Tag Archives: cider

Hopping Mad Cider – Central City Brewers & Distillers

by Mike

From Central City Brewers & Distillers in Surrey BC comes their first foray into Ciders with their “Hopping Mad Cider” a cider that has been dry hopped.  The cider pours a light yellow colour with a very small white head.  The aroma consists of mild apples and maybe a hint of floral hops.  The flavour is of tart and sweet notes from the apples with a hint of hops and almost a champagne finish.  The alcohol content comes in at 6.5%.  I am not a cider fan but I would not turn this down if offered.  I would almost have to admit that this is quite tasty.  I think this will probably be popular with the craft beer fans out there.

Commercial Description:  Hopping Mad Dry Hopped Apple Cider is a dry-sweet cider blending Yakima valley hops with fresh pressed apples from the Pacific Northwest. Hopping Mad Dry Hopped Cider is cold fermented from scratch, using Northwest Apples, Yakima Hops and a special yeast. The dry hopping process used adds a nice hop aroma onto the dry sweet, cider, complementing the cider’s natural tart flavour.

IMG_20150503_200301

Fest-Of-Ale Day 1 2015 – Penticton

by Mike

Time flies when you are having fun so I must have been having fun this year as it feels like I just attended last years Fest-Of-Ale recently.  I was lucky enough to get Friday April 10th, 2015 off work so I headed up to Penticton first thing in the morning to take part in the festivities for my second year in a row.  This year was the 20th Anniversary of the festival and it brought some new exciting things to the table this year.  First off this year had a large outdoor section as well as the main festival inside the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. The Fest-Of-Ale fan from 4pm to 9pm on Friday.

PicMonkey Collage(23)

Both the indoor and outdoor parts of the venue had stages with live music as well as lots of beer and food venders.  With a growth in the space for Fest-Of-Ale this year the breweries and Cideries went from 35 to 47.  Its never bad to have more than 10 more breweries at a festival!

This years brewery and Cidery list includes the following:
4 Mile Brewing Co.
BC Tree Fruits Cider
Bad Tattoo Brewing
Barkerville Brewing Co.
Barley Mill Brew Pub
Big Rock Brewery
Bomber Brewing
Bravo Beer Co
Cannery Brewing
Canuck Empire Brewing
Central City Brewers & Distillers
Coal Harbour Brewing Company
Crannog Ales
Creemore Springs
Dead Frog Brewery
Driftwood Brewing
Fernie Brewing Co
Firehall Brewery
Four Winds Brewing
Granville Island Brewing
Hoyne Brewing Co.
Lighthouse Brewing Company
Longwood Brewery
McClelland Premium Imports
Mill Street Brewery
Moon Under Water
Mt Begbie Brewing Co
Okanagan Spring
Old Yale Brewing Company
Orchard Hill Estate Cidery
Scandal Brewing
Parallel 49 Brewing
Persephone Brewing Co.
Phillips Brewing
Powell Street Craft Brewery
Red Collar Brewing Co.
Red Truck Beer Company
Spinnakers Brew Pub
Stanley Park Brewery
Steamworks Brewing Co.
Summerland Heritage Cider Company
Tin Whistle Brewery
Torchlight Brewing Co.
Tree Brewing Company
Twisted Hills Cider
Vancouver Island Brewery
Wards Hard Cider

Much like last year I was able to get a sneak peak at the festivities before the general public as I was part of the media and industry.  Here are my photos from before the public was let in.

Once 4pm hit and the doors were opened to the public it didn’t take long for the place to really fill up!  The after work crowd really came out to support the Friday night.  I would have to say that the average age on Friday would probably be much higher than on the Saturday afternoon event and was quite noticeable.  Friday had a different feel than Saturday with little to no costumes an a bit more subdued atmosphere.  Here are the photos from once the doors opened.

The other new thing at the Fest-Of-Ale this year comes thanks to one of the new Liquor Reforms (one that actually worked).  This year there was a popup liquor store at the festival!  Now when you leave the festival for the night you can leave and pick up beer or cider from all of the venders at the event.  This includes breweries that do not distribute their beer to the Okanagan!

Day one was once again a blast with so many great people to meet and chat with.  It was also great to catch up with so many of the Okanagan people that I have not seen in a year!  This years festival had just that much more great beer to sample and people really seemed to respond to that fact!  I tried to take Day one fairly easy as I knew that I had to be up early Saturday to once again be a judge at the event.

Full Sized photos can be found here.

The following photos are Kim’s of DogLeg Marketing.

Obscura (American Brown Ale) – Cervecería Cucapá (December 3, 2013)

by Mike

Beer Advent Calendar 2013

Coming from one of the First Micro Breweries out of Mexico comes the “Obscura (American Brown Ale)”.  The brewery is located in Mexicali, Mexico.  The beer pours a ruby/brown colour with a tan head.  The aroma consists of roasted malts, caramel, chocolate, nuts and an overall sweetness.  The flavour is of roasted malts, caramel, chocolate, sweetness, hops bitterness and a slightly odd cider like finish.  The alcohol content comes in at 4.8%.  I found this a pretty enjoyable brew and I was happy to have the opportunity to try it in this advent calendar.

Commercial Description:  Gold Medal at the “2007 World Beer Championship, 91pts” Deep chestnut brown color with a medium brown head. Sweet toffee, roasted nuts, and brown sugar aromas follows through to a smooth, dryish medium body with great roundness, purity, and depth. Finishes with a rich dark roasted nut, baker’s chocolate, and earthy hop fade. Very nice!

Beer Advent Calendar 2013

IMG_00002114  IMG_00002115  IMG_00002118

Jame’s Sour Mead & Cider Blend – Storm Brewing

by Mike

From Vancouver’s Storm Brewing comes the “Jame’s Sour Mead & Cider Blend” a special blend made for the Alibi Room.  This may technically not be a beer but it falls right into the sour ale style and as such works on the beer blog.  For those that do not know Mead is a wine made with honey instead of grapes.  The drink pours a yellow colour with no head.  The aroma consists of fruits, sourness and vinegar.  The flavour is of cider, lemon, apple, honey, sourness and a bit of vinegar.  The alcohol content comes in at an approximate 5%.  This was porbably the best beer/drink that I had the whole night while at the Alibi Room!

Storm sour mead