Sample Series – Townsite Brewing Quartz Blended Wild Ale

I was super stoked to see this beer arrive on my door step one day and wanted to feature it on my Sample Series reviews.

Sample Series – BC Craft Brewers Guild & Bomber Brewing Collaboration Oktoberfest Beer

Craft Oktoberfest, or festbiers, are styles that I typically avoid buying locally because they are usually poorly made (sorry, but that’s the truth). It also doesn’t help that you can get some pretty good German imports for a few bucks a can and most of those are pretty spot on. That being said, as someone…

Sample Series – Beau’s Full Time IPA, a West Coast Beer From the East

The local IPA scene lately has been littered with cloudy, New England or Eastern Style IPA’s, which has been a real treat for a while but it can be a bit overwhelming at times with all the fruit and lack of bitterness in the hopped up beers. Because of this, I’ve been craving more West…

Sample Series – A Look At Moody’s Sublime Pineapple Hefeweizen

I’ve always been a little iffy about pineapple beers, never really finding one that I enjoyed. So the thought of a free sample to try out was perfect for my endeavor to finally find a pineapple beer I can appreciate.

BC Craft Beer Review – Four Winds Norwegian Wood Farmhouse Ale

Norwegian Wood is the name of a famous song by the Beatles written about an affair that John Lennon was involved in. It is also, apparently, the name of this beer. However, the similarities between the song name and the beer pretty much end there. Instead of a coy reference to cheap wall paneling, the…

Sample Series – A Look At Steamworks & Dageraad East of East Van Saison

East of East Van comes in a large format 750mL bottle that retails for about $13 a piece and was co-brewed by Steamworks and Dageraad Breweries for a March 2017 release. This is a bottle conditioned Saison beer, where the carbonation is naturally derived from residual yeast interacting with sugars in the beer (usually topped…

BC Craft Beer Review – Dageraad White Belgian Wheat Beer

In late February 2017, Dageraad Brewing launched a new year round beer called Dageraad White, which is a Belgian style spiced Wheat Beer (aka Witbier). I was very excited to see a year round Witbier on the market, something that has been missing locally in my opinion. In fact, I’d say other than the seasonal…

BC Craft Beer Review – Strange Fellows Goldilocks Belgian Golden Strong

Goldilocks is a seasonal limited release beer from Strange Fellows Brewing in Vancouver, BC that is brewed to a strength of 8.5% abv and sold in a 750mL bottle for around $15 a piece. Although I still found it to be a touch expensive (about the same price as a 4x16oz pack of their regular…

BC Craft Beer Review – Lighthouse Depth Charge Barrel Aged Scotch Ale

Brewed to a strength of 9% abv and aged in Whiskey barrels for an undisclosed amount of time, after trying a few different local beers this week, Depth Charge was the clear choice for Local Beer of the Week.

BC Craft Beer Review – Four Winds Mona

Steamworks Flagship IPA: A recipe “4 years in the making” according to the brewery, this recent BC Beer Awards Gold Medal Winning IPA celebrates the invasion of the NE IPA (aka North East, aka New England) variety of IPA’s into British Columbia. Perhaps ignited by the likes of Heady Topper or other eastern USA breweries […]

BC Craft Beer Review – Steel & Oak Baltic Porter

These folks have been consistently brewing interesting and high quality seasonal releases since they opened up so I felt their recently release Baltic Porter was worth of being my inaugural Local Beer of the Week recommendation

IPA Review – Twin Sails Slam Dank

Twin Sails has been pumping out all kinds of unique and interesting IPA’s lately and I felt this one deserved to be called out as my first IPA of the week

BC Craft Beer Review – Steamworks Flagship IPA

BC Craft Beer Review – Old Yale Brewing Yeti White Stout

Old Yale Brewing Yeti White Stout: This is a white stout hybrid style beer brewed in Chilliwack, BC to a strength of 8% abv using Belgian pilsner malts, peated malt and oats with the addition of Himalayan truffles in the brewing process. It’s interesting to see that they’re clearly building on their successful Canadian Beer of the…

BC Craft Beer Review – Howe Sound Ascension Triple IPA

Howe Sound Ascension Triple IPA: Brewed by a Squamish, BC brewery, this massive IPA comes in at a strength of 11% abv with 75 IBUs worth of hops. This is the first time I can recall a Triple IPA being bottled and released in BC in a large enough amount to be distributed at private…

BC Craft Beer Review – Dead Frog Brewery Wet Hop S.M.A.S.H

Dead Frog Brewery Wet Hop S.M.A.S.H.: A surprise release from Dead Frog in Aldergrove, BC, this fresh hop beer features fresh locally grown Centennial hops and Pale malt from Armstrong, BC making it a full on British Columbian ale that was released mid November. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a pale golden colour with one finger of…

BC Craft Beer Review – Yellow Dog Brewing Play Dead Fresh Hop IPA

Yellow Dog Brewing Play Dead Fresh Hop IPA: Brewed with fresh Mosaic hops from Yakima, WA this IPA comes in at a strength of 6.8% abv with 75 IBUs. I can honestly say, after having at least a few of these, that this is one of the best fresh hop beers I have ever had. They knocked…

BC Craft Beer Review – Russell Brewing Farm Fresh IPA

Russell Brewing Farm Fresh IPA: A latecomer to the fresh hop market, this IPA is brewed to a strength of 6.5% abv and features 48 IBUs worth of Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops from Chilliwack’s Sartori hop farm. I was surprised to see a fresh hop release from Russell to be honest, I wasn’t expecting them…

BC Craft Beer Review – Spinnakers Sooke Harvest Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Spinnakers Sooke Harvest Fresh Hop Pale Ale: Brewed in Victoria, BC with fresh hops grown in Sooke, this Pale Ale comes in at a strength of 5% abv and features 40 IBUs worth of fresh Cascade, Chinnook and Willamette hops. This is the first time I can recall seeing a Spinnakers fresh hop beer on the…

BC Craft Beer Review – 33 Acres of Ocean Fresh Hop Pale Ale

33 Acres of Ocean Fresh Hop Pale Ale: Another new BC fresh hop offering featuring fresh Centennial hops, this beer is brewed to a strength of 5.3% abv in Vancouver, BC. The brewery used their regular Pale Ale label and hand stamped the words”Fresh Hop” onto some 4300 bottles of this release. I of course, managed to get…

BC Craft Beer Review – Ravens Brewing Fresh Hopped ESB

Ravens Brewing Fresh Hopped ESB: Newly opened in 2015, Ravens Brewing in Abbotsford, BC brewed this beer to a strength of 5.75% abv with 50 IBUs of hops from the Valley Hops farm in Abbotsford. It’s great to see a beer like this come from a brand new brewery as it’s not something you see…

BC Craft Beer Review – Yellow Dog Brewing Alpha Dog Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Yellow Dog Brewing Alpha Dog Fresh Hop Pale Ale: Brewed with fresh Citra hops from Yakima, WA this Pale Ale comes in at a strength of 5.2% abv and 60 IBUs. What’s interesting about this beer is that it is made from fresh hops outside of BC in one of the most famous hop growing…

BC Craft Beer Review – Persephone Harvest Goddess Golden Ale

Persephone Harvest Goddess Golden Ale: Brewed as part of three fresh hop releases in 2015 (and new for this year), this Golden Ale is brewed to a strength of 5% abv with fresh Golding Hops from their own hop farm. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a clear golden colour with two fingers of foam and just a few…

BC Craft Beer Review – Central City Red Racer Wet Hop Pale Ale

Central City Red Racer Wet Hop Pale Ale: Available only at the brewery and brewpubs (or in a draught tap filled growler to go), this Wet Hop Pale Ale is brewed in Surrey, BC to a strength of 5% abv and is presumably a fresh hopped version of their standard Pale Ale offering. Unfortunately it doesn’t…

BC Craft Beer Review – Powell Street Fresh Hop IPA

Powell Street Fresh Hop IPA: Last year Powell killed it with their fresh hop release called 95 Pounds of Wet Hop Goodness, so I was thrilled to see this year they upped their game by making a 7% abv unknown IBU fresh hop monster of an IPA. These are still on the shelves locally, I suggest…

BC Craft Beer Review – Townsite Brewing Timewarp Wet Hop Pale Ale

Townsite Brewing Timewarp Wet Hop Pale Ale: Fresh hop season continues and this review features one from Powell River, BC that was brewed to a strength of 5.5% abv with 60 IBUs worth of fresh hops from nearby Windfall Farms and apparently some hops from Texada Island – and I thought they only grew other “crops” on…

BC Craft Beer Review – Bridge Brewing Fresh Hopped Red IPA

Bridge Brewing Fresh Hopped Red IPA: Fresh hop season finally kicked off in BC in late September and there are lots of new fresh hop options in town from all the new breweries who managed to get their hands on some fresh hop cones. One of my first bottles of the season was this new one from…

BC Craft Beer Review – Yellow Dog Brewing Play Dead IPA

Yellow Dog Brewing Play Dead IPA: This beer is brewed in Port Moody, BC to a strength of 6.8% abv with 75 IBUs. Their IPA was recently released in tallboy style cans which is the perfect size for a drink like this and can be found in most private liquor stores. Aroma and Appearance: Play Dead IPA pours…

BC Craft Beer Review – Strange Fellows Nocturnum Dark IPA

Strange Fellows Nocturnum: This beer is brewed in Vancouver, BC at this new place that has a flair for the strange and unusual. It comes in at a strength of 6.5% abv with 65 IBU’s and should be available in 473 mL cans very soon, making it a little easier to get a hold of for the…

BC Craft Beer Review – Category 12 Brewing Unsanctioned Saison

Category 12 Brewing Unsanctioned Saison: This beer is brewed in Victoria, BC to a strength of 6.9% abv, using their house Belgian yeast and 27 IBUs of Zythos hops. Unsanctioned Saison also features Pilsner, Belgian Caravienne and Rye malts according to their website. I’m always game for a good Saison style beer and this had gotten some…

BC Craft Beer Review – Old Yale Brewing Vanishing Monk Witbier

Old Yale Brewing Vanishing Monk Belgian Witbier: I received this beer as a part of a solicited review sample pack where the brewer has offered me a sample of beer and asked me to review it. Vanishing Monk is a Belgian Witbier that is brewed in Chilliwack, BC to a strength of 5% abv with a…

BC Craft Beer Review – Moody Ales Hardy Brown Ale From A Crowler

Moody Ales Hardy Brown Ale: This beer is brewed in Port Moody, BC to a strength of 5.5% abv and came in a giant 946mL sized can more commonly known and trademarked as a Crowler. Moody Ales launched these on December 18th, 2014 (apparently the first one’s in Canada to do so) and they will fill them…

BC Craft Beer Review – Parallel 49 Rye The Long Face Imperial Rye IPA

Parallel 49 Rye The Long Face Imperial Rye IPA: This beer is brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 8.5% abv with 86 IBUs worth of Chinook, Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial hops. It uses both rye and barley malts to give it some different characters to a typical IPA and was just released a couple weeks ago.…

BC Craft Beer Review – Fuggles & Warlock Bean Me Up Espresso Milk Stout

Fuggles & Warlock Bean Me Up Espresso Milk Stout: Brewed in BC by current gypsy brewer Fuggles & Warlock, this beer has 5.7% abv, 24 IBUs and is infused with Salt Spring Island brand Metta Espresso coffee and brewed with lactose to give it a creamy milk texture and flavour. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a very dark…

BC Craft Beer Review – Powell Street Right Kind of Crazy Double IPA

Powell Street Right Kind of Crazy Double IPA: This is a 150 IBU hop monster of a beer brewed in Vancouver, BC to a strength of 9% abv. According to their website description it is made with Columbus, Amarillo and the new Azacca hop variety so I guess move over Mosaic, the beer world has a new…

BC Craft Beer Review – Parallel 49 Parallelogram Coffee Porter

Parallel 49 Parallelogram Coffee Porter: This beer is brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 6% abv in collaboration with 49th Parallel Coffee Brewers. This is actually an oatmeal porter that contains cold brew Ethiopian coffee from the roaster and 23 IBUs worth of hops. Aroma and Appearance: It pours an extremely dark brown colour, looking like a…

BC Craft Beer – Parallel 49 Russian Imperial Stout 2015

Parallel 49 Russian Imperial Stout 2015: Brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 11.9% abv this 2015 Russian Imperial Stout bottle was sealed in red wax and was aged in whiskey barrels to give it an extra kick in the flavour department. Aroma and Appearance: It poured a very dark brown colour with a thin finger of…

BC Craft Beer – Parallel 49 / Gigantic Brewing From East Van With Love

Parallel 49 and Gigantic Brewing – From East Van With Love Bourbon Barrel Imperial Maple Stout: Brewed in Vancouver, BC back in February 2013, this Maple Imperial Stout was aged in Bourbon Barrels and brewed to a strength of 11.5% abv with a cool name and an Enjoy After date of January 31, 2015 – something you rarely…

BC Craft Beer – Parallel 49 Barleywine 2014

Parallel 49 Barleywine 2014: Brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 11.8% abv with 61 IBUs, this Barleywine was aged in Whisky barrels for 10 months and bottled into silver wax sealed 22 oz bottles. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a clear red amber colour with a small amount of carbonation and a very thin layer of foam.…

BC Craft Beer Cocktail Review – Mission Springs Cranberry Ginger Radler

Mission Springs Cranberry Ginger Radler: Is a pre-mixed can of beer blended with ginger infused cranberry and grape juice to bring the alcohol strength down to a very sessionable 3.0% abv. I refer to this as a beer cocktail, because it isn’t just beer and you can make a Radler by adding really any juice to…

BC Beer Bloggers Local Winter Favourites Part 1 – Dead Frog Winter Beeracle Beer #1

BC Beer Bloggers Local Winter Favourites – This special review is part of a multi-blog collaboration between five BC Beer Bloggers (including a guest from over the mountains in Alberta) where we each chose our top three local winter releases and are blogging about them. Please take a look at the bottom of this review for…

BC Beer Bloggers Local Winter Favourites Part 1 – Bridge Brewing The Grinch Beer #2

BC Beer Bloggers Local Winter Favourites Part 1 – Central City Brewing Thor’s Hammer Beer #3

BC Craft Beer Review – Powell Street Stout

Powell Street Stout: brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 6% abv and 45 IBUs this beer with a clean logo and non fancy name was kind of a nice change of pace for the local brewing scene who seems to be super addicted to crazy labels and pun-filled names (many of which I enjoy, so…

BC Craft Beer Review – Howe Sound Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale (Aged 1 Year)

Howe Sound Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale (Aged 1 Year): Brewed in Squamish, BC at a strength of 8% abv, this is the 2013 release of this beer that I cellared (somewhat accidentally at first). Now these beers come in 1L bottles that have a flip top which are easily reusable albeit quite huge. Putting one of these back…

BC Craft Beer Review – Moon Under Water Pumpkin Pearzen Weizen

Moon Under Water Pumpkin Pearzen Weizen: brewed in Victoria, BC at a strength of 7% abv, this Weizen style beer is made with fresh local pumpkins and is infused with pears; just the kind of variation I am looking for in pumpkin beers these days. Aroma and Appearance: It pours a cloudy orange and copper colour with one…

BC Craft Beer – Parallel 49 Lost Souls Chocolate Pumpkin Porter (Fresh)

Parallel 49 Lost Souls Chocolate Pumpkin Porter: brewed in Vancouver, BC at a strength of 6.5% abv, this recent gold medal winner in the BC Beer Awards Vegetable / Spice category is one of my favourites and it ages reasonably well for up to a year so I tend to buy a few bottles to let…

BC Craft Beer Review – Barkerville Brewing 52 Foot Stout

Barkerville Brewing 52 Foot Stout: I have often complained that BC does not make very many good quality basic Stouts compared to other places, a category somewhat lacking for some reason locally, however in recent years the tide has turned and finally we have some decent one’s in our province. This beer is brewed in Quesnel,…

BC Craft Beer Review – Persephone Brewing Double IPA

Persephone Brewing – Double IPA: Brewed in Gibsons, this Double IPA is brewed at a strength of 9% abv featuring Amarillo, Cascade and Columbus hops. Interestingly enough, this is one of the more expensive DIPA’s on the market, often going for $12-$13 a bottle at private stores (this is where a 10% CAMRA discount is handy). I…

BC Craft Beer Review – Phillips Green Reaper Fresh Hop IPA

Phillips Green Reaper Fresh Hop IPA: Brewed in Victoria, BC at a strength of 6.5% abv this Fresh Hop IPA was a little late to the scene compared to a lot of the other island fresh hop beers with Willamette hops grown in Nanaimo which perhaps were harvested at a different time than the popular…