BC On Tap - Every Month Can Be BC Craft Beer Month

October is upon us which means it is, once again, BC Craft Beer Month (BCCBM).

For those of you who do not know, October was officially declared by the BC Provincial Government in 2011 to be BCCBM, a month that, according to the official proclamation, "will feature a celebration of British Columbia craft beer".

The month is meant to be a time for those who support the local craft beer industry to shine the spotlight on themselves, by creating their own special celebrations which highlight specifically the world-class, craft beer brewed here in BC and raise awareness as to just how successful and important the craft beer industry is here in this province.

More importantly than that, it is an excuse for us who love to tip back a jar or three to get out there and enjoy the BC craft beers that we love.

Although it happens less frequently these days, often our local craft beers get over-shadowed by the amazing beers, and the buzz they create, imported from well known craft breweries down south. In my opinion, it was when these great US beers started arriving on the scene here in BC that the local craft breweries really started to push themselves to create and brew more unique and interesting beers to keep up and hold their places in the local market. Although there was a definite craft beer scene here, especially in Victoria and Vancouver where there were some great beers being brewed, it was these US beers that really started to educate the consumer here in BC as to what craft beer was all about and pushed it out into the open, beyond the beer nerd scene and CAMRA crowd.

In the past five years or so local brewers have not only managed to keep up with their very talented brewing cousins to the south, but have often surpassed them at their own game which is pushing the limits and challenging the norms of how beers taste and pushing the boundaries of recognized beers styles to create new styles and beers others try to emulate.

BC craft beer plays second fiddle to no one these days and one Vancouver establishment, Tap & Barrel, celebrates that fact every day of the year, not just during BCCBM.

This is not a review of the Tap & Barrel, although I personally really like the place and love what owner Daniel Frenkel and his staff  are doing there. No, you will have to go there yourself to judge whether you enjoy the place or not. I think you will, but I have been known to be wrong before.

What I want to highlight is the fact that Tap & Barrel has 24 beers on tap and all are brewed in BC breweries. They embrace and highlight the local scene on a daily basis and are none the worse for wear for doing so because our craft beer industry is producing more than enough great beers to occupy the 24 taps on offer there. And they are just scratching the surface, pouring only a fraction of the good BC beers available. Hopefully, as they get going and gain popularity, they can begin to rotate some of their taps and include some of the great beers and breweries that are not currently represented on their tap list. Hopefully, if they are successful, and I see every indication that they will be, more and more establishments will expand their beer menus and will focus more on our locally produced beers. Tap & Barrel are not the only licensee who boast an all-BC, craft line-up, but I do believe they do have the biggest selection of BC-only beers. If I am wrong, please send me word of where I can find a larger selection of BC beer, and only BC beer, on tap.

The fact that a restaurant like Tap & Barrel can go with an all-BC, craft line-up on their draft beer list - they do offer some macro lagers and imported beers on their modest bottle list - is something I could never of imagined when I first started enjoying beer back when I had hair and a waistline. I come from a time when three national breweries had a complete stranglehold on the market here in BC and when you ordered draft beer, you didn't even bother to order by brand because they all tasted the same and often pubs only had one brewery's beers to offer. Now you not only have multiple styles and categories of beers to choose from, but also many choices within those different styles.

And even as recently as a few years back, although there was a growing selection of craft beers available on the market, many were from cities like Seattle, Portland and San Diego. Now our BC beers are legitimately in the mix and earning more and more tap and shelf space and they are there own their own merit, not just because they are locally brewed.

Before I start getting hate mail from those who love their beers from down south, this is not a knock against those brews or the establishments who serve them. Great craft beer is great craft beer and I am lucky to live in a city where there is a seemingly endless supply of craft beers from all over North America and beyond. But what I am finding more often than not is that I am drinking BC craft beer and not just because it is BC craft beer, but because I prefer them over the others available. I can honestly say that about 90% of the beers I purchase and consume are BC craft beers and like at Tap & Barrel, every month of the year is, for me, BCCBM.

I think because of the huge wave of momentum the BC craft beer industry is riding on right now, you may see more licensees concentrate more heavily on the local breweries. It would be great if the LDB caught on and stopped restricting  the number of listings they give BC breweries, which they should be promoting and supporting as much as possible, not ignoring, especially since domestic craft beer sales are one of the only segments of the alcohol market that is consistently growing. This would help grow the BC craft beer market and as the market grows, it will be able to support more and more breweries giving the consumer more and more choices.

What a great time to be a craft beer lover and living in BC!

Reports & Ramblings From a Beer-Addled Mind #5

Craft Beer Month Just Around the Corner

Although its announcement came without much fanfare and without the knowledge of a great deal of people involved in the BC craft beer industry, hospitality industry and consuming craft beer, October has been officially declared B.C. Craft Beer Month by the Province of British Columbia in a proclamation signed by Attorney General, Barry Penner.

What this means to lovers of craft beer here in BC is not quite known at this time, but, if Craft Beer Month lives up to its billing on the proclamation, "the month of October will feature a celebration of craft beer by British Columbia's craft breweries with beer tastings, beer maker dinners, craft beer festivals, brewery tours, beer and cheese pairings taking place throughout the province," and will raise the awareness of the importance of the craft beer industry in BC and the advantages of supporting that industry which benefits both the consumer, by producing a unique, quality products and to the economy of the province as a whole by providing jobs in all sectors and boosting the economy.

This is a time for BC craft breweries & brew pubs to strut their stuff and shine the spotlight on themselves and could prove to be a lot of fun for those of us out there who love craft beer. It is also the time for those pubs, taphouses, restaurants and cafes that feature BC craft beers to celebrate supporting our local craft beer industry by creating events in their establishments to add to the celebrations. 

Let's hope the word spreads and those who have a vested interest in the craft beer industry in BC participate in BC Craft Beer Month and make this the celebration it can be. Although CAMRA has a few tricks up its sleeve, the Craft Beer Month celebrations will depend heavily on whether the breweries and licensees can get organized and creative to promote craft beer and raise awareness amongst the public above and beyond the usual craft beer community. I know of a few establishments that have some plans to highlight BC craft beers and I hope more get on board and join in the fun.

Stay tuned in the next few months to find out when and where BC Craft Beer Month celebrations will be taking place.

Too Hop To Handle - A Little Info on What is in Store

This Saturday local Hopheads who managed to snag a ticket to CAMRA Vancouver's  Too Hop To Handle festival will be doing their happy dance as they make their way to St. Augustine's Craft Brew House and Kitchen.

The event, which is sold out earlier this week, will feature hoppy offerings, many of the one-of-a-kind variety, from 14 breweries - 13 from BC and one from Seattle, Washington - which will challenge even the most hardcore and adventurous IPA drinkers. Three of the brews being offered clock in at over 90 IBU's, with one measuring 92 IBU's and 8% ABV, another upping the ante at 100 IBU's and 9% ABV and another pushing the limits completly, hitting an unbelievable 151 IBU's at 9% ABV!

If those numbers having your taste buds running for cover, don't fret as many of the offerings are not pushing the limits as the ones listed above and run in the range from 5.5%-7.7% ABV and 50-70 IBU's. With the number of beers available being lower than many festivals, having at least one 5 oz taster of each, over the course of the day, should be manageable. St Augustine's chef, Dion Ouellet. will also be creating some fare to pair with the hop bomb of choice and help absorb the alcohol for those trying to do the complete circuit.

Breweries participating are Red Racer/Central City, Howe Sound, Big River Brew Pub, Lighthouse Brewing Company, Big Ridge Brewing, Phillips, Russell, Storm, Dead Frog, R&B, Crannog, High Mountain Brewing (Whistler BrewHouse), Elysian and Spinnakers, who are making a rare trip over from the Island!

CAMRA Vancouver will also be there, setting up a booth to sign up new members and sell CAMRA swag. If you aren't already a member, bring along an extra $25 and sign up, get involved and help shape the landscape of the Vancouver craft beer community!!
See you there...but if you want to guarantee any sort of reasonable conversation, catch me early as I don't think I'll be able to resist hitting the big-hop, high-octane beers for long...

Beerlesque Fundraiser

For those of you hedonistic types who like a little titillation with your craft beer mark August 19th on your calendar and get ready to have some fun.

The Roundhouse is teaming up with CAMRA Vancouver and Vancouver Craft Beer Week to present Beerlesque, "a celebration of burlesque and BC craft beer" which hopes to raise dollars for the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.

Tickets are $50, inclusive of all beer and entertainment and are available on-line at the above link. There is a full evening of entertainment on the slate and those attending are being encouraged to dress up as a prize will be awarded for the best costume. Beers to provided by Driftwood, Phillips, Russell, Red Truck and Vancouver Island Brewing. Food carts from ReUp BBQ and Ursu Korean BBQ will be on site.

My Thoughts About Sessional Beers

I recently received a request from CAMRA YVR, along with all other BC beer blog writers, to give my thoughts about sessional beer. I have to admit I have never really given this topic much thought and don't know if I will add much to the discussion CAMRA YVR is attempting to generate.
First off, I do not have any preference for what a sessional beer should be or not be. For me, what I drink is dictated by my mood, my palate at the time, who I am with and my budget. When the circumstances are right, I seem be be able to handle and metabolize several pints of high-octane, big beers and wake up the next day feeling like a million dollars. At other times, I feel the buzz after one or two lagers and it goes all Pete Tong in a hurry. The trick, which I have not quite yet mastered, is to recognize the appropriate times to take advantage of the former and run like Hell  when I detect the latter.
I can honestly say I have utilized everything from Old Rasputin and barley wines to lower gravity beers like Guinness and lagers as a sessional beers. If I am in for the long haul, and if I have the choice, I tend to change it up as I go. Lately, I have been a major hop monster, so I usually have a pint of Red Racer IPA or Driftwood Fat Tug in front of me to start and then I will venture forth. Red Racer ESB is also one of my favourite starter beers as it is very flavourful but does not blow my taste buds apart right off the hop (no pun intended).  I tend to lean towards the bigger beers these days, but not exclusively so and if the mood strikes, I have been known to sit down and enjoy a fare-few Pyramid Apricot Ales.
The gravity of the beer has no relevance in my choosing it, or not, as a sessional beer. I have grown so accustomed to drinking 7% beers that they seem the norm now. In fact, I rarely look at the alcohol percentage of a beer until after I have ordered and tasted it. I drink what I like in the moment. I would never choose to drink a beer because it is 4% just so I can drink more. For me, that is like choosing low-fat cheese so I can eat more with less calories. When I was living in the UK, there was really no choice but to drink low gravity beers, at least where I was living, but I enjoyed many of them. But if similar beers were available here, I would not choose them if I were sitting down for a few just based on the lesser percentage of alcohol. I also never choose a high alcohol beer, just based on the percentage, if I am sitting down just for one.
If there is something that drives my choice of beer when I am having more than a few, it me is the carbonation level of the beer. I tend to look for beers a little less carbonated after a few as I tend to feel bloated. I have learned a wee trick from my good friend Martin Williams of decanting my beer from one glass to another to get rid of the excess and unneeded carbonation and to slightly warm the beer to release to flavours. It is difficult to choose a beer based on carbonation levels here in Vancouver as most beers are served far too carbonated (and too cold).
So, as I said, I might not be the right person to ask about a sessional beer because all beers are potentially sessional beers for me. My drinking habits are not the norm and I realize that. What I find to be the most important factor these days as to what beers I drink and how many of them I consume is the fact that I have a seven-month-old daughter who dictates, more often than not, my beer drinking habits. In fact, said seven-month old is currently squirming in my lap like she has just been tazered, with a funky smell coming from her diaper...she not only is the most improtant factor in my sessional drinking habits, but she also dictates when I can write about beer and for how long.

The Blending of the Beer Worlds - A Welcome Trend and Opportunity to Share

I have a confession to make.
By confessing my sin, I run the risk of alienating those friends of mine who consider themselves connoisseurs of craft beer and of trashing my reputation, such as it is, for having a discerning palate for quality brew. For some, I am committing the biggest sin that can be committed in the craft beer world.
What is this terrible secret that I must confess, you ask?
I regularly stock mainstream, mass-produced Canadian lager in my fridge! And I do so freely and willingly.
My wife, who grew up in Mexico, loves the taste of Kokanee beer and prefers it over most other beers readily available in Vancouver. As a result, each time I go to my specialty beer and wine store to replenish supplies and stock up on local and imported craft beers, I am obliged  to buy a six-pack of Kokanee to keep my beloved happy. No matter what rare or highly-rated craft beer I plunk down next to the till, all eyes focus on those six blue tins of shame. Imagine the sideways glances, grunts of disapproval and looks of sheer disgust I must endure.

At least one attendee at the recently  held
Harvest Festival chose a mass-produced lager
over the cask-conditioned, kegged and bottled specialty
craft beers on offer

But why must it be this way? I have never understood why I should care about what the person next to me at the bar is drinking, unless, of course, they are drunk, angry and ordering a tequila slammer while giving me the evil eye. But, apparently, to be accepted into the craft beer scene, you must shun those who prefer to order mainstream, mass-produced beers and avoid bars and taphouses that serve them even if they do serve craft beer as well. This has never made sense to me. If the person who bellies up to the bar next to me orders a Molson Canadian, this should , in no way, impact my enjoyment of my tasty Red Racer IPA. As a dedicated meatetarian, I wouldn't avoid a restaurant that serves a great steak just because they also serve vegetarian dishes. I don't shun or ridicule my friends who sit at the same table as I because they are munching on their salads as I chow down on my chicken wings.
Historically, at least here in Vancouver, establishments serving beer, especially on tap, have divided themselves along these line; serve mainstream beers, whether they be imported or domestic, or serve specialty, craft beers. This helped polarize the opinions of the two types of beer drinkers with the mainstream beer lovers seeing craft beer folk as "beer geeks" and "snobs" while the craft beer drinkers looked upon their counterparts as "lager louts" "boring" and "ignorant". Until fifteen years ago, it was almost impossible to find any craft beers on tap in this city, with a few exceptions. Trailblazers in the Vancouver beer scene, such as Granville Island Brewing, who I now have a problem considering a micobrewery, but who were definitely leading the charge against the mainstream breweries who had a stranglehold on the Vancouver market back in the 1980's, Shaftebury, long ago bought by Sleeman and turned into an mainstream brewery, Storm Brewing  and Russell Brothers Brewing (now Russell Brewing Co),  did managed to grab a few taps here and there next to the established big breweries. There were also the original brew pubs, such as Yaletown Brewery  and Steamworks but you could not order anything but their own, original beers.
But a new trend is developing here in Vancouver, with many establishments offering both craft beers and mainstream beers. You still have your serious beer establishments,  like Commercial Drive's St Augustine's, with 40 taps and numerous bottled specialty craft beers on offer and Alexander Street's Alibi Room , with their awesome collection of more than 25 taps and rotating cask-conditioned beers. These are establishments that take their beer appreciation to another level and often offer rare brews, both local and international and where you will never find a mainstream beer. Now though, due to the growing popularity of such local craft breweries as R&B, Central City, Howe Sound and Russell, who have stepped up their marketing/distribution and gone after taps in all types of licensed establishments, as well as bottled their creations to be sold in government and private liquor store, it is possible to find craft beer taps co-existing with mainstream beer taps and what this has done is brought the two worlds of beer drinkers together. Establishments such as Darby's Pub, in Kitsilano, long thought of as a "mainstream beer" pub, have branched out and are offering some excellent and interesting craft beers on tap next to their regular Canadian lager taps. This is just one example of many I am finding around the city, as restaurant and bar owners are realizing that both types of beer drinkers can co-exist and that both are willing to part with their hard-earned dollars to sip on their favourite brews.
The by-product of this "blending" of the beer worlds is that people like myself can take their Kokanee-loving wives and friends to places where we can enjoy our specialty beers while they can order the beer of their choice. It also gives those of us who love the more adventurous brews  a chance to expose our friends and family, with more pedestrian beers tastes, to local and imported craft beers in a surroundings that are not intimidating for them! By introducing them to say a finely crafted lager from Central City, or Storm pilsner, for example, they may be more likely to try other craft beers. I know my wife has developed quite a taste for stouts and porters, but this took a lot of patience and encouragement on my part. Just the other night, this lover of Kokanee was sipping on Swan's Double Shot Expresso Porter and she often orders Crannog's Back Hand of God stout!!
By exposing mainstream beer lovers and encouraging them to branch out and try different craft beers we have a better chance of converting them to the craft beer world than by ridiculing and snubbing them. And, if, in the end, they chose to remain Molson or Kokanee lovers, so be it. For me, it gives me great satisfaction to introduce my wife to something I love and see her enjoy it as well, be that a style of music, type of food or craft beer. And thanks to the many licensed establishments in Vancouver that are now offering craft and mainstream brews, I have more of a chance to expose my wife to my favourite beers without denying her what she loves. And if things go according to plan, there may come a day when I don't have to be ashamed when friends come over because there will no longer be those six tins of blue shame in my refrigerator!!