Each month, as part of this 366-day BC craft beer extravaganza that I will be sharing with you throughout 2016, I will highlight a specific style or theme of beers for a whole week of articles. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, this month’s feature week will look at beers of a chocolate nature, perfect to celebrate the occasion.

Last week, the Sip Family congregated for a meal at Dunn’s Famous BC, where among their menu of smoked meat sandwiches and poutine, are a few R&B Brewing products.

As we waited for our entire group to arrive, we started the feast off with a couple pitchers of brewski. Among those was the Raven Cream Ale, which was perfect for a larger ensemble. It’s always hard balancing everyone’s different tastes when picking a pitcher beverage, but I think this selection worked for everyone involved.

The dark, chocolate and nutty brew was strong where it needed to be, but was generally light overall. I’m not surprised the beer has received numerous accolades, including winning a gold medal at the 2011 BC Beer Awards.

The brewery’s staff must be comprised of cheese nuts, as they’ve even provided cheese pairings for each of their brews. For the Raven Cream Ale, suggested fromage includes Monterrey Jack, Brick, or nuttier varieties. Among regular food pairings are chicken, salads, bratwurst, salmon and apricot or citrus cakes/tarts for dessert.

Mrs. Sip and I have yet to visit R&B’s new Brewery Creek tasting room. The brewery was launched in 1997 by longtime friends Rick Dellow and Barry Benson, who combined have 60 years of brewing experience.

Back to the Raven Cream Ale, the Sip Advisor is not a fan of birds, but if I keep having good beers named after fowl, I may have to change my tune!

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