Tag Archives: BC Beer Awards

BC Beer Baron #223 – Persephone Dry Stout

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Meeting up with fellow CAMRA members at The Main on Main, prior to a night of Vancouver Canadians baseball, the Sip Advisor selected this beer from Persephone Brewing, for his pre-game beverage.

The Dry Stout features the flavours you would typically expect from the beer style, highlighted by notes of coffee and roasted malts. The 4.5% ABV, 30 IBUs brew is lightly carbonated, whereas the Sip Advisor prefers beers with more carbonation. That said, the drink was smooth and tasty, compensating for my desire for more bubbles.

Persephone Dry Stout

The brew has been quite successful for Persephone, pulling in back-to-back first place finishes at the 2013 and 2014 BC Beer Awards, in the Stout category. Rave reviews seem to also follow this product around, which makes it surprising that it’s only available on tap and not in bottles or cans.

Persephone, which is based on an 11-acre farm in Gibsons, is currently allowing prospective partners to invest in the enterprise. The minimum investment is $250 with a total of 12% equity in the brewery up for grabs.

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BC Beer Baron #171 – Fernie What the Huck Huckleberry Wheat Ale

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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. Fruit beers may have some traditionalists up in arms, but if they only them a chance, they would see how good the beverages can be. In putting together this feature week, I tried to incorporate as many different fruits as possible, so let’s see what BC has to offer in this realm.

You don’t see huckleberries being used in too many products, but thankfully that leaves more available for Fernie Brewing to experiment with.

Their What the Huck Huckleberry Wheat Ale is a 5% ABV, 15 IBUs beverage that was first released in 2008. Using huckleberry juice and blending that with wheat, the result is a smooth and refreshing beer, with one of the best names on the BC brewing landscape.

Fernie What the Huck Huckleberry Wheat Ale

Part of Fernie’s ‘Core Brands’, the What the Huck earned a bronze medal at the 2013 BC Beer Awards in the Fruit Beer category. The beer can be found year round in 650ml bomber bottles, throughout BC and Alberta and also in Manitoba during the summer.

Similar to a blueberry in shape, colour and taste, huckleberries are easily found in the Rocky Mountains region, close to Fernie, BC. Suggested food pairings include desserts, salads or pastas. The brewery also notes that cheeses such as chevre, mozzarella and gouda play nicely with the flavour of the beer.

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BC Beer Baron #136 – Yellow Dog Shake a Paw Smoked Porter

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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. I used to be hesitant about drinking porters, believing them to mostly be coffee-based in the flavour department. Once I realized that was only half true, a whole new world was opened to me and that’s a world I want to share with others.

There was a time when the Sip Advisor loathed porters. Luckily, I came to my senses and this Yellow Dog Brewing release was one of the brews that got me there.

I love my smoke-flavoured beers and the Shake a Paw Smoked Porter is high on that list. To bring out the most smokiness possible, the beer should be drank at a warmer temperature. If you – like the Sip Advisor – prefer your beers cold, you may have to wait a little for maximum flavour.

Yellow Dog Shake a Paw Smoked Porter

Originally, Shake a Paw was to be a limited release, but after winning the Best of Show award at the 2014 BC Beer Awards, it became a flagship beer for the company. I love Yellow Dog’s beer names, all of which have to do with puppy behaviour. There’s the Chase My Tail Pale Ale, Play Dead IPA, Stick Toss Saison, and Take a Walk Wit, among others.

Mrs. Sip and I were able to visit Yellow Dog’s Port Moody location once before and have been meaning to return. The place is one of the most dog friendly operations I’ve ever witnessed and I guess that naturally comes with the name.

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BC Beer Baron #110 – Ravens Farmers Ale

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While the Sip Advisor will never be a fan of birds of any type, I can make peace with those companies that choose to use fowl in their name/logo… especially when they put out great beers. Such is the case with Ravens Brewing.

The Farmers Ale is a solid and complex beer, highlighted for me by the spicy notes the beverage holds. In their first year of operation, Ravens and their Farmers Ale took home a third place finish at the BC Beer Awards in the Belgian/French Farmhouse class.

Ravens Farmers Ale

Just recently, Ravens announced that the 5.75% ABV, 27 IBUs Farmers Ale (as well as their West Coast Pale Ale) will now be available in four-packs of 473ml cans. The Farmers Ale could already be found in bomber-size bottles, at the brewery’s Abbotsford location.

Like other operations, Ravens is proud to brew based on “European inspiration and West Coast innovation.” They describe their beers as ‘ground to glass’, thanks to ingredient partnerships with their neighbours throughout the Fraser Valley.

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BC Beer Baron #103 – Four Winds Juxtapose Brett IPA

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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. It may have taken some time, but IPA’s now rank among my favourite styles of beer. Let’s take a look at some of the best BC has to offer, among this acquired taste.

As IPA week continues to roll along, we go to Four Winds Brewing and profile my favourite beer from the company.

The Juxtapose Brett IPA provides a nice balance between the hoppy IPA and sour Brett varieties and comes in at 6.5% ABV and 50 IBUs. The name is perfect in that two diverse types are placed together for contrast. As Four Winds writes, this is “where orchards meet pastures.” I’ve found lately that I really enjoy the Brett-style IPAs and it’s probably my favourite foray into sour territory.

Four Winds Juxtapose Brett IPA

This limited release (I wish it was available year round) is available on tap and in 650ml bomber bottles. I found the beer to be perfect during barbecue season, pairing well with much of the fare you expect from summer gatherings. Juxtapose has won a silver medal at the 2014 World Beer Cup in the American-Style Brett Beer category and a bronze medal at the 2014 BC Beer Awards in the Belgian/French Beer class.

I really should make more of a point of visiting Four Winds, based in my original hometown of Delta. They do some really neat stuff, their tasting room is fantastic, and it’s located close to Ma and Pa Sip’s place. What more could a beer lover ask for!?

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BC Beer Baron #101 – Driftwood Fat Tug IPA

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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. It may have taken some time, but IPA’s now rank among my favourite styles of beer. Let’s take a look at some of the best BC has to offer, among this acquired taste.

This Driftwood Brewing beverage has to be one of the most popular IPA’s in the province and is a beer that has introduced many drinkers to the variety, holding them there as fans for life.

The Fat Tug IPA is a northwest style IPA, full of tropical flavours to go along with its 7% ABV and 80-plus IBUs. It’s so hoppy, they can’t get a definitive reading on the beer… or so the Sip Advisor assumes!

Driftwood Fat Tug IPA

Not surprisingly, the beer won a gold medal at the 2013 BC Beer Awards for top India Pale Ale. This has largely led to the IPA’s popularity with the public and it can be easily located throughout the province.

Suggested pairings include spicy Asian and Mexican cuisine; shellfish or sashimi; or strong cheeses, such as Roquefort, Romano, cheddar, or washed-rind varieties. Driftwood even suggests drinking Fat Tug as an aperitif to help fuel your appetite and aid in digestion.

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BC Beer Baron #100 – Coal Harbour Smoke & Mirrors

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When the Sip Advisor hits a milestone, as part of this 366-day BC craft beer project, a favourite beer will be profiled and as we hit the centennial mark, this Coal Harbour Brewing selection gets its proper due.

The full name of this brew is Smoke & Mirrors Imperial Smoked Ale and it is a spectacular beverage. I could wax on about how much I love smoky beers and how this is at the top of my list, but I’ll let the fact that it finished first and third, respectively, at the 2012 and 2013 BC Beer Awards in the Specialty/Special Beer category speak for itself. The 8.5% ABV has never been a turn off for the Sip Advisor and really only enhances the overall drinking experience.

Coal Harbour Smoke & Mirrors

I first tried this beer at Tip N’ Taste in Langley last July and then again aboard the Vancouver Brew Cruise in August. Basically, if these guys are operating a booth, I will be there! If only Coal Harbour would open a tasting room and growler fill station out of their East Vancouver brewing location, I would be a very happy camper. Located right across the street from Parallel 49 Brewing, they could be the benefactor of the overflow from that popular tasting room.

Smoke & Mirrors is among Coal Harbour’s three year round releases, which also includes their 311 Helles Lager and Powell IPA. In total, the brewery only has five brews, which is a little limited, but I guess that allows them the concentrate on what they do have available. Coal Harbour products are available in government and private liquor stores, as well as some bars and restaurants.

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BC Beer Baron #70 – Brassneck Passive Aggressive Pale Ale

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Stop number four on our Brewery Creek crawl brought us to one of Vancouver’s most popular beer destinations, Brassneck Brewing.

There, we enjoyed a flight of beers, highlighted (for myself at least) by the Passive Aggressive Pale Ale. And really, that’s no surprise as it’s the first beer one of the company’s brewers and founders tested and later became an original release and flagship for Brassneck.

Brassneck Passive Agressive Pale Ale

First brewed in September 2013, Brassneck says this beer falls somewhere between a pale ale and an IPA. If Passive Aggressive isn’t enough for you, the brewery still has you covered. Their Double Pale Ale is dubbed Massive Aggressive!

Brassneck is a hard place to get into sometimes. Mrs. Sip and I have been turned away by massive lines and long waits before. Part of that success was having their One Trick Pony named Best in Show at the 2015 BC Beer Awards. If you wish to check the place out, we were advised that Sunday through Tuesday results in shorter waits.

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