This past weekend I attended the Gastown Cask Carouse, a showcase of the ever growing craft scene down in Vancouver’s historic Gastown. For a very small fee my fellow Cask Carousers and I enjoyed a four part meal, each part with a complementing pint, and each part served at four different locations throughout Gastown. Thanks to solid planning by CAMRA we were not just left to fend for ourselves, but guided through this journey by some of the most knowledgeable local hop heads. The following is a progressively blurry account of the afternoon.

More… »

Categories:

CAMRA Vancouver is showcasing the ever-growing craft beer mecca that is Gastown this coming Saturday. For $30, or $25 if you’re a CAMRA member, people can enjoy a four part meal, each part with a complementing pint, and each part served at four different locations throughout this historic neighborhood.

Starting at noon a large group of beer lovers will be congregating at Carrall & Water street, between Koolhaus & Chill Winston. From there they will partake in the pub crawl showcasing  The Irish Heather, the Alibi Room, Steamworks, and Six Acres. Of these, The Irish Heather has probably the best pub food in the city, the Alibi Room has the best craft beer selection, and Steamworks has an epic in house brewery. To get an idea of what is in store, earlier today I spoke with Sean Heather, owner of The Irish Heather, and trust me when I say crawlers are in for a treat when it comes to the food at that stop on the crawl. That said, Six Acres is what I’m looking forward to the most as I have yet to be there; hopefully I’ll have good things to report back to you.

More… »

Categories:

On Saturday Aug 8th, 2009, Summer Caskival took place at DIX BBQ & Brewery. This turned out to be my first venture out to a cask beer / CAMRA Vancouver event. I know that may sound surprising based on the fact I am creating a blog dedicated to craft beer, however my love of beer has always been a solitary pursuit. Lucky for me I  bucked that trend, made my way through the doors of DIX, and got right down to the business of drinking beer.

The cost of entry including 4oz taster glass and your first three tickets was $20; after that every ticket after that was a mere $1. That’s pretty good when you consider a 12oz glass of beer will run you $6 for a mass market brew like Molson Canadian at most places in Vancouver.

More… »

Categories:

The popular annual summer cask ale festival, Caskival, is going down at Dix BBQ & Brewery (map) tomorrow August 8th, 2009 between 12pm and 5pm. For those who don’t know Caskival is a freestyle brewing event that offers B.C.’s top craft brewers the opportunity to come up with an innovative beer that they wouldn’t normally try and may never make again.

The cost of entry is $20, unless you happen to be one of those wise CAMRA members who get discounts at events like this, then its $15. Once you’re inside 4oz taster glasses will run you a mere $1. Given that this event runs close to 5 hours you’ll have plenty of opportunity to taste all of the 15+ unique beers courtesy of the local craft industry.

More… »

Categories: