As many of you know I have been missing in action for a while. The main reason for this is because I was named the Marketing Director for Vancouver Craft Beer Week. It’s a rather important position that I can not take lightly. As part of the VCBW marketing efforts we put together a promotional video, I am a Canadian Craft Brewer:

This video would have not been possible without Soren Johnstone, an independent filmmaker who recently completed his second feature length film, Play With Fire. Make sure to check out his website and keep your eyes peeled for his more of his projects.

The Vancouver Craft Beer Week organizing committee is proud to announce the first ever BC Beer Awards by Brewery Creek. On Monday, March 22nd, an expert judging panel will review over 150 beers from all across British Columbia at an undisclosed location.

The only blind judged beer competition in British Columbia, the BC Beer Awards judging panel boasts such beer experts as:

• Don Tse – A BJCP Certified beer judge, freelance beer writer and consultant, Don has been writing professionally about beer for seven years. His articles have appeared in beer publications such as All About Beer, Ale Street News and Beers of the World.
• Abram Goldman-Armstrong – A beer writer in Portland, Oregon, Abram has been a BJCP National Rank Judge since the age of 21, judging at competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival, the Okanagan Fest-of-Ales, and Portland’s Spring Beer and Wine Fest. He co-organizes the North American Organic Brewers Festival, the world’s largest organic beer festival.
• Megan Flynn – The publisher of Beer Northwest, a quarterly magazine covering beer, food, and lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest, Megan travels North America in search of the best beer and beer personalities, continuing to develop her pallet into one of the most diverse on the continent.
• James Nevison – Columnist for The Province newspaper, where his “Wine Guy” column appears weekly each Thursday. He is the co-author of five bestselling wine books, the latest is Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2010 under $20, $25, and $30. Recently James was named a “Top 40 Foodie Under 40” by Western Living magazine.

Winners will be announced at the BC Beer Awards by Brewery Creek award show on Friday, May 14th, one of Vancouver Craft Beer Week’s signature events. For further information please contact:

Email | VancouverCraftBeerWeek.com | Twitter

CAMRA President Rick Green (left) & Dockside Brewing Brewmaster Daniel Knibbs (right)

On January 17th, the CAMRA Vancouver Annual General Meeting took place at the Alibi Room. If you have ever been to an annual general meeting for any sort of organization, then you know that it’s not always the most exciting thing in the world. In order to get the conversation flowing, R&B Brewing graciously donated a keg of their award winning Auld Nick winter warmer. Along with the free beer also came free food from our good hosts at the Alibi Room, making everyone feel appreciated as an organization and ready to dive into the business at hand.

Certified Cicerone Chester Carey (left) & CAMRA Vice President Lundy Dale (right)

The first order of business was to review the mission statement of the organization and what we as a group have accomplished in the last 365 days. Without drowning you in details, the year was a great success in many ways. Membership numbers grew, corporate sponsorships grew, and taking into account refundable deposits the financial surplus grew. With that the focus of the AGM shifted, moving towards the 2010 executive positions. At this point a mild bit of drama occurred when Canada’s first certified Cicerone, Chester Carey, was nominated to take over the Vice President role from incumbent Lundy Dale. After all ballots were cast and votes tallied, Lundy won the challenge to her executive position by the slightest of margins. The rest of the positions were either retained by incumbents or filled by unchallenged nominees.  The election positions are as follows:

Returning Incumbent Executives Monica Frost (left) & Rodney Gitzel (right)

CAMRA 2010 Executives

President: Rick Green

Vice-President: Lundy Dale

Corporate Liaison: Monica Frost

Treasurer: Jack Pajak

Secretary: Amanda Barry

Membership Secretary: Rodney Gitzel

CAMRA Executive Newcomers Amanda Barry (left) & Jack Pajak (right)

Post executive elections, focus turned to the coming year. After a quick reminder that the first major event of 2010 will be a screening of the documentary Beer Wars on January 31st, the floor was left open for event suggestions. Many event ideas were proposed, including a Haiti Relief Fundraiser, bus trips to out of town events, and a CAMRA summit with our brethren from Vancouver Island, CAMRA Victoria. All ideas were noted and will be reviewed for inclusion in the 2010 event calendar. With proposals out of the way, a big buzz was generated by the official announcement of Vancouver Craft Beer Week. Although rumors circulated of the possibility a VCBF, the official announcement came as a surprise to many who were excited to find out a small group of organizers have formed and have been working on plans for well over a month. Needless to say the CAMRA AGM was a fruitful event and gave the Vancouver craft beer faithful many things to look forward too.

Thanks to Mike Victory for the use of his photos

]]> http://truecask.com/2010/01/camra-vancouver-agm/feed/ 2 http://truecask.com/2009/12/winter-xtreme-caskival-review/ http://truecask.com/2009/12/winter-xtreme-caskival-review/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:25:39 +0000 cbjerrisgaard http://truecask.com/?p=1199
This past Saturday at 11:30am people began lining up to sample the best the BC craft beer scene has to offer. With breweries from all across the province descending onto DIX BBQ & Brewery, the air was full of anticipation as we hardcore craft heads mingled and tried to stay warm on the crisp, sunny [...]]]>

This past Saturday at 11:30am people began lining up to sample the best the BC craft beer scene has to offer. With breweries from all across the province descending onto DIX BBQ & Brewery, the air was full of anticipation as we hardcore craft heads mingled and tried to stay warm on the crisp, sunny December morning. After a short wait, we were called into the brewery in order to start the festivities by CAMRA president Rick Green.

Upon entering the venue, many of us quickly surveyed the landscape, identifying what casks to hit first and what ones we would need to build up to. Trust me when I say that if you were one of the few who approached Gary Lohin’s Double Roach Imperial IPA first, you were not enjoying the flavors of the other beers for the next couple of hours as it was a pure pallet wrecker.

After deciding on what to try first, I handed over my first ticket and took a long hard sniff of the Storm Brewing Mole Pale Ale. Smelling like deep chocolate, and looking like orange swamp water, I knew that if nothing else the beer would be an experience. What I got was an unsweetened chocolate flavor upfront and a spicy finish. Although by no means the best beer at Caskival, I would say it was one of the most experimental and needed to be mentioned. From there I enjoyed a variety of beers, all of which were rather big, resulting in my memory fading as the afternoon went on. To give you an idea of the potency, the average beer came in at around 8% ABV, with the weakest brew clocking in at around 5.4% ABV.

In the end, Taylors Crossing walked away with the brewers award for it’s Christmas Cake beer, an amber ale flavoured with molasses, spices, and brandied fruit. R&B Brewing took home the people’s choice award for its Auld Nick Winter Ale; fairly fitting considering it’s one of BC’s best winter warmers and this was after all a winter themed cask event. I personally thought the Double Roach from Central City Brewing was the best of the bunch, but then again I am one who loves imperial IPA’s above all. One final thing to note was the event sold out within an hour of the doors opening and that this could very well be the last time it is held at DIX BBQ & Brewery. Although sad in some respects, it’s always nice to see the scene grow and require more space to breathe. I hope you all manage to head out to the next one, but if you can’t make sure to check out one of the local cask nights to tide you over.

Thanks to Mike Victory for the use of his photos

Earlier this week I posted information about two events, the first of which is the Alibi Room’s 100th tap rotation happening tonight at 5:00pm. If you are on the fence about this event, just take a look at the beer list that was leaked by an unnamed CAMRA member:

• Driftwoord Brewery – Sartori Harvest Fresh Hop IPA (Cask!)
• Steamworks Brewing Co – Blitzen
• Yaletown Brewing Co – Le Nez Rouge
• Dix BBQ & Brewery – Imperial Stout
• Barley Station Brew Pub Restaurant – Mild & Smoked Porter
• Longwood Brew Pub & Restaurant – Doppelbock
• Swans Buckerfields Brewery – Scotch Ale & 2008 Legacy Ale
• Central City Brewing Co – Imperial IPA & Winter Ale
• Crannóg Ales – Old Puddin’ Head
• Granville Island Brewing – Jolly Abbott
• R&B Brewing Co – Auld Nick
• Storm Brewing - Lambic

In addition, Nigel will be releasing all of his cellared beers for sale. Between the rarities and cellared selections this is shaping up to be one hell of a night for the hardcore craft fans here in Vancouver. I consider this to be the ultimate primer for Saturday’s Winter Xtreme Caskival at DIX BBQ & Brewery and an event that can’t be missed!

This week is the start of the holiday season for British Columbia craft beer fans. Unlike most craft fans south of the border, there is no late November Thanksgiving up here to set the festive atmosphere. No, we rely on something much different. This coming week marks two of the best beer events of 2009 with the 100th tap rotation at the Alibi Room and DIX BBQ & Brewery Winter Xtreme Caskival!

First up on Thursday we have Alibi’s 100th tap rotation celebration. I’ve mentioned the Alibi in the past, but for those who didn’t read that post the Alibi Room is Vancouver’s, if not Canada’s, best tap house. They rotate their taps on a regular basis, and when you consider they have a staggering 25 craft beer taps and 3 cask engines you start to get an idea of why they would celebrate the 100th tap turnover. In honor of this occasion, it’s rumored that the tap list will be full of brews commercially available in Canada for the first time ever. Not only that, but they will have the best beer from the truecask.com brewery of the year, Driftwood Brewing, on cask. Needless to say if you miss out on this night you’ll be regretting it.

After Thursday’s warmup we have the main event. Saturday at noon the doors of DIX BBQ & Brewery will open up to craft fans who are ready to sample some of the wildest creations BC brewers have to offer. If you recall the post on Summer Caskival, you’ll know that everyone shows up big. Buzz is on about what defending champs James Walton of Storm Brewing and Daniel Knibbs of Deadfrog are going to bring to the table, or who if anyone will step up and steal the spotlight this time around. Even though it’s a little cliche to say, the true winners will be those in attendance; at $20 for entry, $10 for CAMRA members, there’s no way you can lose.

This past weekend, a group of us local hop heads piled into a van and ventured across the border into Washington. With brews on the brain, tickets to the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival in hand, and a foot to the floor we headed out on our adventure. What follows is a vague account of the next sixteen or so hours.

Stop 1 – 9:30 am – Haggen Grocery Store, Ferndale WA:

Shortly after crossing the border we promptly found what many Canadians consider a hidden jewel for beer buying. Haggen, a local Washington / Oregon grocery store chain, must have some major craft beer fans working in their head office because upon walking into the store we quickly found an outstanding selection of limited release brews. Highlights include the Deschutes Hop Trip, the Stone Vertical Epic 09.09.09 (we got the last three in stock), and the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest.

Stop 2 – 11:30 pm – 99 Bottles / Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse, Federal Way WA:

It’s pretty much a given anytime a Vancouver hop head gets anywhere near Tacoma they will promptly make their way to 99 Bottles. We all have our theories as to why this is; I personally believe there is some sort of gravitational pull involved. No matter what one thinks, the fact of the matter is you’ll be hard pressed to find a better bottle shop in Washington. After standing around drooling for about thirty minutes, I managed to pick out about seven quality brews. Of these I must point out the Lost Abbey Carnevale, Dogfish Head Theobroma, and Hair of the Dog Blue Dot. After our trip to beer mecca, we walked across the parking lot to Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse for a bite and a pint. Despite our server claiming she only drank Bud Light and didn’t know how good the house brew was (turns out quite good, an Amber Ale made by Hales Ales), we decided to give them a shot and were rewarded with a delicious prime rib sandwich lunch special for a grand total of nine bucks.

Stop 3 – 1:30 pm –  Tacoma Craft Beer Festival, Tacoma WA:

Ahh yes, the main event. Finally, we have arrived at the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival! After finding parking, we made our way to the event hall down by the Tacoma harbor. The first thing I noticed was the fact the event center was busy, yet not packed. It was not an event where you would spend thirty minutes waiting in line for a pour. We came to the conclusion that this had to do with the fact that the event ran from noon till nine and thus the party crowd had yet to show up. Luckily this allowed us to load up on tastings from Great American Beer Festival medal winning selections from Firestone Walker, Chuckanut, and Silver City. With all this stiff competition I must say I’m slightly surprised that my best of show came from a small brewery known as Schooner Exact. They brought with them one of the most sessionable IPA’s I’ve had in the past year, and better yet were one of the few brewers who brought their flagship brew in a cask. If that doesn’t add bonus points with me, nothing will.

Stop 4 – 7:00 pm – Smarty Pants, Seattle WA:

On our way out of the fest we heard rumors of an Oktoberfest going down in one of Seattle’s coolest neighborhoods. After much begging and pleading our designated driver, who long metabolized his last taster, agreed to take us their as long as we provided him with as many brats as he could consume. Now, I’ve never been to Smarty Pants, but when I walked through the doors I was blown away. The atmosphere was amazing, the food was excellent, they had well over ten taps being pulled outside, and excellent live bands rocking the house. The following few hours grow increasingly hazy for me, so thats about all I can manage to report. Without a doubt if you ever find yourself in Seattle’s Georgetown, make your way to Smarty Pants.

Stop 5 – 11:00 pm – Canada / US Border, Blain WA / Semiahmoo BC:

I’m not going to pretend I remember much at this point. I do recall telling the customs officer that I was hammered, how many beers I was bringing back into the country, and spending a small fortune on duty – but thats about it. Some people might ask why I would buy all those beers to bring back when I knew I’d be dinged big time at the border, to which I say, you must not be that into beer. I know spending a fortune on duty, waiting hours for the fine folks at the peace arch to even figure out what we’re bringing back, and nearly falling asleep on a wooden bench seems a little extreme – so be it.

Stop 6 – 1:30 am – truecask.com Headquarters, Vancouver BC:

Sixteen hours after climbing into the van I find myself home, drunk, and carrying a big box of bombers into my apartment. I must say I never expected the day to be quite that adventurous when I first left in the morning; however, I’m pleased that it was. I need to give a big thanks to Andy The Beer Man, Daniel Knibbs, and Chester ‘Beer School’ Carey for being excellent travel partners. Andy actually deserves a special thanks for sacrificing the later drunken parts of the evening in order to make sure we all got home safe. I’m looking forward to the second annual Tacoma Craft Beer Festival already.

This coming Saturday a group of us BC hop heads are heading down to the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival.  Spurred on by our resident America transplant, we decided to brave the border crossing along with hours of driving in order to taste selections from 40 breweries, many of which we don’t see in stores up north.

I plan on making up the fact we do not see many of these breweries north of the border, and am looking forward to trying as much ‘new to me’ craft as I can. That said, I will still take prolonged stops at Stone, Deschutes, Ninkasi, and New Belgium as I would hate to be rude. See the full brewery list after the break.

• 21st Amendment Brewery (San Francisco, CA)
• 7 Seas Brewing (Gig Harbor, WA)
• Ace Cider (Sebastopol, CA)
• Big Al’s Brewing (Seattle, WA)
• Big Horn Brewing/RAM Tacoma (Tacoma, WA)
• Big Sky Brewing (Missoula, MT)
• Boston Beer Company (Boston, MA)
• Brewery Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY)
• Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham, WA)
• Deschutes Brewing (Bend, OR)
• Diamond Knot Brewing (Mukilteo, WA)
• Elysian Brewing (Seattle, WA)
• Engine House #9 (Tacoma, WA)
• Firestone Walker Brewing Company (Paso Robles, CA)
• Fish Tale Brewing (Olympia, WA)
• Full Sail Brewing (Hood River, OR)
• Georgetown Brewing Company (Seattle, WA)
• Grand Teton Brewing Company (Victor, ID)
• Great Divide Brewing (Denver, CO)
• Hales Ales (Seattle, WA)
• Harmon Brewing Company (Tacoma, WA)
• Iron Horse Brewing (Ellensburg, WA)
• Lazy Boy Brewing (Everett, WA)
• Leavenworth Biers (Olympia, WA)
• Mac & Jacks Brewing (Redmond, WA)
• Mad River Brewing Company (Blue Lake, CA)
• Maritime Pacific Brewing (Seattle, WA)
• Merchant du Vin (for Lindeman’s (Vlezenbeek, Belgium)
• New Belgium Brewing Company (Ft. Collins, CO)
• Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene, OR)
• North Coast Brewing Company (Fort Bragg, CA)
• Pike Brewing (Seattle, WA)
• Port Townsend Brewing (Port Townsend, WA)
• Schooner Exact Brewing Company (Seattle, WA)
• Silver City Brewing (Silverdale, WA)
• Stone Brewing (Escondido, CA)
• Trade Route Brewing (Pacific, WA)
• Two Beers Brewing Company (Seattle, WA)
• Unibroue (Chambly, Quebec, CANADA)
• Victory Brewing (Downingtown, PA)
• Walking Man Brewing (Stevenson, WA)

Its hard for someone to try something from every single brewery at the festival; however, rest assured we’re going to try. After a long day of drinking the finest brews the north west United States has to offer, we’ll more than likely make our way to a couple of bottle shops to take home some of the selections we can’t find locally. Be sure to check back next week to hear all about our beer fueled journey.

This past weekend the Great Canadian Beer Festival went off with a bang. So much so that it’s taken me a few days to recover and write about it – yes, that excuse will do. Jokes aside, things could not have gone better. That morning I woke up to sunny skies and started my day by meeting Andy The Beer Man and the guys behind Beer Thirst at the ferry terminal. From there we enjoyed a cruise through some of the most beautiful parts of BC while enjoying a Lost Abby Cuvee de Tomme. Pretty good…

Instead of trying to break down everything that happened, all the people I talked too, and what beers I drank I decided to focus on highlights. With that in mind here is my Great Canadian Beer Festival 2009 top 5, or the ‘best of fest’ if you will:

1.) Dead Frog Cask Conditioned Nut Brown Ale – This is not the first time I’ve been impressed with a Daniel Knibbs creation and I doubt that’s going to change anytime soon. For this cask Daniel started with the standard Dead Frog Nut Brown Ale and then went completely bonkers adding 5 different types of hops, creating something almost indescribable. I would be doing you a disservice trying to explain this one, the only thing I can really say is that it had the color of swamp water and tasted like euphoria.

2.) Driftwood Cask Conditioned Ales – Driftwood Brewery brought two casks with them to GCBF, so instead of using up two spots on this list I opted to combine them into one spot on the rankings. The first of the two was a Blakberry Lambic made with brett. It was only a week old so it didn’t have a chance to develop the complexity I would like to see, however with time this would be an outstanding brew. The other was their White Bark with brett, also resulting in a very good effort that would only get better with age.

3.) Central City Cask Conditioned Imperial IPA – Based on the Central City Brewing Company’s award winning IPA, the Imperial IPA Cask was possibly the biggest beer at the fest. This is a hop lovers dream, and an absolute pallet crusher. Needless to say I am happy this was one of the last brews I tasted while at GCBF. That said, I expected nothing less from the mad genius that is Gary Lohin.

4.) Crannóg Back Hand of God Stout – Make your way up to the northern interior of BC and you’ll find possibly one of the best hidden gems of the Canadian craft scene. Crannóg Ales have been making award winning, organic, zero waste ales in the Irish tradition. Of these ales, the Back Hand of God Stout is easily the best of the bunch, known for its mild hops and distinct coffee – chocolate flavors. Best stout of the fest by far, in my opinion.

5.) Phillips Cask Conditioned Amnesiac IPA – The Phillips Brewing Company’s Amnesiac is a double IPA full of hops, just like us North Westerner’s love. How does one improve an already awesome beer? Simple – cask condition it. One of the infamous two token beers at the festival, it was not to be missed. If it wasn’t for the outstanding efforts from Dead Frog and Central City, it would have been the hop champion hands down.

The Great Canadian Beer Festival was an absolute blast. Although I lost my camera along the way (sorry for the lack of pictures), I managed to keep my spirits high and my skin sun-kissed. The return trip on the ferry was a great way to end the day and I have to give a big thank you to Andy The Beer Man, the guys behind Beer Thirst, and Mr. Beer School – Chester Carey for making sure I left no beer untasted and no hand unshook. There is only 362 days left till Great Canadian Beer Festival 2010, so start making plans to be there.

This coming weekend marks something Canadian beer drinkers look forward to all year. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the Great Canadian Beer Festival. For those south of the border who are unaware of this event let me tell you, it’s nothing to be scoffed at. Great American Beer Fest it’s not, but with the rate of growth and ever quicker sellouts year to year, it might not be long till the GCBF is being talked about with the same regard. Instead of rambling on about it myself I’ll quote the GCBF site:

The Great Canadian Beer Festival has become one of the worlds’ must attend beer events. People from all over the globe seek out Victoria and the GCBF every year; we get brewers from Australia, volunteers from England and beer lovers from all over. Our little annual beer festival first held in 1993 has blossomed into a truly international event.

The GCBF is held each year on the first weekend after Labour Day with over 45 craft breweries from across Canada, Belgium and the Pacific North-Western USA and more than 7000 happy people coming together in the beautiful city of Victoria to celebrate the diversity of the brewers’ craft.

Once again, this year, we will feature non-stop entertainment by local acts and as always there will be a fantastic selection of food offered by local restaurants and caterers.

Clearly there are good things going down in Victoria this weekend. I’m going to miss the festivities due to a business trip to Edmonton; however if a small miracle happens I may be able to attend the Saturday portion of the festival. With offerings from Deschutes, Mill Street, Dogfish Head, Brooklyn, Dead Frog, NBC, as well as so many other amazing brewers (full list here), it would be a crushing blow for me to miss this event.