Originally Posted January 17th, 2011
By The Green Man, Randy Shore of the Vancouver Sun

A recent investigation by my colleague and fellow beer enthusiast Larry Pynn found that a pint can be anywhere from 14 to 19.5 ounces. Of the 15 establishments he visited not one sold a true 20-ounce pint.

Though to be fair, when he did his rounds, it was technically illegal to sell a 20-ounce pint in B.C. That rule has since been changed. But has the size of your beer?

In most cases, no.

CAMRA Vancouver is collecting e-signatures on petition calling on the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch to enforce their own rules for liquor service, which require licensees to post the actual size of alcoholic beverages on the wall or in the menu or at least provide information to customers who ask.

The truth is many bar and restaurant managers don’t even know how big a true pint is and most servers don’t know how many ounces or millilitres of beer are in the sleeve they are handing you.

Which brings us to the biggest scam in the beer world: The Sleeve.

The LCLB defines a sleeve in its guidelines for licensees as 14 ounces, but sleeve glasses used in the real world range anywhere from 12 to 16 ounces. And a lot of places call them pints, which is outright illegal in Canada.

Truth is all we are asking for here.

Bars that use branded glasses from Stella or Guinness provide some assurance that the consumer is getting the appropriate measure, whether that’s 330 millilitres or 500, said Trevor Kallies, food and beverage manager for Donnelly Group which runs ten establishments in the Vancouver area.

Donnelly properties – Bimini, Bar None, Repulic, Library Square Public House, Granville Room and the Lampighter among others - are adding serving sizes to their menus as new menus are printed.

The Whip has introduced full 20-ounce pints on some of its offerings. Central City Brew Pub, too.

To reward bars that are up front about their serving sizes, CAMRA BC is considering awarding “CAMRA-approved” stickers for establishments that meet the standard to help guide beer drinkers in their quest for value and transparency.

I will have a full treatment on this story in The Sun later this week.

In the meantime feel free to post the names of establishments that respect their customers enough to tell the truth.

Read original posting from the Green Man.

2012 CAMRA Awards Results are in!

Vancouver Food Tour Craft Beer ‘n Bites TourWhat’s more, a range of exciting food events is also taking place. Vancouver Food Tour fully on board with our latest culinary adventure: Craft Beer ‘n Bites Tour.

Sign up now to explore Gastown’s exciting craft beer scene on our beer-centric culinary tour. With a passionate beer educator as your guide, enjoy and learn about various aspects of craft beer in 4 hot restaurant destinations. Numerous craft beer tastings and delicious food pairings are all included.

Dine Out Vancouver

Dine Out Vancouver celebrates its 10th anniversary January 20 to February 6! 225 restaurants will offer a three-course dinner menu at either $18, $28, or $38. The festival will also feature food tours, cooking classes, culinary events, and hotel reservations program.

For more information, or to view the participating restaurants visit www.tourismvancouver.com.

Craft Beer ‘n Bites Tour

Monday to Saturday $80

Vancouver Food Tour Craft Beer ‘n Bites TourBy no means a pub crawl, explore Gastown’s exciting craft beer scene on Vancouver Food Tour’s beer-centric culinary tour.

With a passionate beer educator as your guide, curious beer lovers and serious beer enthusiasts alike will discover, enjoy and discuss craft brews alongside a variety of food pairings.

Each destination features unique aspects of beer such as: beer history and brewing process, beer cocktails, modern gastropub snacks, how to pair beer and food, North West style beers, International selections, and more.

Hop on board and meet fellow beer devotees as we taste, sip, and bite through historic Gastown.

Tour Includes:

* Beer tastings at each of the 4 destinations

* Delectable, hand-selected food pairings

* Informative and interactive guided walking tour

* Gratuities to your guide are highly appreciated

Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm or later. Saturdays: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm or later.

Dates: Debuting during Dine Out Vancouver, from Jan 20th- Feb 4th, 2012. Regular tour dates will be added after Dine Out ends.

Price: $80 CDN per person, HST included.

* $3 ticketing fee added upon check-out

* 5% off 6-11 guests, 10% off 12+ guests

Minimum capacity: 6 guests (guests will be notified if minimum is not met)

Maximum capacity: 14 guests

Meeting and Ending Spot: At Waterfront Station in Gastown, Vancouver. Exact location provided upon registration.

Register Now

Spaces are very limited so register quickly.

This is a 19+ event.

By Sarah Berman, 30 Dec 2011, TheTyee.ca

The year is 1949. British reporter Noel Monks walks into the Hotel Vancouver and orders a pint. The barman turns him away — not because he’s intoxicated or even poorly dressed — Monks was bounced for standing on two feet.

The journalist later wrote Canada is “a tremendous, virile country… Yet you’ve apparently let yourselves be legislated into a state of adolescence when it comes to the use of alcohol.”

Monks had reason to be miffed. At the time, B.C.’s beer-serving establishments outlawed music, dancing, food of all kinds, unescorted women and standing upright with a beer. Wine or whisky weren’t on the menu, and mocking the rules by crawling from one table to the next was presumably more than frowned upon.

In other words, fun was synonymous with contraband.

Local historian Robert Campbell (author of Sit Down and Drink Your Beer) explains these laws were a reaction to the “wild west” era before prohibition. “There was intense debate. The government wasn’t necessarily against liquor, but against the 24/7 public drinking and drunkeness in saloons.”

Following the First World War (a brief time of temperance in Canada), B.C. axed its prohibition laws and brought back booze under heavy government control. “They banned all the trappings of the former saloons,” says Campbell. “Anything that might encourage one to drink.”

We’ve come a long way since those puritanical days, but change has been astonishingly slow. Despite a culture predisposed to bonding over bevvies, B.C.’s liquor laws remain among the most archaic and outdated in North America.

1. No beer on stage!

An example: until earlier this year, it was against the law for performers to sip beer on any stage in the province. For rock bands touring anywhere from Nanaimo to Vancouver to Prince George, liquid courage was technically off limits.

It’s a rule still enforced by many B.C. bar owners who fear inspections and penalties. The Astoria pub in Vancouver is one such venue: “You can’t drink or even dance on the stage with a drink,” confirms Astoria bouncer Buck Lafontaine. “We tell them before they go up: water, but nothing else.”

“I want to drink a beer in between songs,” shrugs musician David Rogria after a recent show at the pub. Rogria books live gigs for the Astoria and plays in a band called Basketball. “Security [staff] have a lot more important things to do than bother musicians drinking on stage.”

Campbell says the law was likely a “hangover” from the post-1920 restrictions on entertainment. “It has very deep roots, I suspect.” After the better part of a century, this relic of screwy prohibition-era logic was finally laid to rest.

But the historical hangover doesn’t end here. Among B.C.’s entrepreneurs, culturites and politicians, there’s an emerging critical voice.

“We’re looking at some deeply antiquated policies,” Vancouver Councillor Heather Deal says of B.C.’s Liquor Control and Licensing Act. “It’s not about being permissive to the point of encouraging abuse, but bringing legislation into the modern age.”

2. No wine with that movie!

For starters, movie theatres cannot sell liquor in British Columbia.

It’s an old law, thrown into question by an equally ancient theatre: the 1938 Rio in East Vancouver. Functioning as a single-screen multimedia venue for many years, the theatre has been locked in liquor licence limbo for nearly a year.

The City of Vancouver has endorsed the Rio’s application for a full-time licence, but the provincial government has ruled the heritage space would have to stop functioning as a theatre.

“That’s what the province has told us. They’ve made it very clear,” owner and general manager Corinne Lea says. “With this application process we must now be a live venue exclusively.” It’s a strange violation, considering the Rio has regularly served drinks at live events using temporary licences.

That news came as quite a shock back in September — eight months into Lea’s application — after she’d spent $100,000 on a 3-D projector. “We’re fully equipped for film. Our fans like to see movies here. It’s a big blow to our business.”

Liquor Control and Licensing Branch general manager Karen Ayers says the law is in place to prevent minors from accessing alcohol. Kids like movies, she says, and aren’t easily monitored in a dark theatre.

“I have seen letters from individual people wanting government to change regulations to permit the Rio Theatre to serve liquor and screen films.” Ayers confirms. “Our response so far has been that the regulations don’t permit what they’re looking for.”

Lea insists there’s a demographic difference between a Toy Story 3 matinee at Cineplex and the Rio’s midnight screenings of Rocky Horror Picture Show. “It seems to be very black and white,” says Lea. “They tend to make sweeping rules that don’t take care of the subtleties. It really ends up affecting the arts.”

An online petition calling for the law to be repealed has collected a couple thousand signatures since October. With the City and public in full support, the Rio must wait for legislation to catch up.

3. No cross-border boozin’!

Alberta can be forgiven for its lack of wine country. But as visitors, British Columbians might be tempted to bring over a bottle or two from Canada’s oldest wine region.

However, thanks to the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, doing so is a federal offense. No liquor is allowed to cross provincial borders without express consent from each province’s liquor board.

“It’s not right that someone from the United States has an easier time shipping wine home,” says Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Dan Albas, who has spearheaded a private members’ bill to amend the 83-year-old law. Albas says the legislation hurts his constituents’ family-run wineries and the region’s tourism industry.

“I don’t think they normally bother people like you and me,” Campbell says of the limits on cross-provincial imbibing. Liquor boards in Alberta and Ontario have both issued statements that give allowance for personal use. “But it certainly doesn’t encourage inter-provincial trade.”

Albas’ Bill C-311 has passed through two readings, and will undergo committee scrutiny sometime in the new year.

He hopes the amendment will help B.C.’s small-scale wineries reach bigger markets. “They’re not permitted to market their wares outside the province unless they sell to a provincial liquor authority,” says Albas, adding that most artisan wineries don’t yet have the capacity to sell large orders.

If all goes according to plan, consumers will even be allowed to — gasp — purchase B.C. wine online within Canada. Craft breweries, of course, would still be inhibited by the outdated rule. (That might take another half century to fix).

4. Cheese only, party planners!

They can choose your cheeses, but under current laws, catering companies are unable to stock or distribute the wine to match. Party planners across the province are calling for change.

“Right now caterers are not eligible for licence,” says Ayers. “The government is considering that request along with other requests.”

The law caused a stir earlier this month, when a California-based company planned a retreat at one of Whistler’s Olympic legacy venues.

It was the first time the Whistler Olympic Plaza was reserved for a private function. According to Whistler’s weekly independent news mag Pique, roughly 650 people flew in from across the continent for a six-night stay at the Fairmont.

With a week of Olympic-themed activities planned, the uninitiated ex-pats got a taste of B.C.’s liquor laws. It was dry. Very dry.

It had to be. If the group wanted a special occasion liquor licence, the foreign company would have had to apply in advance, transport the booze and take on responsibility for the liquor service. It’s a job usually reserved for event planners.

Organizer Joanne Burns Millar, president of the catering business Pacific Destination Services, told Pique the incident was embarrassing. “It’s crippling our business. It is absolutely crippling our ability to deliver to international corporate conference and incentive groups.”

But until the provincial government comes up with a new class of liquor licences for caterers, B.C.’s cheese stands alone.

5. No happy hour!

They’re allowed in Washington and Alberta, but you won’t find a half-priced afternoon drink in B.C.

British Columbia is one of the most expensive places to buy alcohol. There’s a set 123-per-cent markup on every bottle of wine and a 170-per-cent markup on every bottle of spirits sold in the province. No bars or restaurants are offered wholesale discounts.

Government price-fixing affects restaurant bottle sales, pushing competitive advantage south of the border. As one Vancouver Magazine guide points out, to get the best restaurant price on a B.C. wine, you have to travel to Berkeley, California.

Taking a look at the labyrinth of legalese known as the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, it’s no wonder many local businesses hire consultants to navigate provincial restrictions. And unfortunately for Vancouver’s cultural entrepreneurs, change is neither fast nor easy.

“We’ve almost gone out of business just getting this to happen,” says Lea. “If they don’t hurry up and do something, there’s not going to be a business to give a liquor licence to.”

It’s like waiting for happy hour, when happy hour never comes.

Read original article in The Tyee.

Originally published in Vancouver Beer Blog on November 10th, 2011
By vancouverbeerblogger

However, when we find something interesting that we want to be a part of, where do we start?  Where do we go?  Who do I talk to so that I can experience and learn more about this amazing discovery?  Well, if you’re new to the world of craft beer but you want to learn more about it, there’s a new tasting and social club that you might want to be a part of.  The club is called On Tap, and they’re planning to bring craft beer to the mainstream.

On Tap is a beer tasting and social club, and it’s hoping to become an accessible entry point for people wanting to learn about craft beer and a place for fans to learn more about beer, brewing and food pairings from the hosts and special guests.  Sort of like what wine clubs have been for the wine business.  On Tap is led by president, brewer Shae de Jaray.  He’s a brewer at Steamworks Brewing Company, who works along side Steamworks brewmaster Conrad Gmoser.

So on Wednesday November 9^th, I made my way down to the Miele Gallery for the On Tap launch party, to check out Vancouver’s up and coming craft beer club.  It was a very fun and casual event with some great food and beer pairings with very generous servings of beer.  What’s great about this kind of event is that you can learn about food and beer pairings without committing to a whole beer dinner.  Also, it’s going to be a lot more affordable.

Each pairing started off with Shae talking a bit about the beer, and how it’s going to pair with the food.  First on the menu was the Steamworks Great Pumpkin Ale, and that was paired with grilled crostini with a pumpkin mascarpone spread, persimmon, and stilton cheese.

Second on the docket was the Driftwood Fat Tug IPA.  That was paired with duck confit taco with caramelized grapefruit, watercress, and a honey-ginger vinaigrette.

The third was my favorite.  It was the Crannog Back Hand of God Stout paired with Imara espresso crusted heritage angus rib eye steak with an amarena cherry and stout reduction.

On Tap provides a very fun and easy going vibe, so it’s nothing to be intimidated by if you know nothing about craft beer.  You’ll definitely learn a lot, and it’s very affordable.  There are plenty of great craft beer events that cater to the die-hard beer nerds in Vancouver, but it’s great to see something catered to the mainstream.  But On Tap is something the beer nerds would enjoy as well.  So if you want to learn about local craft beers, the local craft beer scene, and how craft beer pairs well with food, you might want to become a member of On Tap.  There seems to be benefits such as specials on beer and events.

Also, On Tap will host will be hosting a public beer pairing event on Dec. 10 from 6-8 at the Miele Gallery for $30.  So make sure you check it out and visit their website:

www.thatswhatsontap.com

Originally Published in VanEast Beer Blog on November 7th, 2011
By Wandering Paddy

You should have seen the look on their faces when I told them they had just violated a federal law by importing alcohol from one province to another within Canada. In one fell swoop, I was aiding and abetting criminals and was in possession of contraband alcohol.

Yes, in case you did not know, thanks to the Importing of Intoxicating Liquor Act (IILA) of 1928, it is indeed illegal to transport alcohol from one province to the next as all alcohols must be purchased through the provincial liquor boards, which have absolute power to do what they please. It is a law that has long since outgrown its purposefulness, originally enacted after prohibition to give provincial governments a monopoly on importing, exporting, distribution and sales of all alcohols in order to keep things under control and in check in the post-prohibition era.

Many of us have unwittingly broken this federal law by purchasing liquor in other provinces while on vacation in other parts of this great country of ours and bringing it back home. I once brought back a whole box of Sortilege, a delectable blend of distilled maple syrup and rye whiskey from Montreal and labelled the box “fragile, bottles of alcohol” on the box, literally announcing my criminal activity to all!

Today, the LDB continues to maintain a complete monopoly on the alcohol trade here in BC and answers to no one. Even the private retail liquor stores (LRS) must buy their alcohol through the LDB, who mark up the price, creating an uneven playing field, cost-wise, with the LDB government liquor stores having the unfair advantage. The LDB also has the ability to restrict consumer choice by simply not purchasing products they don’t want to distribute, whether there is a consumer demand for those products or not.

But there is a movement afoot to change some of these restrictions in regards to the IILA and free trade between provinces, but unfortunately it seems that the laws that will be changed to allow limited amounts of wine only to be transported over provincial borders without having to go through the provincial liquor boards concerned.

Dan Albas, Conservative MP for Okanagan/Coquilhalla, recently introduced a private members bill , Bill C-311, in the House of Commons that is attempting to amend the IILA to allow for limited amounts of wine, for personal use, to be brought/shipped directly by/to the consumer across provincial borders. Bill C-311, is currently undergoing its second reading before the House of Commons and if it passes, will be sent to a committee to be examined before going before a third and final reading in the house. If passed in the third reading the bill will be enacted into law and the proposed changes will be made to the archaic IILA.

Bill C-311, if successful, will allow for,

“the importation of wine from a province by an individual, if the individual brings the wine or causes it to be brought into another province, in quantities and as permitted by the laws of the latter province, for his or her personal consumption, and not for resale or other commercial use.”

My question is why does the wording of Bill C-311 include wine only and not include beer? Have the BC Craft Brewers Guild (BCCBG) missed the political boat being steered by the BC wine lobby?

According to the BC Craft Brewers Guild Chairman, Tod Melnyk, the BCCBG are aware of Bill C-311, but don’t consider it pertinent to the BC craft beer industry.

“We have not lobbied to have beer included in Bill C-311 as it has not been as issue in our segment,” stated Melnyk in an via email.

For me, as a consumer, this is the exact kind of political lobbying and advocacy that the BC craft beer industry is in need of and the powers that be associated with the BC Craft Brewer’s Guild seem to have been asleep at the switch. How can opening up inter-provincial transportation of your products, even just a little, not be an advantage to your business and the industry as a whole? If you go by the coverage Bill C-311 is getting on wine blogs and wine-related websites, there is quite a buzz of excitement about these proposed changes the the IILA. It is just a toe in the door, in regards to opening up free movement of alcohols between provinces, but a toe in the door is better than a door slammed shut in your face and once pried open a little, there is room to push that door open further.

If Bill C-311 passes and get enacted into law, the craft beer industry have a legitimate grounds to claim the wine industry have an unfair advantage and that beer and other alcohols should be included in the amendment to the IILA. We, as consumers should insist on these changes to be made. It might not be important to the BCCBG, but to me, as a consumer and lover of craft beer, it is important to me to have as much access to great craft beers no matter where they are brewed. Why shouldn’t I be able to order a case of craft beer from Ontario, or Quebec if I am willing to pay the price? It may seem far-fetched, but trust me, there would be people interested. In the past, I have paid to fly briskets of Schwartz’s Montreal smoked meat out to Vancouver for special occasions so why not fly out a few cases of Dieu du Ciel beers to accompany the meal if I so desire.

I truly hope that the BCCBG’s apathy towards this law changes and that they do lobby in the future to amend further these archaic liquor laws that restrict them as an industry and restrict us as consumers.

In the meantime, I am going set about the task of getting rid of the contraband ice wine in my possession. Come to think of it, I had better “dispose” of that Sortilege as well.

Originally published by The Powell River Peak on November 23rd, 2011
By Kyle Wells – reporter@prpeak.com

With the arrival of an official brewmaster to town, Powell Riverites are now one step closer to enjoying their first cold one from Townsite Brewing Inc.

Cedric Dauchot and his wife Chloe Smith moved to Powell River about a month ago so that Dauchot could take the position of brewer engineer at Townsite Brewing, Powell River’s soon-to-be-open microbrewery. The brewery is being established in what was once the post office and later a fish canning facility in Townsite on Ash Avenue.

Dauchot is from Belgium, south of Brussels, and went to university to earn an engineering degree in brewing technologies. From there he went to work in France for a chain of brewpubs called Les 3 Brasseurs (The 3 Brewers) before the company sent him to Montreal to oversee the opening of Canadian locations.

Smith, who is also a brewer, and Dauchot met in Montreal and were married two years later. They moved to Smith’s home province of Saskatchewan to open their own brewery but the venture did not work out. Dauchot became aware of the position in Powell River while looking for brewing jobs online. He came in August to meet with brewery owner Karen Skadsheim and tour the area and decided that it would be a good fit.

Smith and Dauchot recently had a baby and Smith is on maternity leave. For now she is not involved in Townsite Brewing but the hope is that the brewery will become successful enough that it will require two brewers.

“We took our time, we interviewed a lot of candidates,” said Skadsheim. “He and Chloe both have an interest…in keeping it local and just a passion for beer.”

“We really wanted to make an impact on the city,” said Dauchot, “and make the people in Powell River proud of our product too.”

Licence approval in principle has been verified from the provincial Liquor Control and Licensing Branch and the equipment is due to arrive in mid-December. A couple of pieces are already there and renovations to the building are ongoing. Dauchot is beginning to start homebrew batches of the planned beers to tinker with recipes and if everything goes smoothly the first batches of brew should be ready for the public by the end of January.

Initially, the brewery will produce three staple ales. First is Zunga Golden Blonde Ale, which Dauchot envisions as an easily drinkable session beer. Next up is Tinhat IPA (India pale ale), which Dauchot describes as a very West Coast IPA with lots of piney and citrus undertones. Rounding out the big three will be PowTown Porter, the darkest member of the family.

Seasonal suds will also be a specialty of the brewery and there are plans for pumpkin, blackberry and stinging nettle beers, among others. Local hops are also slated for use in a wet hops ale. Dauchot plans to bring his Belgian background to the endeavour and brew some more traditional beers from his homeland, which is famous for tantalizing tipples.

As the only brewery on the entire Sunshine Coast, deals are already in the works to have Townsite Brewing beers sold on the lower Sunshine Coast. Also Skadsheim hopes to break into the Lower Mainland market to some degree and already the brewery has two taps in Vancouver set to pump out the Powell River brew.

Skadsheim said, however, that the goal isn’t to become a big brewery. Her and Dauchot’s focus is on brewing high-quality product, on establishing a business that is sustainable and on being environmentally friendly.

“We just want to be the beer on the Sunshine Coast,” said Skadsheim.

At the brewery, tours and tastings will be offered and beer will be sold on site in 650 millilitre “bombers” and 1.9 litre “growlers.” Gift certificates are already available as Christmas presents and T-shirts are on order. Coasters featuring local artist Meghan Hildebrand’s drawing of the brewery building can already be found around town.

CHEERS: Karen Skadsheim [left], owner, Cedric Dauchot, brewer engineer, and Chloe Smith raise a glass to the soon to be open Townsite Brewing Inc.

Photo Credit: Powell River Peak

One of the legal obligations of a licensee in BC is that they must provide customers, upon request, a complete serving size/price list for every alcoholic beverage they offer. This list is not optional, as per the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB) which states, in their Guide for Licensees in British Columbia, that, “you (licensee) must have a list available showing the types of liquor available, the size of each drink you sell and its price. Your price list should also include any drink specials you are currently offering. You (licensee) may post the price list as a printed list or on a board, or it can be available at all tables. At a minimum, it must be available to customers on request.”

The FUSS Campaign is focusing on persuading licensees to comply with this law so serving sizes are properly identified for the consumer, eliminating the misrepresentation of serving sizes, whether this misrepresentation is intentional or not. It is a fact that the majority of licensees do not comply with this law and the LCLB do not enforce this law, leaving the consumer at a disadvantage by not knowing what they are in fact ordering and paying for in advance. This is a basic consumer right.

Stage One of CAMRA Vancouver’s FUSS Campaign will see us writing a letter to our Corporate member licensees outlining their legal obligation to provide serving size lists and soliciting their support of the FUSS Campaign in order to set the “Gold Standard” in the hospitality industry. We hope by highlighting how not providing serving size-price lists negatively affects their customers, our Corporate members will comply, better serving CAMRA members and draft beer consumers in general. We will also be sending out similar letters to the appropriate hospitality industry associations urging them to have their members comply with the LCLB requirement of providing a serving size/price list to patrons.

To further encourage Corporate members and the hospitality industry in general to respect consumer rights, CAMRA BC is launching a “CAMRA BC Approved” decal campaign which will see local branches awarding decals to licensed establishments each year signifying the establishment meets CAMRA BC standards. One of the standards that must be met to be “CAMRA BC Approved” is to have a serving size/price list available for customers.

CAMRA Vancouver will also be providing education to members and consumers in general, about their legal rights as consumers by providing written material which will be made available on our website and at CAMRA sponsored and other craft beer events. We hope that by educating the general public about their consumer rights they will be better informed and able to insist that their rights be respected.

The second prong of Stage One of the FUSS Campaign will target the LCLB. CAMRA Vancouver will do so by sending a letter to the LCLB highlighting how the non-compliance of licensees in regards to providing serving size lists is negatively effecting consumers and urging the LCLB to enforce their laws to help eliminate the misrepresentation of draft beer serving sizes. Today we will also be starting our on-line
petition for draft beer consumers to sign.  The petition will be presented to the General Manager of the LCLB at a future date.

CAMRA Vancouver will also send out a news release to local media advising them of the FUSS campaign. Also, we will be notifying local bloggers in order to create a buzz and publicize what we are trying to achieve. It is our hope that the FUSS Campaign spreads beyond the craft beer community as it affects all consumers of draft beer, not just craft beer drinkers.

Strategies and actions for Stage Two of the FUSS Campaign depend a lot on the response we get from Step One actions. We hope there will not be a need for Step Two but be rest assured there is an action plan in place to be announced when the time is right.

To begin supporting the FUSS Campaign, please take the time to sign the on-line petition and spread the word to any and all who enjoy draft beer in BC. Let’s make our voices heard and effect some positive changes for draft beer consumers of BC!

Paddy Treavor
CAMRA Vancouver President
pres@camravancouver.ca

Executive Nominations

We are accepting nominations for all positions on the executive until 5:00pm January 13^th, 2012. Candidates will be announced on Tuesday, January 17^th, 2012. It is also possible to make a nomination at the AGM. Read more…

See you all there.

Renew you CAMRA Vancouver membership before January 6th, 2012 and we will have a pair of CAMRA Vancouver taster glasses available for you along with your new member card, ready for pick-up at our AGM in late January. Your new card will be valid for year after your current card expiry date.

To renew your membership visit our Membership renewal section and follow renewal process. It’s easy! You can renew online via PayPal.

Tasting glasses available while supplies last.

Beerthirst & CAMRA Vancouver are pleased to present the Tour de Richmond

Saturday, December 3^rd, 2011
11:45am pick up – 8pm drop off
Brighouse Skytrain Station, Richmond (look for the yellow school bus)

Come experience how Richmond is fast becoming one of the ultimate destinations for craft beer in BC! Our classic school bus will pick us up at Brighouse Skytrain Station (Canada Line) in Richmond at 11:45 sharp and whisk us off on a journey filled with fun, friends, prizes, craft beers and appetizers at each stop.

Tickets

EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Participating locations include:
Fogg N Suds
Kingswood Pub
Hog Shack Cook House
Blue Canoe Waterfront Restaurant
O’Hares Gastropub
Pumphouse Pub

Need to stock up on beer to go? Well never fear! Both O’Hares and Kingswood have beer stores!

Beerthirst would like to invite you to O’Hares during our stop for a complimentary tasting, featuring a seasonal release, a Marzen, an IPA and a Double Stout!

And just to make this event even more awesome, we’ll be supplying a Homebrew Collaboration cask courtesy of Russell Brewing and Scott Butchart of VanBrewers at our first stop!

We know you’ll be thirsty therefore each location will be offering additional pints for only $4 (+ tax & gratuity).

Follow @Beerthirst, @CAMRA_YVR & all of the participating locations on twitter and/or Facebook – @FoggBeerBar @HogShackca @bluecanoeresto @OHaresPub @PumphousePub to find out what the beer will be at each stop. #tourderichmond – keep the conversation going before and during the event.

Prizes! Because Beerthirst loves everyone so much, they’ll also be handing out extra special items on the bus, including free t-shirts! Email your size to Amanda at vp@camravancouver.ca before Nov 25^th.

The fine print: Please note that gratuity has not been included in the ticket price, so don’t forget to tip your server. We ask that you bring cash to pay for any additional drinks or food you may order.

Serving it Right rules will apply.

Questions?
Jared contactjaredwilliams@gmail.com
Amanda vp@camravancouver.ca

See you all there! And remember; what happens on the bus stays on the bus.

Beerthirst & CAMRA Vancouver
www.Beerthirst.com
www.CAMRAVancouver.ca

What The Faker said: You don’t have to be a connoisseur to enjoy the cornucopia that is the craft beer “revolution.” It’s that time of year to hoist the horn of plenty and celebrate its diversity in offering something for just about every taste, leaving no excuse for those who may feel they just want to throw up their hands when the choices overwhelm.

Originally Published in The Bellingham Herald on November 1, 2011
By Amy Fickling – McClatchy-Tribune

Since the Brewers Association was in Washington in June and hosted a panel on “The American Craft Beer Revolution” at the National Press Club on June 3, we’ve been fascinated with the ingenuity of the sector. The Brewers Association is a trade group for small and independent U.S. beer brewers, which promotes craft beers and the craft beer community that imbibes. It says its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in America.

The panel discussion was introduced with a rat-a-tat-tat of absorbing facts about craft beer (the growth of craft brewers is accelerating, the U.S. brewery count is the highest since the 19th century, large brewers’ sales are declining but profits are at record levels, retailers are expanding shelf space for craft beers even as some of the small brewers are struggling to satisfy demand, beer drinkers have a PASSION for craft). Brew pubs are getting into packaging for off-premises sales, the BA said. Nano breweries (the craft of the craft?) are sprouting all over. Microbreweries are relying on tasting rooms to build sales (at the time, there were 56 microbreweries that sell more than 25 percent of their beer onsite that way).

It has long been the lament of small business owners that so-called big business controls too much of the economy, and there remains little room for effective competition. This sentiment would seem to ring truest in the Canadian beer industry, but small players are making surprising headway with innovative approaches to marketing and operating their craft breweries.

Originally published By CBC News on October 24, 2011
By Ryan Charkow, CBC News

For more than half a century, the lion’s share of the suds Canucks have poured back has come from two breweries: Labatt, founded in London, Ont., and now owned by Belgian mega-brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev; and Montreal-based Molson, the country’s oldest brewery, which is now part of the Molson Coors Brewing Company. But in the 1980s, a number of independent craft brewers began setting up shop across the country with hopes of offering consumers an alternative to Canada’s big breweries, a duopoly since the merger of Carling-O’Keefe and Molson in 1989.

Among those independent brewers was Peter McAuslan, who that same year founded the McAuslan Brewery in Montreal. Twenty years later, McAuslan Breweries has blossomed into a Canada-wide business with $20 million in beer sales from brands like St. Ambroise Pale Ale and St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale.

He says instead of competing directly with the big brewers, it was always his intention to offer consumers something different. “Our whole plan was to never compete head-to-head with them. We would make beers that would appeal to an emerging consumer group that was interested in more flavourful, authentic, local products.

“So we always saw ourselves as being in a different beverage category than the beers made by the big brewers,” he adds.

In Quebec, there are now upward of 70 craft breweries catering to an increasingly diverse client base. McAuslan says the choice for consumers has never been more robust.

“The emerging specialty beer consumers are much more numerous – there is a younger clientele than when we started,” he said. “The beer landscape is totally different now than it was and consumer attitudes about beer have changed as well.”

Community connection

A key facet of any micro-brewery is its connection to the local community, something that Toronto-based Steam Whistle Brewing co-founder Cam Heaps says harkens back to the time when local breweries dotted the country and were synonymous with their communities.

“The breweries used to be located in the centre of [a town] and be active participants within those communities,” he said.

Heaps comes from legendary Canadian brewing stock. His father, Frank, founded Toronto’s first micro-brewery in 1985, the Upper Canada Brewing Company. The younger Heaps was working for Upper Canada when it was purchased in 1998 by Canada’s third-largest brewer, Sleeman Breweries, itself since bought out by Japanese mega-brewery Sapporo.

He was fired from the company in the following year along with Greg Taylor and Greg Cromwell. The so-called “three fired guys” went on to found Steam Whistle in 1999, deciding to focus solely on brewing a beer in the European pilsner style.

“We chose the pilsner style, which is dominated by the oldest European breweries in the world,” Heaps said. “If we’re going to compete with that style, one of the most challenging in the world to perfect, we’d better just do one thing so we can be masters at it.”

McAuslan says he attributes part of his success to maintaining an active connection with the thriving arts community in Montreal, sponsoring a number of art exhibitions and concerts.

“In the beginning we did a lot of small, supportive things for various arts and community groups,” he said. “That helped us establish a reputation as good brewers and good members of the community, a position we still maintain – we just sponsored the free Arcade Fire concert at Pop Montreal in September.”

He adds that the marketing strategy plays off the weaknesses of his larger competitors. “The big breweries have changed, becoming even larger and less locally focused which is good for small, local breweries.”

Chipping away at a big rock

Gary Lohin, master brewer and co-owner of Central City Brewing Co. in Surrey B.C., says the Canadian brewing industry is unique because, as a small business offering a first-class product, he feels no pressure to compete with a huge multinational corporation like Molson Coors. His marketing approach is differentiation.

“I’m making such full-flavoured and full-bodied beers that the big breweries don’t make,” he said.

Lohin is responsible for the wildly popular line of Red Racer beers, which have been flying off shelves so swiftly that Central City is expanding its facilities to handle the increased demand. Indeed, the craft brewing industry in B.C. is the country’s most thriving. Through March, craft beers accounted for 12.7 per cent of all beer sold in the province and sales have skyrocketed from $56 million in 2007 to $111 million in 2010.

Lohin says there remains immense room for further growth. “Nearly 90 per cent of people are still buying a case of big-brewery beer,” he said. “We just have to keep innovating and offering the customers something they can’t get from the big breweries, and we’ve so far been successful with that formula.”

In Ontario, where craft beer represents six per cent of the province’s total beer sales, the public’s appetite for independent brews is growing despite the fact alcohol consumption on the whole is flat.

“Generally, people aren’t drinking as much as they used to — per capita consumption is flat or down,” said Gary McMullen, president of Muskoka Brewery and chair of Ontario Craft Brewers. “So if people are only looking to have one beer, they want something special to enjoy.”

Heaps says the dominance of the big brewers has worked in Steam Whistle’s favour.

“It’s somewhat similar for any industry that’s dominated by one or two major players – you know what you’re getting into,” he said. “Because their market share is so huge, you can just chip away a little piece and survive off it.”

Big brewers taking notice

McAuslan says the growing challenge for small brewers is that the changes in the beer industry over the past two decades have led the big breweries to take an interest in what craft brewers are doing.

“They themselves are in the specialty beer business now, whereas 20 years ago they had no interest in doing that whatsoever,” he said.

In May, Molson announced the creation of its new Six Pints Specialty Brewing Company. According to a press release, Molson’s intention for the company is to “nurture and grow specialty and craft beer brands.” Molson has been quite active in the craft brewing segment in recent years, purchasing Ontario brewer Creemore Springs in 2005 and Vancouver-based Granville Island Brewing in 2009.

Heaps says Molson’s foray into the segment must mean the brewers are doing something right.

“I think it’s great, because it’s an open acknowledgement by them that the craft industry is legitimate and has something to offer that’s different than what they offer,” he said. “But I don’t think the consumer likes opening the paper and seeing another craft brewery bought up.

“Ultimately, as the craft segment gets stronger, there will be more people who have the resources and ability to stay independent.”

Peter McAuslan, who has seen it all in his two decades as a craft brewer, says in order for the segment to continue to thrive, brewers must do all they can to continually reinvigorate their businesses.

“We have a policy at the brewery to come out with at least one new beer each year, if we can,” he said. “You’ve got to get out there and do new things in order to keep your key constituency interested in what you’re doing.

“Between the small brewers and consumers, we’ve made this pact and we’ve changed the beer industry forever.”

Visit us online: http://www.stoutday.com

Check out the CAMRA Events Calendar for stout events near you.

Originally published in The Province on October 5th, 2011
By Jan Zeschky

October 2011 marks the inaugural B.C. Craft Beer Month – and if you’re thinking, “Oh yeah, says who?” just ask a certain Queen Liz, who gave the idea her official stamp of approval.

A range of events – including tastings, beer dinners and Oktoberfest parties (for it is that time of year, too, of course) – have been organized across the province, from the Gulf Islands to the Okanagan and as far north as Smithers.

A majority of events seem centred on Victoria, which is really no surprise if you consider that B.C.’s capital is probably the nation’s best beer city (on a quality-per-person ratio, at least — and remember it’s now the home of Canada’s best beer).

Much like Vancouver Craft Beer Week, the events seem designed to accommodate both those with just a passing interest in beer and hard-core hopheads.

Some of the more intriguing events include a tour of Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria (2 p.m., Oct. 8, free, 90 minutes) led by beer historian Greg Evans, who will guide the group around the graves of B.C.’s pioneer brewers and give insights into the province’s brewing past; a guide to pairing craft beer with chocolate at Cocoa Nymph in Kitsilano (7 p.m., Oct. 12, $35); a joint Oktoberfest and Harvestfest organized by CAMRA Vancouver (noon, Oct. 15); and a Vancouver Island Brewing brewmaster’s dinner at Oak Bay’s Penny Farthing pub (6 p.m., Oct. 23, $50).

All month long, there will be modified cask nights from the usual suspects, such as the Railway Club, St. Augustines, The Whip and London Pub in Vancouver and Spinnakers and The Beagle in Victoria.

Moreover, many breweries will be showcasing their seasonal releases at the many tasting events across B.C. I wonder if Queen Liz likes pumpkin beer?

For a full catalogue of events and ways you can support B.C. craft beer and B.C. businesses, visit the official website at craftbeermonth.ca. Happy drinking.

jzeschky@theprovince.com
twitter.com/jantweats

Please find the complete Homebrew Challenge Rules and Guidelines below. Beers entered should have a harvest/fall theme (fresh hops, pumpkin/vegetable beers, spice/herb beers etc.)

Please direct any questions regarding the challenge to Matt Anderson, our membership coordinator at membership@camravancouver.ca

Homebrew Challenge Rules and Guidelines

1. Beers entered should have a harvest/fall theme (fresh hops, pumpkin/vegetable beers, spice/herb beers etc.)

2. Fee is $5 per entry and requires 2 standard 12 oz. bottles with no label and blank or blacked out caps.

3. Each bottle must have an entry id attached to it with a rubber band: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BottleID.pdf with the category and sub category that the beer belongs in: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php  Please also include basic information on any special ingredients on the back of the label (Brewed with pumpkin and pie spices, apricot wheat ale, etc.)

4. Entries will be accepted at Malone’s, 608 West Pender Street between Friday, October 7th and the close of business Wednesday, October 12th as well as at the September VanBrewers meeting http://www.vanbrewers.ca/

5. Winners to be announced during the Malone’s/CAMRA Oktoberfest/Harvest Fest

Originally Published in EAT Magazine by Treve Ring
September 12th, 2011

The CBA have emerged as the premiere competition for judging the quality of Canadian brewed beer. The contest is the only truly national competition that invites breweries of all sizes from across the country to compete in a blind tasting to see who brews the best beer in 31 style categories.

A Canadian Brewing Award medal is now a widely recognized symbol of brewing excellence in Canada. A panel of approximately 20 Certified Beer Judges (BJCP), consider five criteria: aroma, appearance, flavour, mouth-feel, and overall impression. A maximum of fifty points can be attained.

The competition also serves as an important vehicle for informing the Canadian beer-drinking public about the variety of and quality of commercially available beers throughout the land. Every year the competition attracts new entries from small startup breweries, to the largest of the large that are dedicated to carefully crafting their product.

As always, BC brews fared very well, with many breweries snagging medals of various colours in highly varied categories.

Without further adieu, here are the 2011 Canadian Brewing Awards Winners:

North American Style Lager

Gold: Moosehead Lager, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.

Silver: Carling Lager, Molson Coors Canada

Bronze: Red Baron Lager, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)

North American Style Premium Lager

Gold: Muskoka Craft Lager, Muskoka Brewery (ON)

Silver: Great Western Pilsner, Great Western Brewing Co. (SK)

Bronze: Brewhouse Pilsner, Great Western Brewing Co. (SK)

European Style Lager (Pilsner)

Gold: Creemore Traditional Pilsner, Creemore Springs Brewery (ON)

Silver: Rickard’s Blonde, Molson Coors Canada

Bronze: Overboard Imperial Pilsner, Lighthouse Brewing Co. (BC)

North American Style Amber Lager

Gold: King Vienna Lager, King Brewery (ON)

Silver: Buzz Beer, Cool Beer Brewery (ON)

Bronze: Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)

North American Style Dark Lager

Gold: King Dark Lager, King Brewery (ON)

Silver: Hermann’s Dark Lager, Vancouver Island Brewery (BC)

Bronze: Brewmaster’s Black Lager, Okanagan Spring Brewery (BC)

Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager

Gold: Carling Light, Molson Coors Canada

Silver: Moosehead Light, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.

Bronze: Molson Canadian 67, Molson Coors Canada

Bock – Traditional German Style

Gold: Hermannator Ice Bock, Vancouver Island Brewery (BC)

Silver: Navigator Doppelbock, Lighthouse Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Captivator Doppelbock, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)

Kellerbier

Gold: Creemore Kellerbier, Creemore Springs Brewery (ON)

Silver: Helles, Microbrasserie Hopfenstark (QC)

Bronze: Howe Sound Lager, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Porter

Gold: Coffee Porter, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Silver: La Gaspesienne No. 13, Microbrasserie Pit Caribou (QC)

Bronze: Muskoka Dark Ale, Muskoka Brewery (ON)

Strong Porter (Baltic)

Gold: Grand Baltic Porter, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)

Silver: Porter, Okanagan Spring Brewery (BC)

Cream Ale

Gold: Northumberland Ale, Church Key Brewing (ON)

Silver: Original 16, Great Western Brewing Co. (SK)

Bronze: Sleeman Cream Ale, Sleeman Breweries

Kolsch

Gold: High County Kolsch, Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale, Nelson Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Analog 78, Phillips Brewing Co. (BC)

North American Style Amber/Red Ale

Gold: Sea Dog Amber Ale, Vancouver Island Brewery (BC)

Silver: Yukon Red Amber, Yukon Brewing Co. (YT)

Bronze: La Bringue, Acadie-Broue Inc. (NB)

North American Style Blonde/Golden Ale

Gold: Red Cap, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)

Silver: Moosehead Pale Ale, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.

Bronze: Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Brown Ale

Gold: Brown Ale, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Silver: Nut Brown, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)

Bronze: Bytown Brown Ale, Clocktower Brewpub (ON)

Scotch Ale

Gold: St. Ambroise Scotch Ale, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)

Silver: Scotch Ale, Swans Buckerfields Brewery (BC)

Bronze: Wellington Iron Duke, Wellington Brewery. (ON)

English Style Pale Ale (Bitter)

Gold: Best Bitter, Picaroon’s Traditional Ales (NB)

Silver: Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Pandora Pale Ale, Swans Buckerfields Brewery (BC)

North American Style Pale Ale (Bitter)

Gold: Crazy Canuck Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Silver: Miami Weiss, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Bronze: East Side Bitter, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)

Wheat Beer – Belgian Style White/Wit

Gold: Belgian Wit, Granville Island Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: Oranje Weiss, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)

Bronze: Blanche de Chambly, Unibroue (QC)

Wheat Beer – German Style Hefeweizen

Gold: Hill’s Special Wheat, Yaletown Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: Summer Weiss, Muskoka Brewery (ON)

Bronze: True North Wunder Weisse, Magnotta Brewery (ON)

Wheat Beer – North American Style

Gold: Sir John A Honey Wheat, Gahan Brewery (PEI)

Silver: Grasshopper Wheat, Big Rock Brewery (AB)

Bronze: Dooryard Summer Ale, Picaroon’s Traditional Ales (NB)

Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Gold: Dominus Vobiscum Hibernus, Microbrasserie Charlevoix (QC)

Silver: Dominus Vobiscum Triple, Microbrasserie Charlevoix (QC)

Bronze: Noire de Chambly, Unibroue (QC)

Belgian Style Strong Specialty Ale

Gold: Don de Dieu, Unibroue (QC)

Silver: Trois Pistoles, Unibroue (QC)

Bronze: Quatre-Centieme, Unibroue (QC)

English Style Barley Wine

Gold: Thor’s Hammer, Central City Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: St. Ambroise Vintage Ale, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)

Bronze: Woolly Bugger, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

American Style Barley Wine

Gold: Frappabord, Microbrasserie du Lac Saint-Jean (QC)

Silver: Unicorn Ale, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Bronze: Ol’ Fog Burner, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)

Stout

Gold: Timber Hog Stout, Picaroon’s Traditional Ales (NB)

Silver: Diamond Head Oatmeal Stout, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)

Imperial Stout

Gold: Tartan Tsar Russian Imperial Stout, Bushwakker Brewing Co. (SK)

Silver: Dude Where’s My Czar?, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Bronze: Stout Imperiale, Microbrasserie La Chouape (QC)

English Style India Pale Ale

Gold: Beaver River, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. (ON)

Silver: Hoppelganger IPA, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Yippee IPA, Picaroon’s Traditional Ales (NB)

American Style India Pale Ale

Gold: Fat Tug IPA, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: Mad Tom IPA, Muskoka Brewery (ON)

Bronze: Citra IPA, Dead Frog Brewery (BC)

Imperial India Pale Ale

Gold: Ten Bitter Years, Black Oak Brewing Co. (ON)

Silver: Red Racer Imperial, Central City Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Hop Head Double IPA, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)

French and Belgian Style Saison

Gold: No Chance With Miranda, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Silver: Saison Station 55, Microbrasserie Hopfenstark (QC)

Bronze: Nit Wit, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)

Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale

Gold: Sap Sucker Maple Porter, Fernie Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: Cypress Honey Lager, Granville Island Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Royal York Stinger, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Fruit Beer

Gold: Pepper Lime Lager, Dead Frog Brewery (BC)

Silver: St. Ambroise Raspberry Ale, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)

Bronze: Ginger Beer, Granville Island Brewing Co. (BC)

Fruit Wheat Beer

Gold: Framboise, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)

Silver: Ephemere Pommes, Unibroue (QC)

Bronze: Thai Wheat, Pump House Brewery Ltd. (NB)

Pumpkin Beer

Gold: St. Ambroise Pumpkin Ale, McAuslan Brewing Inc. (QC)

Silver: Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Highballer Pumpkin Ale, Grand River Brewing Co. (ON)

Wood and Barrel Aged Beer

Gold: Serendipity #3, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)

Silver: American Whisky Barrel, Cameron’s Brewing Co. (ON)

Bronze: Winter Ale Barrel-Aged, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer

Gold: Buteuse Brassin Special, Microbrasserie Le Trou Du Diable (QC)

Silver: Singularity Russian Imperial Stout, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: Ol’ Fog Burner (Glenora Barrel-Aged), Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)

Wood and Barrel Aged Sour Beer

Gold: Dulcis Succubus, Microbrasserie Le Trou Du Diable (QC)

Silver: Yaletown Oud Bruin, Yaletown Brewing Co. (BC)

Experimental Beer

Gold: Cache-a-epices, Microbrasserie du Lac Saint-Jean (QC)

Silver: Megadestroyer Imperial Licorice Stout, Howe Sound Brewing Co. (BC)

Bronze: 666, Le Saint-Bock Brasserie Artisanale (QC)

Beer of the Year – Fat Tug IPA, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)

Brewery of the Year – Picaroon’s Traditional Ales (NB)

Read the full article at:  EAT Magazine
Learn more about the Canadian Brewing Awards

But the fun doesn’t stop there! We’ve also got Harvestfest taking place in the lounge hall! The focus of this room is centered on all the rich and flourishing flavours of the changing season; think pumpkins, imperials, fresh hops, earthy, seasonals and full flavoured ales. I hear chanterelle mushrooms were a big hit last year! Both rooms will feature casks and kegs.

CAMRA Vancouver and Malone’s Urban Drinkery are pleased to present

Oktoberfest & Harvestfest – 2 events, 1 day!
Malone’s Urban Drinkery, 608 Pender Street
Saturday October 15^th, 2011
12pm – 6pm

TICKETS

$25 for entry ($20 for CAMRA Members*)
Includes a 6oz tasting glass (yours to keep) & 3 *bonus* tokens upon entry. Each additional token will be $1. Tickets will be available on Tuesday, Sept 13th at 11am for online purchase and in person at Malone’s. Don’t wait! Our last event sold out well in advance!

BUY TICKETS – SOLD OUT

FOOD

Malone’s Urban Drinkery will be offering food pairings to accompany the beer styles from each room:

Handmade pretzels w/ traditional mustard cheese dipping sauce $5
Chicken schnitzel w/ mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage and chicken gravy $9
Slow cooked pork loin & sauerkraut stew $9
Veggie AND Traditional Bratwurst w/ house made mustard & fries $8
Potato pancakes w/ 3 dipping sauces $6
Pumpkin Pie $3.50
Keepers Stout floats $6

(please note, the regular menu will not be offered during this event and there won’t be an additional 20% off for CAMRA members on the above items)

SPECIAL DETAILS

Like to yodel? I bet you do! Show us what you’ve got and you could win a prize! We’ve also got prizes for best costume, so be sure to dust off your dirndl and lederhosen!

Membership has its benefits, so be sure to bring your member card. All valid card holders will receive 2 special tokens entitling them to the member’s only cask (exclusively available for members from 12-2pm). Not yet a member? Be sure to sign up here or in person at the event.

35% of all proceeds from drink tokens will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank

PARTICIPATING BREWERIES

Red Racer Beer – Dunkel & Pumpkin Ale
Red Truck Beer – Kolsch & German Amber Ale
Tree Brewing – Vertical Winter Ale
Storm Brewing – North German Style Pilsner & & Hop Hash CDA
Big Ridge Brewing Co. – Harvest Lager & Autumn Harvest Ale
Coal Harbour Brewing Company – Pumpkin Saison
Driftwood Brewery – Sartori IPA
Elysian Brewing – Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Granville Island Brewing – Fresh Hopped ESB
Lighthouse Brewing Company – Keepers Stout Ice Cream Floats
Phillips Brewing Company – Imperial IPA
Russell Brewing Company – Cranberry Wheat Ale, Eisbock & Oktoberfest Marzen
Steamworks Brewpub – Pumpkin Spiced Ale
Big River Brew Pub and Restaurant – Raspberry Lambic & German Style Dark Wheat Ale
R&B Brewing, Longwood Brew Pub – Smoke Hop ESB & Gruit
Yaletown Brewing – Bavarian Hefeweizen & ESB
Pacific Western Brewing – Organic Festbier
Erdinger – German Hefeweizen & Dunkelweizen
Ayinger Brewery – Celebrator & Oktoberfest Ale
Stiegl – Lager
Gordon Biersch – Oktoberfest
Ayinger Brewery – Dobblebock, Oktoberfest Marzen & Braw-Weisse Hefeweizen
Whistler Brewing Company – Chestnut Amber Ale, Weissbier & Kolsch
Paulaner – Salvator Double Bock & Original Munich Premium Lager
And more!

For more information please email Amanda Barry.

*You will be required to show your valid membership card upon entry.
**Be sure to download the lyrics and sing along on the day of the event!

Vancouver may be among the most expensive beer drinking cities in the world, but fortunately, there are glorious quality ales available… if you know where to look.

Originally Published in The Vancouver Observer, August 26th, 2011
By Dave Olson

Otherwise you’ll miss out on the erstwhile BC craft brewery renaissance with world-class beers made locally by Howe Sound, R&B, Crannóg, Phillips, and more. Plus, resourceful importers are distributing micro-classics from the United States’ west coast mixed in with European standard-bearers which go beyond the basics. Are you missing out? If so, come along.

Railtown to Gastown

Amongst the steam clock and Gassy Jack statue photo-ops in cobble-stoned Gastown are plenty of bars, restaurants, nightclubs and cafes but many of them serve the same macro-beer swill and flaccid atmosphere found anywhere.

You’ll need to scratch a little deeper to find the places which have substance to go along with the style. Pick the right door and you’ll find beers from Cascadian brewmaster experiments, to west coast micro-classics, to Trappist ales with centuries of tradition.

To help out-of-towners and local alike, I created a tour of the spots I stop by en route from work in Railtown to the Seabus. The fine establishments in this tour range from almost dive-bars to almost gastro-pubs but all share a commitment to featuring (in some cases, exclusively) true craft handles.

All of the places serve food — it’s the law, I think — to keep your belly loaded and soak up all the sudsy goodness. But all the people here are on this route for their bevvies, not nibbles.

Follow the route closely and don’t be tempted by long line-ups and glamorous patios or you’ll be stuck with a disappointing beer served by someone who doesn’t really know what they are serving. The route ends (or starts) with tall cans from the package store swilled at the (almost hidden) waterfront park while watching tugboats and float planes and reflecting on the porters, stouts, hefeweizens, IPAs, and abbey ales consumed on your route and this might be the best part.

Alibi Room

On the edge of Railtown, the food and ambience are good but the 40-plus carefully selected draft and cask beers are even better with an ever-changing and elegantly curated variety of taps and casks with a focus on Cascadian beers – especially IPAs and limited runs.

Hopheads are in heaven here, but my current fave is the malty Bear Republic’s Pete Brown Tribute Ale, or recently, coffee-rich HUB Organic Survival 7 Grain Stout. With so many top-end and strong beers, choosing can be hard. So ask your wise bartender for a “Frat Bat” of 4 tasters.

Check the chalkboard for the casks of the day – with no CO2, these beers are artisan and old-school and remember all the beers here are strong and excellent – be prepared for safe transport so you can really explore the list.

Incendio

One particular Belgian gets this part of the Biercraft location on the map. This location has a few decent choices but go directly for Grimbergen – this Belgian beer will be served in a paired glass with 8 step prep and pour.

They’ve made this remarkable and heavy-duty treat since 1128 in a (waitforit) Premonstratensian monastery with a recipe protected from fires to wars. Note the great coaster collection too.

Six Acres

Quaint, cozy and fortified with a variety of European bottled treats with key locals… if you can grab a rare table. Settle in for a long sampling session and people watching with an R&B Raven Cream Ale in a big bottle or if you’ve never had the König Ludwig or Schneiderweisse hefeweizens from Germany, do so immediately – both are well textured and refreshing.

Since you are here, check a few more Trappist ales of the list with Duvel, Orval, and Chimay along for a few other Belgians but try to resist the urge to walk out with one of the handmade menus crafted from 1930s-era school books.

The Irish Heather

Hearty beers to go with sturdy food in a modern semi-gastro-pub setting. I was a sucker for the old spot because of the rickety chairs but with the Shebeen Whisk(e)y bar and Salty Tongue cafe combined, you have all your essentials including pot pies and shepherd’s pie.

It’s ostensibly an Irish pub, so Guinness or Kilkenny seem like the logical choices. But instead go with local Russel’s Wee Angry Scotch Ale or look for the Howe Sound Rail Ale on tap here – made in Squamish, this nut brown is my go-to session beer.

The Cambie

I like divey but decent, and this landmark is the local equivalent of Star Wars’ Mos Eisley cantina filled with hostel backpackers, dope dealers, fried food and cheap beer – not as crafty as the others but completely devoid of any pretension.

The house Pale and Lager are made by local Russell and is cheap and serviceable but upgrade to the Russel Cream Ale or IPeh instead. The long benches ensure you get to know your neighbours whether you want to or not. Write your name in Sharpie on the table to prove you survived.

The Greedy Pig

I don’t make it here as much as others, but friendly service, comfort food and a few solid tap handles make this a low-key getaway on busy nights. Sit at the bar, eat a grilled cheese sandwich or pickled quail eggs and watch a game in a non-sports bar atmosphere.

I enjoy Okanagan Spring Brewmaster Black Lager here – the best choice from an otherwise rather boring brewery (though I also like their Porter too).

Steamworks

Often packed with tourists but worth crowding in for the six-plus brews which are rotated to work in seasonal ales (and to stay up with demand). The Nirvana Nutbrown and Coal Porter are the front runners for me (the porter rotates with the Heroica Stout).

Skip the patio and head all the way downstairs for a pub-style area with pool tables and fireplaces but if waiting for the SeaBus, grab a seat at the mezzanine level bar, pay cash and keep an eye on the vessel arriving for a quick getaway.

Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar

Located in Waterfront Station with relatively-safe but solid choices – complete with tasting notes – make Rogue ideal for bringing your no-beer-geek pals (if you have any).

Go right for the prize with Crannóg’s Backhand of God Stout which will teach you that God does love you and that’s why she created beer. Order easy quaffing locals like Central City’s Red Racer ESB, Deschutes Mirror Pond or Howe Sound’s Garabaldi Honey Pale Ale for indecisive friends.

Victory Lap

Still standing? Keep it going… Find the Wine Thief beer and wine store in front of Steamworks and load up your pockets with tall cans of Tree Brewing’s Thirsty Beaver (which go down quick) or go pro with the Holsten Maibock which is strong and sweet. Then, walk across through the station towards the Seabus and zip out the Heliport exit towards Crab Park.

This mellow, underknow waterfront park makes a nice chill out to start or end the tour with a swill on the dock while watching tugboats toiling and float planes landing and classic railcars alongside commuters and boxcars. Head into your beloved Vancouver back over the lil’ bridge at the north end of Main St. to complete your lap.

Final Burps

Note: I log my beers on Untappd and follow breweries, beerfans and bars via a Twitter list.

Tour: Follow my route in a free iPhone app called Urban Dig which includes a collection curated tours by renegade locals from LA to Vancouver. The tour includes my notes (with some hidden tips) plus photos and map. Be sure to “like” it.

Originally Published in the Globe and Mail on August 23rd, 2011
By Alexandra Gill

Photo by Laura Leyshon of the Globe and Mail

At the Too Hop To Handle festival in Vancouver last month, Claire Connolly put the name of the event to the test. The brewmaster from Big River Brewpub in Richmond, B.C. entered a small batch of “Insane” India Pale Ale in the friendly competition. It registered 9 per cent alcohol and a shocking 151 International Bittering Units. (IBU is the scale used to measure hop bitterness in beer, given in parts of iso-alpha acids per million.) To put this hop monster in perspective, consider that most IPA, the fastest-rising beer category in North America, falls in the 30-to-60 IBU range.

“I was worried that it wouldn’t be drinkable,” Ms. Connolly said, pouring a glass from a cask that passed through a filter filled with dried hop buds to infuse it with an additional blast of rubber band bitterness and pinecone aroma.

If a typical IPA tastes of grapefruit, this extreme version was akin to chewing on grapefruit skin and seeds. The hop resins lingered on the tongue for a good 20 minutes, sucking all the moisture from the mouth and destroying the taste buds for anything else. Yet as Ms. Connolly noted, many did enjoy it: “People who have over-stimulated palates are saying ‘Mmm, not bad. It’s not too bitter.’ I’m like ‘Are you crazy?’”

Insane IPA was “too hopped” to win the brewer’s challenge award; that honour went to a much smoother, well-rounded entry from Dave Varga of Taylor’s Crossing brewpub. But the interest piqued by this insanely hoppy heavyweight just goes to show how far the growing legion of hard-core hopheads are willing to go.

Today’s North American IPA isn’t your grandfather’s beer – but it may very well be your hipster daughter’s new favourite. The style has gone through a major revolution since it was created in the 19th century to slake the thirst of colonists and soldiers in the British Raj. Hops, a natural preservative, were added to help the casks survive the long sea-faring journey around the Cape of Good Hope. The new “west coast” IPA, which bears little resemblance to the much milder U.K. version, was significantly hopped up when the craft beer industry began taking off in California in the 1970s.

In the United States, IPA is one of the fastest-growing craft beer styles, after stout and pilsner. According to sales data released by Symphony IRI Group in April, year-to-date case sales were up 41.5 per cent, with IPA now comprising a 14.3 share of total craft-beer sales. “At this pace, IPAs will pass pale ales by the end of the year to become the most popular style area for craft [beer],” says Paul Gatza, director of the not-for-profit Brewers Association.

There is no equivalent data for Canada, but anecdotal evidence suggests IPA is just as popular here. There’s hardly a craft brewery – from Halifax’s Garrison Brewing Co. to Victoria’s Driftwood Brewery – that doesn’t have at least one hoppy beer in its portfolio.

“It’s all about flavour,” brewmaster Gary Lohin of Central City Brewery in Surrey, B.C., says of the style’s growing popularity. “IPA is bold and aggressive and has lots of body. It’s for a beer for adventurous, educated palates.”

Mr. Lohin’s creamy smooth Red Racer IPA, with its upfront notes of grapefruit, orange and pine that give way to tropical fruit and a long caramel finish, is a legendary label among craft-beer connoisseurs. Made with hops from Washington’s Yakima Valley and steeped after fermentation with whole-leaf hop clusters, it won two gold medals at the Canadian Brewing Awards in 2010. Central City Brewing was also named Brewery of the Year. Its reputation has spread over the Rockies and beyond: When Red Racer was introduced to the Ontario market through the LCBO earlier this month, the shipment of 12,000 cans sold out within 72 hours.

Part of what makes IPA a favourite tipple is its versatility. The full-bodied beer is rich and complex enough to challenge the taste buds, stimulate the appetite, stand up to spicy food and cut through fat, making it a complementary match for Indian and Thai curries or fish and chips. And yet when properly balanced with malt and alcohol, a hop-heavy IPA is dry, clean, thirst quenching and full of fragrant floral and citrus aromas – the perfect summer quaffer.

The large corporate breweries haven’t climbed on the hoppy bandwagon, yet. It’s been about 30 years since Molson and Labatt brewed an IPA for the mainstream market. Molson-Coors does own Vancouver’s Granville Island Brewing, which brews the lightly hopped Brockton IPA in small quantities. And Labatt owns Alexander Keith’s in Halifax. But the latter’s IPA hop-content is so weak, craft beer makers say that it’s not technically an IPA. “Why bother?” asks Howe Sound brewer Paul Wilson.

But how big is too big? And how many IBUs can human taste buds even handle? Experts say the threshold is about 100 IBUs; higher hop weights simply don’t dissolve in the wort, resulting in more beta acids, hop-oil hazes suspended in the beer and all-around awful flavour.

“There’s too much machismo factor out there right now,” says Iain Hill, the brewmaster at Vancouver’s Yaletown Brewing Co., decrying the trend toward ever bigger, bolder and bitter hop bombs.

“Hopped beer is akin to oaked wine,” he says, urging a return to craftsmanship over marketing. “It needs balance.”

Originally published in MacLeans.ca on Friday, August 5, 2011
by Mike Doherty

Behind the colourful name of India Pale Ale is a colourful history: from the 1820s, the beer was brewed in the English Midlands and shipped in casks down to Brazil, around the Cape of Good Hope, and up to India, where, having aged over the rough journey, it was enthusiastically quaffed by English colonists. Nearly 200 years later, in another former colony, it’s surging in popularity. But why are so many Canadian brewers now making IPAs?

Ironically, given its imperialist history, the style has become a symbol of rebellion. It’s a bold beer, with a copper-to-amber colour, moderate-to-high alcohol content, and, crucially, a hoppy aroma and taste. For craft brewers, it’s a statement against the blandness of mainstream lagers, whose drinkers are slowly catching on—despite their often startled first impressions.

Ralph Morana, owner of Bar Volo in Toronto, recounts his first experience of craft IPAs at a beer festival in 2002. “I went, ‘Oh Christ, how can anybody drink that?’ I was a Coors Light drinker.” Nonetheless, he says, “Once your palate adapts to the bitterness, all you want is more and more and more.” To further his quest for hops, he converted his Italian café into a craft beer bar, where IPAs are his biggest sellers—and not just to stereotypical bearded, pot-bellied craft beer enthusiasts. “If you give it to a girl, they love it: ‘It’s neat; it’s floral.’ ”

India Pale Ale has caught on across Canada, with brewers such as Dieu du Ciel! in Montreal, Half Pints in Winnipeg, and Central City in Surrey, B.C., all gaining accolades for their IPAs. Morana and other local brewers have started crafting their own at Volo, and since 2009, the bar has hosted an annual Cask IPA Challenge, where judges and customers pick the best of a hoppy crop from across Ontario. The competition’s first year featured five or six legitimate entrants (among ambers and other pale ales); this year, there were 26. “Now everybody’s going on that bandwagon,” says Morana.The IPA does have a history in Canada: in the second half of the 19th century, Molson and Labatt brewed popular IPAs for domestic consumption. But strong-tasting ales fell out of favour after Prohibition, and neither brewing giant now brews hoppy beer. Labatt does, however, own Alexander Keith’s in Halifax, which exported its “India Pale Ale” to Ontario and Western Canada in the late 1990s with great success—its name is a long-standing brand, but craft beer fans have argued it’s not technically an IPA.

Despite the fact that, as Keith’s brewmaster emeritus Graham Kendall notes, it’s a “higher hopped product” than mainstream lagers, the beer doesn’t have what the Beer Judge Certification Program considers the “moderate to assertive hop bitterness” typical of an English IPA (much less the stronger bitterness of an American IPA). Not that Kendall is concerned: “We don’t see a need to hop it more. It would so change the character of the beer that it would drive people away.”

The ubiquity of Keith’s has left some craft brewers bitter. “We’ve had complaints that our IPA was wrong,” says Stefan Buhl, brewmaster at Tree Brewing in Kelowna, B.C. “Some people are confused. But as soon as we talk to them, they are usually pretty receptive. First you have a bit of tingling from the hops, but two or three sips in, you get quite a complex profile.” Originally brewed in 2000, Tree’s Hop Head was the first bottled “American IPA” in Canada—a style that further accentuates the hoppy aroma and taste that made the original English IPAs age well across their long voyage. Like Kendall, Buhl speaks of pleasing his customers, but he wants to prod them as well. Three years ago, Tree started brewing a super-hoppy, eight per cent Double IPA, because it felt loyal customers “might want to have a different challenge.”

With names like Boneshaker and Smashbomb, Canadian craft IPAs aren’t to be trifled with. And yet, at their best, they offset their deluges of citrusy hop flavour with a sturdy malt backbone. Perhaps in the future, this balance will even bring hoppiness back into the mainstream pint. And if craft brewers achieve their bitter revolution, what will they do for an encore? According to Morana, “Sour is the next wave.”

Read article at MacLeans.ca

The corner of Commercial and Grandview went hopping mad a couple of weeks ago.

St. Augustine’s was the venue for the latest CAMRA Vancouver Fest of Ale, with the theme for this summer instalment being the beloved buds of the venerable hop plant.

More specifically, Too Hop to Handle was a caskival dedicated to that most West Coast of beer styles, India Pale Ale (which, perhaps not so coincidentally, was the subject ofInternational IPA Day on Aug. 4).

This style has undergone something of a North American evolution since it was created in 19th-century England to slake the thirst of British troops and officers in what was then the U.K.’s distant colony.

Already known for being a relatively bitter ale in the U.K., IPA underwent a major hop injection when the craft beer industry started to take off in California in the 1970s, and soon North American IPA became a style of its own: Lively, earthy and tangy aromas, generously carbonated, stronger than average, with a solid bitterness balanced by a more subtle sweetness and a bouquet of flavours ranging from citrus to herbs and pine.

It may be called North American IPA, but it’s really a West Coast thing – nowhere else in the continent are these ales so robustly bittered and flavoured.

So let’s just say a lot of the B.C. brewers contributing casks to the event on July 23 were in their element, as were the many hopheads who descended on St. Augustine’s that Saturday.

The pub had packed in the punters, arranging its tables in long rows, bierhalle-style – while there was also the option of sitting outside on the pub’s small patio.

Casks lined the walls as well as the bar proper – which itself boasts an impressive range of craft beer – while small plates of pairing food had been prepared by St. Augustine’s chef, Dion Ouellet.

CAMRA Vancouver had even made good use of the pub’s screens: What usually beam out conversation-killing sports were made educational tools, with various hop facts on rotation. And that loud, lively sound? The wonderful blare of people talking to each other.

One of these caskivals, I’ll get a taste of everything on offer. As it was, I only managed around half of the 14 offerings but got a good impression of this style’s range. (Actually, I counted a couple I’d already tasted, including Howe Sound’s robust Total Eclipse of the Hop Imperial IPA and Phillips’ superb Belgian IPA, a.k.a. Hoperation.)

Red Racer‘s entry tells it like it isAt the lighter end of the scale was the very pale, very refreshing 2XS IPA by Dead Frog, a little on the sweeter side and a great palate cleanser. Then there was the Insurrection by Crannog, an English-style IPA with a grounding earthiness behind the herbal hops. Both were featherweights here at just 5.5% ABV – but both were delicious.

At the darker side of the scale was Spinnakers’ Lion’s Head Cascadian Dark Ale (6.5%). This was the only CDA at the event, which I found surprising as there is currently something of a trend toward the style. Perhaps this dark ale, which ups the malt content to challenge the hops flavour, is more of a spring/autumn beer and doesn’t quite have the refreshing qualities of its paler cousin. Regardless, I’m a huge fan of this style, and Spinnakers’ CDA was actually very refreshing, a little lighter in body than other CDAs I’ve had, but still smooth, rich and roasty.

Big Ridge brewmaster Tariq Khan showed there’s plenty of life in a great name with his IPA sequel Wrath of Khan 2 Belgian IPA (6.9%), which apparently had some wheat in the mix to create its balanced creaminess.

Meanwhile, Big River’s Claire Connolly (left, with enthusiastic member of St. Augustine’s staff) took the name of the event to heart and produced an Insane IPAthat registered at 9% and a staggering 151 International Bittering Units (the maximum human threshold for tasting bitterness is around 100 IBUs). What’s more, each serving was dispensed through a special canister of dried hops for a final blast of aroma. My tasting notes read simply, “Holy cow.” This beer’s extreme hoppiness gave each sip an incredible weight, yet, insane or not, it remained remarkably drinkable.

Every entrant on the day was eligible for the Brewer’s Challenge Award, decided by a panel of expert judges, and a People’s Choice Award, voted for by the public.

The former prize eventually went to David Varga of Taylor’s Crossing brewpub and Red Truck beer, who also tied for the People’s Choice award with the Abel Tasman IPA byLighthouse’s Dean McLeod (which I sadly didn’t try).

Varga’s IPA had a notably superb balance of malt sweetness and hops bite, and was smooth, soft in the mouth and well-rounded.

“Drinkability is big in my methodology,” said Varga when I chatted to him later on the phone.
“I focus on hop flavour more than bitterness. [IPAs] go really well in casks, the low carbonation means more malt flavour and balance with the hops I use.”

Varga wasn’t actually present at the event, so didn’t even get to try his own cask, but he recalls dry-hopping the beer with a New Zealand hop, “so the flavour comes across as a little more tropical. It enhances the sweetness.”

For Varga, balance is critical in any IPA.

“The hops are certainly on the forefront but there always has to be enough of a malt sweetness in the background to provide balance,” he said, but admitted that hops is the star of the show, whatever its variety – be it the earthier, more herbal English hops, or the Pacific Northwest hops that can produce aromas and flavours of grapefruit, pine resin, even cannabis (a relative of the hops plant).

Varga admitted that it’s a challenge for him to brew IPAs, which makes his win at Too Hop to Handle even more impressive.

“For me it’s probably tougher, mainly because I come from a lager-brewing background, where everything is a little more restrained in terms of beer character,” he said.

“It’s hard for me to get past that [attitude] “yeah, just add a little more hops.” It’s a little tougher for me because it doesn’t come naturally.”

As if to meet that difficulty head-on and continue the momentum of winning the CAMRA Vancouver event, Varga this week will release a Red Truck IPA, which will be available for a limited time only at Taylor’s Crossing and select other bars and restaurants with a Red Truck account (a full list can be found here).

Well done David; and once again, well done CAMRA Vancouver for organizing another great event. They seem to get better every time.

jzeschky@theprovince.com
twitter.com/jantweats

Broadcast Date: 2011-08-07 17:00:00 (5:00 pm)
Ask questions by calling in at 888.401.BEER, and check out the live video feed from Vancouver at justin.tv/brewingnetwork.

The original Brewing Network Sunday show that brought live beer radio to the internet. Each week the BN crew covers a homebrew and/or craft brew related topic in depth through guest interviews with beer industry professionals and celebrity homebrewers. With a fresh mix of fun and information, an eclectic cast of characters, and live interaction with listeners, The Session brings beer radio to life!

Fri Aug 19, 7pm-12am | Exhibition Hall at the Roundhouse Community Centre
Tickets: $50 Adults (19+) inclusive of all entertainment & beer
Roundhouse Front Desk, 604.713.1800

More Information and Ticket Sales at Roundhouse.ca

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Join us for Vancouver’s first Beerlesque Festival – a feast for the eyes and the palette; a carnival for the senses! Sample some of BC’s best craft beer while delighting in sassy and unique performances by Vancouver’s most talented (and gorgeous) burlesquers. Other unique entertainment will include Blackberry Wood, a clown burlesque troupe, a sword swallower, a fashion show and more!

The tassels will twirl, the sparkle will shine, the hips will shake and the beer will flow. All proceeds to go to Roundhouse Community Programs, so come on down, show your support and enjoy all the hotness you can handle in an evening not to be missed!

Craft Beer provided by 15+ breweries!

Entertainment provided by:

Blackberry Wood
Jenny Magenta, Valery Vyntage, Rebel Valentine, Ruthe Ordare
Teddy Smooth
Bad Girl Burlesque
Big Red, M.Pyress Flame, Cosmo the Clown, Savage Cream Puff & Gordon White
Kata Sita, The World’s Youngest Female Sword Swallower
Dani from Belly Divine
Lace Embrace Atelier fashion show

Don’t be shy, dressing up is encouraged! Prize for best costume!

Raffle draws!

Local food carts on site!

All ticket holders will receive 20% off all food purchases at The New Oxford on Friday, Aug 19th. A great place to start your night off before the event!

Cheers!
The Beerlesque Crew

Special thanks to Rick Mattar, Amber Lamoureux, Jim Dreichel and Pin Up Perfection Photography for the poster art.

There’s a change in the air for many beer drinkers, and you can smell it this summer in the fresh herby, piney, fruity, floral, and earthy aromas wafting from bars and patios. Hops are on the rise.

Brewers have long used the green, pinecone-like flowers to balance the sweetness of malt with complex flavours and palate-cleansing bitterness, as well as to provide fragrance. And no style of beer has a bigger, bolder hop character than India Pale Ale.

“Not long ago there weren’t a whole lot of IPAs made in B.C.,” says brewmaster Gary Lohin of Surrey’s Central City Brewery. “Now I can’t even think of a craft brewery around here that isn’t producing one. And it’s not just guys drinking it—when we hand out samplers at beer festivals the women really love the IPA.”

The beer has intriguing origins. British brewers developed it in the late 18th century as a pale ale for export, mainly to the imperial forces in India—hence the name. The voyage took months and the tall ships had to cross the equator twice, causing regular brews to go off. The answer was to raise the alcoholic content and add lashings of hops as preservatives. The beer became hugely popular.

Fast forward more than 200 years to the West Coast, where craft brewers are creating innovative IPAs using a range of improved hop varieties, many locally produced. Lohin’s Red Racer IPA, which weighs in at 6.5 percent alcohol, is a great representative of this style. It’s golden amber in colour and lightly carbonated, with big upfront aromas of grapefruit, orange, and pine. The malt balances perfectly with the hops to provide a rich blend of flavours—caramel, tangy citrus, and tropical fruit—and the dry bitterness leaves a long aftertaste.

Last September, Red Racer IPA bagged gold at the Canadian Brewing Awards and helped Lohin and Central City gain the coveted title of brewery of the year. No wonder it’s the brewmaster’s favourite tipple.

“I seem to have found a winner in the design of the recipe,” says the genial Lohin. “All my hops come from the Yakima Valley in Washington, except for bittering hops from Germany. I use several top-quality Maris Otter pale malts from Britain, which…allow me to add more hops and achieve a better balanced beer. It’s a 90-minute boil in the kettle, and I use my bittering hops for at least an hour. The rest I put in near the end of the boil. The art of the brewer is in using different combinations at different times.”

The powerful fragrances of Red Racer IPA come from dry-hopping. “After three weeks or so of fermentation and maturation, and once the yeast is settled, I’ll push the beer to another tank in which I’ll have big bags of whole-leaf hops. I just leave them to soak in it—like steeping tea—to extract all the floral aromas.”

More than 30 Vancouver locations offer Red Racer IPA on draft, including Morrissey’s Irish Bar and Restaurant, the Railway Club, the Hyde Restaurant, and Timbre Restaurant. You can find it in cans at most LDB stores and many private outlets. Other excellent locally made IPAs to check out on racks are Howe Sound Brewing’s Devil’s Elbow, Granville Island Brewing’s Brockton IPA, Russell Brewing’s IP’eh!, and R & B Brewing’s Hoppelganger. On tap only are Steamworks’ Imperial IPA, Yaletown Brewing’s Brick & Beam IPA, and Storm Brewing’s Hurricane IPA.

Rich and complex, the bitter flavours of an IPA stimulate the appetite, and it pairs well with fried seafood, moderately spiced foods, and stronger flavoured meats such as lamb or game. Try a pint of Hurricane at Vij’s Restaurant (1480 West 11th Avenue) to go with the Rajasthani-style goat curry, or at the Whip Restaurant and Gallery (209 East 6th Avenue) with the crispy calamari tossed in a ginger-and-chili relish.

IPA’s clean, sharp dryness makes it unmatched as a quencher of summer thirsts. So go with the continent-spanning flow—the U.S.–based Brewers Association forecasts that next year IPA will be the most popular ale in North America

Read the complete article in the Georgia Straight.

Be sure to get tickets and come to CAMRA Vancouver’s Fest of Ale – Too Hop to Handle, showcasing Hops. There will be IPA’s and lots of them! Vancouver brewers all going to the extreme to take you and your taste buds to hop heaven and back.