NORTHERN BC: COMMUNITY, COLLABORATION AND CRAFT

COMMUNITY, COLLABORATION AND CRAFT >> ADAM ARTHUR

It has been quite the unusual year in Northern BC. Normally there would be craft beer festivals taking place, such as the CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery Street Festivals and the vALEmount Craft Beer Experience. Brewery patios would also be packed full of mingling people. Things have not been normal since March, and now there’s a new normal.

To counteract the COVID-19 blues, people are finding new ways to engage in the spirit of community, collaboration and craft. One unique event in particular has evoked the feelings of a music and craft beer festival, on a smaller scale and in a socially distanced way. Picnic on the Farm: A Socially Distanced Sunday Picnic took place on July 26, 2020 at the beautiful Bydand Creek Farm, located 30 minutes north of Prince George in the Salmon River Valley. This event was a great example of collaboration between three small independent local businesses from Prince George: Mad Loon Entertainment, Birch & Boar Charcuterie & Provisions, and Trench Brewing & Distilling. The event featured great local musicians, delicious locally sourced food, and tasty Trench Brewing & Distilling beer: craft at its best in many aspects. It was well organized, with successful social distancing. It brought people and community together safely to support local and enjoy something memorable. A second event is scheduled for August 23, 2020. Speaking of social distancing, many craft breweries in the north are adapting well to Dr. Bonnie Henry’s wise advice to be calm, be kind, and be safe. Patios are popping up for the first time and existing patios are expanding. Being greeted by a server wearing a mask is becoming the norm and applying hand sanitizer is becoming second nature. I’ve enjoyed visits at Trench Brewing & Distilling, CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery and Barkerville Brewing Co. I do want to check out the expanded patio at Three Ranges Brewing Co. You can purchase hand sanitizer at Trench and CrossRoads, two places that manufacture it. Each business collaborated to share the cost of developing the method of making hand sanitizer locally. Roughly 500 litres of the first batch was donated to non-profits around the community. The past few months have also included the opening of Fox Mountain Brewing Co. in Williams Lake and Ursa Minor Brewing at Ootsa Lake, south of Burns Lake. I’m looking forward to checking them both out. There are now 13 craft breweries that call northern BC home, 14 if you include Prince George’s Pacific Western Brewing. And it’s great to see local establishments continuing to support these independent craft breweries such as Nancy O’s in Prince George. Many northern craft breweries have been brewing up some delicious beer to be enjoyed lately. Some of my picks include the Smithers Brewing Co. Haskap Gose, Trench Brewing & Distilling Sugar Bowl Passion Fruit Pale Ale, Mighty Peace Brewing Co. Mighty IPA, Three Ranges Brewing Co. Snowshoe Saison with Cranberries, Wheelhouse Brewing All Inclusive Pineapple and Coconut Sour, Ursa Minor Brewing Pig’s Eye Rye Ale, Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse Ltd. Skeena West Pale Ale, Barkerville Brewing Co. Sluice Juice Hazy Pale Ale and the CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery one-off cask, Pina Colada Witbier. One beer that really intrigues me is the Smithers Brewing Co. Lichtenhainer beer.

Overall, it’s been an interesting time in northern BC with all of the changes caused by responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these changes have allowed people to come together and enjoy things in a new way. Hopefully, these small and medium sized local independent businesses will continue to thrive through these tough times. It’s more important than ever to buy independent BC craft brewery products, to give them a fighting chance. But the most important part is for everyone to be safe and to enjoy craft beer responsibly and in moderation. Cheers!!!

Adam Arthur is a craft beer fan since 2010 who’s glad to represent Northern BC and the city of Prince George. He supports Independent craft breweries in (and outside of) BC.

STAYING SAFE AND KEEPING BREW SHOPS BUSY >> WARREN BOYER

Covid-19 has affected all of us in some way or another. In mid-March we were asked to stay home and travel only when necessary. Businesses considered non-essential were closed or forced to change the way they do business. For several months, I found myself at home much more than I would have been otherwise. People freaked out and hoarded toilet paper and flour. Concerned, I started thinking about ways to be as self-sufficient as possible: how I could reduce my need to shop at busy stores where I would be in contact with other people.

My first step was to start a batch of homebrew. I had the time and I knew I would need the beer. It would keep me busy and reduce my need to visit a local beer store or brewery. I brewed a saison in mid-March. I only have a few bottles left. I bottled another saison at the beginning of August. And, after writing about my 2005 IPA recipe for the last issue of this magazine, I brewed that beer, too. This got me wondering: Has anyone else been brewing more, now that they might have a bit more time to do so?

I asked my local homebrew shops if they have noticed anything during this interesting time. It seems that I am not the only one brewing a bit more frequently these days. Curtis Van Marck at Barley's Homebrewing Supplies reported that he noticed a small increase in business that first weekend as the initial restrictions were announced, but he never anticipated how much busier he would get. "Almost overnight, Barley's began experiencing customer counts higher than ever before." It was exciting, sure, but it was incredibly stressful under the circumstances. He was suddenly short-staffed, running out of inventory, struggling to get orders out the door, all while worrying about the health and safety of his staff, his customers, and himself. Curtis had to change the way he did business to keep everyone safe while staying open. He says, "It was a humbling experience and I am so grateful to the homebrewing community, and to our customers, for supporting us during this time. It became a regular occurrence to hear customers say, 'Thank you for being open'. It's not really something you expect to hear as a retail store owner." Curtis believes the lockdown was a catalyst. A lot of people found themselves with tons of extra time on their hands in a period of uncertainty. Brewery lounges and bars were closed down and lineups at the liquor store were outrageous. It was the perfect excuse for anyone thinking about homebrewing to make the leap, and it was an opportunity for veteran homebrewers to dive back in to the hobby. Michael Druce at Fraser Mills Fermentation Supplies told me that he saw a noticeable increase in people entering the hobby, or starting back up in the first part of the lockdown, which has led to more regular customers overall. Both Curtis and Michael report many people looking for distilling supplies to make hand sanitizer during the initial stages of restrictions, and sourcing ingredients for other foods like sourdough and conventional bread making, kombucha, cheese making, etc. As business changed at Fraser Mills Fermentation Supplies, they shifted to a much higher number of online sales and offered local delivery or pick up. Michael advised that border restrictions have led to some supply problems, especially with yeast and malt extracts. Apparently Kveik strains have been more popular as the weather warmed up. For all of us, the uncertainty continues. Curtis reports that business is beginning to slow and return to a more normal level, but attributes that to restrictions easing. He speculates that may change as we are Barley's Homebrewing

seeing new cases on the rise and the province could go back a phase or two, with tightened restrictions. If you have found yourself with time on your hands or need a distraction from all of the craziness in the world right now, I strongly suggest trying homebrewing. It is fun, educational, and rewarding. The best part is that, in the end, you have beer to drink. With a beer in one hand and mash paddle in the other, it is difficult to touch your face!

In the words of Dr. Bonnie Henry: "Be kind, be calm, be safe...and go make some beer!" SELECTED LOWER MAINLAND HOME BREW SUPPLIES

Barley's Homebrewing Supplies

Website: www.barleyshomebrewing.com Website: www.shopbarleys.com Phone: 604-553-1941

Fraser Mills Fermentation Supplies

3044 St Johns Street Port Moody, BC, V3H2C5 Phone: 604-461-8891 Email: michael@frasermillsfc.com Website: frasermillsbrewingsupply.com

Centennial Homebrewing Supplies 2985 Rupert St, Vancouver, BC V5M 3T8 Website: centennialhomebrewing.com

Bosagrape Winery & Brew Supplies

6908 Palm Ave, Burnaby, BC V5J 4M3 Website: www.bosagrape.com

Goldsteam Craft Brewing Supplies

46126 Yale Rd, Chilliwack, BC V2P 2P1 Website: goldsteam.com

Warren Boyer of Fraser Mills Fermentation is an award winning homebrewer, Certified Beer Judge, former President of CAMRA Vancouver, and occasional Professional Brewer. E: homebrewboy@shaw.ca

Bramling Cross: an underappreciated hop

>> J. RANDOM

For me, like Warren (previous page), staying home and stewing this spring meant staying home and brewing. I never make IPA because BC breweries have world-class West Coast IPAs, and I love ’em. I brew classic British styles because the mild, bitter, and old ales I crave are rarely produced by BC brewers. To my taste, most BC ESBs are too caramel-forward and citrussy. The caramel is presumably from crystal malt, which is used to compensate for the less robust flavours of North American base malts. This is particularly true for breweries that use pilsner malt for all their beers. While I love citrussy hops in an American Pale Ale or IPA, they do not combine well with excessive caramel in my mouth. Simon Welton’s (page 32) plans provide the potential for relief, depending on his ingredient choice.

To get authentic British flavours, I use mostly imported malts and hops: Golden Promise or Maris Otter for my base malt, Fuggles in the boil, and East Kent Goldings in a hop stand after the boil. I also dry-hop where appropriate for the style, because I found out that most of the British real ales I really loved were, at least back in the 70s and 80s. When it comes to bitter, nothing beats the effect of Bramling Cross in the secondary fermenter. So it was a pleasant surprise to stumble across the Canadian heritage of this quintessential British hop. In a previous article (What’s Brewing, November 2009), I casually noted that many classic Northwest hops owe their distinctive citrussy aroma to the parentage of wild Manitoba hops. Further research reveals they were also the source of my two favourite hops during early days of homebrewing in the UK: Northern Brewer and Bramling Cross.

For this I can thank a fellow British plant pathologist and a Canadian horticulturalist. Professor Ernest Stanley Salmon worked on breeding new hop varieties at Wye College, England, during the early 1900s. (Coincidentally, that institution much later merged with Imperial College, London, where I studied plant pathology.) While Salmon’s early work focussed on disease-resistant varieties, he became aware that British Brewers were having problems obtaining American hops. These days, only readers of Ron Pattinson’s The Homebrewers Guide to Vintage Beer might be aware that British recipes of the 1800s frequently included hops imported from the USA and Canada. They found these higher alpha-acid varieties could be economically used in smaller quantities and preserved the beer better than local hops. Salmon set about trying to add in these desirable qualities to British hop varieties. In 1916 he received seeds of Manitoban wild hop plants from Dr. William Terill Macoun, Dominion Horticulturalist for Canada. This worthy gentleman oversaw Manitoba’s Morden Experimental Farm, among others, and these hops were found growing alongside a creek through the town. Supposedly hops had never been grown commercially in the area, so these were a native variety. Once these seeds had grown into mature plants, one of them, coded BB1, was open-pollinated (unknown British male hop parentage) to yield Bullion, Brewers Gold and a male variety OL45. Brewers Gold is a key part of the heritage of Northern Brewer and many highalpha American varieties, including Secondary fermenter with Citra, Mosaic, and Sorachi Ace. hop sock, in a repurposed Salmon used OL45 to pollinate wine cooler for year-round brewing. a Bramling Golding, yielding Bramling Cross. While its cousins tended towards citrus notes, this variety enjoys a flavour and aroma like blackcurrants.

I was introduced to Northern Brewer by the flatmate who taught me home brewing. He went on to brew for Truman in Isleworth, then John Smith’s in Tadcaster, the largest supplier of cask-conditioned beer in England at that time. I bought Dave Line’s Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy and found the recipes for a couple of my favourite ales used Bramling Cross. However, a psychologist might suggest my fondness for its black-currant notes could be related to excessive childhood consumption of Ribena. So, there I was at Imperial College, being subtly drawn by my homebrew to Canada, though not, thankfully, to Manitoba.

More than 40 years later, I occasionally encounter that distinctive taste in a BC-brewed bitter and upon enquiry, confirm they used my favourite hop. Persephone Brewing’s Best Bitter and Main Street Brewing’s Hare and the Dog Best Bitter are two great examples. I strongly suspect that this is a style that would sell better in BC if it could only shake off the B word (What’s Brewing, Summer 2016). I would therefore like to formally propose “British Session Ale”, a much more accurate description than “bitter.” I would also love to see Bramling Cross more widely used and grown in BC.

For a while, Scotland’s Brewdog made a heavily hopped ale called Bramling X (IPA is dead), the recipe for which I recently found on their dedicated recipe web site. Now that is an IPA I might brew, and so might you (with apologies to Warren for treading on his homebrew turf).

J. Random is a former VP of CAMRA Vancouver, beer fan for 4 decades and occasional homebrewer. Has been penning the Ullage & Spillage column for What's Brewing since 2003.