Tag Archives: Craft Beer

BC Beer Baron #206 – Brassneck Ambiguation

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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.

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

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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.

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BC Beer Baron #204 – Fernie Last Cast Summer IPA

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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).

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Sip Trips #70: Brewers Row

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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

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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.

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

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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.

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BC Beer Baron #201 – Kwantlen Brewing Program Porter

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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.

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BC Beer Baron #200 – Cannery Naramata Nut Brown

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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!

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BC Beer Baron #199 – Hathi Mango Bango Hefe

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While my original selection from Hathi Brewing was tapped out at the recent Langley Tip N’ Taste event, I was more than happy to try the other offering they had available.

The Mango Bango Hefe was a decent wheat beer, with a hint of mango flavour. At 6.1% ABV, it’s stronger than your typical hefeweizen and the cloudy nature of the beer’s appearance and flavour profile will make it a fun summer beverage.

Hathi Brewing

Mrs. Sip had a good chat with the rep from Hathi, who said the brewery was founded by a pair of guys with Indian heritage and their aim is to produce beers in line with that. Thus, they have a mango-flavoured hefeweizen (inspired by the popular mango lassi drinks) and the Coriander Pale Ale (capitalizing on eastern spices) I had hoped to sample.

Located in Abbotsford, Hathi has been releasing beers commercially for the last three months. They can currently be found on tap at the Old Abbey Ales brewery and tasting room. The company hopes to eventually open a brew pub and has worked hard to develop their brand and brews, in the meantime.

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BC Beer Baron #198 – Spinnakers Hollie Wood Oyster Stout

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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. With so many brewery options out there, a game of one-upmanship sometimes occurs and from that, the world is treated to some very unique experimental releases.

When I first came across this Spinnakers Brew Pub release last summer, I was hesitant. The adventurous side of me prevailed and I grabbed a bottle. Then I let it sit for some time, as I tasted another brewery’s (which shall remain nameless) Oyster Stout and figured my purchase had been a huge mistake.

I should have had more faith, as the Hollie Wood Oyster Stout was actually quite good. Brewed with three additions of fresh oysters from Fanny Bay (BC’s Hollie Wood Oysters), the beer has the usual roasted malts of traditional stouts, but features a light briny finish, thanks to the sea creatures. For those doubting the recipe, Spinnakers writes: “The world is yours. And yes, there really are oysters in this beer!”

Spinnakers Hollie Wood Oyster Stout

The stout maxes out on the dark side of Spinnakers colour scale and features stats of 7.6% ABV and 20 IBUs. The brew is available in bomber-sized bottles at BC Liquor Stores and I personally prefer the aphrodisiac in liquid essence form, rather than swallowing them whole. I wonder how pairing the two would work out…

This was the first Spinnakers beer I had ever tried and it instantly made me a fan of their wares. My reasoning? If they can make a good beer out of oysters, then everything else has to at least be decent! I’ve since tested this theory and found myself (as usual) to be quite accurate.

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