Tag Archives: Yellow Dog Brewing

Sip Trips #202: October Ovations

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Well, the Halloween month has come and gone and it wasn’t actually as active as I thought it would be, at least when it comes to boozy activities. Perhaps, that’s because much of the latter half of the month was spent doing family activities at community centers and the like and sadly, liquor doesn’t flow on these occasions. Here’s what the Sip Family got up to:

October began with my first trip to Rogers Arena since March 2020, to watch a pre-season NHL contest between the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets. To celebrate the return – and also to not have to wear a mask for the entire game – me and Pa Sip took turns paying for rounds of Captain Morgan and Coke beverages. I went with Spiced Rum, while Pa Sip selected the Dark Rum. The Canucks won the game too, so it all made for a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Later that week, Mrs. Sip and I met up with a friend on Port Moody’s Brewers Row. On this visit, we achieved a new feat, by doing the entire Row (which I had only done twice before), including the distillery for the first time ever. We began our adventure at Yellow Dog Brewing, where I had the Flora & Fauna Gin Botanical IPA, while Mrs. Sip chose the Octoberish Festbier (a Neighbourhood Brewing guest tap).

Walk

Next up, was Twin Sails Brewing, where Mrs. Sip and I shared a flight comprised of the Blue Crush Blueberry Wheat Ale, Would Crush Raspberry Wheat Ale, Cookie Jar Oatmeal Fudge Stout and Low Life Festbier. Our following stop was Rocky Point Spirits. I elected to have a Moscow Mule and we each imbibed in one of their Vaccine shots, celebrating another pandemic era gathering.

From there, we moved on to Parkside Brewing for pints of their Dreamboat Hazy IPA for me and Pleasantside Mixed Berry Ale for Mrs. Sip. With time running out, we quickly moved on to The Bakery, where I enjoyed their Fresh Hop Amber Ale. The night ended with a last minute stop into the about-to-close Moody Ales, completing the Brewers Row circuit. Here, I enjoyed a celebratory London Red (Cask) Red Ale.

For the Thanksgiving long weekend, the extended Sip Family travelled to Oliver/Osoyoos for a getaway that included a number of winery stops. Our first sojourn of the vacation was Covert Farms, which offered an animal tour and other options geared towards kids. I did manage to have a glass of their Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, as the ladies in our group enjoyed an extended tasting experience.

thanksgiving

Following the winery, where I largely chased the Sipplings around, I was owed a little brewery time, so we popped into Firehall Brewing. The visit wasn’t as relaxed as I would have wanted, but the kids were understandably done with sitting patiently, following a long drive and getting to play at Covert Farms. I did enjoy my Stoked Ember ESB and also got to try Mrs. Sip’s White Hat Witbier.

The next morning was spent hitting a few more wineries in the Oliver area, including Gehringer Brothers, Hester Creek and Castoro de Oro. Again, I was mostly on child care duty and only had a few sips of vino along the way.

For lunch, we went to the District Wine Village, which will be a really neat destination once they work out a few kinks. There’s basically a large central courtyard, surrounded by various winey tasting rooms. One of the issues is a lack of food options. We ordered a couple pizzas from the Trading Post Brewing location there (along with an Amber Ale), but a few other eating choices would be great, such as a burger place. It was also weird to not be able to take your drink with you to your table and have to be escorted by an employee, but it must have something to do with their liquor license.

pizza

En route back to our hotel, I picked up a tall can four-pack of Highway 97 Mountain Man Cranberry & Orange Witbier, which I enjoyed quite a bit during our nightly happy hours. The next morning, we started at Intersection Vineyards. I was stuck in car with a napping Boy Sip, so also enjoyed a little snooze myself.

Sadly, the one brewery we wanted to visit in Osoyoos, North Basin Brewing, was unexpectedly closed when we tried to hit it. We knew they would be shutdown on the holiday Monday, but when we tried to go there on the Sunday, there was a closed notice on the door. Had we known it would work out that way, we would have made more of an effort to get there on the Friday or Saturday.

After some hotel pool time for the kids, we got an adult afternoon out and went to the nearby Tumbleweed Spirits. While they weren’t serving cocktails during our visit, we did try a series of their libations. My set included the Fireweed Whiskey as well as Blueberry, Cherry, Raspberry and Maple Moonshines. Following the tasting, we bought bottles of the Raspberry and Maple Moonshines, which I look forward to experimenting with soon.

moonshine

Not content to return to our little monsters just yet, we also did a tasting at Lakeside Cellars. This sitting was comprised of their 2020 Bubbles, 2020 Sauvignon Blanc, 2019 Portage White, 2020 Rose, 2017 Portage Red, and 2016 Provenir.

In the middle of October, we began binging Squid Game on Netflix. To fully embrace the Korean spirit of the show, I picked up a couple bottles of Soju (Strawberry and Mango), a bag of Korean BBQ potato chips and we picked up dinner from Chicko Chicken. We enjoyed the chicken so much, we ordered it again following trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

Near the end of the month, we finally got to enjoy a portion or Mrs. Sip’s January birthday gift, which was unfortunately originally cancelled due to pandemic restrictions. Prior to our fun magic show at the Hidden Wonders Speakeasy, we had a small meal at El Santo, sharing orders of the Enchiladas Suizas and Al Pastor Tacos. My beverage of choice was the Batanga (tequila, Ancho Reyes verde, lime, cola, salt rim), which I liked. As for the show, my only complaint was not being able to have a speakeasy cocktail, but perhaps these are offered when outside of pandemic restrictions.

speakeasy

Our last event of October was attending the Vancouver Canucks vs. Philadelphia Flyers. This would be Boy Sip’s first live hockey game, given he was born right as the pandemic was sweeping the world. After a mix up regarding us bringing in Boy Sip’s diaper bag, Mrs. Sip calmed her frustration by grabbing us some brews, which for me consisted of the Stanley Park 1897 Amber Ale.

The calendar for November is already filling up, with two trips to Whistler (including a much-needed vacay sans kids) and a friend’s 40th birthday. All of which should be a ton of fun as we also gear up for another crazy Christmas!

Sip Trips #171: Taking it to the Streets

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The summer finally heated up the past couple weeks and with that came a bevvy of functions to attend, places to explore and activities to indulge in. Here’s what the Sip Family has been up to lately:

A couple weeks back we returned with friends to Port Moody’s Brewer’s Row. Stop number one was Yellow Dog Brewing, a preferred stop for the Sip Advisor thanks to their massive backyard area. I enjoyed a pint of their Squirrel Chaser Hazy Pale Ale, as Baby Sip napped in the shade nearby. When you get those precious breaks, you have to make the most of them.

naptime

Up next, was The Bakery Brewing, whose menu featured quite a bit of turnover from my inaugural visit. Here, I had a serving of the Oaked Hefe, which I liked very much. Sours still dominated The Bakery’s tap list, but there seemed to be more variance this time around.

The last stop for this crawl down Murray Street was Moody Ales, where we picked up some treats for the road. My collection included a crowler of Sublime Pineapple Hefeweizen, as well as tall cans of Boss Juice Hazy Double IPA and Affable IPA.

Between weekends (a fancy way of saying “during the week”), I purchased a bottle of Captain Morgan Watermelon Smash (the bottle even smells like watermelon), which I planned to debut at a family Mexican Fiesta over the long weekend. The cocktail I created combined tequila, this watermelon liqueur, watermelon-lemonade soda and lime juice. I called it the Watermelon Rocket and it seemed to go over well with my eager tasters.

cat-watermelon.jpg

Going into the BC Day long weekend, Baby Sip and I joined Mrs. Sip for another edition of Fridays on Front in New West. We were drawn there by guest brewery Boombox Brewing, which was offering up their Arcade Glow Pale Ale. I quickly consumed two servings of this delicious beer, while watching Baby Sip get up to her usual brand of mischief at the play area for youngsters.

On Saturday, we met visiting friends from Toronto at The Royal Crown Castle pub in Sapperton. I really enjoyed their Cashew Chilli Chicken appetizer, paired with a pint of Parallel 49 Trash Panda IPA, which worked well to quell the heat from my meal. A really good combo, if I don’t say so myself. Our service here also deserves highlighting, as Baby Sip was given a bubble wand to play with and was taken very good care of.

cat bubbles

Following lunch, we popped into Another Brewing Co. (ABC) for half servings of “I’m a Vienna You Idiot” Vienna Lager and Dual Citizen Saison, both of which were new to us. I’m not much of a lager fan, but I thought this release was very good. Before leaving, I purchased a few tall cans, including the Poolside Hefe, Intolerant Milkshake IPA (which I was advised is a good dessert beer) and Dunder Beist Kviek Farmhouse IPA.

This weekend, I’ll be checking out Parallel 49’s Brawl at the Brewery, featuring professional wrestling and craft beer, an amalgamation of two worlds I’ve long been a follower of. Should make for an interesting afternoon!

Sip Trips #168: Alphabet Games

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The past couple weeks have been filled with events and adventures, so let’s get right to the thick of things. Here’s what the Sip Family has been up to, of late:

To celebrate a friend’s birthday, we gathered for dinner at Bauhaus Restaurant in Downtown Vancouver. My order of Weiner Schnitzel was very good and the massive serving (with cucumber potato salad) justified the $36 price tag. The Schnitzel was accompanied by cranberry sauce, which I never thought of using on veal, but complimented the dish very well. Over the course of the evening, I enjoyed a trio of Brassneck Passive Aggressive Pale Ale servings to accompany my meal.

To celebrate my second Father’s Day, Mrs. Sip and I visited the newly-opened Another Beer Company (ABC Brewing), where we are original patron members. We were away on vacation while they hosted their special opening for members only, so it was great to finally get there and pick up my original patron package, which included a gift card and hoodie.

greatest dad

With plans to pick up a few beers to go when we were ready to leave, we concentrated on the options that were only available on tap for our time at the brewery. We ordered the Bright Temperament Belgian Saison, Salted Kviek Farmhouse Ale and Keep Your Pants On Indian Pale Kolsch, a style I have never seen before. The tall cans we bought prior to heading home included the Engine Head American Rye Ale, Poolside Hefe Bavarian Hefeweizen, You’ve Changed Pale Ale, Livin’ By The River Hazy IPA, and Young Wild & Hazy Hazy IPA.

We actually returned a few days later with Cousin Sip and her husband and picked the couple items (Good Alternative Altbier and Eli’s Stash Belgian Tripel) we had yet to try or purchase. I haven’t had a bad beer yet from the upstart brewery and I look forward to many more visits in the future. We like the loft seating area there, as well as the bucket of toys they had available for young children who are brought to the venue. With Father’s Day in mind, you may be asking how awesome of a father I am? Well, with our visit to ABC, Baby Sip has now been to 69 breweries across a handful of countries in her 20 months of existence. Father of the Year honours are surely on the way!

One final note about ABC, is they are operating with a different business plan than I’ve seen from other breweries. They aren’t offering growler fills, opting to sell tall cans which are packaged on a weekly basis and restocked daily. The cans are meant to be drank within two weeks of the packaging date. It will be interesting to see if this scheme evolves over time or not.

growler

Prior to our second visit to ABC, we had been attending the Vancouver Canucks Summer Summit with the Sedins. Upon entering, we were presented with vouchers for one entrée and two drinks, similar to the Summer Showcase prospects game last year. I used my food ticket on a Triple Os Bacon & Cheddar Burger, while my drink coupons once again went towards Budweisers (it always hurts to write that, but you can’t complain when they’re free!). There were many more drink stands available to attendees this year, so perhaps they listened to my suggestions following the previous event.

This past weekend, Mrs. Sip and I joined friends for a crawl along Port Moody’s Brewer’s Row. We began the day with Twin Sails Brewing, which was hosting a First Day of Summer Party. I enjoyed my El Cacto Tequila Farmhouse Ale with Lime Zest, as well as Mrs. Sip’s Two Straws Milkshake IPA with Blackberry.

Next up was Yellow Dog Brewing, where we snagged a seat in their backyard area, one of my favourite drinking spots amongst the Lower Mainland craft beer scene. I went with their Squirrel Chaser Hazy Pale Ale, as I had never tried the beer before, while I order the Hi Ten Double Hazy IPA for Mrs. Sip, as she has been getting into that style more and more recently.

spritual quest

Moody Ales was stop number three. I was able to try a taste of Bakery Brewing’s Dark Rye Saison (on guest tap), before getting a pint of the Moody Ales/Gibsons Collab Rauchbock, which was deliciously smoky. Mrs. Sip went with the Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Stout, another fine choice.

Backtracking, our last stop of the day was Parkside Brewing, where we decided to pick up some road beers, rather than fight for a seat and table at the very busy place (all the Row was hopping throughout the day). I grabbed a tall can four-pack of their Motel Pale Ale, which were enjoyed as we walked the nearby trails to a playground for Baby Sip to finally get some playtime.

Upcoming is the Canada Day long weekend, which always presents some fantastic drinking opportunities. All we need is for the weather to turn around, so we can relax poolside and fireside with beverages in hand!

Sip Trips #156: Whiskey Worship

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These past couple weeks was highlighted by a whiskey tasting event attended by the male members of the Sip Syndicate. With five glasses of whiskey to be enjoyed, we knew we were in for a hell of a night, one that will most certainly make my ‘best of’ list for 2019.

Prior to the whiskey tasting, we agreed it would be beneficial to have full stomachs. Our pre-game meal was held at Craft Beer Market, where I enjoyed an order of their BBQ Beer Can Chicken Sliders, paired with a serving of Yellow Dog Smash It! Orange Chocolate Pastry Stout. The beer was tasty and best of all, $1 from my purchase went to the Canucks Autism Network. I love drinking for the benefit of charities!

tasting throwing

As for the whiskey tasting, we had a fantastic time, as expected. The private event’s theme was whiskeys that were new to British Columbia and featured: Highland Park Full Volume, Glenlivet Code, Macallan Edition No. 4, Glenfiddich Winter Storm, and Octomore 9.1. The guy who selects these bottles is very knowledgeable and I look forward to returning next year for more debauchery.

Through the night, our crew also enjoyed a couple other whiskeys (Nikka and Oban) from the bar, as well as beers (Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale and 33 Acres of Life California Common, for myself). My goal for the night was to never not have two drinks in my hand, usually a beer and whiskey serving. That’s double fisting in style, my little sippers!

With more drinking at home occurring during this current cold snap, I should also highlight some of my recent purchases. First, I picked up a tall can four-pack of Old Yale Brewing’s Bloom Tulip Ale. Although this beer was released last spring, it had not come across my radar. Brewed using 2,000 fresh cut tulips from the Abbotsford Bloom Tulip Festival, the beer is advertised to be blue in colour, but is actually more of a purple. Still, it’s a neat drink and the floral flavours are interesting.

tulips dog

I also popped into Central City Brewing last week to see what was available in their fridges. I came away with a tall can of Lucky Pig Tangerine Ale with Ginger (brewed to celebrate Chinese New Year), a regular can of Treeline Campfire Juniper Smoked Farmhouse Ale (from the Central City/Parallel 49 Alpine Adventure Pack 2018 advent calendar) and a tall can four-pack of After Hours Old Fashioned Pale Ale, which combines the breweries own whiskey with orange peels and cherries, to create an Old Fashioned cocktail/pale ale beer hybrid.

Up next for the Sip Family is a week-long all-inclusive stay in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. With unlimited food and drinks and a couple craft breweries and a tequila museum to visit, you better believe the Sip Advisor is looking forward to this vacay!

Sip Trips #133: Beer and Pizza

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Another busy week is in the books. It all started on the weekend, as the Sip Family explored Brewer’s Row in Port Moody, stopping at three out of the four breweries located along Murray Street. We began our travels at Yellow Dog Brewing, where I ordered a pint of their Sit and Stay India Session Belgian Ale. The beer was good, albeit light at 4% ABV. Yellow Dog was down to a handful of options, from their usual bevvy of varieties, as they were between production cycles at the time. I went with the Sit and Stay because it was the only brew I hadn’t previously tried.

Next up, was Twin Sails Brewing, which was hosting an event to mark the release of their new collaboration beer, brewed in partnership by all four of the Brewer’s Row occupants. Proceeds from the occasion went to Good Night Out Vancouver, which educates nightlife staff and patrons about “how to recognize, interrupt and prevent sexual harassment and assault on nights out.” Mrs. Sip and I split a flight of beers, highlighted by the Good Night Out Collab and also including the Back to Basics Lager, Dat Juice Pale Ale and On Three Triple IPA. It was nice to see Twin Sails’ new patio, completed in November, which I look forward to enjoying a drink on this summer.

Beer Snob.jpg

Our final stop was Parkside Brewing. Here, I enjoyed a pint of their Simcoe SMASH IPA, which we started drinking on their patio, before rain returned and forced us inside. We also grabbed a Pork Gringa Taco from the Tacofina food truck that had taken up residence outside the brewery. The taco was very good and I’d like to try some of their other menu items in the future.

For my second straight trip to Brewer’s Row, I missed out on visiting Moody Ales. I must apologize to the brewery, as once again we simply ran out of time. When we return, I vow to start our crawl there and make amends for our past neglect.

The weekend also featured a dinner with friends, where I was able to try both the Postmark Belgian Red and Steel & Oak Pembroke Belgian-Style Table Beer. Both were quite tasty and much thanks goes to our host for sharing his wares with me.

Dinner Party Mistake.jpg

The week wrapped up with dinner at Pizzeria Ludica in New West, famous for their blend of pizza and board games. We have previously been to their Vancouver location and were invited to join friends at the restaurant’s new site. Mrs. Sip and I split the Pesto Chicken & Prosciutto pizza, which is absolutely delicious. I particularly like the addition of the underrated sun-dried tomatoes, which complete the meal. To drink, I picked the Phillips Scarfface Orange Cranberry Wit.

The next week features many more adventures, highlighted by attending Science World After Dark and a visit to Andina Brewing to redeem the Groupon Mrs. Sip picked up for me at Christmas. Rest? Ha, who needs it!

Sip Trips #132: Celebrations Galore

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The Sip Family has been super busy the last couple weeks. So busy, that I’m just now getting a chance to document our recent adventures. Here’s what we’ve been up to since I was last able to write:

A couple weekends’ ago, we celebrated Father-in-Law Sip’s birthday, taking our revelry to Backyard Winery, followed by Township 7 Winery, in Langley. While at Backyard, where we enjoyed a couple bottles of Pinot Gris and charcuterie platters, Mrs. Sip rejoined their wine club now that she’s no longer pregnant and breastfeeding. At Township 7, our group did a wine tasting, while I toured the grounds with Baby Sip, who was visiting the fifth winery of her young life.

Later that week, we enjoyed a meal at EXP Restaurant + Bar. There has been some concern the place will be forced out of business, due to Vancouver’s ridiculous rent prices, so we wanted to visit before anything tragic occured. We ordered a round of Harry Potter-themed cocktails that were all pretty tasty. My favourite was the Gryffindor’s Liquid Courage, thanks to the Jack Daniels Whiskey base. To eat, I ordered the Triforce Burger, which is comprised of a crispy chicken breast, beef burger and bacon. It’s quite the meal, but oh so delicious.

Triforce

Heading into Easter weekend, I picked Mrs. Sip up from work and we enjoyed a drink at Steel & Oak Brewing. The brewery has recently completed renovations to allow for more patrons and the space is much-needed, as the place is often packed. We ordered the Encore collaboration with Yellow Dog Brewing and really enjoyed the beer. That’s really no surprise, as the two breweries are among my favourite in the province.

The next day, Mrs. Sip and I celebrated our 16th dating anniversary. We began the occasion by using the Groupon I had purchased for Big City Hunt, which offers scavenger hunts in a number of big cities. Even though we’re locals, we learned some neat things about downtown Vancouver, as we embarked on the two-hour tour, featuring trivia and photo challenges.

The main event of our anniversary was dining at the Top of Vancouver rotating restaurant. We split a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, along with a starter of Baked French Brie and mains of Duck Duo for me and Baked Whole Lobster for Mrs. Sip. The dinner was not cheap, but you’re partly paying for the view, which we enjoyed for over two hours and three full rotations of the restaurant.

Lobster Immortal.jpg

We wrapped our evening out by stopping at Nero Belgian Waffle Bar, where the alluring smell of fresh waffles forced us to investigate further. We split their set of seven Mini Liège Waffles, which provided the perfect dessert to our earlier feast.

The following day, we journeyed back to Langley to celebrate Mrs. Sip’s grandpa’s 93rd birthday at one of his favourite restaurants, Andreas. This place has an amazing menu and I can’t remember not liking any item that I have ordered. On this visit, I combined their French Onion Soup (which may have been the best serving I’ve ever had of the delicacy) with Chicken Fingers and Fries. The meal was decadent and the prices were all very reasonable.

On Easter Sunday, we met with friends at Big Ridge Brewing in Surrey. Having eaten recently, Mrs. Sip and I split an order of their Beer Battered Garlic Fries. These paired nicely with our beer selections of Viking Funeral Norwegian Ale for me and Vanilla Bean Porter for Mrs. Sip. Next time we’re out that way, I’d like to try something from their Asian Kitchen menu.

Chows Mane

Afterwards, we were off to Baby Sip’s first drive-in movie experience at Twilight Theatre in Aldergrove. Our films included Ready Player One and Game Night, both of which were enjoyable, despite some inclement weather, including a touch of hail during the shows.

Last, but not least, we also attended three Vancouver Canucks games in the last week, including the emotional final home game for the Sedin twins. This magical night will live long in my memory and Daniel and Henrik deserve every bit of praise they have received since announcing their impending retirements. Thank you to both of them for their 18 years of service, both on and off the ice.

The coming week remains loaded with commitments and activities, which you can read all about in next week’s Sip Trips!

Beer of the Week #35 – Yellow Dog High Five Hazy IPA

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I have now had this Yellow Dog Brewing selection a couple times, in two different formats. If a third opportunity presents itself, I won’t hesitate to drink it again no matter what form it comes in.

The first time I had the High Five Hazy IPA was as a mango-flavoured variation at Craft Beer Market’s Caskapalooza 2017. The next was from the brewery itself, as we recently visited Port Moody’s amazing Brewer’s Row.

Yellow Dog High Five Hazy IPA

Both times, I greatly enjoyed the 6.8%ABV, 50 IBUs beverage. It is available at many of the more notable craft beer establishments around Greater Vancouver and can also be found in tall can format at the brewery.

I was happy to see that Yellow Dog finally got their website up and running since I last covered the brewery as part of the BC Beer Baron project. For far too long, the site was under construction.

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

Sip Trips #114: All the Hits

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Well, another busy week is in the books (I’m starting to sound like a broken record), with Mrs. Sip and I finding time to have as much fun as possible, while getting things as ready as possible for the arrival of our daughter, sometime in the next few weeks. Here’s what we got up to:

The week began with the Sip Alliance’s long-awaited return to Port Moody’s Brewer’s Row. Before arriving there, though, we had to first travel to Coquitlam’s Mariner Brewing, which had only opened days before and is the first of its kind in the city. With four beers on tap, I tried their Northeast IPA, which I found to be pretty tasty. The brewery promises much more to come in the future and their space and constellation theming are really good starts.

Brewery Water

Next up was Brewer’s Row, with stops at Yellow Dog, Twin Sails and Parkside breweries, where I had pints of their High Five Hazy IPA, Street Legal IPA and Motel Five-Hop Pale Ale, respectively. Sadly, we didn’t manage to get to Moody Ales before closing time, so we owe them a visit in the future. I love this area of four breweries packed within a five-minute walk of each other and the new Evergreen SkyTrain line makes heading out that way so much easier. We will be back again soon.

On Friday, we finally got around to hitting one of our favourite annual summer traditions: the Twilight Drive-In Theatre in Aldergrove. While no drinking was involved, it was a great start to the Labour Day long weekend, as the lineup included Cars 3, followed by Despicable Me 3. We only stayed for those first two movies, but in celebration of the drive-in’s 12th anniversary, they were playing four movies on both Friday and Saturday night. While we love our trips out there for movies outdoors and you can’t beat the price of $12.50 per person for the entire evening, this was the first line-up this summer that actually appealed to us. Perhaps bad movies in general are to blame.

The next day, we started with some relaxing pool time at Ma and Pa Sip’s place before returning to Vancouver to move some furniture. Following the move, we treated Ma and Pa Sip to dinner at The Parlour in Yaletown, which had come highly recommended to me. We were not disappointed, as the place has a good happy hour to go along with great service. Our pizzas (The Dirty and Roasted varieties) were very good and were enough for a group of four to be happily fed.

Fitness Whole Pizza

After dinner, Mrs. Sip and I attended the Rio Theatre for their presentation of Dysfunctional Disney Cabaret. The goal here, according to our host, was to completely f*ck up our childhood memories with Disney-themed burlesque acts. It was quite the entertaining show and I have to commend the Rio for having a jug of water available to patrons on this hot, hot day. One server even steered me away from buying bottled water, in favour of the cooler, which I did not know about.

Sunday began with another round of furniture buying and baby laundry loads, but the reward came with hitting Jimmy’s Taphouse for happy hour. This has always been one of my favourite happy hours in the city with a number of half priced menu items and cheap drink options. We enjoyed their poutine with chipotle drizzle and an order of hot wings, which really hit the spot. The spicy combo was washed down with the Phillips Solaris White Peach Ale and a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey.

Why was I getting my shot game on? Because we had received complimentary ticket to the Lionel Richie-Mariah Carey All the Hits concert, as part of Mrs. Sip’s recent anniversary gift to me of Vancouver Canucks half-season tickets. This was the first time either of us had ever sat in the exclusive 500-level Club seats, which provided a bar and bathrooms to about 50 people. As for the show, Mariah Carey didn’t do Fantasy or Honey, which if I know them, must have been hits. That’s okay, though, as Lionel Richie was extremely entertaining. His Dancing on the Ceiling with all the lights and video effects was the highlight of the night.

Lionel Richie Hello

We wrapped the long weekend by celebrating Pa Sip’s birthday at The Keg. Sitting atop the restaurant’s rooftop patio was very relaxing and the service was top notch. I ordered their Keg Burger, which pales in comparison to their former Prime Rib Burger, which I mourn the loss of to this day. As for beverages, I imbibed with a Keg Size Watermelon Mojito and Keg Caesar, perfect accompaniments to my still decent entree. A slice of Billy Miner Pie to finish the meal was the perfect bow on an incredible weekend!

But the family celebrations weren’t done there. On Tuesday, after Pa Sip helped me move some more furniture, we had another dinner in his honour at the Old Spaghetti Factory in New West. I tried their Pot-Pourri Spaghetti with meat, mushroom and clam sauce options. Best of all, the meals come with bread, salad or soup and ice cream for dessert, so we left quite stuffed. My beverage of choice was the Cobblestone Lager, developed for the restaurant by Granville Island Brewing.

The coming week doesn’t have much on the schedule, so I may grasp the opportunity for some rest and relaxation. Following that, the Sip Advisor has a bachelor party, Vancouver Canucks pre-season opener, Sis-In-Law Sip’s birthday and much more on the docket… not to mention who knows when the baby will decide to arrive!

BC Beer Baron #260 – Yellow Dog Stick Toss 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.

At the end of our recent Port Moody Brewers Row tour, Cousin Sip filled a growler of this Yellow Dog Brewing release, having enjoyed it so much. This was lucky for the Sip Advisor, who was provided another opportunity to savour the beer again a few days later.

The Stick Toss Saison is flavourful and refreshing, with pleasant notes of fruit and spice. The 5.2% ABV, 25 IBUs drink is made for summer drinking and really shines on those hottest and most humid days.

yellow-dog-brewing

The Stick Toss is a staple of the brewery’s lineup, so much so that they often experiment with it as a base. They have produced Apricot, Orange Peel and Cranberry adaptations of the beer, taking an established beverage to a whole ‘nutha level!

Yellow Dog also has the Go Fetch Hoppy Saison, Super Secret Sour Saison and Bootweather Brett Saison, as part of their collection. The company is very open to experimenting, so who knows what they will dream up next.

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

BC Beer Baron #215 – Yellow Dog Pineapple Brett IPA

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Recently, Cousin Sip and I toured Port Moody’s Brewers Row. While we enjoyed each stop along the condensed route, our relaxing beverages at Yellow Dog Brewing, may have been the highlight of the day out, sans spouses.

In fact, I enjoyed my serving of their Pineapple Brett IPA so much, that we returned to the brewery before leaving the area, to fill a couple growlers of the drink. Of course, pineapple is a prominent flavour here, but I enjoyed it, even though I prefer the fruit on pizza.

Yellow Dog Brewing

I assume the base of this 7% ABV brew is Yellow Dog’s Play Dead IPA, but I could be wrong. The beer is available at some of the Lower Mainland’s finest beer establishments, such as Darby’s Public House in Kitsilano and Alibi Room in Vancouver’s Gastown district.

This was my second trip to Yellow Dog’s tasting room, but our previous venture was during the winter and on a rainy day. Therefore, I had no clue that the brewery had a gorgeous seating area at the back of their facility, complete with picnic tables for beer enjoyment. I can’t wait to bring Mrs. Sip along next time.

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