Spy Porter, Tree Brewing, BC

Not very hoppy, bit of a head (not as much as Mike's beer, but who's comparing?), smooth, and tasty. I liked it, Julie did, too.

I'm trying to taste all the dark beer made in BC, for fun. Also, to see if I can tell the difference between them, what are the best beers, particularly what are the best for the price. Maybe I should try and find when each beer was started to be produced, as well, as I've a theory that BC breweries are starting to produce more interesting beers after a bit of a blah period.

The problem with prices is that I've no memory for numbers... so, I'm just going to look up prices on www.bcliquorstores.com, and use that as a price. Probably beer and wine stores are more expensive.

So, to start: 650mL, 5% ABV, $4.91, $7.55/L

Zipang Sushi, Main & 21st, BC

Julie and I just had dinner there. $34 for a nice meal with nothing to drink (they aren't licensed, but used to be? Not sure what the story is).

I liked it. The price is mid-range but the quality is high, and it looks nice and cosy (so much so that I thought it would be much more expensive than it was). The sushi was great, we had a saba-bien roll (saba(mackeral) and tobiko(flying fish roe) and green onion) that was beautiful and delicious, a small modan-yaki that was great (of course, the only thing I miss more than the public baths in Japan is the okonomiyaki houses... and the temple gardens, and the ... ok, lots of things, but the okonomiyaki is high on the list).

We'll be back, it does a thriving take-out business, too.

www.zipangsushi.com

Lighthouse Keepers Stout, Lighthouse Brewing, Victoria, BC

Its pretty light as a stout, mild flavored but tasty, with no hops that I notice.

5.1% ABV

Its a nice, reasonably cheap beer, and I like to keep some in the fridge. Comes in a can, and is only $11-12 for a six-pack.

www.lighthousebrewing.com

Espresso Stout, Streamworks, BC

The Whip opens a cask of beer every Sunday about 4:00. Todays was an Espresso Stout from Steamworks. I didn't expect to like it, but you go to a beer tasting to taste the beer, right?

It wasn't delicious, but wasn't undrinkable, either. It actually tasted quite strongly of coffee, not in a sweet coffee grounds way, but actually tasted like espresso. I guess thats an achievement, but nobody else at the table ordered one after tasting mine.

And the service was terrible, as usual. I don't want much, really, I just want to be asked what I want to eat or drink reasonably promptly after arriving, and later to be asked if I want anything else without having to search around for the server. But thats more than the Whip can manage to organize.

www.steamworks.com

Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog, Denver, CO

good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

The beer isn't to my liking, some would describe it as "malty", I'd describe it as "sickly sweet". Oh, well. Great label, though! The art was by Ralph Steadman, guy who did the illustrations for a bunch of Hunter Thompson's books, and is full of great quotes. Apparently the first label he did for them was emblazoned with the phrase "good beer, no shit", and it took four years in court to get the Colorado licensing authorities to allow them to ship the bottle...

Its a fun web site, and I'm going to look for some of their other beer.

flyingdogales.com

Cooking with beer, recipes at McAuslans

http://www.mcauslan.com/en/recipes/index.html

Dark Star Oatmeal Stout, R&B Brewing Co., BC

4.6%, low in alcohol, I like that, and it had a nice flavour, too.

Still, not much head, maybe effects the body? Need to drink a few more and see...

www.r-and-b.com

Peche Mortel, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, QC

imperial stout au cafe

Julie's opinion: "dégeulasse"

I gotta say, I'm not a big fan of coffee in beer. When the beer has a coffee-like flavor because of how its made, fine, but coffee? Still, I tried again. It reminds me of a famous beer Chris Cummer bought down in West Virginia - it was so disgusting it was still sitting in his fridge months later as he tried to convince his friends to give it a try. What happened to that beer, Chris?

Anyway, not to be repeated, but I'm trying to finish the bottle...

On the plus side, it has 9.5% alcohol. Oh, wait, I don't like high-alcohol beers...

dieuduciel.com

Beer, recommended for nursing mothers and athletes!

Its not just good, its good for you:

During the end of the nineteenth century, stout porter beer gained the reputation of being a healthy strengthening drink, so that it was used by athletes and nursing mothers, while doctors often recommended it to help recovery. In fact, in Ireland, blood donors and post operative patients were once given Guinness due to its high iron content. - wiki:Stout

Route des Epices, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, QC

Biere de seigle au poivre (beer with buckwheat and pepper)

5% abv

This is a strange one... it has a hot peppery finish. Julie won't drink it. I'm drinking it, but I don't think I'd drink another. It tastes like a good beer, that somebody added pepper to. Hm.

dieucuciel.com

Beer classification in French

I used to think it odd that beers are classified by colour in Quebec: noire (stouts and porters), blanc (wheat ales), blond (lagers and light ales), brun (scotch ales, nut browns, etc..).

Still, I've tasted a few "noire sur lie" (lees) recently, and while they are definitely black, they aren't exactly stouts. They are too carbonated and that frothiness makes them taste more like the belgian lambics.

Ramdham, Les Brasseurs du Hameau, Ham-Sud, QC

malt quebequois, orange biologique, biere noire sur lie

Claimed to have a "puissant gout d'ecorce d'orange" (strong taste of orange peel), but it didn't. It was a smooth tasty black beer, with a rich head, but no taste of orange that I could notice. Sometimes beer left on its lees gets a little to much CO2 as it sits in the bottle, and I think this is one of them. I don't like to burp up excess gas while I'm drinking my beer, it reminds me of soda pop and champagne (yuck).

Other than I couldn't taste the orange (and I was curious to know what it would taste like!) the carbonation is my only gripe. The flavour was good, and Julie drank it with pleasure.

Still, there's lots of good stouts, I'm not sure I'd buy this one again.

Interestingly, this Brasserie calls itself a nanobrasserie, I guess "micro"s have grown pretty big, and they claim to be the smallest in Canada!

lesbrasseursduhameauc.ca

Rosee d'Hibiscus, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, Montreal, QC

Blanch qux fleurs d'hibiscus

5% alcohol.

Wasn't sure what to expect with this. I was worried that it would taste like perfume.

It tasted like a slightly fruity (but and undefined kind of fruit, maybe a berry) and sweet wheat ale, and its colour glowed rose. A little too sweet to drink many of, but I liked it, and would drink it again. Its a late afternoon in the sun kind of beer.

Clair de lune, Multi-Brasses, Tingwick, QC

Biere noire aux Pommes

So, this is a stout (with only 4.9% alcohol) made with apples. What does it taste like? Strange.

Toby liked it ok. He thought it tasted like a shandy, and that the apple flavour was fresh and fruity. Me, it felt more like an unhappy marriage of not-very-good apple juice, and a would-have-been-good stout.

Not a winner.

http://www.microbrasserie.ca/