Tag Archives: strange fellows

Beer League Bash (3rd Annual) – Vancouver

by Mike

On March 11, 2017 Bomber Brewing hosted the Third Annual Beer League Bash at Britannia Community Rink in East Vancouver.  The event ran from 4-10pm and cost $25 a ticket which got you three beer tickets.  More sample tickets could be purchased for $1.25 or for donated hockey gear.

From Bomber Brewing:  100% of the proceeds go to support Britannia After School Hockey. This great youth program gives kids, that normally would not have the opportunity to play hockey, a chance to play. BASH supplies all of their gear and provides coaches/mentors to help develop not just hockey, but life skills. Through this event, the local craft brewery community has helped to raise close to $5000 a year in cash and donated gear to support this program. Come out and enjoy some great beer and some mediocre hockey and help us surpass that level this year.

From me:  This event helps support an amazing program that helps kids be part of a team and learn life skills in a sport that is usually very cost prohibitive. I wanted to play as a child but my family could not afford it. This BASH program helps keep kids occupied with life lessons and a fun sport so that they do not end up getting in trouble with gangs and drugs. Or at least gives them a fighting chance. East Vancouver is traditionally not as well off as other areas of Metro Vancouver and the kids really need programs such as this. Supporting this event and the BASH program itself is enriching children’s lives and I am all for that!  

This fundraiser consists of a beer league hockey tournament and a beer festival.  Starting with the beer festival in the stands.

The breweries that came to support the BASH were as follows:  Bomber Brewing, Central City, Moody Ales, Parallel 49, Main Street, Powell Brewery, Yellow Dog, Steamworks, Bridge, Steel & Oak, Red Truck, Callister, Strange Fellows, Doans and Luppolo Brewing.

 

I really appreciated that some of the breweries brought out beer that was brand new or fairly new to try as this event does seem to bring out the industry and not just the average beer drinker.  Without the hockey though this is just anouther beer event.  The best of the festival for me was the new release from Bomber called The Code a beer that tied into the hockey movie Goon Last of the Enforcers.  While no goons are aloud in beer league hockey the Goon does have a place in many Canadians hearts. 

Now that I mentioned hockey again here are some photos from the hockey itself.  There were 4 teams this year in the Beer League Bash.  The teams included Bomber Brewing, Parallel 49 Brewing, Craft Beer All-Stars and the Suburban All Stars.  The Craft Beer All-Stars were made up of Vancouver breweries staf while the Suburban All Stars were made up of staff from the Vancouver Suburbs. They held a round robin tournament with music between plays, goal horns and everything.

This was beer league hockey and there was definitely mistakes but it sure made for some exciting goals.  For the first time in the 3 years this event had the correct finish with Bomber Brewing winning the big trophy!

I would be remiss to share some of the videos of the actual games.

Its not a win without the skate with the trophy!

I was sad to miss the second anual event but this year was a blast!  Being a huge hockey fan and beer fan this manages to bring so much good together and it is for a good cause to help get kids off the street!  If you did not make it to this event make sure you make it out next year!

Celebrate Craft… Beer! 2016 – Vancouver

by Mike

Craft Beer can sometimes help support other Crafts.  That is where this event “Celebrate Craft… Beer!” comes in.

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Celebrate Craft… Beer! was held on Saturday November 5th between 7:30-10pm at Performance Works on Granville Island.  The event was held to raise funds for the delivery of the Craft Council of BC’s Craft Heritage & Me program for under-served youth.  Sixteen breweries showed up to pour their beers and help with this cause.  Here is the original list although Driftwood Brewery and Old Yale Brewing had to pull out due to differing issues.

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Being an event about Crafts there were also many artists selling their products in the middle of the room.  Here is a sampling of what they were selling.

There was also a blind silent auction with lots of good prizes to be won.

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This event was very well attended for the small venue it was held in.  The people both loved the crafts that were on sale and the craft beer that was served.

To top everything off the organizers of this festival held a competition for the best seasonal beer poured at the event.  The competition was judged by Rebecca Whyman, Chad McCarthy & Ken Beattie and the winning brewery won a a cool glass trophy as well as a handmade tap that will be designed and created by a noted local artist.

The winner of the award was Luppolo Brewing the brand new brewery on the block in Vancouver!

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I hope that the fundraising was as was as successful as the event itself as it was a great time with a great mix of people some very new to craft beer and some that know the local industry inside and out.

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!

Rookies & Legends – VCBW – June 5th, 2015

by Mike

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Vancouver Craft Beer Week has once again come and gone. From all accounts the entire week was a massive success.

Due to my schedule and many other factors I was only able to make it out to one event this year.  This one event happened to be the Rookies & Legends event at 12 Kings Pub.  The event brought together 24 BC breweries 12 Rookies and 12 Legends and raised money for the BC Craft Brewers Guild.

Rookies: Yellow Dog, Bomber, 4 Mile, Powell Street (New Location), Moody Ales, Bridge (New Location), Postmark, Steel & Oak, Strange Fellows, Barkerville, BC Craft Brewers Guild, 33 Acres

Legends: Hoyne, Tree, Stanely Park, Fernie, Central City, Philips, Parallel 49, Red Truck, Townsite, Vancouver Island, Steamworks, Whistler, Four Winds

All of the breweries were on hand mixing with the crowd at the event.  The 12 Rookies were poured at the regular bar in the pub while the 12 Legends were poured in a backroom that I did not even know existed.  The back room also housed the food table which made it a popular room.

I was happy to see that some of the breweries brought out some new or limited release beers to make things interesting as many events cater to the new craft beer fan not the experienced aficionado.  Having two bar setups instead of different stands for every brewery meant for quick thinking for every sample of beer.  You had to have your decision made before you made it to the bar as they were trying to make everything move quickly and smoothly.  They did a great job of trying to keep the lines moving really quickly also!  The event was sold out but it went off without a hitch with really good service and smiles all around.  I look forward to next years Vancouver Craft Beer Week as well as the next event they hold at 12 Kings Pub!

Guizer Northern Milk Stout – Strange Fellows Brewing

by Mike

Every Month Strange Fellows Brewing will hold a special Strange Days event over a weeks time.  For January 2015 they are Celebrating “Up Helly AA” a Scottish Tradition.  For this event they have crafted their “Guizer Northern Milk Stout”.  The beer pours a deep brown colour with a small tan head.  The aroma consists of roasted malts, lactose and some sweet chocolate.  The flavour is of Toasted malts, burnt coffee, mild chocolate, very mild lactose sweetness and a dry finish.  This beer is much less sweet than the average milk stout.  The alcohol content comes in at 4.5%.  If you are looking for a sweet milk stout you may be disappointed but this is a great full flavour stout that almost anyone could get behind (including me).

Description of Up Helly AA from brewery: UP HEIIY AA MIDWINTER – SHETLAND ISLANDS, SCOTLAND

PUFFS OF BREATH MIST THE COLD AIR AS A LONE HORN SIGNALS TO THE CROWD OF HAIRY, TORCH‘BEARING MEN. OLD BALLADS & THE SOUND OF THOUSANDS OF STAMPING FEET ACCOMPANY A MASSIVE VIKING LONGSHIP AS ITS DRAGGED THROUGH THE DARKENED STREETS. THE PROCESSION ENDS WITH THE TORCHING OF THE LONGSHIP, SYMBOLIZING THE REBIRTH OF THE SUN. FOLLOWED BY UPROARIOUS CELEBRATION UNTIL THE WEE HOURS, THIS PAGAN FIRE FESTIVAL MARKS THE END OF YULETIDE FEASTING, 8. HONOURS SHEIIANDEIIS‘ NORSE ANCESTRY.

WE HAVEN’T GOT A LONGSHIP TO BURN, BUT WE CAN STILL HONOUR OUR INNER VIKING WITH A GLASS OF ALE THAT WILL STICK TO YOUR RIBS, PRDCLAIMING “DIIINII HAIL — I DRINK & GOOD LUCK BE To YOU”.

CELEBRATING IN THE TASTING Room JANUARY 21st – 27th

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