My
brother got married in Vancouver, BC July 7th, 1996. I flew out to Seattle and drove up to
Vancouver for the wedding. I was the best man and we wore kilts for the wedding. I had a number of microbrews in
Vancouver and Victoria and visited a couple of brewpubs in Seattle. First the Canadian
beers:
- Okanagan
Springs Pale Ale
- A BC, British Columbia, microbrew referred to as O.K. Springs
for short. This is a great pale ale, true to the English style. I enjoyed this in a pub in
Victoria, BC. Victoria is probably the most English city in North America.
- Shaftebury
Cream Ale
- This is a good mild ale, one you could drink all day in the
summertime. Shaftebury also has a Rainforest Amber and a Honey Pale Ale, which I couldn't
find anywhere.
- Rickard's
Pale Ale
- I've had Rickard's Red in Ontario, so this must be a national
brand in Canada. This is a hoppy pale in the American style. (I recently learned that
Rickard's is Molson in disguise.)
- Granville Island Pale Ale
- Granville Island Brewing Company is working on opening their
brewpub. In the meantime we enjoyed a great deal of their pale ale at Bridges, a nearby
bar with a huge deck overlooking the river and two of the bridges of Vancouver. The
Granville Pale is a medium hopped ale that would please any pale ale fan.
|
- Hart Brewing
- I mentioned these guys before. I now have the straight scoop
on where they came from. Pyramid and Thomas Kemper merged a couple of years ago. This is
their first new location since the merger and it's named after the founder of Pyramid.
They brew both Pyramid Ales and Thomas Kemper Lagers. They're opening another location in
Portland that also brews both product lines. Here are the Pyramid Ales and the rest of the
Seattle brews: Pyramid Wheaten An exceptionally crisp, clean, presumably filtered wheat
beer. Pyramid Brown Ale A malty, mild brown ale. Pretty good. Pyramid Pale Ale A good
clean pale ale with a crisp dry finish. Pyramid Espresso Stout Another beer with coffee
from Seattle. The Espresso Stout is compared to Guinness on the menu. I don't see the
connection. It's a good rich brew with the flavor slipping between coffee, rich roasted
grain, and chocolate malt on each drink. Good, but I prefer the Red Hook Double Black
Stout. (more...)
- Widmer
Hevewiezen
- This was perhaps the cloudiest wheat beer I have ever seen.
It's got a very creamy taste without much of the spicy or clove flavor of a traditional
wheat.
- Red Hook
Double Black Stout
- I had this on my previous trip and couldn't wait to have some
more. A rich and creamy stout with a nice coffee flavor. Mmmmmmm (more...)
|
