2008 CAMRA Vancouver Awards

“We chose to strongly emphasize craft beer and continuously make an effort to source brands no one else in the city carries,” said Brewery Creek manager, Gerry Erith. “Not only does this award endorse our strategy, our success has meant that we will continue to improve our selection to accommodate the growth we’ve seen.”

The past year has seen an increased interest in craft beer in Vancouver. In addition to the ever-present lager and pale ale, every brewpub now makes strong, robustly-hopped India Pale Ale. All will have, either seasonally or year around, a wheat beer and a stout with a various assortment of styles in between. We are also seeing Belgian fruit and abbey-style ales that defy Vancouverites’ common conception of beer.

Food pairing has been getting more notice since acclaimed Brooklyn brewer-author Garrett Oliver (“The Brewmaster’s Table”) hosted a brewmaster’s dinner at Gastown’s Boneta restaurant last August. Subsequently, beer dinners have been held at Zin, the Pan Pacific, Mission Springs Brewing, FigMint, and The Whip. Surrey’s BigRidge Brewing and The Whip regularly have special menus paired with their cask offerings and there have been a handful of beer and chocolate, and beer and cheese pairing events.

“Clearly, beer is not just for the burger and pizza crowd, said Rick Green, CAMRA Vancouver’s newly-elected president. “There is a place for flavourful craft beer in fine dining that has, until now, been largely overlooked in Vancouver. Restaurants are beginning to recognize the broad palate of flavours available to them from the myriad beer styles.”

Cask ale is another growing phenomenon. This is a traditional English method of beer production where real ale is matured in 40.9-litre firkins and served directly from the cask without filtering, pasteurization, or the addition of carbonation. Cask ale is available weekly at DIX BBQ & Brewing and The Whip, and monthly at BigRidge and Taylor’s Crossing in North Vancouver. DIX hosts a summer and a winter “Caskival” that typically offer two dozen different beers from brewers around the region.

The results of the 2008 CAMRA Vancouver Awards are:

 

Best Local Brewpub

Gold: Steamworks

Silver: Central City Brewing

Bronze: DIX BBQ & Brewing

 

Best Local Beer Cafe, Pub, or Restaurant

Gold: The Whip Gallery Restaurant

Silver: The Alibi Room

Bronze: The Railway Club

 

Best Local Liquor Store

Gold: Brewery Creek Cold Beer & Wine Store

Silver: BCLS Signature Store (39th & Cambie)

Bronze: Firefly Fine Wines and Ales

 

Best Local Beer Event

Gold: The Whip Real Ale Sundays

Silver: DIX Cask Thursdays

Bronze: CAMRA On a Mission to Mission

 

Best BC Brewery

Gold: Phillips Brewing Co., Victoria

Silver: Crannóg Ales, Sorrento

Bronze: Storm Brewing Ltd., Vancouver

 

Best BC Beer

Gold: Central City Imperial IPA

Silver: Storm Black Plague Stout

Bronze: Crannóg Back Hand of God Stout

 

Best BC Seasonal Beer

Gold: Steamworks Grand Espresso Stout

Silver: R & B Auld Nick

Bronze: Granville Island Merry Monks Doppelbock

 

The Campaign for Real Ale

In 1971 angry beer lovers in England formed the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to combat the replacement of traditional regional beers with “mainstream” factory beers. Affiliated with the now 84,000-strong CAMRA UK, CAMRA BC was incorporated in 1990 as an independent consumer organization to

• maintain consumer rights
• promote quality, choice, and value for money
• campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders, and perries as part of our heritage and culture
• promote and preserve full-flavoured & distinctive beers and decent pubs

 

Media Contact:

Rick Green

President

CAMRA Vancouver

bodger@istar.ca

Tel: (604) 879-5548