Tag Archives: Parallel 49 Brewing

Sip Trips #172: Brewery Brawling

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This summer has been flying by and another couple of weeks are in the books with events attended and road trips taken. Here’s all the shenanigans the Sip Advisor and associates have been up to in that time:

A couple weeks back, a buddy and I attended Parallel 49’s Brawl at the Brewery, combining two of my favourite worlds: professional wrestling and craft beer. Hosted at the brewery’s outdoor beer garden, what started out as a dreary looking day turned into a decent one, as the rain subsided long enough for the wrestling to start. As we watched the first ever P49 Champion be crowned with a 20-person battle royal, among other matches, I enjoyed a number of servings of the Jerkface 9000 Northwest Wheat Ale. Not knowing what to expect from the event and our $20 general admission tickets, we came away quite happy. If this event becomes a yearly tradition, we would likely spring for the $35 front row tickets next time around, so we can have a seat for all the action.

wrestling belts

Following the wrestling, we weren’t ready to wrap the night up yet, so delved further into the Yeast Van area. Our first stop came at Odd Society Spirits, where we ordered the Rye Thai and Fat Panda cocktails. Both drinks were interesting, featuring infused spirits and a classy presentation. Our second and final stop was Powell Street Brewing, where we managed a couple quick beers before the place shutdown for the night. My servings were the Ode to Citra Pale Ale, which has always been a preferred brew of mine.

This past weekend, we joined friends at their family cabin in Birch Bay, Washington. For my drinking enjoyment over the weekend, I picked up a case from Seattle’s Redhook Brewing, which included the Mothers of the Sun Raspberry Saison, Tangelic Halo Tangerine IPA, El Sonido Mexican Lager and Bicoastal IPA. I really liked this case, particularly the flavours offered by the Raspberry Saison and Tangerine IPA. We also popped into Bellingham’s Elizabeth Station beer store, where I grabbed a can of Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ale for nightcap purposes.

This upcoming weekend will be a busy one, as Mrs. Sip and I are set to attend the 2019 Battle of the Brews in Surrey, as well as celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary with a surprise outing I have planned. I can’t wait for it all to arrive!

Sip Trips #169: Summer of Sips

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We’re now in the thick of summer, which means ample opportunities to drink, whether they be in pools, on patios, at parks, or wherever else you might find yourself with a beverage in hand. Here’s what the Sip Advisor has been doing to start the season:

The Sip Family spent most of the Canada Day long weekend poolside at Ma and Pa Sip’s home. There, I enjoyed the Parallel 49 Brews Brothers Vol. 5 case, another one of my favourite annual collaborative beer packs. The eight tall can collection is always music themed, with this year’s brews named after boy band songs. I particularly enjoyed the Faded Habanero Peach Gose (brewed with Field House Brewing), among others in the set. Our group had a good time reminiscing about our younger years, as we played whatever song matched the beer I was drinking.

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Last weekend, we ventured to the recently opened The Bakery Brewing (the fifth brewery to operate along Port Moody’s Brewer’s Row). Mrs. Sip and I split two flights, allowing us to try each of The Bakery’s eight offerings. Their initial lineup is comprised of mostly sour beers, with my favourite of the bunch being the Carrot-Mango-Lime Sour. Wine and guest taps are also on the brewery’s menu, as well as some food items. At this time, The Bakery has three of their beers available to be purchased in bottles, including the aforementioned Carrot-Mango-Lime. I would have never thought of carrot being a good beer ingredient, but it works here.

En route home from The Bakery, we popped into ABC Brewing to use up more of my original patron gift card. Along with some of our previously enjoyed favourites, we picked up the newly canned Acronyms DIPA. We will be back shortly to also try the debuting Dual Citizen Saison.

acronyms

On Tuesday, we picked up Big Star Sandwich and enjoyed the meal in the Westminster Pier Park for New West’s Music by the River Festival, which sees twice-weekly concerts by various artists. The draw for us was that the park is licensed, serving one beer each from Steel & Oak and ABC, available for purchase at the concession. Sadly, rain put a damper on the concert, featuring sitarist Mohamed Assani.

Upcoming, we hope to check out Fridays on Front in New West, as well as having a number of kid’s birthdays to attend over the next two weekends. This will provide many more great opportunities to visit breweries around the Lower Mainland, as well as catch up with friends over libations!

Beer of the Week #43 – Parallel 49 Trash Panda Hazy IPA

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Looking for a beer to feature for this week’s article, I popped into a nearby BC Liquor Stores location to do some research. There, this Parallel 49 Brewing product caught my attention and was an easy choice for profiling.

The Trash Panda Hazy IPA is a northeast style IPA that is a definite hit with the Sip Advisor. Drinkers can expect flavours of melon, tropical fruit and pear from the 5.5% ABV, 55 IBUs beverage. The IPA is more juice-based and less bitter than it’s brethren.

Parallel 49 Trash Panda Hazy IPA.png

A trash panda, of course, is better known as a racoon. Parallel 49 has some of the best label art in the province and that tradition continues here with a great illustration of racoon rifling through garbage cans for whatever it can scavenge.

Available in canned six-packs at various liquor stores, this newest addition to Parallel 49’s year round lineup will delight like a racoon tipping over someone’s trash bins to find a bevy cornucopia of discarded leftovers.

For more Beer of the Week articles, please visit our main page…

Sip Trips #93: Brews Brothers Volume 3

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As the Sip Advisor has mentioned before, I’m not the biggest Twitter follower, but I seem to check my feed at just the right times… at the expense of Mrs. Sip’s hard-earned savings! That occurred again last weekend, as I learned of this new release and having enjoyed the last incarnation, I immediately made a trip to get my hands on the goods.

For the past two years, Parallel 49 Brewing has collaborated with 12 breweries throughout British Columbia to create their Brews Brothers cases. This year, they’re going international and working with some of the United States’ best beer companies for a four-bomber (650ml bottles) set. As in previous versions, the beers included feature a song-inspired name, with this year’s theme being old school West Coast hip hop. Each beverage is a limited edition entry, so let’s see what makes up the contents of the package:

Gettin’ It Farmhouse of the North (with 49th State Brewing from Anchorage, Alaska)

This farmhouse ale/saison is nicely spiced. Gettin’ It is a song by rapper Too $hort, which I had never heard before, showing my affinity for this musical genre.

Baby Got Back Hoppy Hefe (with Scuttlebutt Brewing from Everett Washington)

Using the classic Sir Mix-A-Lot track as their muse, this hopped-up hef has a little something on the back end and why not, given the tune was inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s booty.

Parallel 49 Brews Brothers Volume 3.JPG

Blazing Arrow Tawny IPA (with Gigantic Brewing from Portland, Oregon)

And we’re back to unfamiliar songs and artists with Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious. As for the brew, this was Cousin Sip’s pick of the litter from the case.

What’s Golden East Meets West IPA (with Green Flash Brewing from San Diego, California)

My favourite beer of the bunch and we finish with yet another ditty (What’s Golden) and group (Jurassic 5) I can’t say I know. I suppose I have to do some serious studying of the era.

Hitting store shelves late last month, the product can be found at BC Liquor Stores and private retailers, throughout the province. Coming in at about $30 after taxes and deposit, this release may seem a little pricy, but it’s comparatively equivalent to picking up four random bomber-sized bottles.

“As far apart as the breweries are from each other, it was neat to see how much we had in common,” said Graham With, Parallel 49’s head brewer. “The process of coming up with recipes with each brewery from the United States was surprisingly smooth. Collaborating with these breweries shed light on our similarities and allowed us to get ideas from other perspectives.”

The whole experience has the Sip Advisor already looking forward to Brews Brothers Volume 4. That arrival can’t come soon enough!

Sip Trips #88: Taste Test

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On Saturday, Mrs. Sip and I hosted the Sip Syndicate at our place. Earlier that day, I had ventured out to grab some beers for the evening and lucked upon some individual bottles from broken up from the Central City–Parallel 49 Seasons Greetings advent calendar. I think this is a great idea, as it gives people who didn’t buy the advent calendar a chance to see how diverse the lineup is, as well as try some of the products for themselves.

I grabbed six bottles, comprised of: Central City’s Southern Cross Kiwi Kettle Sour and Three Peaks Belgian Tripel, along with Parallel 49’s Anger Management Angry IPA, Gong Show Belgian Spiced Quad, Salty Scot Maple Scotch Ale, and Beerserker Scandinavian Strong Ale. We then presented the six in a tasting-style event with our friends. My favourite from the bunch was probably the Gong Show.

drink-every-night

After our mini tasting, we were off to the VIP theatre at Marine Gateway to catch the new Star Wars: Rogue One. I’m not a Star Wars or sci-fi devotee, but I thought the movie was good. My meal of a pulled pork sandwich and fries was even better, which was a nice surprise, given some of the theatre food is only okay. Add a pitcher of Shocktop, split between Mrs. Sip and I, and the evening was well-rounded.

Following the film, we popped into the Dublin Crossing Irish Pub, below the theatre for another beverage. Here, I ordered a pint of Hearthstone McCools Hazelnut Porter, which was profiled in my Beer of the Week feature yesterday. It looks like we’ll be dining there again tonight, to celebrate Mrs. Sip’s birthday with a group of friends from our sports team.

The results of that meal, as well as the other festivities currently planned for Mrs. Sip’s big day will all be brought to you next week in another edition of Sip Trips!

BC Beer Baron #355 – Parallel 49 Salty Scot Ale

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I have long wanted to try this beer from Parallel 49 Brewing, but it always seemed to elude me. Well, I have finally caught up to my prey and while the chase was fun, the spoils of the hunt were even greater.

The Salty Scot Ale leans more towards sweet than salty, but it is a good beer, perfect for the winter season. At 7.5% ABV, you would think the beer would be quite strong, but this element isn’t that noticeable. The suggested serving temperature is between 10-12 degrees Celsius, so you might not want to super chill the brew.

Parallel 49 Salty Scot Ale

With the popularity in sea-salted caramel products, it’s not surprising that a brewery would hop aboard the bandwagon, as the two make such a perfect coupling. Parallel 49 takes the Scottish Wee Heavy style and ups the game with the addition of caramel malts and “enough salt to give it a bit of a bite”.

We recently learned that the logo was designed after the brewery’s accountant (said to be a salty Scot) and that’s why the caricatures’ pouch reads “Scott”. Apparently, the designers of the logo didn’t reveal it to said accountant until the very last moment, offering no opportunity for changes to it.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #325 – Parallel 49 Jerkface 9000

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On a recent visit to EXP Restaurant + Bar, I indulged their expansive video game-themed menu (featuring so many tempting meals) with a serving of this Parallel 49 Brewing year round release.

The Jerkface 9000 is classified as a Northwest Wheat Ale, but I like to think of it as an IPA/wheat beer hybrid. That’s because it is dry hopped and gives all the impressions of being an IPA, with the added bonus of a wheat taste up front. Despite the telltale marks of an IPA, the beer comes in at a moderate 5% ABV and 37 IBUs, so it’s probably classed exactly as it should be.

parallel-49-jerkface-9000

Knowing that some of Parallel 49’s products are named after members of their staff, I have to wonder who might be the inspiration for Jerkface 9000… and also hope I never have a run-in with said employee. Especially if he looks anything like the logo for this product.

The last time the Sip Advisor tried to get into Parallel 49’s tasting room, there was a line-up well outside their front door and so we quickly moved on to another stop. I’ve been meaning to get back since, but the stars have yet to align on that. Luckily, P49 beverages are pretty easy to come across all around Vancouver.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #288 – Parallel 49 Schadenfreude Pumpkin Oktoberfest

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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.

Blending two of the most popular styles of beer at this time of year (pumpkin-flavoured and Oktoberfest), this popular Parallel 49 Brewing release is sure to find an audience with a wide variety of drinkers.

The Schadenfreude Pumpkin Oktoberfest is light and refreshing, with clear tastes of pumpkin and spice. The brew starts off as an Oktoberfest Lager, before pumpkin is added the mash process of brewing and pumpkin pie spices join during the kittling portion.

parallel-49-schadenfreude-pumpkin-oktoberfest

The 5% ABV, 27 IBUs beer (first released in 2012) is available in bottled six-packs at BC Liquor Stores. Parallel 49 is no stranger to the pumpkin-spiced beer, as they also have the Lost Souls Chocolate Pumpkin Porter in their menagerie.

Schadenfreude, for those who don’t know, is the concept of taking pleasure from another person’s pain and misery. Did you know the 1991 The Simpsons episode ‘When Flanders Failed’ is credited for bringing the term back into popularity?

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #258 – Parallel 49 Apricotopus Apricot Sour Saison

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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. Saisons have quickly become a favourite style of the Sip Advisor. I’ve even gone so far as to call the summer of 2016 my ‘Summer of Saison’. Let’s see what BC has to offer.

Parallel 49 Brewing’s motto is “Driven by Thirst” and so it’s no wonder they release so many interesting beers, hoping to quench a drinker’s need for hydration.

The Apricotopus Apricot Sour Saison uses real apricots (I should surely hope so!) to give the brew a mild sweetness amongst the tart of the rest of the recipe. For a sour saison, the Apricotopus has a higher alcohol content than one would expect at 6.3% ABV. I think this helps in the beer’s complexity, adding another flavour profile to the taste.

parallel-49-apricotopus-apricot-sour-saison

Parallel 49 once again does some fine label work here, featuring one deranged looking octopus (a cyclops octopus, at that) grasping an apricot in each of its tentacles. The summer seasonal release is available in 650ml bomber bottles at BC Liquor Stores and other private locations.

I first tried this beer last summer, poolside at Ma and Pa Sip’s place. It performed well enough then to earn another pick-up this year and the experience remained a positive one.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…

BC Beer Baron #210 – Parallel 49 Seedspitter Watermelon Wit

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When I first learned of this beer from Parallel 49 Brewing, I had to be restrained by Mrs. Sip. Let’s get one thing abundantly clear: I am a watermelon fanatic. I eat that sweet stuff right down to the rind and keep on going. So, I wondered, how would combining the fruit with one of my other favourite things in the world (that would be beer!) work out?

The Seedspitter Watermelon Wit is a Belgian-style witbier, with hints of watermelon added to the recipe. The watermelon aroma and taste are not as prevalent as I would like, but it still makes for a decent beverage. I’ve often added a splash of DeKuyper Watermelon Pucker, when drinking this brew, just to up the sweet and sour quotient.

Parallel 49 Seedspitter Watermelon Wit

This product may appear on the ‘Seasonal Beers’ page of Parallel 49’s website, but I can locate it year round. While perfect for lounging in the sun or enjoying summer patio time, I’ve also picked up six packs of the Watermelon Wit for Christmas parties… because the Sip Advisor is always one to share the joy!

While I like the Seedspitter, I can’t help but compare it to a few American watermelon beers I’ve enjoyed in recent times, including Hell or High Watermelon from 21st Amendment, New Belgium’s Heavy Melon Watermelon Lime Ale, and Watermelon Dorado Double IPA from Ballast Point.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…