Hey everyone, I'll be in Vancouver Friday night-Monday around lunch. Staying in between the Orpheum and Rogers Arena. No car during my stay. 1) Best beer bar and what breweries/brews to look out for? 2) Best bottle shop and what to buy? 3) Maybe some hot restaurants? Big into hops, sours, Belgians, and killer stouts. Never been to God's country before, very excited. Thanks for any tips you can provide! Derek
BEER BARS: I'd recommend St Augustine's. 60 taps, mostly local, a block north of Commercial-Broadway skytrain station so it's super easy to get to, and you can check their live beer menu at beersaint.ca. I also really like BierCraft. They have a lot of Belgian beers, but the Commercial Drive location added a bunch more taps this year so they could have more local beers as well. Good food, too. Alibi Room is also really good, although their location is a bit weird. BOTTLE SHOPS: I'd say the best is Brewery Creek on Main Street. Legacy Liquor Store in Olympic Village and Firefly on Cambie are also good. You'll also find a decent selection of local beers in most government stores, although most don't keep anything chilled. BREWERIES: If you want to visit breweries, pretty much any brewery you go to in Vancouver will have several others within walking distance. For example: - 33 Acres, Brassneck and Main Street Brewing are clustered around Main Street and 7th Avenue - Luppolo, Bomber and Off the Rail are all near Clark and Venables, and Strange Fellows is a few blocks farther south of there, but still walkable - north of Hastings between Clark and Semlin, you've got Callister, Powell Street, Storm, Doan's, Parallel 49, and I think a few others I'm forgetting. Most have tasting rooms where you can order beer by the glass or get a growler fill to take home, and while they don't serve food, often there will be a food truck outside in case you want to bring food in to have with your beer. BEERS: For hops, my favourite local IPA is probably Filthy Dirty from Parallel 49. I love pretty much all of Parallel 49's hoppy beers, to be honest, and they're pretty widely available here. Powell Street Right Kind of Crazy is a good DIPA, and also try Brassneck Brewery. Driftwood Fat Tug IPA is often considered BC's best IPA, and is widely available in liquor stores. Same for Central City Red Racer. Dageraad Brewing out in Burnaby does excellent Belgian style beers. You should be able to find them in private liquor stores. I'd also recommend Strange Fellows Jongleur Belgian Wit. For stouts, I'd definitely recommend Storm Brewing's Black Plague Stout (not available bottled, get it in a growler at the brewery or on tap at a few places around town). Howe Sound Brewing's stouts are good. Crannog Back Hand of God Stout from Sorrento, BC is good and often available on tap on St. Augustine's. Definitely try Driftwood Singularity if you come across it, although it's a limited release. Hands down best local sour is Nectarous from Four Winds. You should be able to find it in private liquor stores. I've also had good sours from Strange Fellows, but I don't think they have any currently available. If you're looking to try beers from other parts of Canada, you should be able to find Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel (coffee stout) and Aphrodisiaque (vanilla cocoa stout) in some of the better bottle shops. Unibroue is widely available in liquor stores - pretty much any government store will have La Fin du Monde (tripel), Maudite (Belgian strong dark), Blanche de Chambly (witbier) and Trois Pistoles (Belgian strong dark).
Oh, and I like this article. It's like a little local beer love-in. http://www.straight.com/food/699586...ry-insiders-share-their-favourite-local-beers
