Tag Archives: deep cove brewers & distillers

BC Beer Awards 2016 / Beer Festival – October 15th 2016

by Mike

With October brings BC Craft Beer Month and with that brings the BC Beer Awards.  Once again this year the awards ceremony and beer festival were held at the Croatian Cultural Centre.  This year the event was held on October 15th just a little earlier than last year.

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I have been attending the BC Beer awards for many years now and it seems to be getting better and better.  With the industry exploding like it is in the province this event will only get better.  Much like always the event began at 4pm and ended at 9pm.  The festival was once again in two room and even had some beer pouring in the front entrance area.  This year there were 75 breweries pouring beer at the festival and 5 cideries.

Breweries pouring at the event:  4 Mile Brewing, Andina Brewing, Arrowhead Brewing, Barkerville Brewing, Big Ridge Brewing, Big Rock Urban Brewery, Brewhouse Whistler, Bomber Brewing, Brassneck, Bridge Brewing, Callister Brewing, Cannery Brewing, Canuck Empire, Category 12 Brewing, Central City Brewers & Distillers, Coal Harbour Brewing, Dageraad, Dead Frog Brewery, Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers, Doan’s Craft Brewing Company, Dogwood Brewing, Driftwood Brewery, Fernie Brewing, Feild House Brewing, Foamers Folly, Four Winds Brewing, Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks, Granville Island Brewing, Hearthstone Brewery, Howe Sound Brewing, Hoyne Brewing, KPU Brewering and Brewery Operations Diploma, Longwood Brewery, Luppolo Brewing, Main Street Brewing, Mission Springs Brewing, Moody ALes, Moon Under Water, Off The Rail Brewing, Old Yale Brewing, Pacific Western Brewing, Parallel 49 Brewing, Parkside Brewery, Persephone Brewing, Phillips Brewing, Postmark Brewing, Powell Street Craft Brewery, Prohibition, R&B Brewing, Real Cask, Ravens Brewing, Red Arrow Brewing, Red Truck Beer, Ridge Brewing, Rossland Beer Company, Russell Brewing, Saltspring Island Ales, Spinnakers Brewing, Stanley Park, Steamworks, Steel & Oak Brewing, Strange Fellows Brewing, Strathcona Beer Company, Swans, Tree Brewing, Tofino Brewing, Townsite Brewing, Trading Post, Twa Dogs, Twin Sails Brewing, Vancouver Island Brewery, Whistler Brewing, White Sails Brewing, Yaletown Brewing and Yellow Dog Brewing.  The Cideries were Left Field Cider, BC Tree Fruits, Tod Creek Craft Cider, Sunday Cider and Dominion Cider Co.

Stephen Quinn from CBC Radio was once again the voice of the BC Beer Awards this year.  This year 83 breweries entered beers into the competition and there were 750 different beers entered.  Once again this was more breweries entering beer up from 70 last year.  Its nice to see that once again this year more breweries have come out to try their luck.  Instead of doing the awards at the end of the night this year they started it near the beginning.  Lets get to the winning beers of the year!

International Lager

1: 33 Acres of Darkness (33 Acres Brewing Company)
2: Vienna Lager (Moody Ales)
3: Red Racer Pils (Central City Brewers + Distillers)

German Pale Lager

1: Red Racer Old School Lager (Central City Brewers + Distillers)
2: Keller Pilsner (Persephone Brewing Company)
3: Steamworks Pilsner (Steamworks Brewing Company)

Kölsch

1: Steamworks Kölsch (Steamworks Brewing Company)
2: High Country Kölsch (Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.)
3: Arctic Kölsch (Swans Brewery)

German Amber Beer

1: Gladstone Altbier (Gladstone Brewing Co.)
2:  Vienna Lager (R&B Brewing Co.)

3: Potts Pils (Moon Under Water Brewery & Pub)

European Dark Beer

1: Dark Lager (Steel & Oak Brewing Co.)

2: Baltic Porter (Cannery Brewing Company)

3: Red Racer Dopplebock (Central City Brewers + Distillers)
Honorable Mention:  Brewmaster’s Black Lager (Okanagan Spring Brewery)

German Wheat Beer

1: Demimondaine Dunkelweizen (Barkerville Brewing Co.)
2: This is Hefeweizen (Moon Under Water Brewery & Pub)

3: Weizenbock (Steel & Oak Brewing Co.)

British Bitter

1: English Bitter (Foamers’ Folly Brewing Co.)
2: Red Devil Ale (R&B Brewing Co.)

3: Beacon ESB (Lighthouse Brewing Company)

British Pale Ale

1: Clover IPA (Big Ridge Brewing Co.)

2: Paddywhack Organic IPA (Nelson Brewing Company)

3: English IPA (Strathcona Beer Company)

British Brown Ale

1: After Dark Ale (Nelson Brewing Company)
2: Tall Timber Ale (Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.)
3: Aethelred the Mild (Foamers’ Folly Brewing Co.)

Scottish and Irish Ales

1: Classic Scotch (Steamworks Brewpub)
2: Irish Stout (Ravens Brewing Company)
3: 1880 Export Stout (Moody Ales)

British Stout

1: 52 Foot Stout (Barkerville Brewing Co.)

2: Perfect Storm (Townsite Brewing Inc.)
3: 710 Oaked Stout (Faculty Brewing Co.)

Strong Ale

1: Thor’s Hammer (Central City Brewers + Distillers)

2: Wee Heavy (Persephone Brewing Company)
3: Wobbly Bob (Red Collar Brewing Company)

Fruit Beer

1: Pinot Noir Raspberry Blonde (Tin Whistle Brewing Company)
2: Red Truck Raspberry Ale (Red Truck Beer Company)
3: Tropic Vice (Dead Frog Brewery)

Spiced Beer

1: Jackline Rhubarb Grissette (Lighthouse Brewing Company)
2: Spruce Tree Ale (Tofino Brewing Company)

3: Hibiscus Wit (Brassneck Brewery)

Smoke and Wood Aged Beer

1: Entropy Series No. 1 (Dageraad Brewing)
2: Inertia II (Brassneck Brewery)
3: Thor’s Hammer Bourbon Barrel Aged (Central City Brewers + Distillers)

Specialty Beer

1: Roggen Weizen (Steel & Oak Brewing Co.)
2: Londen (Dageraad Brewing)
3: Sour Wheat Gose (Field House Brewing Co.)

North American Light Beer

1: Hooligan Organic Pilsner (Nelson Brewing Company)
2: Jerkface 9000 (Parallel 49 Brewing Co.)
3: Cypress Honey Lager (Granville Island Brewing)

North American Blonde Ale

1: Organic Wild Honey Ale (Nelson Brewing Company)
2: Postmark Blonde (Postmark Brewing)
3: Dutch Pale Ale (Field House Brewing Co.)

North American Pale Ale

1: Chase My Tail Pale Ale (Yellow Dog Brewing Co.)
2: One Hop Mind (Callister Brewing Company)
3: East Side Bitter (R&B Brewing Co.)

North American Amber Ale

1: 33 Acres of Life (33 Acres Brewing Company)
2: Troller Bay Ale (Howe Sound Brewing)

3: Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale (Tree Brewing Co.)

North American Brown Ale

1: Bandit Brown (Foamers’ Folly Brewing Co.)

2: Slipstream (Phillips Brewing & Malting Co.)

3: Kim-Ach-Touch Ale (Tree Brewing Co.)

North American Porter and Stout

1: Commander Imperial Stout (Dead Frog Brewery)

2: Stag and Pheasant Imperial Stout (Main Street Brewing Company)

3: Russian Imperial Stout (Moody Ales)

North American IPA

1: Flagship IPA (Steamworks Brewing Company)

2: Play Dead IPA (Yellow Dog Brewing Co.)

3: The Ultra Deluxe (Boombox Brewing)

Specialty IPA

1: Blonde IPA (Dageraad Brewing)
2: White ISA (Red Truck Beer Company)
3: YVR ISA (Steamworks Brewing Company)

Imperial IPA

1: 187 On An Undercover Hop (Parallel 49 Brewing Co.)

2: Cosmic Wave Double IPA (Tofino Brewing Company)
3: Second Anniversary Double IPA (Main Street Brewing Company)

Belgian Ale

1: Jongleur Wit (Strange Fellows Brewing Company)
2: Bier de Garde (Old Abbey Ales)
3: White Gold Witbier (Barkerville Brewing Co.)

Belgian Strong Ale

1: Dageraad Blonde (Dageraad Brewing)

2: Saison #7 (Main Street Brewing Company)
3: Old Barn Saison (Fernie Brewing Company)

Trappist Ale

1: 33 Acres of Euphoria (33 Acres Brewing Company)
2: Central City Belgian Strong (Central City Brewers + Distillers)
3: 10 Degrees (Dageraad Brewing)
Honorable Mention: 8 Degrees (Dageraad Brewing)

European Sour Ale

1: Raynard (Strange Fellows Brewing Company)

2: Cantus Fermus (Main Street Brewing Company)

3: Bizarro (Phillips Brewing & Malting Co.)

North American Wild Ale

1: Bodhisattva (Parallel 49 Brewing Co.)
2: Sour Raspberry (Old Abbey Ales)
3: Little Red One (Strange Fellows Brewing Company)

Best in Show

Flagship IPA (Steamworks Brewing Company)

Richards Buell Sutton LLP Rookie of the Year Award

Field House Brewing Co.

Dan Small Homebrew Award

Sho Ogawa and Novia Chen

CBC People’s Choice Award

Pablo Esco Gnar IPA, Boombox Brewing Company

Timber Brewers Challenge

Old Money Mild, Brassneck Brewery

This year’s Best of Show Flagship IPA is even more exciting as Julia Hanlon of Steamworks becomes the first female Head Brewer in BC to win this award!  A huge congratulations is in order for this!

Once the awards finished everyone went back to enjoying the beer that was on hand.  This was once again an amazing event with amazing beer being poured as well as great people be it craft beer fans or brewery staff.  Every year this event gets bigger and better!  Here is to another year of sticking it to the flavourless garbage that macro breweries make.

Once again like last year I helped set the festival up between 10:30am and 3pm.  It makes the festival even more fun when you are able to get involved in any part of the event.

Kriek (Cherry Sour) – Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers

by Mike

From North Vancouver’s Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers comes their “Kriek (Cherry Sour)” a barrel aged sour ale.  The beer pours a light pink colour with a very small head.  The aroma consists of cherries, tartness and lots of sweetness.  The flavour is of cherries, lacto tartness with a fairly dry finish.  The alcohol content comes in at 5.6% with an IBU of 2.  This is not a perfect Kriek as it does not have a ton of depth but it is still well worth trying out.

Commercial Description:  Barrel fermented wild ale aged on cherries.  This lambic style sour was fermented and aged in barrel with our house blend of wild yeasts and bacteria. It was then aged for six months on tart cherries. A tart, refreshing profile with a pleasant acidity and a juicy finish. Enjoy now or cellar for later consumption.

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Casks for Kwantlen Charity Fundraiser – (BRB Co) Richmond

by Mike

BRB Co (Be Right Back Brewing) located in Richmond recently held a cask event to raise money for a Scholarship fund for the Kwantlen Polytechnic University brewing program.  The event was on January 23, 2016 and ran from Noon to 6:00pm.  The event was sponsored by Just Here for the Beer and TSN1040 radio.BRBKPU-01

Like always I was there early and took a few photos of the setup of the event and watched Just Here for the Beer record their show.

A good number of local breweries had their beer pouring at this event including Be Right Back Brewing, Big Rock Urban, Red Truck, Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers, Howe Sound, Four Winds, Steamworks, Parallel 49, Old Abbey Ales, Steel & Oak and a beer on tap from the KPU Brewing Students.

For the first annual event the event went off quite well.  There were some great beers on offer which does not surprise me as the students of KPU could be the future head brewers at the breweries that came out.  It was not too busy at any one time at the event but there were waves of new people arriving all the time.  I met a few students of the program and they seem to really be enjoying learning abut the brewing process and the prospects of working in the industry.

All proceeds from this event benifited teh Kwanteln Plytechnic Brewing Scholarship Fund.

Casks for Kwantlen, an event in support of
the Kwantlen Brewing Scholarship programSaturday January 23, 2016 from 12:00 noon to 6:00pm

Here are my full sized photos.

BRB CO. BREWERY + EATERY
180 – 14200 Entertainment Blvd
Richmond, BC V6W 1A8

Smooth Criminal Nitro Stout – Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers

by Mike

From North Vancouver’s Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers comes their “Smooth Criminal Nitro Stout”.  To properly release the Nitro carbonation you need to pour this beer from well above the glass and straight upside down (I did not pour vigorously enough).  The beer pours an opaque very deep brown with a light brown head that should cascade if you poured it correctly.  The aroma consists of chocolate, coffee and oatmeal.  The flavour is of milk chocolate, coffee, oatmeal, earth and some mild bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 5%.  This is a well made stout with lots of flavour I just wish I had poured it better.

Commercial Description:  While stealing the hearts of the innocent, this Oatmeal Stout begins with a rich roasted malt and light espresso aroma.  Don’t be afraid as the milk chocolate and sweet malt characters send a warming feeling throughout your body. With a captivating smooth mouth feel and creamy texture, This SMOOTH CRIMINAL will have you coming back for more! Sláinte!

Food pairing as per the brewery:  Oysters, Sharp Cheddar, Bison Burgers, Banana Bread, Vanilla Ice Cream Floats.

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Loud Mouth Pale Ale – Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers

by Mike

From North Vancouver’s Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers comes their “Loud Mouth Pale Ale”.  The beer pours an amber colour with an off white head.  The aroma consists of caramel, fruit and floral hops.  The flavour is of caramel, apple, citrus, resin, earth, hops bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 5.5% with an IBU of 56.  If you are looking for a nice refreshing West Coast Pale Ale then this might just be a good choice.

Commercial Description:  It can be argued that nothing is quite as satisfying as a well balanced Pale Ale. With its rounded, toffee and caramel malts combined with satisfyingly bold and juicy hops, this pale ale achieves the perfect blend of classic English and progressive West Coast styles. Using only the best Pacific North West Hops and roasted malts to hit 56 IBU’s, this is a Loud Mouth tribute to balance and complexity. CHEERS!

Food pairing as per Brewery:  Spicy or rich foods, such as fish tacos, beef wellington/beef stew and blackened chicken, crab cakes, strong cheeses.

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