Lagunitas Brewing had in the past been available in Canada but had left the territory. They are now back though and held a launch event at the Butcher & Bullock in Vancouver. The brewery brought representatives form their California operation including their VP of sales as well as some from their Chicago brewery.
The event brought their flagship IPA to the taps as well as an Imperial Coffee Stout that had been aged for some time. If you know their beer you should know that both of these beers were great and their addition to our stores shelves should be celebrated. I look forward to seeing a little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ in our liquor stores.
Expect to see Lagunitas beers on the shelves in Canada soon! After talking with the Lagunitas staff on hand as well as the representatives from the distributions company I expect good things from this partnership.
Last September I attended what turned out to be one of my favourite beer festivals in BC in the Whistler Village Beer Festival. The weather was beautiful and the beer was amazing! Here is last years official festival video.
Last year was such a success that this year Gibbons Events Co decided to make the Main Festival happen over two days with many satellite events that ran over 5 days. The main Festivals took place on September 19th and 20th 2015.
While last year had epic weather this year we did not get so lucky! But hey this is BC and we all own rain jackets so a little rain didn’t stop an epic party! I was only able to attend the Saturday Main Event which was lucky for me as the rain was not quite as bad. The festival was held at the Whistler Olympic Park in the Whistler Village once again. The event started for average attendees at 1pm (opened at 12 for gatecrashers) and ran until 5pm (last call at 4:45). I got into the grounds before the festival opened to the public and gate crashers and was to take lots of photos of the booths as they set up.
This year the Resort Municipality of Whistler gave the green light to increase the festival grounds by 40% to increase the amount of breweries to around 80. This is impressive as 2013’s event was half the size of 2014!
Breweries involved included the following (Ordered by booth Number)
Muskoka Brewing, Steam Whistle Pilsner, Steamworks Brewin, Persephone Brewing, Big Rock Brewery, Off The Rail Brewing, Moody Ales, Russell Brewing, Red Truck Beer Company, Glutenberg, Bomber Brewing, Phillips Brewing, Howe Sound Brewing, R&B Brewing, Steel & Oak Brewing, Postmark Brewing, Lighthouse Brewing, Shacksbury, Lagunitas, Deschutes Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Double Mountain Brewing, Scuttlebut, Stone Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, Strongbow, Maui Brewing, North Coast Brewing, Crabbie’s Ginger Beer, Czechvar, High Mountain Brewhouse, Yaletown Brewing, Big Ridge Brewing, Bowen Island Brewing, Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks, Parallel 49 Brewing, Fernie Brewing, Prohibition Brewing, Rider Cider Company, Whistler Brewing, LoneTree Cider, Stanley Park Brewing, Old Yale Brewing, Hoyne Brewing, Goose Island, Okanagan Springs, Unibroue, Tofino Brewing, Black Kettle Brewing, Central City Brewers & Distillers, Scandal Brewing, Cannery Brewing, Yellow Dog, Dead Frog Brewery, Strange Fellows Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers, Doan’s Craft Brewing, Mt Begbie Brewing, Beverage Concepts, Pilsner Urquell, Spinnakers, Coal Harbour, Main Street Brewing, BC Tree Fruits Cider, Four Winds Brewing, Off the Rail Brewing, Granville Island Brewing, Hearthstone Brewing, Mission Springs Brewing.
Last years attendance came in around 3,500 for the festival and this year even with bad weather beat that with around 3,000 people on Saturday and 1,300 on Sunday with a total over the five day of around 5000 people (numbers from here). Craft Beer fans are tough (and own rain gear) and we don’t stop for rain. I could only imagine how big Sundays numbers would have been on a sunny day.
Yes that is me
Like at all festivals I attend I took photos of many of the samples I drank while enjoying the event.
Even with awful weather this year everyone in attendance had a great time! I still think this is one of the best festivals I have attended (even this year) as even though there are tons of people there are little to no lines and everyone is just having a great time! The only issue was a lack of washrooms probably made worse with all the rain.
I am excited to see what Gibbons Events has in store for us next September!
This years top three breweries as voted by Festival Goers won 1 year tap or bottle contracts at multiple pubs in Whistler Village which is a very lucrative prize!
First Place
Parallel 49 Brewing – Longhorn Saloon, Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub, Garibaldi Lift Co
Second Place
Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks – Tapley’s Pub, Merlins Bar & Grill, Amsterdam Pub
Third Place
Whistler Brewing Co – FireRock Lounge, Dusty’s Bar & Grill
On March 5th, 2014 Liberty Wines and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society held a Beer Fest and food drive at the Wise Hall in the heart of East Vancouver. Food and money were both collected for the food bank. The ticket cost $25 and some non-perishable food items.
A bunch of local breweries stepped up to the plate for this event including Bomber, Central City, Driftwood, Four Winds, Howe Sound, Parallel 49, Phillips, Liberty Distillery as well as an Ontario Brewery Mill Street Brewing. Local distributors Liberty Specialty Imports, Modern Malt, Peacock & Martin, Trucraft Beverages, Untapped Craft Imports also stepped up to the plate and brought out a ton of beer from around the world. Snacks were supplied by Uprising Breads and Santa Barbra Market.
Full Drink List
Bomber Brewing – Bomber Pilsner, Bomber ESB, Shout Out Stout Bravo Beer Co. – Saison Dupont, Gulden Draak 9000, Saxo Belgian Pale, Troublette Belgian Wit Central City Brewing – Red Races ISA, Red Racer IPA, Red Racer ESB Driftwood Brewery – Fat Tug IPA, White Bark Wit Ale, Farmhand Saison, Blackstone Porter Four Winds Brewing – Saison, Pale Ale, Tripilicity, Brett IPA Howe Sound Brewing – Lager, Anvil Dark Lager, Pothole Filler Imperial Stout, Cloudburst Lemongrass IPA The Liberty Distillery – Truth Vodka, Railspur No. 1 White Liberty Specialty Imports – Famille Grandval CRU de Cambremer AOC Pays D’auge 2012 Mill St. Brewery – Organic Lager, Tankhouse Ale, Portage Cream Ale, Spring Thaw Smoked Maple Ale Modern Malt – Occidental Kolcsh, Occidental Alt, Base Camp Rye Pils, Base Camp IPL, No-Li Red Ale, No-Li IPA Parallel 49 Brewing – Hay Fever Saison, Robo Ruby, Hoparazzi IPL, Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale Peacock & Martin – Corsendonk, Tempelier, Fraoch Heather Ale Phillips Brewing – Bottle Rocket ISA, Elsinore Pilsner, Blue Buck Ale Trucraft Beverages – Super Bock, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Brooklyn Lager, Hopworks Lager Untapped Craft Imports – Trou Du Diable Shawinigan Handshake, Glutenburg Pale Ale, Double Mountain Vaporizer Pale Ale, Double Mountain IRA, Scuttlebutt IPA, Dieu Du Ciel Belgian-Style IPA, Reverend Nat’s Hopricot Cider
Not only was a ton of food collected and lots of money as well they also had a silent auction full of different beer stuff. Most baskets were a mix of beer, glasses and swag. I bid on one of the silent auction prizes and won! It was full of all kinds of great things.
I would like to thank all of the organizers of this great event as not only was it a fun little event for a few hours but it supported a great cause! You never know if one day you might need the food bank so when you have the ability to help others you should! I look forward to more events like this in the future.
On April 10th the latest beer club box was released. This beer box has some amazing brews, many that I have already tried but had been meaning to pick up again! This box may have less surprises but it makes up for it with some amazing beer. This box consisted of 7 bottles and 1 can of beer.
Drum roll please!
Beer Included is as follows:
Oskar Blues – Dales Pale Ale 355ml can
Lagunitas – Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale 341ml bottle
Russell Brewing – Blood Alley Extra Special Bitter 341ml
Driftwood Brewing – Belle Royal Sour Cherry Wild Ale 650ml
Parallel 49 & Gigantic- From East Van With Love 650ml
Alameda – Rose City Red 650 ml
Central City Brewing – Imperial IPA for Autism 650ml
Howe Sound Brewing – London Town Brown Ale 1L
Reviews will come as I enjoy the Beer. Once again O’hare’s has outdone themselves! Thanks O’hare’s!!!
Mike's Craft Beer 