[VANCOUVER] Winter '16/17

Sorry rest of Canada, still no snow here Ok maybe on the ski hills.

But it's getting a little chilly so time to start Winter talk. Much remains the same as earlier this year, but we have some new breweries recently opened, plenty of barrel aged releases coming out hopefully with more on the way, and those juicy ipa's are taking over.

There is too much to summarize in one post, so feel free to ask specific questions about any particular area of town or trip itinerary you may have. Lots to see and drink!

 

As for today, Steamworks Brewing (winner of the Best In Show at BC Beer Awards with their flagship IPA), just released a barrel aged imperial stout. A style I feel we are severely lacking in up here so I'm happy to see another addition.

Mikkeller also re-launched in BC this weekend.

Twin Sails w. P49 release a collab Triple IPA in cans tomorrow. First of it's kind here to my knowledge.

S&O just launched a single batch series with their 'Kaffee Blonde'

 

From @distantmantra in the US Northwest "I'll be in Vancouver on December 17th for an overnight stay at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. I'll have a few hours to wander around while my wife does some spa treatments. Probably gonna stay around the hotel/downtown area and grab some bottles at Viti and hit Steamworks and Postmark, two breweries I've never been to before. I know Steamworks is the "old toursity" brewery, but it seems like their new flagship IPA is good? What else should I hit in that vicinity? We're already planning on brunch at Alibi Room as soon as we hit town, btw."

Too bad you'll miss my giant bottleshare by a week! (if anyone is interested btw PM me)

Your best bet bar wise is probably Tap & Barrel in the convention centre or Rogue Waterfront for a good selection of local taps and prolly some imports too. Boneyard is often on tap at Rogue I think. Viti and Steamwork LRS would be decent bottle shopping, if you have time take the 5 or 6 bus to the West End and hit up Denman Liquor Store, about 10 mins bus from downtown without rush hour gridlock.

Steamworks flagship is ridiculously good. It won best in show at the BC Beer Awards. I know some people now buy it by the flat. The actual brewpub downtown is kind of different from their brewery in Burnaby, not sure if they always have the limited stuff on tap downtown.

Alibi has a crazy amount of good hoppy stuff on now. They seem to have gone quite local with their tap selection, but it varies.

Twin Sails which started as a German style brewery is now doing amazing hoppy beers in cans, look for Dat Juice or How Bout That !? and maybe Space Armadillo or Double Dat Juice in a few weeks. Boombox, part of the Callister brewing operation is on tap only but very worth a stop or growler fill (they usually only do their hoppy beers for fills on Wednesday).

And this weeks big news. MACHINE is back! Sort of. They changed the name to Superflux, and are brewing out of Dogwood Brewing in South Van. Their first release is tomorrow actually. Should be able to find their cans around downtown depending on distro date.

Also in gastown is the newish Darby's location. I know the manager, he's great! Ask for Alex and he'll be able to point you to what's good. Another popular stop somewhat close to downtown/eastvan is 12kings. About a 10-15 minute walk from Main Street skytrain. Very local taplist, and also bottles for on site.

Central City now has Sour 1, 2, and 3 out around town in bottles, taps maybe not as easy to find. They're all very very good, pricey though.

Strange Fellows continues to knock out good stuff. Brassneck continues to knock out good stuff. 33 Acres of Coff33 is back.

The newer batch of Four Winds Vexxilum Double IPA is fantastic.

St Augustines seems to be the new 'tap takeover' destination so depending when you go they might have a very brewery or importer focused list, or a good mix of everything. The Fraser Valley breweries Trading Post, Raven, Field House, and Old Yale just did a takeover for instance.

Main Street Brewing and P49 both have a barrel aged imperial stout out now.

Too much info to process, any more questions? lol

 

I think Callister has a selection of merch. Brassneck does for sure, as does Strange Fellows.

 

Not too long of a walk from Commercial Drive once at Strange Fellows. St Augs, Tangent Cafe, Merchants are all great drinking spots. Not really anything else on Clark Dr. Tonnes of food options on Commercial. Highly recommend going to Callister Brewing over Postmark.

 

We had a little bottleshare last night

 

You might still find the collab around, but maybe not downtown.

Have never had a cocktail at either spot, but I imagine they have decent ones. Pacific Rim Fairmont has one of the best bartenders in the world Grant Sceney (if he's there) and they have Strange Fellows on tap. Not too much further down there's plenty of good bars in Gastown with good beer and cocktails. Pourhouse is a short walk from Waterfront Station.

Also fairly new so I'm not totally sure about cocktails, but Blind Sparrow in the West End is right around the corner from Tavola and they have a pretty good beer list. I'm pretty sure I remember them having an interesting looking cocktail menu. Ah yes here you go: http://www.blindsparrow.ca/drink/

 

@distantmantra I recommend checking out the Denman Liquor Store http://denmanliquorstore.com/ they have lots of good stuff in. Saw the SF/MT collab there too. It's about 4 blocks from Tavola right on Denman.

 

Just gonna leave this here

 

Can't keep up!

 

Wouldn't take much to make that space a little more inviting, I might actually go if they had a decent seating area.