Mixed Forecast mix pack – Moody Ales (West Coast Canning)

Mar26 by Mike

From Moody Ales in Port Moody in collaboration with West Coast Canning a mobile canning operation locally comes their “Mixed Forecast mix pack” containing the Shorts Weather ISA and the Still Raining Dark Lager. This pack is just like the weather in Metro Vancouver in the spring, dark and stormy or almost summer like sometimes in the same day.

Still Raining Dark Lager

Still Raining Dark Lager pours a black colour with a brown head. The aroma consists of mild roasted malts, caramel malts some coffee and a sweet note. The flavour is of roasted malts, burnt coffee, mild caramel, earth and some bitterness in the finish. The alcohol content comes in at 5.5% with an IBU of 24. Can’t beat a good dark lager on a cold day and I would say this is a good one to enjoy on those days.

Shorts Weather ISA

Shorts Weather India Session Ale pours a copper colour with an off white head. The aroma consists of fruity and floral hops with maybe a hint of malt. The flavour is of resin, mild bitterness, citrus, melon with the slightest hint of malts. The alcohol content comes in at 4.8% with an IBU of 47. If you are looking for an IPA to session all day then you would do well to drink this one for sure. Low alcohol and full flavour will make for a good session.

Dead Frog Dozen Mixer Pack – Dead Frog Brewery

Nov26 by Mike

Dead Frog Brewery has released a new mixed 12 case of beer. The pack consists of 4 different beers with a total of three of each. There are three standard beers for this pack including Steel Toe Lager, Green Magic IPA and the Rocket Man Pale Ale with a 4th that will rotate. At this point it is the Atomic Tart Cherry Ale.

Rocket Man Pale Ale has been around for a while now but the other three beers are all pretty new beers to Dead Frog.

Steel Toe Lager

Steel Toe Lager pours a straw yellow colour with a white head. The aroma consists of citrusy fruit, grainy malts and grassy hops. The flavour is of citrusy lemon, grain, and grassy hops. The alcohol content comes in at 5% with an IBU of 14. This does exactly what a lager sets out to do. It is light refreshing and goes down really easy.

Commercial Description: A SMOOTH AND REFRESHING LAGER BREWED WITH PREMIUM INGREDIENTS, MADE FOR ENJOYING AFTER A HARD DAY’S WORK.

Food Pairing as per brewery: SALMON, BBQ PORK, PAD THAI, FISH TACOS

Rocket Man Pale Ale

Rocket Man Pale Ale pours a copper colour with a beige head. The aroma consists of caramel, bready malts and some tropical and citrus. The flavour is of caramel, citrus, tropical fruit, some earth, mild resin, mild bitterness and a herbal finish. The alcohol content comes in at 5%. Rocket Man may have been an ESB in its past life but this is a pale ale through and through.

Commercial Description: A CRISP AND REFRESHING PALE ALE WITH SMOOTH MALT FLAVOURS AND A TROPICAL CITRUS AROMA.

Food pairing as per brewery: CHIPS & SALSA, SMOKED MEATS, SPICY CHICKEN

Green Magic IPA

Green Magic IPA pours a golden colour with an off white head. The aroma consists of citrus, caramel, biscuit malt and floral hops. The flavour is of biscuit, caramel, mild resin, earth, medium bitterness, citrus and a herbal finish. The alcohol content comes in at 6% with an IBU of 60. If you are looking for a new standard IPA to keep in your fridge this might be your choice. It is not over the top but has all the malt and hops you will be looking for.

Commercial Description: A WEST COAST IPA WITH JUICY HOP FLAVOURS OF TROPICAL CITRUS AND PINE WITH A CRISP, BALANCED FINISH.

Food pairing as per brewery: SPICY CURRY, TACOS & FAJITAS, CAJUN PRAWNS

Atomic Cherry Tart Cherry Ale

The Atomic Cherry Tart Cherry Ale pours an orange colour with a tan head. The aroma consists of maraschino cherries and some caramel. The flavour is of maraschino cherries, bready malts, some earth and bitterness and a very mild tartness in the finish. The alcohol content comes in at 5% with an IBU of 8. This is a good tart ale to introduce a new person to the style. The tartness is mild and there is some sweetness also. It will not overwhelm the pallet of someone that has never had a tart beer.

Commercial Description: A CRISP RED ALE BURSTING WITH FRESH CHERRIES, PREMIUM MALTS, AND A REFRESHING TART FINISH.

Food pairing as per brewery: STEAK, CURRY, MUSSELS

If you are like me and don’t really like the 6 pack format this might just be a great pack for you. Three of each beer is a great sample of each without having to commit to 6 of the same beer.

Beers

Craftmaster 12 – Red Truck Beer

Jun4 by Mike

Red Truck Beer Company has launched a mixed 12 case since the opening of their new brewery in Vancouver. The mixed case is called the Craftmaster 12 and includes 3x IPA, 3x ISA, 3x Ale and 3x lager.

Going with the truck theme of the brewery the box has a pretty workman like look and really resembles a toolbox. The mix of beer is pretty darn good with two beers that feature more hops an ale that would probably come in as an amber ale and a easy drinking lager.

Red Truck India Session Ale (Currently Mixer exclusive for bottles)

The India Session Ale or ISA pours a golden colour with a white head. The aroma consists of citrus, floral and grassy hops and a mild malt note or two. The flavour is of some earthiness, citrus, grassy, mild malts and a decent bitterness. The alcohol content comes in at 4.2%. If you are looking for an IPA with lower alcohol content then this might just be your answer.

Commercial Description: A lovely light Session ale with a ton of Australian Galaxy hops. Perfect for the Outback…or even better, any local patio.

Food pairing as per brewery: Thai, Vietnamese, Indian Cuisine (cream or coconut based curries go really well…and Vietnamese food is just awesome!)
Mexican Cuisine (grilled meats, and herbal, citrus flavours do really well)
Grilled or roasted meats such as beef, pork, or lamb (fattier, the better; IPA bitterness cuts the fat really well) Burgers (but that’s a bit too easy tho…isn’t it) Sandwiches, especially with cold cuts Pizza (but what beer doesn’t go well with pizza?) Stronger flavoured cheeses
Note: Vinegar (acidic) hot sauces will exponentially bring out an astringent bitterness in this beer; avoid!

Red Truck India Pale Ale

The Red Truck India Pale Ale pours a golden colour with a white head. The aroma consists of lemony citrus, tropical, grassy hops and a malty finish. The flavour is of citrus, orange, tropical, sweetness, mild pine, earth, caramel and hops bitterness. The alcohol content comes in at 6.3% with an IBU of 69. If you are looking for a good day to day IPA then this could be a good option for you. It won’t stand up to the special release IPA’s but that is not what the aim is with this beer. This is a great IPA if you just want to sit down to a few in a sitting.

Commercial Description: A bright IPA filled with lovely floral, pine, and citrus aromas and flavours. A soft sweetness followed with a lingering bitterness makes this beer an easy drinking friend suitable for all occasions.

Red Truck Ale

The Red Truck Ale pours an amber colour with an off white head. The fact that it pours amber is fitting as I would assume this is actually an amber ale. The aroma consists of caramel, fruity notes and a mild bite from hops in the end. The flavour comes in with fruit, caramel malts, earth and a small but noticeable hops bitterness. The alcohol content comes in at 5.2%. I would not kick this beer out of my pint glass. Again this is an easy drinking beer that may not knock your socks off but it will do exactly what it sets out to do. It will be refreshing and taste good!

Commercial Description: A blend of premium Belgian malts, plus German and Pacific Northwest hop varieties gives this luscious, copper-hued ale a wonderful complex aroma, a rich depth of flavour, and smooth drinkability.

Red Truck Lager

The Red Truck Lager pours a straw yellow with a white head. The aroma consists of biscuit malts, citrus, sweetness and a grassy finish. The flavour is of biscuit malts, citrus, sweetness and a grassy hops finish and an ever so slight hops bitterness. The alcohol content comes in at 5.0%. If you know me well then you know this is not a style I gravitate to at all. I will say though that this lager does have much more flavour than any macro brewery and does go down very easily.

Commercial Description: Made with Canadian Prairie two-row malted barley and hops imported from Germany and the Czech Republic. Red Truck Lager is a beer with world-class credential.

Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown Launch at Craft Beer Market – Vancouver

Oct30 by Mike

Everyone remembers their chocolate advent calendars from their childhood but why should kids have all the fun? Two of the biggest craft breweries in BC have come together to create the ultimate Adult Advent Calendar in East Vancouver’s Parallel 49 and Surrey’s Central City Brewers & Distillers. It’s called the Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown ’24 Days of Exciting Surprises’. The pack is a mix of Parallel 49 and Central City brews with at least two tricks up its sleeve.

To celebrate the launch of this exciting product both breweries came together and hosted an invite only party at Craft Beer Market in the Olympic Village in Vancouver. The lucky people that attended the event were able to sample two unique beer that will be showing up in this advent calendar. Both are collaboration beers one brewed at Central City’s brewery and one brewed at Parallel 49’s facility.

Brewed at Parallel 49 Brewing was the “Schwarzward Porter” a black forest cake porter that was quite delicious. At Central City the “Dubbel Trubbel Belgian” was created by adding rum soaked raisins to a Belgian Dubbel.

At the event they had one of the Mystery Gift packs on display and it looks awesome. Not only does it look like a wrapped Christmas present but on the top of the box there is a numbered perforated door for each days beer. On the top of the box it also has a tag in the design so you can give it as a gift!

The entire crew from both breweries were on hand and chatted with the people in attendance about the product. It is very apparent that both breweries are very excited about this product and can not wait for it to be December 1st!