Tag Archives: howe sound

Hazy Daze North East IPA – Howe Sound Brewing

by Mike

From Squamish BC’s Howe Sound Brewing comes the “Hazy Daze North East IPA”.  The beer pours a mildly hazy orange colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of mango, pineapple, citrus and floral hops.  The flavour is packed with fruit including tropical fruits, mango, pineapple, citrus, stone fruit, resin, herbal hops and bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 6% with an IBU of 25.  Howe Sound Brewing has once again created anouther tasty seasonal.

Commercial Description:  “Hazy Daze North East IPA is packed full of as many hops as we could get in it. Brewing techniques, the use of malted oats, and a massive dry hop give this IPA big tangerine, grapefruit, nectarine, melon, guava, mango peel, sweet white grape must, and berry notes. This beer is completely focused on hop flavour and aroma and best enjoyed as fresh as possible!” – Simon Jongsma, head brewer.

Food pairing as per brewery:  The beer has a lot of flavour and aroma so should not be paired with anything too strong. Good complement to fruit dishes, light salads, and more delicate meats marinated with citrus and mild herb seasonings. It’s a perfect beer for summer sipping and al fresco dining.

Ascension Triple IPA – Howe Sound Brewing

by steveeh

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From Squamish, BC’s Howe Sound Brewing comes the Ascension Triple IPA.

This beer pours a nice dark honey brown, very clear with very obvious carbonation.  The head is a solid light tan, with fine bubbles and good staying power.

The nose is a blizzard of tropical notes with mango, pineapple, papaya and apple are all readily noticeable.  There are undertones of fresh cedar needles and an evergreen forest after a rainstorm.

The flavours start off surprisingly sweet, mirroring the tropical aromas on the nose.  The mouthfeel is creamy and smooth, which at 11% ABV makes this a dangerously easy drinker.  There are some bitter notes but they are fairly subdued.  The finish is very long, fading from tropical to bitter.  The bitter lingers a little past it’s welcome but another sip takes care of that.

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

Tapped Vancouver (A Craft Beer and Cider Tasting) – Fighting Chance Productions

by Mike

On Thursday January 21st, 2016 Fighting Chance Productions held what they hope to be the first of an annual fund raising event.  The event was called Tapped Vancouver and was held at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.

The event began at 7pm and ran until 10pm in the evening.  All beer samples were included in the ticket price which is a nice change of pace for the Vancouver scene.  Like always I get to events before anyone else seems to so I have some early shots before the crowd arrived.  Its the best way to figure out what is being served before the crowds arrive.

From my memory the breweries involved were Bomber, Russel, Driftwood, Whistler, Black Kettle, Howe Sound, Parallel 49, Steamworks and Phillips.  There was also some cider on offer from Lonetree.

The main reason for this event was to raise money for Fighting Chance Productions so that they can continue to produce high end productions.  As a main way to raise money they did a silent auction that had all kinds of really interesting prizes inducing some alcohol, gift cards for brewery tours, artwork and some tickets to plays and a prize pack of Canucks tickets among other things.  Sadly I forgot to take photos of all the prizes (although that is probably good as then peoples contact info might be to public).

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There was a really neat mix of people attending the event with a large portion of the crowd being in the theatre industry or big fans of theatre.  I was able to talk with a few of the directors of plays for Fighting Chance Productions which was really cool.  If you like theatre and didn’t make it out to the event make sure to check out what Fighting Chance Productions is currently showing as you may just really be interested in seeing it!

http://www.fightingchanceproductions.ca

Here are my full sized photos.

Current plays from Fighting Chance Productions include:

Cats january 27th-February 7th, 2016 in White Rock and February 19-march 12, 2016 Vancouver

Facing East April 22 – May 14th, 2016 Vancouver

Virgins a Musical Threesome May 17th-21, 2016 Vancouver

Green Day’s American Idiot July 29tth, August 27th, 2016

Heathers The Musical July 28th, August 26th, 2016

Great Canadian Beer Festival 2015 – Victoria BC – September 12th

by Mike

After missing last years Great Canadian Beer Festival it looked like a good time to reacquaint myself with the largest Beer Festival on Vancouver Island (and one of the largest in BC).   Like every year the festival was a two day event with a Friday that ran from 3pm-8pm and the Saturday Noon-5pm and was held at the Royal Athletic Park in Victoria.  Much like last time I was not able to make it out to the Friday event and only the Saturday because of work and bad/late planning on my part.  Tickets ran at $40 per day and you got a pamphlet with all of the breweries and beers available and a beer glass.  Beer tokens came in at a fairly average BC price of $1.5 which got you a 4oz pour of beer.

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This years festival has reverted back to Canadian only Breweries with the vast majority being from British Columbia.  I personally like to bring in American breweries because its a good way to compare our brews to some of the most renowned in the world (but that’s just me).  There were still a ton of breweries at the festival with a total of 62.

The breweries in attendance:

33 Acres, Bad Tattoo, Barkerville, Big Rock(AB, BC), Bomber, Brasseurs Sans Gluten, Bridge Brewing, Cannery Brewing, Canoe Brewpub, Category 12, Central City Brewers & Distillers, Coal Harbour, Cumberland, Dageraad, Dead Frog, Deep Cove, Dieu Du Ciel, Doan’s Craft Brewing Company, Driftwood, Fernie, Four Mile, Four Winds, Fuggles & Warlock, Gladstone, Granville Island, Howe Sound, Hoyne, Les Trois Mousquetaires, Le Trou De Diable, Lighthouse, Axe & Barrel, Longwood, Merridale Cider, Mill Street, Moody Ales, Muskoka, Okanagan Springs, Parallel 49, Persephone, Phillips, Postmark, Powell Street, R & B, Red Arrow, REd Truck, Russell, Salt Spring Island Ales, Sherwood Mountain, Spinnakers, Stanley Park, Steam Whistle, Steamworks, Steel & Oak, Strange Fellows, Swans Brewpub, Tofino, Townsite, Tree Brewing, Unibroue, Vancouver Island, Wheelhouse, Wolf, Yellow Dog, Yukon.

With a selection of breweries as far north of Victoria as a 2,490km drive and as far East as 4,805km away this festival did a good job of bringing Canadian breweries out to share their beer!  In previous years I kept a log of the beers that I was enjoying but this year I decided against it.  I did take many photos of the beer I was enjoying but not all of them as I would hold up the line while doing it.

Once again the costumes were out in full force as well as the entertainment.  There were lots of familiar faces all around but there were so many people I knew were there but missed. This event is planned and executed very well and is a ton of fun but I found that there might have been to many people.  Some of the breweries had lines that you would be lucky if they only took you 10-15 minutes to get a beer sample.  Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks beat this with a line so long that I didn’t even say hi to the guys at the booth it stretched so long!  I hear the Friday event was much less crowded but I did not get to check that night out.

Full sized photos found here

Overall I had an epic time and I look forward to what next year has to offer!