BC Beer Baron #60 – Parallel 49 Mother of Donkeys Pale Ale

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Recently, Mrs. Sip and I treated Pa Sip to a dinner and drinks at Central City Brewpub, as he was living the bachelor life with Ma Sip visiting family in Germany. Amongst a couple beers I ordered was this amusingly named selection from Parallel 49 Brewing.

The Mother of Donkeys Pale Ale (called a “Dark Pale Ale” on the Central City tap list) was a solid libation, which apparently uses three different yeast strains and is an experimental release. I’ve really come to enjoy pale ales and given the name of this brew (one which Pa Sip did a double take over, after I ordered), how could you not give it a shot!? I didn’t find the beer to be that dark, but more of an amber hue. I was kind of expecting what you receive in a dark lager colouring, but that is not the most important element in my enjoyment of a beverage. The issue could be in how the brewpub titled it on their menu versus how the brewery released it.

Parallel 49 Brewing

Oddly, I couldn’t even locate this beer on Parallel 49’s website, despite their beer listings being quite thorough and including a section for rare releases. The brew also has the nickname of ‘Three Amigos’, likely stemming from its production using the three yeast strains.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Parallel 49’s East Vancouver tasting room, but the brewery is so popular that their wares can be found all across the province and particularly throughout Vancouver. If you come across this beer at a local pub, I suggest giving it a sip… it’s the least you can do!

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BC Beer Baron #59 – Up Your Sporran Scotch Ale

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Among the charter members of the Sip Syndicate are a few that really love scotch ales. So, it was no surprise to the Sip Advisor that when we visited Main Street Brewing and I saw that style on their menu, that a few servings were ordered without hesitation.

Using peated malt, the Up Your Sporran Scotch Ale has an element of smoke to it, but not a dramatic amount. The dark, roasty brew really reminded me of a beer-Scotch amalgamation, which went down smoothly, in spite of its 7.3% ABV. This winter seasonal will please many.

Main Street Up Your Sporran Scotch Ale

So, what is a sporran, some of you might be asking? Look no further, as the Sip Advisor has done that research for you. A sporran is the pouch that is worn as part of a man’s Scottish Highland dress, to go along with their kilt. It’s like an ancient fanny pack, which can definitely come in handy when donning otherwise pocketless garments. I have to wonder why the beer wasn’t called Up Your Kilt Scotch Ale, but then again, I’m not the one making decisions at the brewery.

That about wraps up our most recent visit to Main Street Brewing. Given our last jovial experience there, we will be back soon, with hopefully a whole new set of brews to enjoy.

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BC Beer Baron #58 – Category 12 Disruption Black IPA

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My recent trip to Craft Beer Market for a friend’s birthday was capped off with a serving of this Category 12 Brewing release and it was a strong finish to an already solid visit to the restaurant.

The Disruption Black IPA is good. I mean really, really good. Great even. I’m not surprised it won a gold medal for Best American Black Ale at the 2015 Canadian Brewing Awards. I do wonder why it wasn’t a contender in the IPA category, though. Some mysteries are better left to true detectives, I guess.

Category 12 Disruption Black IPA

Category 12 hopes to challenge drinker’s view of dark beer with the 6.7% ABV, 77 IBU IPA. Their description states: “This black IPA is a calculated anomaly. It looks big and scary like a stout, but it drinks like an IPA. Close your eyes, you’ll never guess how far into the dark you’re sinking. With its fresh hop aroma and roasted malt flavour, Disruption is a whole new beast.”

First impressions are everything and given this is the first beer I’ve ever had from Category 12, it’s a very good first impression. I look forward to more from the Victoria-based brewery, which has a great scientific formula that they live by: (Sound Science + Good Taste)4 × Art8 = (Great Beer)12… makes sense to the Sip Advisor!

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BC Beer Baron #57 – Hearthstone Graham Cracker Ale

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Recently, the Sip Advisor visited Craft Beer Market in Vancouver’s Olympic Village, where I was lucky enough to stumble upon their $5 BC craft beer special. With such a nice price point, how could I not try this Hearthstone Brewing selection.

My only issue with the Graham Cracker Ale was that I didn’t taste Graham crackers like I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong though, the beer was still good, but I went into it with high expectations, believing it might be the alcohol version of a Teddy Grahams treat. The last sip from my serving was the best, so maybe the beer benefited from a little warming up.

Hearthstone Graham Cracker Ale

Hearthstone’s winter warmer uses spices, vanilla, and real Graham crackers to try and achieve its unique taste. It’s 8% ABV is noteworthy and should it still be available come summer, it might be a good product to have while sitting around a campfire.

On our recent trip to the North Vancouver brewing region, we were hopeful to pop into Hearthstone Brewing, but they have yet to officially open their tasting room. Too bad, as we had been lured in by some of the beers listed on their website, such as the Chocolate Milk Stout, Wyld Raspberry Berliner Weisse, McCool’s Hazelnut Porter, and, of course, the Graham Cracker Ale.

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BC Beer Baron #56 – Deep Cove Scout Rye IPA

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The final stop of our recent North Vancouver brewery crawl brought us to Deep Cove Brewing, where despite the lateness in the day and still having to make the trek back home, we made sure to enjoy our brief layover.

The Scout Rye IPA was my favourite beer amongst all the Deep Cove options we tried (one of everything is usually how we try to roll). I’m an IPA fan, though, so other drinkers – including the rest of my own crew – would likely not agree with the Sip Advisor. At 7% ABV and 82 IBUs, this brew (formerly known as the Star Struck Rye IPA) is not for lightweights. I’m finding more and more that I enjoy an element of rye, whiskey or bourbon in my beers, as an experience enhancer.

Deep Cove Scout Rye IPA

The beer’s can design features a logo used by hikers to mark routes through the North Shore Rainforest. The brewery writes, “Whether pinned to a tree or on the front of a can you can be sure it will lead you to a bold epic adventure.”

Deep Cove is one of the most active breweries I’ve come across, as far as planned events go. Live music is a regular fixture and they seem to be more involved in the community than many of their fellow operations. Deep Cove also distills their own vodka and gin, with both spirits being available in their North Vancouver tasting room.

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BC Beer Baron #55 – Bridge Lonsdale Lager

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For our recent tour of North Vancouver craft breweries, Bridge Brewing was marked with permanent ink, as we had plans to redeem a Groupon Cousin Sip had picked up, allowing for tasting flights and souvenir glasses for the four of us.

In picking a particular beer to profile from the North Vancouver brewery, I settled on the Lonsdale Lager, as sometimes that style of beer doesn’t get the love and attention it deserves, overshadowed by many of its ale cousins. That said, I was surprised to learn that the lager is a seasonal release for Bridge, rather than part of their year round line-up. The beer is only available in draught form and for growler fills, so don’t expect to stumble across six-packs or bombers out there in the marketplace.

Bridge Lonsdale Lager

For its part, the Lonsdale Lager is a solid beer (5.2% ABV and 17 IBUs) of the Helles variety. I don’t think it will blow drinker’s minds, but they won’t want to send it back, either. It’s a perfect beer (and one every craft brewery needs) to have as an option for that one person in your group who can’t stand anything hoppy or experimental and just wants something “normal”.

Our recent visit to Bridge was our first to their new location, having previously stopped at their former home a couple years back, as part of a Vancouver Brewery Tours route. I have to say that the move was a good one and their new tasting room is much more visitor friendly.

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BC Beer Baron #54 – Black Kettle Tropic Thunder Saison

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A true highlight of our recent self-guided North Vancouver brewery tour was popping into Black Kettle Brewing, a place I had wanted to visit since picking them as my MVP of the Tapped Vancouver event we attended in late January.

Their Tropic Thunder Saison was every bit as good as the movie that inspired it and made me go back and watch the film again. This saison was hoppier than most beers of this breed, but I think that is what I liked most about it. At 5.5% ABV, this experimental brew was a hit amongst our entire group and I think we’re lucky it was on tap when we happened to be there.

Black Kettle Brewing

On this visit to Black Kettle, we had a fantastic time with Philip (one of the founders of the brewery), who gave me the impression that he could very well be the Seth Rogen of BC’s craft beer scene. What was supposed to be just a drink each, turned into a much longer stay (trying everything they had on tap) and we only left because we had two other destinations on our itinerary with daylight running out.

For those also hoping to stop into Black Kettle’s tasting room, it should be noted that Google’s walking directions might not be very helpful, as they try to lead you through a marina with no exit; railway tracks that are technically private property and illegal to be traversing on foot; and Native reserve land, which in this case was maze-like. Don’t go chasing waterfalls, my little sippers, please stick to the main roads that you’re used to!

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BC Beer Baron #53 – Green Leaf Burning Rock Ale

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On the Sip Alliance’s recent jaunt to explore North Vancouver’s brewery scene, our first stop of the day was Green Leaf Brewing, which is located right as you get off the Seabus, after crossing over from Downtown Vancouver.

The Burning Rock Ale was among the brewery’s rotating taps when we stopped in and it was my favourite of the layover. The beer provides a nice mix of malts and hops with a caramel finish to boot.

Green Leaf Burning Rock Ale

The ale is inspired by fire and rock, or as Green Leaf puts it: “When red-hot granite meets beer wort that sears itself into the beer and then into the imagination. The taste of this beer is all about malt and the unique range of caramelized flavors that come from this most unusual process.” To check out that process in action, Green Leaf has posted a video to their page about the Burning Rock Ale’s production.

This was my first visit to Green Leaf’s Lonsdale Quay location, despite working in the area for the last half year. Now that I’ve finally been, I should make more of a point of popping into the tasting room and grabbing a treat for the road after a hard day’s work!

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BC Beer Baron #52 – Ridge Hairy Donut Irish Amber Ale

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What was supposed to be the last stop of our Fraser Valley craft brewery crawl, Ridge Brewing, turned into one more respite on the way home, thanks to all the fun we had at the Maple Ridge tasting room.

There, we tried a bit of everything the brewery had available, including the Hairy Donut Irish Amber Ale. The Hairy Donut was a decent beer and the kind that drinkers of all types can get into and appreciate. It’s perfect for those that just want a solid beer and nothing too crazy.

Ridge Hairy Donut Irish Amber Ale

While I enjoyed some of Ridge’s beers (Green Eyes White IPA, Black Mamba Milk Stout and Café Morena English Brown Ale) more than today’s entry, there’s a great story to go along with the Hairy Donut. For those unfamiliar with the term, it basically describes a man’s furry belly button region… or, at least that’s the PG version and the one Ridge was able to sell to the group that approves beer names. As for the R-rated version, I’ll let your imagination run wild and do the work on that. It should be noted, the name is also a tribute to the owner’s late brother… or so the story goes!

We had a great time at Ridge Brewing (not to be confused with Big Ridge Brewing in Surrey), chatting with our server Duncan and the brewery’s owner Carlos (not to be confused with Maple Meadows owner Carlo). Ridge even offers customers specially designed growlers, with sayings such as ‘Corporate Beer Sucks’, ‘Cerveza Por Favor’, ‘Magical Drinking Juice Inside’, and ‘I Like Hairy Donut’.

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BC Beer Baron #51 – Maple Meadows Vanilla Porter

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On our recent Fraser Valley craft brewery crawl, we made sure to stop into Maple Meadows Brewing to sample their wares.

Among the tasters I tried, the Vanilla Porter was my favourite and would rank highly when compared to all 86 different beers I sampled over the Family Day long weekend. The porter was smooth and not too complex, letting the vanilla aroma and essence shine.

Maple Meadows Brewing

I’m finding that I really like the flavour of vanilla in my dark beers and thankfully, this is a common ingredient in stouts, porters and other varieties. I look forward to exploring this new passion in the future.

This was our second visit to Maple Meadows and the brewery has grown substantially since our last stop, back when the operation had only been open for a few weeks and was in its infancy stage. Maple Meadows is owned and operated by Carlo Baroccio, who originally comes from Mexico and decided to set up shop in Maple Ridge after other cities turned down his application to set up shop in their area.

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