Author Archives: Daniel Wilson

Unknown's avatar

About Daniel Wilson

I love making drinks for my friends and family, and, of course, sampling my concoctions myself! Finding and playing around with recipes is a favourite past time of mine and I hope to share that passion with all my readers.

BC Beer Baron #208 – 33 Acres of Alpha

Posted on by
Reply

With out-of-town guests visiting recently, Mrs. Sip and I did what we do best – show off this beautiful little city of ours. Amongst our stops was a couple beverages at 33 Acres Brewing.

There, I enjoyed a glass of their 33 Acres of Alpha. This single malt (ESB), single hop (Mosaic) IPA is rife with citrus flavour, including tangerine, grapefruit, papaya and caramel notes on the finish. The 6.4% ABV beer comes in 6oz, 12.5oz and 20oz servings and is also available for growler fills.

33 Acres of Alpha

I have to give the brewery credit for their creative beer descriptions, which paint a very interesting picture: “Gliding through a bladed meadow, a solitary figure advances. Approaching an inland stream, imprinting paws deepen into the basin. A rugged frame lowers its bristly head, with a few fetching sniffs, lapping eagerly from the crystal vein. Refracted across the scrolling water, a similar creature greets the primal liquid. Standing poised, while grinning tenderly, two proven individuals converge, salivating in unison.”

Every time we pop into 33 Acres, the Sip Advisor is always able to find some new and unique. Mrs. Sip sticks to her favourite, the 33 Acres of Euphoria Belgian Tripel, but I, ever the adventurer, have yet to be disappointed and forced to return to something I’ve already tried.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #207 – Dead Frog Big Stump Spruce Golden Ale

Posted on by
Reply

As the Sip Advisor has written previously, I was very impressed with the brewery lineup compiled for the recent Tip N’ Taste event in Langley. Among the vendors was Aldergrove-based Dead Frog Brewing, the regions first and, for a time, only craft beer producer.

Among the beverages Dead Frog offered for sampling was their Big Stump Spruce Golden Ale, which I had never experienced before. While the brewery jokes that “no stumps were used or harmed in the making of this beer,” the 6.5% ABV, 26 IBUs drink was concocted using Sitka spruce tips, found just 10 minutes from Dead Frog’s facilities.

Dead Frog Big Stump Spruce Golden Ale

First released in 2014 and returning to the brewery’s lineup each June, the beer is brewed to celebrate the west coast’s abundance of nature (after all, the province’s tagline is ‘Beautiful British Columbia’). Brewer Nick Fengler was inspired by trips into the forests of BC.

The result is a balanced and refreshing beer, perfect for sitting around a campfire… or at least giving you the impression that you are out amongst nature. Suggested food pairings include cedar plank salmon, Greek-roasted lamb, pesto pastas, and Asiago or Manchego cheeses.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #206 – Brassneck Ambiguation

Posted on by
Reply

While Mrs. Sip and I are very happy to take visiting friends around Vancouver’s beer scene, when we’re rewarded for our efforts, it makes the ventures that much more memorable. Recently, we were gifted a pair of Brassneck Brewing’s refillable 473ml growlers, containing this beer.

Ambiguation is a Belgian Wheat Ale that has been ‘Brassneck’d up’ with the addition of wild Saccharomyces during fermentation and the brewery’s own house lacto culture, providing a level of acidity.

Brassneck Ambiguation

First brewed in 2014, this 5% ABV beverage seems to always be available at Brassneck’s popular tasting room, despite how regularly their menu changes. The Sip Advisor found the drink to pair well with a Mexican burrito meal.

The brewery suggests that Ambiguation might be perfectly paired with “a summer evening….on Third Beach….at sunset…. skinny dippin’,” before insisting they “would NEVER endorse public nudity whilst drunk on delicious beer!” They even provide what I assume is a fake email address to send pictures to, for those daring enough to complete the feat.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #205 – Mission Springs Cherry Bomb Pale Ale

Posted on by
Reply

The Sip Advisor’s game plan when I’m at a beer event is to first sample wares from breweries I either haven’t tried before or haven’t revisited for some time and then move on to unique or new beers a well-known company is offering. My tasting from Mission Springs Brewing sort of fell under both ideals of that strategy.

The Cherry Bomb Pale Ale was something I had never seen before with my limited experience with the brewery. Typically, you see fruits being mixed with wheat and dark beers (stout and porters), so it was different to get a fruit-infused pale ale. I felt the cherry flavour worked well here and wasn’t too dominating.

Mission Springs Cherry Bomb Pale Ale

This 5.5% ABV, 28 IBUs pale ale is of the Belgian style, meaning it’s of the traditional farmhouse variety, resembling a saison. A mix of dark and sour cherries are used during the fermentation of the brew, resulting in a balanced cherry taste.

The Cherry Bomb is available in 650ml bomber-sized bottles. The Sip Advisor dares you not to get The Runaways hit song of the same name stuck in your head as you drink the beer. Of note, and most recently, the song was included in the amazing soundtrack of The Guardians of the Galaxy.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #204 – Fernie Last Cast Summer IPA

Posted on by
Reply

Our recent jaunt to St. Augustine’s in East Vancouver provided a great opportunity to try a number of new releases to the BC craft beer scene, including this offering from Fernie Brewing.

The Last Cast Summer IPA is a good beer with nice flavours and a refreshing finish. Debuting in 2013, the IPA returned this June and comes with stats of 6.7% ABV and 70 IBUs. So, it’s hoppy, but lighter than some options in the IPA family.

Fernie Last Cast Summer IPA

Available in 650ml bomber bottles, the beer is a limited release, so track a serving down while you can. The beverage can even be located in Alberta and Manitoba, as well as throughout BC.

The brew is part of Fernie’s IPA Bucket List collection, which also includes their Rockpile Red IPA, Snowblind Belgian IPA, Quiet Rye’t Rye IPA, Eldorado Single Hop IPA, and Real Peel Grapefruit IPA (due out in August).

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

Sip Trips #70: Brewers Row

Posted on by
Reply

With Mrs. Sip away in Las Vegas, the Sip Advisor did not shy away from play and had a very busy weekend that went by way too quickly.

On Saturday, members of the Sip Syndicate attended the annual Deighton Cup at Hastings Racecourse. This is the city’s swankiest event of the year, with folks decked out in their finest threads, hats, fastenators and other duds.

Horse Racing

The day of races started off with a wonderful lunch, where options included a Smoked Bo Ssam Beef Brisket Sandwich or Korean BBQ Shrimp on Grits. I went with the beef brisket sandwich and absolutely loved it.

After a few good drinks and some betting wins and near misses, all seemed well, but the end of the event took a bit of a scary twist. On the home stretch of the final race, the horse I bet on crashed to the ground, injuring its jockey. I haven’t been able to find any info on the jockey, so I can only assume their injuries weren’t too severe. No news, might be good news, in this instance.

Early bird tickets to the Deighton Cup were $65, plus fees. I think the price was worth it just for the spectacle of the event, but a couple weeks prior to the big day, a Social Shopper deal came out that would have been nice to take advantage of. It offered the lunch, two drinks and gifts totalling $25, all for the same price of early bird tickets. It’s hard not to jump on tickets when they first come out, but you always have to worry about these great coupon deals becoming available later.

Early Bird Grumpy Cat

Following the races, we went for dinner at the Big Rock Urban Eatery. This was my second time visiting the restaurant in recent weeks and I have been impressed with their expanded food menu, compared to when the place originally opened. I tried their BRUeben sandwich, complete with scrumptious skinny fries and also shared some chipotle-buffalo wings with the group.

On Sunday, Cousin Sip and I travelled to Port Moody to experience their ‘Brewers Row’. The Row consists of Twin Sails Brewing, Yellow Dog Brewing, Parkside Brewing and Moody Ales, all within a five-minute walk. While I will leave beverage reviews to the BC Beer Baron project, here are some general impressions I had from our day out:

Twin Sails: Offering up Germanic brews (Kolsch, Gose, etc.), this is where Cousin Sip and I started our day. I liked their open garage door setting, with plenty of seats.

Yellow Dog: Here, we sat in the brewery’s backyard patio area, which had an abundance of picnic tables, amongst a serene shady setting (at least until a couple trains roared through).

Early Intoxication

Parkside: The newest addition to the Row also had wine and cider available to customers, as well as two guest taps, to supplement their own lineup. The brewery’s beer flights come on little benches, which are incredibly cute.

Moody Ales: Cousin Sip grabbed some delicious spring rolls from the food truck located outside the brewery, while I sampled a few beers, including a cask serving and a guest tap.

The Row, as a whole, appeared to be very family and child friendly (including pets), with a kid’s birthday going on at one location, while a baby shower was setting up at another. The beer at each establishment was very good and it’s hard for me to pick a favourite stop from the day. One thing is for sure, though: we will be back!

BC Beer Baron #203 – Be Right Back Kentucky Common

Posted on by
Reply

Upon entering the recent Tip N’ Taste beer event in Langley, my first drink of the night was from Be Right Back Brewing and it got the festivities off to a good start.

The Kentucky Common is a flagship beer for BRB and a style I’ve come to enjoy, as I occasionally find the option at some tasting rooms. At 4.7% ABV and 21 IBUs, the beverage isn’t a heavy hitter, but is a solid release, with some good flavour.

Be Right Back Kentucky Common

As mentioned by the brewery, Kentucky Commons were popular with the working class of Louisville, Kentucky during prohibition times. The beer is rare to find now, but more and more companies are experimenting with the style, bringing it back to prominence.

Mrs. Sip and I would like to return to BRB’s Richmond brew pub, where we enjoyed a meal and drink earlier this year. BRB used to go by the name Big River Brewing, but changed its moniker in September 2015 to reinvigorate their brand, product line and restaurant.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #202 – Fuggles & Warlock Super 8-Bit IPA

Posted on by
Reply

Recently, on what was supposed to be a laid back Friday night, we instead got together with Cousin Sip and the evening turned into the usual drink-a-thon one would expect from the Sip Advisor. This was thanks in part to Cousin Sip providing me with this delicious Fuggles & Warlock Brewing beverage.

The Super 8-Bit IPA is a very good beer, plus I love the classic video game theming and homage to the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with the beer’s label design. The 7% ABV, 68 IBUs brew actually uses eight different hops, so the name is more than just a gimmick.

Fuggles & Warlock Super 8-Bit IPA

This release is part of Fuggles & Warlock’s Experimental IPA Series and has in fact been given the high distinction of kicking off the side project. Outside of these products, Fuggles & Warlock have previously released a few IPAs, such as the Raiden Black Rye IPA, Destiny IPA, and Shiva Session White IPA.

I’m still waiting for my first visit to Fuggles & Warlock’s new tasting room in Richmond, as my best efforts over the past few weekends have been thwarted by the nefarious Mrs. Sip. Don’t get me wrong, she wants to go just as bad as I do, but other distractions seem to keep getting in the way of our aspirations.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #201 – Kwantlen Brewing Program Porter

Posted on by
Reply

With their program facilities right around the corner, it was no surprise to see the Kwantlen Brewing Program set up shop at Langley’s Tip N’ Taste. What was a little surprising was just how good their beer was, in only their second year of appearing at the beer fest.

The Porter they offered may have been my favourite selection of the night and that’s amongst some very stiff competition. Perhaps it benefitted from being one of only a few dark beers available to sample, but the taste and quality of the brew can’t be denied.

Kwantlen Brewing Program

I did try one of Kwantlen’s beers at the 2015 Tip N’ Taste, but wasn’t blown away by it. Clearly, the program is making strides in their development of beverages. Unfortunately, I can’t find much info on this product, but should the opportunity arise, I would endorse little sippers trying the school’s wares.

The program even allows beer sales to the public every Wednesday (12-6pm) and Friday (1-5pm) afternoon at their brewing lab. As a proud Kwantlen alum, I hope to get out there sometime for a growler fill in the near future.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #200 – Cannery Naramata Nut Brown

Posted on by
Reply

As has been the case every time we’ve hit a milestone mark along the road of this 366-day BC craft beer project, the Sip Advisor has elected to profile a favourite beer. For post #200, we look at this gem from Cannery Brewing.

I first enjoyed the Naramata Nut Brown following the 2015 Bacchanalia wine event in Penticton, BC. Following a full day of vino drinking, the Sip Advisor was desperate to change things up and with complimentary drink ticket in hand for the hotel bar, I quickly placed an order for the brew. I was greeted with a smooth and flavourful beer, featuring stats of 5.5% ABV and 25 IBUs. I have since returned to the Nut Brown on a couple other occasions, most recently relishing a pint while having lunch at 19 Okanagan Grill + Bar over the Canada Day long weekend.

Cannery Naramata Nut Brown

The beverage has earned the brewery numerous awards, dating all the way back to 2002, when it took home Best Beverage of the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale. Since then, it seems to have been a fixture at that annual event. As the company writes: “Don’t be afraid of the dark!”

Cannery has also provided a few recipes which incorporate the ale as an ingredient. These include a beef stew, beer-basted sausages and braised short ribs. I have been more than happy to suggest this beer to friends and the results have all been positive. Now I share it with all you little sippers!

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…