Canadian Craft Brewers
Before I get to all of the exploits and adventures, I want to send out a special thanks to all of my good friends in the BC Craft Beer Scene. When I sent the email asking for beer donations for the trip, I expected a couple responses, not the flood that I actually received:
Driftwood came through with samples of all 4 of their wonderful beers; Driftwood Ale, Farmhand Ale, White Bark and Crooked Coast Amber, thanks Ian!
Rob & Oliver from Vancouver Island sent 2 of their Pod Packs, featuring Pipers, Hermanns, Spyhopper and Sea Dog.
Phillips dropped off 650ml bottles of their finest along with 6 packs of Slipstream and Hefeweisen. Thanks to Matt & Kurtis!
Steve, PJ and Andrew at Russell helped out with a mixed case of their Brewmaster series beers; IP’eh, Marzen, Wee Angry, and Black Death Porter, and threw in some Cream Ale for good measure.
R&B was kind enough to bottle up several of their fine offerings, including Raven Cream Ale, Sun God Wheat, Hoppelganger IPA and the infamous Iceholes Celebration Lager. Thanks, Alli!
Vern at Granville Island kicked in with 2 of his special releases, GIBitter and his wonderful Ginger Beer.
Leslie @ Howe Sound even came to meet me at the Granville Island taproom to drop of samples, that’s dedication! She brought Total Eclipse of the Hop, King Heffy, Pothole Filler, 3 Beavers and Devil’s Elbow IPA.
There was so much great beer that we didn’t get to sample all of it during my trip. What was sampled and shared was incredibly well received, even by the jaded SoCal beer snobs! We featured several of the beers in an episode of New Brew Thursday, a terrific craft beer advocacy podcast. Numerous beers were tasted with Dr. Bill, beverage manager of Stone Brewing and host of Master Pairings, and several we left behind at Churchill’s Pub & Grille for folks that want to drop by and experience BC Craft beer after the New Brew Thursday episode airs in the next week or 2.
As we delve further into the road trip, I’ll share detailed impressions of the beers from various sources, but I’ll tease a bit and let you know that they were all really well liked.
Well, today is a brew day for me. It’s been over a month and I’m itching to brew. I’ll post more in the coming days.
Cheers,
Andy The Beerman