free and I didn’t want to waste time tracking down a more comfortable bike on a Sunday morning. I put a few basics in my daypack, tossed my phone with Google Maps up and running into the bike’s basket (yes, a basket) and took off. The goal of my Sunday ride was Williamsburg and Greenpoint, two neighbourhoods that extend north of downtown Brooklyn along the East River. But I wanted to do some sightseeing first, so I headed south into Brooklyn Heights and turned west to the shoreline where a series of piers have been converted into the Brooklyn Bridge Park, with its walking/biking paths, volleyball courts, picnic areas, gardens, and other green space. The view of the Manhattan skyline was incredible, and while there were a lot of people out, it wasn’t so busy that I couldn’t ride. Following the park north and then east as it continued under the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge, the bike path emptied into the DUMBO (Down Underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighbourhood. From there, I rode around the Navy Yard film studios and then north into Williamsburg, known for both its large Hasidic Jewish community and its status as world hipster headquarters. It was too early to stop for beer, so I pumped away on my increasingly uncomfortable bike through Williamsburg and into Greenpoint.
Joshua Bernstein had recommended Keg & Lantern Brewing as an “amazing, under-the-radar brewpub.” It is an older bar that looks like it hasn’t been redecorated since the 1970s, complete with a wall of old beer cans and a stereo playing Kansas and Pink Floyd. The brewery was added about two years ago. It opens at 11:00 a.m. for brunch, when few other breweries are open on Sunday, but I just sampled a couple of beers and watched Milos Raonic lose to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. Beers sampled: Keg & Lantern’s Golden Ale was a delicious thirst quencher after my long, sweaty bike ride, and the Mirage Session Ale was sufficiently hoppy.
Recommended especially if you came of age in the 1970s.
Tørst 615 Manhattan Ave, Williamsburg
Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 26 hours remaining As noon approached, I walked my bike around the corner and locked it up in front of an innocuous door with TØRST barely visible on the sign above. Considered perhaps the best beer bar in the world, Tørst was founded by former Danish schoolteacher Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, whose bottle shop in Copenhagen was rated the best beer store in the world by ratebeer.com. His brother, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, operates the highly regarded Mikkeller brewery in Denmark. When Jeppe decided to also brew beer, he called his venture Evil Twin Brewing. Instead of opening its own facility, Evil Twin works with the best breweries in the world to collaboratively produce its very unusual and highly regarded beers. He made Brooklyn his home base and opened Tørst (Danish for “thirst”). Canadian chef Daniel Burns runs the kitchen at Tørst, and we have a common friend, so I asked for Burns when I ordered my first beer. The very professional and knowledgeable bartender told me he had just stepped out for coffee, so I staked out a spot at the front of the room. When Burns returned, I introduced myself as a friend of John’s, earning an immediate smile and an invitation to chat. Burns grew up in Halifax, lived and worked in Vancouver for a while, and then moved to Europe. In Copenhagen he worked at Noma, which has rated in theworlds50best.com’s top five restaurants since 2009, and held the top spot in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. After Noma, Burns returned to Vancouver, but found the restaurant scene hadn’t changed much, so he moved to New York. He and Jarnit-Bjergsø met at a beer tasting event, struck up an immediate friendship, and decided to work together. Burns gave me a tour of the building, and we discussed beers in the beer cellar for quite a while, until he had to get back to
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WHAT'S BREWING
the kitchen to prepare for the evening’s two seatings. In addition to serving an inexpensive menu of gourmet snacks to bar patrons, Tørst also operates a tiny 26-seat restaurant called Luksus (Danish for “luxury”) in its back room, where a Burns-designed seasonal tasting menu is served five nights a week. Reservations are required, and even with a price tag of $125 per person, they fill up well in advance. I returned to the bar and sampled a few more beers from the incredible tap list. Unlike many of the breweries I’d been to in Washington and New York, Tørst offered four-ounce samples, so I was able to try more than two or three beers without becoming too wobbly to cycle. Eventually, reluctantly, I left and got back on my bike, a little wobblier perhaps than I should have been. Beers sampled (all excellent!): Evil Twin’s Low Life pilsner; La Saison √225 from Swiss brewery Brasseries des Franches-Montaignes, aged in St. Bon Chien wine barrels (fabulous oak barrel character and tartness); Throbbing Grisette from Tired Hands Brewing; Grand Cru from Rodenbach; Spontanpeach from Mikkeller; and Oerbier from Belgian brewer De Dolle.
Highly recommended if you like “fancy-pants pours,” as Josh Bernstein described it.
Brooklyn Brewing 79 N 11th St, Northside
Sunday 2:30 p.m. – 23.5 hours remaining Founded by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter as a contract brewery in the 1980s, the actual brewery in Brooklyn opened in 1996 under the guidance of brewmaster Garrett Oliver. Based in a big old warehouse, the brewery’s tasting room is open to the public on Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Tasting tokens are $5 each or five for $20. Free tours are offered on weekends, and Small -Batch tours can be booked in advance for weekdays (except Fridays). Most of the dozen or so picnic tables in the tasting room were full, and there was a long line at the bar. The room was too loud and echo-y for me, so after a couple of beers, I got back on my bike. Beers sampled: Area 291 IPA (cask); Bel Air Sour (very tasty).
Check it out if you’re already a fan.
Greenpoint Beer & Ale 7 North 15th St, Greenpoint
Sunday 4:00 p.m. – 22 hours remaining It turns out I had ridden past Greenpoint Beer & Ale earlier in the day—I recognized the beautiful, multicoloured, stained glass water tower on the roof as I locked my bike up across the street. People streamed in and out of the three open garage doors and a TV announcer’s voice emanated from within. In the jam-packed tasting room, the Euro soccer final showed on a big screen on the far wall. Perfect! Then two guys right in front of me at the bar got up and offered me their spot. I sat down with a perfect sightline to the screen.
The chalkboard menu on the wall had a dozen Greenpoint beers as well as some imported German beers. It was an impressive list: several of the brewery’s beers were Brett-conditioned, saisons, or sours—exactly the sort of thing I like. I sampled four over the course of the soccer match. All were excellent and I’d have been happy to keep going through the list, but I was already pushing the rules of the road, and I needed to be alone with my disappointment over France’s loss to Portugal. Beers sampled: Greenpoint’s Homeboy’s Whim (a Brett-conditioned patersbier); Blanc Canvas (a Brett saison with Hallertau Blanc hops); Hook Line & Sinker (a solid pilsner); and Autonomation (a session IPA).
Highly recommended. With big plans to visit another brewery or two that night, I returned the bike to the hotel, took a shower, and lay down on my bed for a couple of minutes. A few hours later, I awoke in a daze. Where was I? What time was it? I guess the combination of the hot, humid weather, the physical exertion of the bike ride and all the beer had caught up with me.
M O N D A Y I didn’t expect to get any more beer-related visiting in on my final day in Brooklyn. But I had a 90-minute window after gift shopping for family and checking out of my hotel, so I ordered an Uber ride back to Williamsburg.
Radegast Hall & Biergarten, 113 North 3rd St, Williamsburg
Monday 12:30 p.m. – 1.5 hours remaining Radegast is about as close to a German or Czech beer hall as you can get without travelling to Europe. One side is an indoor restaurant space, and the other is a mostly-enclosed beer garden with long wooden tables, Oktoberfest-style beer banners strung below the skylights, and a sausage grilling station at the back. I ordered a Currywurst and a German Pils, and figured that was all I’d have time for. Then my departure was delayed by 90 minutes, giving me more than enough time to enjoy a second beer! Beers sampled: Radeberger Pilsner Zwickl; and a very delicious Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse.
Recommended if you’re an honorary Oktoberfester. Finally, however, my time in Brooklyn came to a close. It was a whirlwind visit for sure, but I felt like I’d at least scratched the surface of the beer scene there. The highlights were clear: Threes Brewing and Greenpoint Beer & Ale were my favourite breweries, while Tørst and Radegast were the two best beer bars I’d visited. I can’t wait to return and make more discoveries.
Joe Wiebe is author of Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to B.C. Breweries. An abbreviated version of this story appears in Taps magazine’s November/December 2016 issue.
Out and About: Touring Beautiful BC September 9–10, Great Canadian Beer Festival, Victoria Every year the choices are amazing; the variety is endless. It’s a time for people in the industry to connect with each other, and What’s Brewing connects with its brewing friends. Thanks to Gerry and the whole team. You couldn’t have had more beer fun anywhere on the planet. You must experience the feel of it at least once. Good to meet all the brewers each year and invite them to join us at What’s Brewing. Just great to see all you old friends.
2nd Annual Brew Loops, September 30– October 1, Kamloops This is more elaborate for the brewers, with several places to be throughout the festivities. The Friday Night Block party this year at Red Beard Café, a local beer café and more. The event filled an area easily five times the size of last year’s space, and the music was grand. City streets were blocked off to handle the event. Lots of good craft choices and a large number of food trucks of all varieties. Again lots of young people. Even the pouring rain didn’t stop the festivities; Kamloops kept on rockin’.
>> Scottie McLellan Saturday morning, brewers showcase their wares at the Kamloops Farmers’ Market; it’s interesting to see how far we still can go with this movement. Lots of people still discovering real beer. Saturday night, with three different groups again, was a Prohibition-themed cask party at the Rex downtown. One price gets you all, brewers were interspersed evenly with food vendors, and almost everyone dressed in Prohibition-era costume.
2nd Annual Craft Cider Week Social, October 16, Sea Cider in Saanichton A full house attended and took a keen and supportive thumbsup to this annual event. What’s Brewing enjoyed a huge variety of craft ciders which, like real beer, come in many strengths and flavours. Like last year, the food was very high-end and reasonable. Regards to Kristen, Rose and the whole crew for inviting us to attend an event close to our hearts. Fresh and local.
Bridges to Beer >> Brian K. Smith
W
elcome to Portland, Oregon, whose nine bridges span the Willamette River and fan out into historic east side neighborhoods, providing easy access to unique beer experiences. With more than 70 breweries within the city limits and another 105 in the surrounding metro area, Portland is a beer mecca. And with great, affordable transit and a well-established bicycle culture, getting around Portland to enjoy all that beer safely couldn't be easier. A new train route over the beautiful Tilikum Crossing—a cable-stay suspension bridge built specifically for pedestrians, bicycles, and transit—takes you to Milwaukie, home of Breakside Brewery. Unique to this brewery are two silky-smooth gin-barrel-aged beers. The Pathfinder is a golden Double IPA that starts off at about 8%, ages in gin barrels for more than 6 months, and is then blended with some fresh hoppy beer and finished with dry hops. The final beer is 8.7%, unbelievably smooth, and very fragrant with a creamy mouth feel and Creamsicle and peach notes. Apollo & Dionysus is a saison aged in gin barrels for 9 months and then cold conditioned in stainless steel for 18 months. The result is a rich beer full of beautiful florals with botanicals from the gin (9.7%). La Tormenta, a dry-hopped sour ale, and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Aztec (with chilies and chocolate), are unique and worth a try. The Aztec has a wonderful afterburn on the swallow. 38
This southern brewery also has a connection in the northeast, where its smaller sister, Dekum Pub, supplements its taps with many of the Milwaukie location’s brews. I recommend a visit to both. Next was a visit with brewmaster Shane Watterson of Laurelwood Brewing, which produces an amazing lineup of organic beers and some of the most mouth-watering pub food in the Pacific Northwest. The juicy Brewers Burger was full of crispy onions and bacon and complemented by melt-in-your-mouth battered garlic fries, and the fish tacos were over-the-top delicious. For beer, I recommend the Laurelwood IPA or the Tree Hugger Porter. Good thing I was just visiting; I’d soon put on a few pounds if this were my go-to beer & burger pub! Nearby was Burnside Brewing, where delicious beers are paired with cured meats and charcuterie to make for a wonderful culinary experience. Executive chef Jimmy Askren [at time of visit; now Richard Watts] and brewmaster Jason McAdam put their creative heads together to make sure your experience is truly unique. Burnside "takes an alchemist approach to enhance the craft beer and culinary experience", and the 15-barrel brewery produces several award-winning beers, including lagers, ESB, IPA and Bock. This one-day tour ended at Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB), where marketing manager Eric Steen toured me through the brewery and the philosophy of operating an environmentally
responsible, large-scale craft brewery. In 2015, HUB produced 13,500 barrels of beer and 500 barrels of cider. One outstanding feature of the brewery is its low water intensity. The industry average in the USA is to use 6 to 7 gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced. HUB has reduced its intensity to 3.39 gallons of water per gallon of beer. They save hundreds of thousands of gallons of water wastage every year by recycling water up to five times, which also saves on energy needed to heat the water. Upstairs in the pub, I needed food to cushion the blow of the sample tray of fifteen 4-ounce tasters—nearly four times the size of a regular flight. My huge legendary gourmet pizza was a perfect balance of sauce, herbs, spices, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms and mozzarella, and paired well with all the beer.
I asked Jason McAdam, owner and brewer of Burnside, if it’s still good value for BC beer fans to come to Portland to drink the beer and eat the food. "Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Oregon is different from Washington and from B.C. We are all part of Cascadia, yet we each have our own cultures. There are things that you can get in Oregon that you can't get in Washington or BC, and that makes it worthwhile." While I was dealing with 60 ounces of beer and an 18-inch pizza, my writing partner messaged me. Her plane was delayed, and she wouldn’t arrive until after 11 pm. Could I possibly do a cocktail and dinner review for her? I had the pub box up the pizza and went to dress for my dinner review. This is a tough job! I learned a lot in four breweries and pubs in six hours. Portland has many more bridges to cross and breweries to discover.
Breakside Brewery
Hopworks Urban Brewery
Laurelwood Brewing
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Joelle at Brutopia
La belle province I take a holiday every three years or so. Usually I go outside Canada, but this time I visited Quebec, including stays in Montreal and the Gaspé as well as beer-sighting on the road around the province: a new adventure in my own country. As a beer pioneer, I am interested in my own country. We have some grand real beers in this land, and there are big chunks of it I haven’t seen. When I was a kid, Gaspe was always the left turn we passed on our way to New Brunswick. It’s been in my mind for decades. My hotel in Montreal, the Hotel Europa, is clean, a good price, and near the Bell Centre in the heart of the centre-ville. It. It’s a five- to ten-minute walk from one of three nearby Métro stations (Laurent-L’Allier, Bonaventure, or Peel), and $10 gets you a day pass good on all forms of transit. Good deal. My usual method is to ask locals to recommend beer places, and then go there. I introduce myself at the bar, tell them I am from What’s Brewing, and it always rolls well from there. Most people I spoke to proudly agreed that there could be as many as 400 breweries in Quebec, but I never confirmed a number. Aside from all the breweries, even local charcuteries and high-end cheese and grocery shops have good selections of bottled beer. In a building near Jean Talon Market, I came upon a two-centuries-old shop with an old-style grocer sign and a tin ceiling typical of the time. A closer look revealed it to be a neighbourhood craft beer, wine, cheese and local-food shop. The owner and I had a good chat about the beer scene, and she gave me some great tips about Montreal and the Quebec beer scene in general. And she sold me some nice beers to take back to my room. 40
>> Scottie McLellan
Montreal was like a magic new world to me, the people were extremely friendly, and the beers were to die for. They are big on Belgian style beers, American crossover pale ales, and IPAs, but not limited to those styles. The government made Quebec attractive for craft brewers in the new millennium, and now it’s a gem for beer hunting. In the small corner stores in Montreal’s inner city, the beer shelves and coolers seem to be controlled by the big brewers. The available brands seemed to come from one distributor. It was very disappointing from that angle of things. The Quebec liquor board stores also carry basically no Quebec craft beers. But I quickly found the path to real beer and shopped only in craft shops, charcuteries, and large supermarkets with selections of real beer. I stocked up on interesting varieties during my neighbourhood jaunts, before I came back to the centre-ville on the Metro. The best brewery tap room, pub, and place for beer in the whole province is reportedly Dieu Du Ciel. I saw it from the bus on the way to Jean Talon Market and strolled to its trendy neighbourhood amid architecture ranging from seventeenth-century European to very modern. Cafés were everywhere: groovy, Parisian, and different for a Canadian. Yea. At Dieu Du Ciel I met lots of hip beer folks from around the world, and we tasted, drank, and talked Quebec beer. Like all good spots, it has its regulars, who chatted with me right away. Thanks, gang. In Montreal, I visited 3 Brasseurs’ Old Town location (they are all over Ontario and Quebec), had a few tasters and pints at Benelux, and had the cheapest pint I’ve seen anywhere in a decade at Brutopia. Five bucks and change for a 20-ounce pint of good house brewed ale or lager! Brutopia has four
small tables on a little outdoor patio for summer inner city street watchin’. You have to talk to everyone, and I always do. Urban hip. They have been around for a long while and know what they are doing. Lots of good pints were had there over a few nights. Thanks to all the gang who made a craft beer party every time What’s Brewing came in for one. I stopped everywhere I passed that had things to do with real beers. I came across many wonderful craft beer shops as I went. Most carry all Quebec beers. There is too much in Montreal to tell it all here. You’ve gotta go. We introduced Quebec to the whatsbrewing.ca website and my card introduced me. For the second part of the holiday, I rented a brand-new Jeep and drove along the north bank of the mighty St. Lawrence from downtown Montreal to old Quebec City, through villages dating back centuries, some with original buildings still standing. True bucolic beauty. I got to telling stories in my army-base Quebecois French. It passes on the streets of Montreal and in the Quebec countryside. Roadside stands featured fresh corn steaming in cauldrons; you can pull in for a bite and maybe even grab a craft from the cold stash. The corn farmers I met all drank ice-cold cans of Molson Export, which made me double-take; I haven’t seen a cold one of those being consumed with laughter for over 30 years. But Export has a long history in Quebec; it’s a tradition. A habit. Maybe a religion. Because it’s what I do and some of them were interested, I gave them my take on their beer of choice. There is always beer work to do wherever we good beer folk go hunting: preaching, believing in real beer, fresh and local. Maybe two
Quebec corn farmers will start buying craft beers after talking with that beer guy from Saanichton, BC. Or maybe they won’t. I drove partway out on the Gaspé peninsula and enjoyed its refreshing cleanliness and charm. I stopped at every interesting village and stood in the quiet by the big village church, proud that we are such a wonderful country. New and surprising things wait around every bend. I spent three nights on the road, driving, stopping, and stocking up for the room before sitting down in the still night of a Quebec summer, a hint of the St. Lawrence always in the air. Grocery stores carried fair selections of craft beer, some on special here and there. Driving down back roads off the highway to the river down in the Gaspé where the St. Lawrence meets the Atlantic, surrounded by charming hamlets, drinking a wonderful Quebec craft beer on a glorious sunny day, makes me proud that I fought for craft beer in Canada and charmed by the diverse craft styles in our country. I had Quebecois food for dinner in Rivière Du Loup: lots of poutine, hot dogs steamed or Michigan, hamburgers, onion rings, and fries. In Drummondville, I saw a sign in a Quebecois place that said “maximum 25 hot dogs.” Could be important for a clientele with a skinful of not-so-real ale. Just guessing. In Quebec City, I got a parking spot at the top of the steps in the Old Town and sauntered down to check out the scene. Lots of good beers, but at tourist prices; two 350 ml craft wheats cost me about 25 bucks at a café. Not a beer hunter’s idea of good beer hunting, but I did it just to say I did it. It’s a wonderful city for another time.
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Teaching the Old World New Tricks
>> Chelsea McDowell In October I travelled through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France, on the lookout for craft beer as well as the famous traditional beers that have influenced the modern brewing movement. Craft was easy to find in the Netherlands and France, but scarce in Germany. In Marburg, a city of 80,000, the only bottle shop specializing in craft had recently shut down. The impressive availability of traditional styles offered some consolation; every gas station, grocery store and sidewalk cafe had a good selection of excellent Pilsners, Weisses and Dunkels. Even the tiniest village had at least one building displaying a light-up beer logo—the only thing distinguishing the local pub from the other buildings on the street. My only complaint was that it was very hard to tell the individual beers in a style apart—I know I drank a lot of Pilsners but there isn’t any single one that stood out from the rest in my mind. The Germans do love their beer, but it seems they are hesitant to embrace experimentation beyond the well-established styles. Though perhaps this isn’t surprising, given that 2016 is the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot purity law. Although it was elusive, I did manage to locate some German craft beer. Among the notable finds was Green MONKey Mandarina Pilsner from Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe, which had a strong yet delicate aroma of mandarin orange while staying true to its pilsner roots. We found a stash of Heidenpeters beer at a burger joint and stayed to try several. If you see a bottle from them, buy it; everything they did was great. Brewing in a West Coast style, this Berlin brewery uses American hops such as Mosaic, Amarillo, Citra, and even have their own version of a Black IPA, the beloved Cascadian Dark Ale of the Pacific Northwest. It was kind of funny to see that brewers from the country that has had the biggest impact on the modern craft beer movement are now taking inspiration from the more experimental styles where we live. That same trend of North American influence was also apparent in France. Craft beer was easier to locate there than in Germany, but still isn’t quite mainstream. Lyon had only a handful of bottle shops in a city of half a million. There were quite a few pubs serving craft beer, including Ninkasi, a chain of 12 pubs scattered around the city and supplied by a central microbrewery. Chope de Lug, a bottle shop in the old part of the city, sells only beer from the Rhone-Alps area. Alfredo, the owner, said that when he first opened 5 years ago people didn’t know what craft beer was, but now there are 130 microbreweries in a 250 km radius. Forty opened in the last two years alone. He feels that craft beer is on the cusp of an explosion in France, “Its coming” he said with a smile, “we’re ready”. At Alfredo’s shop, the current most popular beer style is IPA, with Double and Imperial IPAs also in high demand. He is aware that sour beers are on trend right now in North America, and thinks that France will be catching on to this soon. The sour wave is already well established in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, I had one of the best sours in my entire life: a 42
collaboration between local brewery Oedipus and Commons Brewery in Portland. The Netherlands craft beer scene most closely resembled that of home. The beer styles, names and even label designs were very similar to BC. I had a dry-hopped sour, also by Oedipus, that was a dead ringer for Four Winds’ Nectarous. While in The Hague, I met Jamie, who had opened Dorst Craft Beer Shop just two days earlier. When I asked what was good, he said “all of it. I only sell beer that I drink myself,” and went on to say that his shop was special, as he only sold beer made directly by the brewer. In Europe there are three common ways to produce a beer. The method we are most familiar with is buying or leasing property, investing in equipment, and brewing from a permanent location. Increased population density creates expensive real-estate and infrastructure costs, which many start-up breweries can’t afford. A popular method to get around this involves using the space and equipment at another microbrewery, but otherwise remaining an independent company with its own brewers, brand and distribution process. These two methods are acceptable in Jamie’s shop, but there is a third method he describes as cheating: a recipe is mass-produced by a macro-sized brewery without any actual brewing staff employed by the brand, but the label and marketing make it appear to be a hand-crafted batch. It was funny sharing our Dutch craft beers with our Belgian hosts the next day. They politely tolerated the dry-hopped sour and Thai-ginger-chili beer, but found the West Coast style IPA Contd. on page 45
The state of Ale in the UK British Beer Evolves >> Roy Leeson Karen and I return to Britain every three or four years, and we had another great trip there in May 2016. The weather was good and the sights and the beers were excellent. We traveled by train and bus, staying in places like Salisbury, Torquay, Shrewsbury, Llandudno (north Wales), Liverpool, Keswick (Lake District), Glasgow, and London. We took a lot of side trips , including a boat ride down the River Dart, visits to Conwy and Caernarfon castles, the Highlands, and Kew Gardens. Britain has in recent years seen the growth of many quality breweries, some regional and some micro. We sampled a few of their offerings and visited some good British pubs. Any beer and pub lover who visits the UK should consult a recent copy of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, which lists each local CAMRA group's favourite pubs and the national award winning real ales for the previous two years. It is indispensable for finding the best and avoiding the mediocre, and is even available to download on your phone or tablet. As on past trips, we were aware of angst about the health of the real ale industry. While production seems to be growing, an estimated 25 pubs close every week, for a myriad of reasons. Alcohol consumption is down, particularly in licensed premises, shopping chains offer quality ale at discount prices, and some pub companies (Pubcos), which own close to 20,000 of the 48,000 pubs in the UK, are squeezing their tenants. Good old free enterprise at work. So CAMRA is interested in saving pubs, even if they sell some naughty beers and ciders. In fact, most pubs, even CAMRA-voted pubs, sell a wide selection of beers including multinational swills like Carling, Stella Artois, etc. In the UK, the beer industry is very stratified, with the large Eurofizz companies at the top, followed by large British brewers (some of mediocre quality), medium-sized regionals, and small, often new, local breweries. The smaller the brewery, the better the quality, in my experience. I didn't come across as many brewpubs (except in London) as we have here on the west coast of North America. I did stumble upon some very good real ales, though. Those who know me are aware that I prefer more robust brews, particularly hoppy ESBs and IPAs. On this trip, I noticed more hoppy ales available, though they usually had a bit less alcohol than our aggressive West Coast style pale ales. In fact, the UK tends more to balanced hoppy ales than here in Canada and the US, where there has been a recent tendency for breweries to ramp up the malt in their IPAs. Overall, the availability of different brewing styles is gathering momentum in the UK. The
great appetite for gassy lagers as seen on previous trips seems to be waning. Most pubs advertise real/cask ales but a quick look sometimes proves the reality to be different. I generally wander in and check out the hand pumps, and if they appear wanting, I leave. Here again, it is valuable to have access to the Good Beer Guide. I won't list the trip's best beers, because it would only be a drop in the bucket of great beers to be found around the UK. CAMRA UK, with nearly 180,000 members, is querying its members about its future direction. They continue to lobby government about issues such as the importance of pubs in the community, preserving said pubs, taxes on pubs and beer, Pubcos, and educating the public about quality beers and ciders. Check out their website to see what they're working on. Even though our sampling of beers and pubs was limited by time and liver, I would like to make a few recommendations. The size of the town or city is not necessarily an indicator of good beer availability. Modest-sized Shrewsbury had many good pubs while similarly sized Torquay, in Devon, had very little to offer. North Wales has some very good smaller breweries and nearby Liverpool has some excellent pubs and breweries. Scotland has seen the emergence of many high-quality breweries in recent years. In London, on my way back from mud-larking on the banks of the Thames, I happened upon Temple Brew House just off the Strand, which has a great lineup of craft beers and is typical of many brewpubs or taprooms springing up across the city. As usual, our 2016 vacation in Britain was very enjoyable: lots of history, meetings with relatives, scenic walks, great museums and galleries, and loads of fine pubs and ales. 43
Beers, Beaches & Breweries >> Kim Lawton
I’m writing my What’s Brewing column while driving from the Okanagan to Vancouver. In Manning Park, there is snow on the ground and in the mountains, and the electric energy of winter is just around the corner. Our ski hills will be opening soon, and nothing goes better after a day on the slopes than a big, rich craft beer drunk by a crackling fire. If you’re looking for a reason to head to the Okanagan, the fourth annual Brewski craft beer, spirits, and cider festival is coming up on February 18. This event, held at The Gunbarrel Saloon at Apex Mountain Resort, has become a signature event at the hill and always sells out well in advance! Over 20 BC breweries, cideries, and distilleries pour their favourite hand-crafted beverages and The Gunbarrel Saloon creates awesome appies to complement the beverages. Hit the slopes during the day and then celebrate the Apex après-ski vibe at night. After Brewski, the fun moves to the dance floor for the Brewski after party, featuring live entertainment. Tickets go on sale in December via eventbrite.ca. Your Brewski ticket gives you a discount on lift passes, so grab some friends and make it a weekend to remember. Ask about Brewski accommodation rates when you book your weekend stay. CAMRA members, show your card at the door for two extra drink tokens. The 22nd annual Okanagan Fest of Ale will take place April 7 and 8 in Penticton. This festival features a great mix of new 44
releases, seasonal favourites, cask ales and quality ciders from 50+ exceptional craft breweries, plus great entertainment and fabulous local food. Visit www.festofale.ca before December 24 to get the early-bird discount on weekend passes and check out the Sip & Stay ticket and accommodation packages. Winter is still weeks away, officially, but winter ale season is upon us! At Cannery Brewing, where I am the director of marketing, it’s the season of stouts. Maple Stout, one of my personal faves, is back for the winter. Darkling Oatmeal Stout is our winter seasonal, and a new Breakfast Stout called Kindling launches in December. Skyler Punnett (www.skylerlukepunnett.com) illustrated and designed the Artisan Creations label to match the artistry of the beer, which is made with oats, chocolate, and Red Beard Coffee from Kamloops. Tin Whistle Brewing is bringing back their winter favourite, Chocolate Cherry Porter, a delicious dark ale made with fresh cherries and cacao. And look for their Christmas gift threepacks at private liquor stores. Also in Penticton, we’re excited about the opening of Highway 97 Brewery. After a slight delay, final touches are happening and they anticipate having their first four beers ready to go before Christmas, followed by their ESB, which will launch in January. Craft Corner Kitchen in Penticton is hosting a Cannery Brewing Christmas Cask event on December 20, and features “Penticton Elixir”, a special beer-based cocktail, in December. The
Kettle Valley Station Pub is currently undergoing renovations, but will reopen in early December with even more craft beer. I’m eager to check out the new Detonate Brewing in Summerland. They are just up the street from my house, so I regularly check out the brewery, which now has signage up and growlers in the window. Owner Nathan tells me they are hoping to open by Christmas. In Oliver, Firehall Brewery is fueling the fire with all sorts of great events, jam nights and vinyl events in their Beer Shop & Social space. They also recently launched their new Beer Department beer club, which offers a great lineup of membership benefits. In Kelowna, Tree Brewing recently launched its Raw Series No. 6 Red Lager. This unfiltered red lager is light in body with a balance of spice and malt notes, making it ideal for the holiday season. If you’re in Kelowna, visit The Tree Brewing Beer Institute for 24 days of 24 unique cask-conditioned beers. Also, check out Kelowna’s newest breweries—Kettle River Brewing and Boundary Brewing—and head north to Vernon’s Marten Brewing. The Okanagan is not just wineries and beaches. We offer a 4-season playground where your adventures are hot and your craft beers are cold and delicious. Until next time, cheers!
Kim Lawton is President of CAMRA South Okanagan, Marketing Director at Cannery Brewing, and Okanagan correspondent for BC Craft Beer Month. Follow Kim @DogLegMarketing.
Old World contd. to be unbalanced and extreme, and declared it undrinkable. I suppose when your country is brewing some of the most celebrated beers in the world, there isn’t much need for experimentation. I didn’t bother even looking for craft beer in Belgium; I was too busy trying to get through the vast number of iconic beers they produce. I had sours that brought tears of joy to my eyes, funky saisons with otherworldly aromas, golden blondes with level upon level of complexity, and deep, rich Trappist ales that went down smoothly despite an ABV of 10 or higher. Also impressive was the enthusiasm of the Belgians for their beer. Our new friends at the local pub were delighted to find I had an interest in beer, and I spent many hours there one evening, trying all their favourites and learning the history behind each beer. The difference between craft and traditional was summed up nicely by Jamie, who said, “yes, I can go to a bar that has a hundred beers on tap, and have a really nice tripel that tastes just like the twenty other tripels they serve. It’s good, but it’s boring.” The classic European styles are hugely influential to the world beer scene and should continue to occupy a place of high esteem, but the growing interest in craft shows that there is also room for innovation and experimentation. The next few years will be very interesting as craft beer moves into the mainstream in Western Europe.
Chelseashares her passion for all things beer-related in BC at www. brewtifulbc.ca
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A View from the Cellar A Crash Course in Cellarmanship Part V: Cask Troubleshooting Guide >> Adam Chatburn
I
n the final part of my series on casks, I present a troubleshooting guide. The first four parts are available in back issues of What’s Brewing online.
There are many problems that can arise when serving from casks, and I won’t be able to cover them all here, so I’ll stick to the ones I deal with regularly. The golden rule is to never move, shake, lift or otherwise touch the cask unless absolutely necessary. This must always be the last resort, as it will immediately stir up the sediment (lees), resulting in unsatisfactory pints for everybody. Most cask beers should be clear and bright, with no trace of yeast or particulate. If you have to do something that will stir up the sediment, leave the cask until it drops clear again. This might only take half an hour, but could take much longer.
Serving casks from a gravity tap 1. The cask is very “lively.” Put a hard spile in firmly and cover it with a bar towel. Hammer in the tap, then carefully open the tap and vent out a few pints into a pitcher (have a spare shirt on hand). This should stabilize the pressure. The cask may be very turbid, so leave it until it calms down, if possible. If the spile continues to fizz, draw beer off at the tap until the flow slows. At this point, loosen the spile and pour normally. Time will help; if possible, leave it a few hours as the fizz will have agitated the lees. 2. The cask is not pouring. Check that the spile is loose enough and that the tap is clean, not blocked or broken, and working properly. If it’s still not pouring, tighten the hard spile and let the flow ebb. You can then remove and replace the tap with only minor beer loss. Make sure the keystone is fully pierced and unblocked before replacing the tap with a clean spare. 3. The cask is turbid. If the beer is not a cloudy style, the cask may have been moved or the finings may not have worked. Try to wait for the sediment to drop to the bottom of the cask in a cold environment. If the beer has been properly fined, this won’t take too long. It might not be perfectly bright, but it shouldn’t be lumpy. 4. The tap is leaking. Check if it is leaking around the tap or around/through the keystone. If around the tap, make sure the tap is hammered in properly. If it is leaking through the tap, check that the nut at the bottom of the tap is tight (if it has one). If it still leaks, follow step 1 above to replace the tap. While it is out, inspect the keystone. If the leak is at the keystone (perhaps a wood one has split), there’s not a lot that can be done, other than tie a cloth around the tap or put a pitcher on the floor to catch the drips. If time 46
is not a factor, you can replace the keystone, but the beer will become oxidised and will not keep. 5. The beer is flat. Not much can be done. The cask may have warmed up, been left unsealed, been moved or tapped badly, or wasn’t sufficiently conditioned by the brewer. Brewers have been known to add dry ice to carbonate and chill a cask (ahem, G.W.), but I would not recommend it.
Serving casks from a beer engine 1. The beer is not pouring or the pump is stiff. Check that the tap on the cask is open and the spile is a soft spile or a loose hard spile. Check that the line is connected. If this doesn’t fix anything, disconnect the line and open the tap to check that the beer is flowing. If it’s not, check step 2 above. 2. The beer won’t stop pouring. Make sure the cask is below the pump. If the cask is too lively, the pressure from the cask may fill the line, so loosen the spile and draw off a few pints if necessary. 3. The cask is sputtering or there is air in the line. The cask is a little too lively and gas is leaving the beer, creating pockets of gas in the line. This is more common in narrow and unbraided hose lines such as pub keg lines. Time will let the cask settle and calm down. If it’s a cask that has been served for a while, check the level of the beer (see below). If it is low, gently chock up the back of the cask by a few degrees. This will submerge the back of the tap so more beer can be served. Check the first pour from this. If it is yeasty and cloudy, consider discarding the rest of the cask. 4. The beer tastes vinegary or sour. Unless it’s a style that should be sour, this means the cask has turned. Air in the cask ullage (which can be beneficial at first) will eventually make the beer go bad. There’s not much you can do about this, unfortunately. Keeping the cask cold will slow this process so the beer lasts for around two weeks. In the old days, publicans would blend it with fresher beer to hide the flavour. This practice has shaped many historical beers and styles such as barley wine, brown ale, gueuze, and most lambics. It is possible to use a low-pressure “breather”, which replaces the air in the cask with carbon dioxide. These work well if used correctly, but are not traditional and not necessary if you are able to drain the cask in less than two weeks. 5. The beer is too foamy or turbid. Remove the sparkler, if using one, and pull the pint slightly slower; only part of the line might be cloudy.
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6. The beer tastes different, but still fine. Casks can change their flavour profile over time. Generally, I find that they improve steadily from day 1-6, then plateau for a few days before turning sour, as long as the cask is kept cold and still. 7. The beer is coming out of the sparkler at a weird angle and/or rate. Take the sparkler off and make sure the beer is pouring normally. Then check that the sparkler is clean and the holes aren’t blocked. If they are getting blocked again and again from the same cask, perhaps hop particulate hasn’t settled out properly. Consider adding an inline filter at the tap. A pop filter creates a barrier to particulate between the tap and the line. The rubber ring also works well to create a drip-free seal. Remember that this can get blocked and must get cleaned regularly.
More Pro Tips If you want to know how much beer is left in a cask, do not lift it up! This will stir up the sediment. You can either: • Tap the side gently with your fingernails. You should be able to identify how much is left by the change in tone. • Look at the side or ends. You may be able to see a line of condensation that will tell you the beer level. You may also be able to feel the change in temperature as you run a finger down the side of a metal cask.
• The best answer is: There’s enough to keep pouring. It’ll run out when it runs out. Do you really need to know how much is left? If possible, find a beer engine for your cask. It makes a big difference when serving. Don’t let other people lift or move your cask once it’s in its serving location. They are clearly uninformed about the right way to treat a cask. Always have a few bar towels on standby as well as a few hard and soft spiles. A spare shirt and pair of pants can be handy, too. When tapping a cask, try to have someone brace it from the back or have it as flat to/ against the wall as possible. After all, you are hitting it from the front quite hard. There’s plenty more, but if you have any other questions, contact me adam@realcask.ca and I’ll do my best. This is the end of my cask series; I hope you have found it interesting and useful. If you have any feedback, please feel free to contact me by email or @realcask. Next issue: I’ll be looking at line cleaning and why it’s vitally important to good-tasting beer.
Adam Chatburn is Associate Brewer at Real Cask Brewing in Vancouver and a former President of CAMRA Vancouver.
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Year of the Mild contd. Cask-conditioned mild was my beer of choice up to the time I left the UK—Fuller’s Hock at 25p a pint, would you believe it? My local, for the short time I lived in Acton, really knew how to keep and serve mild. Unfortunately, that was not true of many pubs; at some, the mild cask was where the slops went at the end of the night. Adding a mixture of lager, bitter, and Guinness didn’t change the colour of mild, but it did rather change the flavour. I well remember a group of beer-loving friends, having driven miles to find a particular pub listed in the Good Beer Guide, all ordering pints of Banks’s Mild. I took a sip and wrinkled my nose. One by one, so did the others. I boldly suggested to the barman that the mild was off. He gave it to a regular, who said it always tasted like that. Maybe at that pub it did. We begged to differ, put down our pints, and walked out. Am I being selfish in promoting mild ale in BC? You betcha. But I am not trying to convert you, dear reader. You might be happier with the next mind-blowingly hoppy IPA, the most mouth-puckering sour, or the ultimate Baltic Stout. I am think-
ing of your friends who persist in consuming mass-produced North-American lager (which has to be cooled to, or below, zero Celsius to be drinkable). Mild could be their transition beer style. I know, I know, they will be put off by the colour. Ask them if they drink coffee or cola. Do they eat chocolate? Buy them a sleeve of mild and they might feel obliged to drink it. By the time they reach the bottom of the glass, they may realize they are actually enjoying it. After all, it is slightly sweet and low in hops like their N.A. lager. Even red wine or cider drinkers might appreciate a malt-forward ale with subliminal hopping. Interestingly, BC brewers who are not brewing mild year-round see it as a fall and winter seasonal. By contrast, CAMRA in the UK has always promoted mild in May. Before the era of the hoppy pale ale or ISA, UK drinkers saw mild as a lighter beer for spring and summer, when they might be drinking more. Here in BC, it makes more sense as the low-alcohol style for the colder months. Here’s hoping for another Mild winter.
A Mild-Mannered Menu
Products Entered for the Brewers Challenge at 2016 BC Beer Awards Brewery Andina Brewing Co. Big Rock Brewery, Vancouver Bomber Brewing Brassneck Brewery Callister Brewing Co. Doan’s Craft Brewing Field House Brewing Co. Foamers’ Folly Brewing Co. Four Winds Brewing Gladstone Brewing Co. KPU Brewing Main St. Brewing Moody Ales Moon Under Water Brewery Off the Rail Brewing Co. Old Abbey Ales Persephone Brewing Co. Postmark Brewing R&B Brewing Co. Ravens Brewing Co. Real Cask Brewing Red Collar Brewing Steel and Oak Brewing Co. Strange Fellows Brewing Strathcona Beer Co. The Parkside Brewery Trading Post Brewery
Name of Beer Andean Mild Ale English Mild Mild Old Money Mild Cuppa (Earl Grey Mild) Rye Cask Mild Fresh Hopped Copper Ale Æthelred the Mild Milk Chocolate Mild Gladstone Dark Mild Mild Mild 60 Shilling Scottish Mild Wet hopped spruce tip mild Sweet Child of Mild LBC English Mild Quasar in the mist Dark Mild Raven Cream Ale English Dark Mild Burnley Bastard Mild Red Collar Mild Rye Mild Talisman Pale Ale! Dark Mild The Murray Mild Dark Mild Ale
ABV 4.0% 3.8% 3.4% 4.0% 3.7% 4.0% 3.8% 4.0% 3.3% 3.2% 3.5% 4.0% 3.8% 3.8% 3.9% 3.8% 3.5% 3.7% 4.8% 3.2% 3.0% 3.8% 3.6% 4.0% 3.8% 3.6% 3.9%
Availability Year-round Occasional Event-only Occasional Event-only Event-only Event-only Occasional Occasional Occasional Event-only Event-only Occasional Occasional Event-only1 Seasonal (fall)2 Event-only Seasonal (fall) Year-round Year-round3 Year-round Seasonal (fall) Occasional Year-round Occasional Occasional Seasonal (fall)
What's Brewing contacted each brewery that participated in the BC Beer Awards 2016 Brewer’s Challenge Mild competition. Four BC breweries currently have ales that meet the definition of “mild” available yearround. At least one more is coming in 2017. Four are available seasonally in the fall and winter, and ten more are brewed occasionally (no specific season). 1. Collaboration with Tap and Barrel. Off the Rail also have a 4.3% English Mild available yearround at the brewery, soon to be available in 650 ml bottles. 2. Soon to be available year-round. 3. Consistently found in stores by the author.
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