BC Beer Baron #128 – Red Truck Midnight Run Dark Lager

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When the sun vanquishes the winter darkness (even briefly), you can expect every single Vancouverite to declare that patio season has arrived. Mrs. Sip and I are among those fine folks and so we recently found ourselves at Tap & Barrel in the Olympic Village, enjoying the first glimpses of spring. There, I enjoyed a flight of beers that was highlighted by this Red Truck Brewing release.

The Midnight Run Dark Lager is a limited release of the brewery with stats of 4.9% ABV and 23 IBUs. There was a nice smoky finish, on top of this solid beer, which is available in bomber-sized bottles. I’ve become a big fan of dark lagers (sometimes called schwarzbiers), as they provide a welcome change to your typical brew.

Red Truck Midnight Run Dark Lager

Sticking with Red Truck’s theme of naming beers after vehicles and driving, this may be one of their best brandings and there’s even a story to go with it: “The stakes were high but the risk was even greater, and it went well, very well! We smuggled it out of the brewery right under our brewers’ watchful eyes and noses as they were saving this exceptional Dark Lager for their own personal stash… A Midnight Run was the only way to get it out without being apprehended. We took extremely high risks so you could enjoy our Dark Lager!”

The next time I’m able to visit Red Truck’s very cool facility in the Brewery Creek region of the city, I hope that this selection is on their menu, as I’d love to sit back and enjoy a full serving.

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BC Beer Baron #127 – Brassneck Cherubesque

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Trips to Brassneck Brewing are often met with disappointment. To be clear, that’s not the beer’s fault. It’s just so difficult at peak times to get into their uber popular tasting room. Sometimes you get lucky, though, as Mrs. Sip and I did on a recent tour through the Brewery Creek region of Vancouver.

During that visit, we tried the Cherubesque. This Belgian Strong Ale was first brewed in November 2013. At 8% ABV, it’s nice and strong and right up Mrs. Sip’s alley. For the record, I enjoyed it too.

Brassneck Cherubesque

In their description of the beer, Brassneck takes some shots at “beer nerds” everywhere, including themselves: “Beer nerds think they can get away with throwing a pair of e’s at the end of their adjectives to describe beers so why the heck can’t we. (After all, we are beer nerds!!). Bubblegum-ee, Stone Fruit-ee, Raisin-ee, Booze-ee, Chew-ee. We’d describe it as an Abbey Style Ale. We ferment with a mysterious blend of yeast strains to maximize the Belgian-ee-ness, then we hurl in some dark candy sugar to twist up the ‘je-ne-sais-quoi’ knob. Tastes good. Drink some.”

That last little bit sounds like a motto the brewery should be printing on their merchandise… so long as that doesn’t make getting into their tasting room even more challenging!

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BC Beer Baron #126 – Odds N’ Sods IPA

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A couple months back, the Sip Syndicate wound up at Main Street Brewing’s quaint location on a chilly Friday night, where the work week that was had to be drunk away and beer was the answer.

The Odds N’ Sods IPA was my first choice of the night and while we waited for some seats to open up (apparently we weren’t the only ones that needed some liquid relief), this 6.8% ABV, 55 IBU beverage welcomed me to the weekend with open arms and I embraced it back.

Just released in January, there’s a ton going on with the Odds N’ Sods IPA, including six different malts and another six hop variations, which sees the beer hopped a total of six times during the brewing process. Flavours and aromas in the brew include pine, resin, lychee, spice, passionfruit, peach, grapefruit, melon, lime, and gooseberry.

Main Street Odd N' Sods IPA

A search on UrbanDictionary.com revealed the following about the beer’s name:

  1. 1. A variation on the ubiquitous expression “bits and pieces” in the U.K. A miscellany of objects, tasks, or issues.
  2. A reference to a group of unnamed individuals who are related in some general way.

Well, I’m not sure if that’s a reference to the various ingredients that comprise this beer or to the random assortment of folks who may drink it, but what I am sure about is the IPA was fantastic and it would soon be joined by other options, as the night progressed.

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BC Beer Baron #125 – 33 Acres of Sunshine

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Mrs. Sip and I first visited 33 Acres Brewing on their first anniversary and ever since have enjoyed returning to the brewery, being very impressed with our most recent stopover while touring the Brewery Creek region of Vancouver.

The 33 Acres of Sunshine always seems to be among our favourites when we get tasters or bottles. This 5% ABV French Blanche has flavours of fruit (particularly orange), spices and even black licorice, making for an easy drinking experience.

33 Acres of Sunshine

The brewery describes the beer as: “Born of the sun, this unfiltered white ale has long been praised by the Belgians and revered by the French. Our dreamy Blanche beer is silky smooth and subspiced with orange peel, coriander and anise seed to pair perfectly with the golden days of summer.”

One of my favourite 33 Acres memories stems from planning a bike brewery crawl for a friend’s birthday last year. There was no way we were going to be able to get our large group into their popular tasting room, so we bought a few six-packs (33 Acres of Sunshine among them) and took them to a nearby park to enjoy some drinking in the great outdoors.

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BC Beer Baron #124 – R&B Dark Star Oatmeal Stout

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On two separate visits to R&B Brewing’s Brewery Creek location, I’ve enjoyed samples of this beer and feel the need to share it with all you little sippers.

The Dark Star Oatmeal Stout has flavours or rich chocolate and roasted coffee. I don’t often find stouts with a reasonable amount of carbonation, so this was a nice surprise from the brew. The 4.6% ABV, 25 IBUs beverage is available in bomber bottles.

R&B Dark Star Oatmeal Stout

Brewed in memory of R&B employee Jamie Kelly, this fall/winter seasonal release won a gold medal at the 2010 Canadian Brewing Awards in the Stout category. That sounds like a great homage to the brewery’s fallen friend.

R&B was set to open their tasting room on or near St. Patrick’s Day, but BC Liquor Board snags held that up. The site finally launched in April and one thing is for sure: the wait for R&B beers is more rewarding than R&B music!

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BC Beer Baron #123 – Steel Toad Saison Sauvignon

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From my earliest visits to the Steel Toad Brew Pub (Mrs. Sip and I were there on their opening weekend), this beer has been part of the company’s flagship lineup.

The Saison Sauvignon is a farmhouse-styled saison that is brewed with New Zealand hops, which result in the taste of white wine (sauvignon blanc) grapes. The beer is boozier than most saisons, coming in at 6.5% ABV. I’m not sure if that’s due to the wine attributes or something else in the beverage’s construction.

Steel Toad Brew Pub

Mrs. Sip and I both remember this beer from our earlier visits to the brew pub and with a change to its recipe (according to our server), it is now much more enjoyable. Mrs. Sip even picked it as her favourite of our most recent jaunt that way.

Located in the very recognizable red building on East 2nd Ave, Steel Toad comprises a network of breweries that are part of The Hoppy Hop (similar to Bellingham’s Tap Trail), allowing enthusiasts to tour the Brewery Creek region and win prizes after collecting answers to trivia questions at each stop.

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BC Beer Baron #122 – Big Rock Rauchbier

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When Big Rock Brewing opened their Vancouver-based Urban Eatery in 2015, Mrs. Sip and I were quick to check out the new addition to BC’s craft beer landscape. On that inaugural visit, the Sip Advisor fell in love with this release and it has since become a highlight of my stopovers, if available.

Rauchbier is German for ‘Smoked Beer’ and anyone that has followed this site or this project knows my affinity for smoky cocktails and brews. This product uses both Beechwood Smoked Malt and Peated Malt to achieve its unique flavour and finish.

Big Rock Rauchbier

The 5.8% ABV, 25 IBUs beverage welcomes you in with the scent of campfire and bacon, which have to be two of the most manly aromas out there. According to the Urban Eatery website, this beer is only available in BC, so we should all take advantage of the west coast treat.

While I haven’t made it to the Urban Eatery since earlier this year, it is a place I try to take friends visiting from out of town. Their unique food dishes and beer lineup provide a bit of everything for everyone and live music is often in the cards, as well.

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BC Beer Baron #120 – Green Leaf Pie Hole Pale Ale

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Our recent jaunt to North Vancouver to tour their burgeoning craft beer region began with a visit to Green Leaf Brewing at the Lonsdale Quay.

There, we sampled the Pie Hole Pale Ale, which at 5.8% ABV and 40 IBUs, has near perfect stats (according to the Sip Advisor) for a concrete, enjoyable beer. The pale ale is one of only two year round products on Green Leaf’s menu and was the brewery’s original release.

Green Leaf Pie Hole Pale Ale

Of the beer, the company writes: “We decided to start things off at Green Leaf Brewing with a beer we’d like to drink every day. Something hoppy, but not overly bitter, refreshing but not too dry, familiar yet unique. A beer that reminds us of good times with friends, or beautiful weather […] what we get to serve to you is our idea of what a glass full of sunshine tastes like.”

Suggested food pairings include burgers, steaks, pizza, fried foods, and a long list of cheeses, from soft to hard. In the end, I think almost anything might work well with this beer, available on tap and in bomber-sized bottles.

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BC Beer Baron #119 – Deep Cove Luminescent Chocolate Coconut Porter

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The final stop of our recent North Vancouver brewery crawl brought us to Deep Cove Brewing, where it was hard to choose favourites, as much of their line-up was quite good.

The Luminescent Chocolate Coconut Porter features complimentary flavours of chocolate and coconut, which as any fan of an Almond Joy, Bounty or Mounds chocolate bar can tell you, come together very well when paired. The brew is well-balanced (5.8% ABV), allowing for the tastes to be showcased and not hidden beneath strong alcohol content or heavy malts.

Deep Cove Luminescent Chocolate Coconut Porter

With a logo that features a jellyfish, the company writes of the beer: “The bio-luminescent jellyfish of Deep Cove are well known for unexpectedly lighting up the dark waters with a phosphorescent glow. This porter has the power to do the same for beer drinkers who are looking for a flash of the unexpected that won’t soon be forgotten.”

This seems to be the perfect beer for Mrs. Sip. Like most women, she is also a fan of chocolate and coconut. Where the product takes a huge leap forward is with its association to jellyfish. Anytime we’re in an aquarium – and especially if Mrs. Sip has enjoyed a bevvy or two – she becomes entranced by the hypnotic swimming of jellyfish and has to be pulled away from their tanks with great force… or the promise of another drink!

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