Sierra Nevada/3 Floyds Brewing – Beer Camp Across America Chico King Pale Ale: A collaboration with 3 Floyds Brewing this is a hopped up Pale Ale brewed at a strength of 6.5% abv and 45 IBUs and the second collaboration beer I have had from this brewery. Aroma and Appearance: This pours a slightly cloudy copper with some sporadic bubbles…
Sierra Nevada/New Glarus – Beer Camp Across America There and Back ESB: A collaboration with New Glarus Brewing this English Style Bitter was brewed at a strength of 5.6% abv and 40 IBUs. Apparently this breweries beer is next to impossible to get outside of Wisconsin, so unless I trade it seems that Beer Camp is the only exposure to this…
Sierra Nevada/Bells Brewery – Beer Camp Across America Maillard’s Odyssey: A collaboration with Bells Brewery this Imperial Dark Ale was brewed at a strength of 8.5% abv and 40 IBUs. Another brewery that has not come across my fridge or cellar is Bells Brewery who seems to make a lot of high quality beer that I will try and find in the future.…
Sierra Nevada/Russian River – Beer Camp Across America Tater Ridge: A collaboration with Russian River Brewing this Belgian Style Blonde Ale was brewed at a strength of 6.3% abv and 50 IBUs. I have never had anything by Russian River before, not even a collaboration, so this was my first exposure to their beers that I really want to find…
Sierra Nevada/Asheville Brewers Alliance – Beer Camp Across America Tater Ridge: A collaboration with Asheville Brewers Alliance this Scotch Ale was brewed sweet potatoes at a strength of 7.0% abv and 35 IBUs, it is a pretty interesting idea to use sweet potatoes in there, likely part of the mash but perhaps more! Aroma and Appearance: The beer pours with…
Sierra Nevada/Ballast Point – Beer Camp Across America Electric Ray IPL: A collaboration with Ballast Point Brewing this India Pale Lager was brewed at a whopping 8.5% abv with 70 IBUs and was my first true Beer Camp beer from the case that was released. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a clear golden colour with two fingers of…
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company – Beer Camp Across America West Coast Double IPA: In search of a full case, sadly all I was able to find at the time was this particular Sierra Nevada 24 oz bottle of Imperial IPA brewed in Chico, California at a strength of 8.5% abv with an undisclosed IBU that includes…
Dead Frog Bucking Sheep Buckwheat IPA: A new single batch limited release (which apparently also comes in Black) this craft beer is described as a golden IPA brewed with buckwheat on their website. It is brewed at a strength of 6.5% with 35 IBUs featuring Citra and Centennial hops in Aldergrove, BC. Now buckwheat is not wheat,…
Ballast Point Brewing Company – Sculpin IPA: Brewed in San Diego, CA this IPA ranks #5 overall on the ratebeer.com IPA category putting it as one of the best IPA’s in the world according to individual ratings and reviews. It is brewed at a strength of 7.0% abv with 70 IBUs and according to their web description is hopped…
Cantillon Gueuze Lambic: Brewed in Brussels, Belgium at a strength of 5% abv with a new modern flag themed label, this 100% spontaneously fermented Lambic beer is the newest release in BC private liquor stores to which I was excited to try and then subsequently stock up on. Per their website this Gueze is a blend of…
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde Tripel: This particular beer is one of the beers that really opened up my mind to what a beer can taste like, it’s been around for a while and was one of my first true craft beers. Despite being owned by Sleeman’s aka Sapporo, the Unibroue beers still stay true to…
Epic Brewing Elder Brett – Saison Brett Golden Ale: Purchased at Total Wines & More in Lynnwood, WA and brewed in collaboration with Crooked Stave Artisan Brewing, aged in wine barrels this is the batch #4 release at 9.1% abv with an undisclosed but likely low IBU. This particular batch was brewed in Salt Lake City, UT…
Odin Brewing – Odin’s Gift Amber Ale with Juniper Berries: Brewed in Seattle, WA at a strength of 5.4% with 28 IBUs and Juniper Boughs according to their website. This was another BYO 6 pack beer from Trader Joes, allowing me to sample beers before committing to a full 6 pack. Aroma and Appearance: It pours with…
Dicks Brewing 12 Man Pale Ale: Dubbed a beer “for the fan” on their website, this Pale is brewed at a strength of 4.5% abv (so more of a session beer) with an undisclosed IBU rating. This was obtained as a part of a build your own 6 pack from Trader Joe’s in Bellingham, who occasionally…
Caldera Brewing – Hopportunity Knocks IPA: Brewed in Oregon at a strength of 6.8% with 100+ IBUs, this IPA is full of, as described on the bottle, an “@*! pile of Centennial hops, with a big beer to back it up”. Some “googling” identified this as a single hop beer, so this is a good one if…
Howe Sound Brewing Total Eclipse of the Hop Imperial IPA: This is a Imperial IPA brewed in Squamish, BC at a strength of 8% abv with 90 IBUs of 6 undisclosed varieties of hops. It comes in a 1L flip top bottle that Howe Sound Brewery is known for, which is named a pot stopper according to their…
Townsite Brewing Perfect Storm Oatmeal Stout: This is a stout brewed in Powell River, BC at a strength of 5.5% with 30 IBUs featuring Columbus, Cascade and Golding hops per their website. I haven’t had a lot of great BC stouts so I like to try different one’s to see where the gems are. Aroma and Appearance: This pours…
Russell Brewing – Hop Therapy ISA: I had been meaning to pick this up to try it because I really like the DIPA version, however I was hesitant because it was only offered in 6 packs and I don’t buy a lot of those – however I guess Ninkasi was watching over me as I managed…
Howe Sound Cloudburst Lemongrass White IPA: This IPA was release in Feb 2014 I believe as a spring seasonal beer and was discovered in a recent cellar clean out effort where I grabbed bottles that were in the now or never stage, mostly IPAs at this point. It is brewed at a strength of 6% abv with…
Deep Cove Brewers University Brew Off IPA: This IPA was the winning beer in a brew off between two local University home brewing clubs SFBrew (SFU) and BrUbc (UBC) competing in the Hops Connect Cup University Home Brewing Competition (as reported on Canadian Beer News). It was originally dubbed Hop-A-Rella, released in April of this year ant…
Bacon Fest: Was hosted in Burnaby on International Bacon Day, also known as Saturday, August 30th at this local urban farm called Urban Digs Farm. First a little bit about this farm, I subscribe to a weekly CSA called Farm City Coop where each week you get a selection of veggies and greens (aka hippie food) that…
Deep Cove Brewers Sun Kissed Tea Saison: I have been doing a bit of a cellar clean out and found this beer sitting there just begging to be opened on the last day of August (aka the last true day of summer in Vancouver, BC). This beer is brewed in North Vancouver, BC on the way…
Rogue Brewery – Farms 7 Hop IPA: Brewed in Newport, Oregon right near the jetty (go there, it’s fun) this IPA comes in at a strength of 8% with 90 IBUs. Interesting enough, Rogue starting a significant hop growing program in 2008 during one of the many hop shortages the craft beer world has encountered…
Casks for Surrey Memorial Hospital Fundraiser: was presented by South Fraser Beer Club and hosted at Big Ridge Brewing Co this past Thursday, August 28th starting at 6pm. This event was created by Scott to show his appreciation for Surrey Memorial who earlier in the year saved his daughter’s life from a near drowning incident. Both of…
Dead Frog Big Stump Spruce Golden Ale: A new release with the new head brewer, this craft beer is brewed just in Algergrove, BC at a strength of 6.5% with 26 IBUs and of course spruce tips. This one has made local headlines, won a recent cask off at Tap Convention with some stiff competition so…
Firestone Walker – Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA: If you search this beer on the internet, you will notice that ratebeer has it on the top 10 Black IPA’s of the world which is always exciting to find a beer that higly regarded, however sometimes can cause you to over anticipate the beverage and therefore feel…
Northwest Brewing Hoppy Bitch IPA: Brewed in Pacific, Washington the craft beer with a funny name comes in at a strength of 6.3% abv and 80 IBU’s. While rummaging through a bottle shop and grabbing copious amounts of craft beer, my wife found this for me and put in our cart. Aroma and Appearance: This pours with two…
Parallel 49 Hopnotist: Is a local Vancouver brewed Single Hop Imperial IPA featuring 86 IBUs of the famous Mosiac Hop strain and is brewed at a strength of 8.5% abv. I honestly thought I had missed this one, couldn’t find it anywhere until recently I had a craft calling while walking by the Paddlewheeler Pub Liquor store…
Unibroue Éphémère Cherry : From a Unibroue mixer 12 pack, because that’s the type of beer quality I serve when hosting larger groups (and always a few local mixers), I was a little hesitant for this on as well I don’t really love cherry flavoured things. This emphemeral ale (aka lasting for a short time) is brewed…
MOA Brewing Company – Imperial Stout: Continuing with more New Zealand craft beer which has gained some serious distribution into BC thankfully, I opened this 10.2% abv Imperial Stout which is aged in Oak Pinot Noir barrels, is hopped significantly (over 100 IBUs) and comes in a 375 mL bottle that is corked. As you can see…
Driftwood Brewery Naughty Hildegard “ESB”: Is a craft beer brewed in Victoria, BC at a strength of 6.5% with a whopping 73 IBUs hence why I put the ESB in quotations, basically if you are a style nut it’s pretty obvious this by no means a traditional ESB so don’t expect it to taste like a traditional Extra Special Bitter…
Steel & Oak – Dark Lager: Is another great craft beer brewed in New Westminster, BC at a strength of 5% abv with 27 IBU’s. I went by the brewery the other day to pick up some more growlers and of course another sampler because they had three new beers I hadn’t tried yet. Aroma and Appearance: It does pour with…
Lagunitas – Night Time Ale: This California Black IPA is brewed at a strength of 8.2%% abv and was enjoyed on the patio a couple weeks ago during a bit of a dark beer marathon to get through some darker times. Aroma and Appearance: It pours with two fingers of foam with a dark mahogany like colour and…
Phillips Brewing – Puzzler Belgian Black IPA: Brewed in Victoria, BC at a strength of 7.3% this Belgian Black IPA poured with some massive amounts of foam and took about 5 minutes to calm down before I could fill the glass. That always irks me a bit, but it wasn’t to the point where it was…
Another easy and kind of obvious pairing here, yet at the same time it is really intriguing how these work together. I had this beer by a brewery I was not impressed with (if you see this 4 pack in BC, in my opinion avoid it as most of the beer I had was expired).…
Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout): Brewed in Michigan at a strength of 11.2% with 70 IBUs and is aged in oak bourbon barrels. This “bucket list” beer is one I got recently in trade as well as this super awesome Three Floyds Teku glass which worked great for the beer. This particular one was bottled in…
Full Sail Brewing – Session Premium Lager: Brewed in Hood River, OR this so called “session” beer is really just beer as it is brewed at a strength of 5.1% although it does come in an 11 oz stubby bottle so perhaps that is the session part, who knows? Either way, it is a multiple medal winner (15…
Granville Island Brewing & JOEY Restaurants – Urban Legend IPA: Brewed locally in collaboration with, or specifically for JOEY restaurant. This IPA is comes in at a strength of 7.5% abv with 75 IBU’s and is labelled as a #BitterAllies beer label. I like the label, the picture here doesn’t depict the embossing very well but it is…
Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale: Brewed in Bend, OR at strength of 5% this summer golden ale is one of the few summer ales I actually look forward to. Sadly seeing the words “summer ale” on beer often means that it will be watered down tasting with very little malt flavour. This trend is changing slowly however I…
Leveling as a Beer Geek – Originally I had listed myself as a level 4 beer geek on a scale of 1-5, now I realize that like a karate black belt there are various degrees beyond the belt that I have yet to learn. To make things easy, I will expand the scale to a 1 to…
Surlie Brewing Solitaire: Brewed in Abbotsford, BC so far this local nano brewing has released only one beer in bottles which happens to be the one called Solitaire, which is brewed at a strength of 6.5% abv and is available in private liquor stores here. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a dark brown with lots of side…
Stone – Arrogant Bastard Ale: Brewed in California this “unprecedented and uncompromising celebration of intensity” craft beer is brewed at a strength of 7.2% abv and they say that “it is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth” (go to http://www.arrogantbastard.com for more). You have to love…
It was IPA Day on August 7th and I thought I would earn my Untappd badge in style by putting two of the most ferocious, laser eyed, glowing IPA beer label animals against each other in an EPIC battle of IPA awesomeness, this battle is more about just the beer inside, but ultimately it was…
Coronado Brewing – Idiot Imperial IPA: Brewed in Coronado, CA at a strength of 8.5%.with 90 IBUs I was excited to try my very first beer by this brewery which I picked up at Haggen in Bellingham, WA. Aroma and Appearance: This craft beer pours a clear coppery orange colour with 2 fingers of foam and lots…
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA: Brewed by one of my absolute favourite breweries of all time, this not so double IPA is brewed at a strength of 7% abv with 80 IBUs and was purchased in Oregon on a recent trip. Needless to say I was pretty excited to crack this one open. Aroma…
Brouwerji De Block – Satan Gold: This is a Belgian Strong Ale from Belgium brewed at a strength of 8% that I managed to find a single of at my local LRS simply because it was intriguing. Aroma and Appearance: This craft beer pours with a thin layer of foam with a lot of carbonation and a…
The week itself was very work focused for me so not a lot of travel or adventuring beyond my laptop, however I did manage to get out twice to sample food and beer. First I manged to get to Spud Shack and reviewed their poutine and had some craft beer, needless to say it was…
Tuatara Brewing – Double Trouble Imperial IPA: Another New Zealand craft beer, this Imperial IPA is brewed at a strength of 9% abv and whopping 167 IBUs (yikes!). I had no idea what to expect here, but I was intrigued enough to give it a go. Aroma and Appearance: This is pretty foamy with about 2.5 fingers…
Dead Frog Super Fearless IPA Batch #3: The third release of this Imperial IPA still brewed at a strength of 9% abv with 93 IBUs however, only this one was brewed with a different base malt due to a shipment issue so no Maris Otter here. Aroma and Appearance: Not as foamy as batch #1, just one finger of foam…
Dead Frog Super Fearless IPA Batch #1: This was one of those bottles you had to pick up pretty quickly as it didn’t stay on the shelves very long for the first release. Brewed in Aldergrove, BC at a strength of 9% abv with 93 IBUs and described as hop forward, I poured this bottle into…
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