Tag Archives: BC Craft Beer

BC Beer Baron #283 – Prohibition Harvest Pumpkin Spiced 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. The season of pumpkin-spiced everything is upon us… and things are no different in the craft beer world. Let’s see what BC has to offer for fans of the flavour.

I came across this beer from Prohibition Brewing a few months back, while stocking up on products for a weekend in Kelowna. After all, one has to cleanse the palate after days spent visiting Okanagan Valley wineries!

The beer has a decent amount of pumpkin flavour, but I was hoping for more notes of spice, expecting a pumpkin pie tasting experience. At 5.5% ABV and 9 IBUs, the brewery hoped to make a “refreshing fall brew that delivers the perfect blend of warmth and fall flavour without making every session feel like Halloween.”

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The fall seasonal is available in bomber-sized bottles, if you can find it. Given the company hasn’t updated their website or Facebook and Twitter accounts since late 2014/early 2015, who knows how this brew came into my possession.

Prohibition used to have a tasting room located mere blocks away from the Sip Advisor headquarters, but unfortunately it was a slightly hidden spot and it closed a few years back. Mrs. Sip and I did visit on a couple occasions and enjoyed our tasting flights.

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BC Beer Baron #282 – Dead Frog Weeping Reaper Blood Orange Helles Bock

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When the Sip Alliance recently visited Dead Frog Brewing’s Aldergrove tasting room, Mrs. Sip allowed me to take one souvenir home with me, for a later treat. After all, she knew the tantrum I would throw if not otherwise placated.

Among stiff competition, I grabbed the Weeping Reaper Blood Orange Helles Bock, which although technically out of season, was a selection I really wanted to try. The strong ale (7% ABV) had a light orange taste on the finish, which made for a decent lager-style beverage. The blood orange addition was selected to provide an option to all the pumpkin-flavoured beers currently on the market.

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Released every September, the beer was inspired by German bock brews and designed to transition drinkers from summer to winter… sometimes viewed as the death of a year’s seasonal cycle. The logo for this product features great artwork of Death, himself, and challenges customers to: “Prepare for the bittersweet embrace of the reaper.”

Food pairings include duck à l’orange, lechon, marmalade-glazed ham, and caramel flan. I’m not sure any of those really appeal to me, but not wanting to make the Grim Reaper cry, I’ll just drink the beer and make peace with the Deadman!

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BC Beer Baron #281 – Bad Tattoo Los Muertos Cerveza Negra

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While hunting for beers to use during the Sip Advisor’s annual beer pong tournament, I decided to pick up Bad Tattoo Brewing’s Flash Pack case. The set includes this great beer, which I remember enjoying a couple years back on my very first visit to Bad Tattoo’s Penticton tasting room.

The Los Muertos Cerveza Negra is a crisp and refreshing dark lager. The 5% ABV, 25 IBUs beverage uses three different malts (Pilsner, Crystal, and Munich) to achieve their desired results. As the company writes: “It is reminiscent of a light German Bock, but with a Mexican twist.” I love the label work on this beer, as well as Bad Tattoo’s entire lineup.

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The Cerveza Negra is available in bomber-sized bottles, as well as the aforementioned Flash Pack. The case also includes the brewery’s Tramp Stamp Pale Ale, West Coast IPA, and True Love Kolsch (seasonal). I thought the collection was pretty diverse and enjoyed the variety of different products.

The brew received of a silver medal at the 2015 Canadian Brewing Awards in the North American Style Amber Lager category. Following up on that success, Bad Tattoo also released the Dia De Los Muertos Cerveza Fuerte (a Belgian-style Abbey Ale) to go along with the Day of the Dead theme.

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BC Beer Baron #280 – Category 12 Zombie Repellant Ale

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What do you get when you combine a brewery run by a mad scientist, a dislike of pumpkin-flavoured everything and the Halloween season? This clever release from Category 12 Brewing, which gives drinkers a different fall seasonal option.

The Zombie Repellant Ale is the world’s first ZRA (go ahead, prove me wrong), although it’s more in line with being classified as a Belgian Red Ale. At 6.9% ABV and 49 IBUs, the beverage is highlighted by notes of licorice and sweet orange.

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Category 12 also boasts that this release is the first anti-pumpkin brew, referring to fans of pumpkin-spiced treats (particularly beers) as zombies that need to be snapped out of their gourd-loving trance. The brewery warns: “Be vigilant, be prepared.”

If you are concerned about yourself or loved ones, as the pumpkin season continues, you can track down this product in bomber-sized bottles at private liquor stores. I know I’ll be keeping a couple on hand… just in case.

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BC Beer Baron #279 – Big Rock Citradelic Single Hop IPA

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When Mrs. Sip and I recently enjoyed a Vancouver Canadians baseball game, I took great advantage of their Craft Beer Corner, which serves up brews from five different BC breweries. There, I downed a few servings of this Big Rock Brewing mainstay.

The Citradelic Single Hop IPA uses Citra hops, of course, to deliver a citrus and tropical fruit-flavoured experience. The 6% ABV, 67 IBUs beverage was the first to be brewed exclusively at the Vancouver-based Big Rock Urban Eatery and proved so successful that it has been rolled out to Alberta and Saskatchewan drinkers.

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Suggested food pairings include game birds, spicy Thai and India curries, and fried foods including fries, corn dogs, potato chips and mixed nuts. Urban Eatery executive chef Alex ‘Beer Belly’ Newton has also created a Crunchy IPA Kimchi recipe, using the brew.

Big Rock staff suggestions for movie and music accompaniments to the Citradelic IPA include Dazed and Confused on the screen and House of the Rising Sun by The Animals on the record player. Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing also has a Citradelic IPA, but I suppose both companies are cool with that.

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BC Beer Baron #278 – Trading Post Captain Cooper’s Cranberry Ale

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A couple weeks back, Mrs. Sip and I learned of the TAPshack, which has two chains in downtown Vancouver. For a friend’s birthday, we visited the Coal Harbour location, where the Sip Advisor enjoyed this Trading Post Brewing product, among my drink selections.

The Captain Cooper’s Cranberry Ale is tart, but leaves a nice, slightly bitter cranberry taste on the palate with each sip. At 5.9% ABV, the beer has a stronger alcohol content than many sour beverages I’ve come across, while being very light on hops, with an IBU count of only seven.

Trading Post Brewing

I had previously tried a sample of this brew when Mrs. Sip and I first visited Trading Post on its second day of existence. Having a full serving reminded me of how good and unique the drink is. The American-style wheat ale is constructed with local cranberries.

The beer’s namesake, Captain James Cooper, was an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, a former fur trading operation and current day Canadian department store. Cooper was a wheeler and dealer in the cranberry market of early BC.

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BC Beer Baron #277 – Boombox/Real Cask GoldenRye

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Prior to heading out for a night on the town to celebrate a friend’s birthday recently, we met up for a drink at the hotel where they were staying. That’s where I got to try a serving of this Boombox Brewing and Real Cask Brewing collaboration release.

The GoldenRye is a very good beer. A Rye Pale Ale, it comes in at 7% ABV and uses Idaho 7 hops, also known as 007 hops, perfect for the theme of this product. The rye content brings the alcohol up a few notches, which the Sip Advisor has never shied away from.

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The beer’s name, of course, is a play on the classic James Bond movie and even better video game, GoldenEye. Most guys my age spent countless hours hunting down their friends, settling minor squabbles in the virtual world thanks to this awesome first-person shooter.

While this brew is the first product I’ve had from Boombox, I can say without hesitation that it’s the best thing I’ve had from Real Cask. Both companies operate out of the Callister Brewing space in East Vancouver, which is the first collaborative brewery in Canada, offering space to tenants on a yearly basis.

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BC Beer Baron #276 – Brassneck Stockholm Syndrome

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You never know what to expect when you pop into Brassneck Brewing’s tasting room in the Brewery Creek region of Vancouver. Their lineup of beers is quite eclectic and changes regularly.

On our most recent visit, their Stockholm Syndrome was among the Sip Advisor’s favourite. This 6.5% ABV Farmhouse Saison was first brewed in December 2013 and I can understand why it has returned to the brewery’s rotating taps routinely. The strong and flavourful brew is perfect for the more experienced drinkers out there, looking to try something unique.

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Brassneck has some really great material for describing their beers and the brewing process it takes to make them, but this has to be one of their finest: “We kidnapped a Saison, held it hostage for several months in our Foudre, letting it sit and condition on Brettanomyces. The more time passed the more it started to like us. It rewarded us by tasting delicious. Stockholm Syndrome can be a beautiful thing.”

As previously eluded to, I have to give credit to Brassneck for having one hell of a Beer Archive. Just scrolling through it has my mouth watering and makes me wish I could fill a glass straight out of the computer. Seriously, some scientific research money should go to a cause like this an venture capitalists should get behind this invention pronto!

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BC Beer Baron #275 – Mt. Begbie Cream Ale

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While meeting up with the rest of the Sip Syndicate to discuss plans for our upcoming tour of Ireland together, the Sip Advisor was offered a glass of this Mt. Begbie Brewing release. A fitting refreshment for the occasion.

The Cream Ale was the company’s original flagship beer, dating back to first being brewed in 1996. That makes it a 20th anniversary edition now. The beverage is light in both alcohol content (4.7% ABV) and hops (12 IBUs), featuring flavours of honey and fruit.

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The product’s label features Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie – aka ‘The Hanging Judge’ – as well as the image of a noose. Legend has it the former BC judge had a penchant for ending trials with the statement, “hang ‘em”, even delivering it once after an acquittal. Of course, Mt. Begbie is named after the former Chief Justice.

Available in bomber-sized bottles in both BC and Alberta, the drink pairs best with various pastas and pizza. It was rewarded a gold medal at the 2013 Canadian Brewing Awards in the Cream Ale category and a third place finish at the 2012 BC Beer Awards in the Session category.

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BC Beer Baron #274 – Main Street Belgian Bonsai

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On one of my and Mrs. Sip’s trips to Main Street Brewing, while showing visiting friends the Vancouver craft beer scene, this is the tasty beverage I selected.

The Belgian Bonsai is a single hop Belgian ale that is bold and full of flavour. Main Street calls the Belgian Bonsai their “little beer with the big roar!” Thus, it’s fitting that the label for the brew features a lion looking like it means business.

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Stats of 6.9% ABV and 70 IBUs also prove this point. First released in August 2014, the seasonal product features Sorachi Ace hops, while being a hybrid of Belgian and North American styles. That’s quite the combination of international representatives.

The Sip Advisor has always been impressed with all the different options Main Street Brewing has on their menu. This includes cask variations of their popular products, as well as frequent new creations.

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