Lurkaholic
Well-Known Member
(June 2015 edition)
Can I buy Lambic everywhere?!
No.
State of the scene - 2015
We're deep in the craft beer boom right now. For all but the most dedicated tickers it's proving almost impossible to keep up with everything that's being released locally. New breweries open every month, and it's all flowers and rainbows. Lots of sours starting to show up, lots of brett beers, and some awesome tap takeovers starting to show up on a regular basis. The first inklings of an adjustment were felt recently when a long-time local brewery almost went bust, but got bought out by another recent one.
2 of the leading local breweries
Four Winds - world class limited releases (Nectarous, Operis, Sovereign et al)
Moon Under Water - great limited releases, phenomenal recent sours, continually push the envelope
5 breweries to watch
Strangefellows - massive sour program in the works, head brewer is a local legend for his Oude Bruin
Dageraad - consistently nice belgian style beers
Yellow Dog - perhaps the best IPA in the province, other offerings bit more hit and miss
Category 12 - still too early to tell, but promising starting lineup
Callister - not even open yet, but the folks involved really know their stuff
2 older breweries worth your attention
Driftwood - bird of prey series / fat tug ipa are must tries
Central City - red racer IPA / thor's hammer
3 notable bars in the city
Alibi Room - the local legend, now with taplist on website
St Augustines - hybrid sports bar, great beerlist website
12 Kings - unpretentious, run by a fantastic owner, great all local lineup, amazing karaoke
Craft bottle shops
Brewery Creek
16th Street
Viti
Kerrisdale
Suggested brewery crawls
1) Mount Pleasant
Brassneck - great growler / tasters only spot, great local brewer, owner also founded / own Alibi Room
Steel Toad - Lineup of house beers has substantially improved in the past months, but truly exceptional local bottle list & DDC guest taps make this very recommended
33 Acres - largely german styles, bit fancier
Main St - quite inconsistent, but just around the corner
Nearby Bars: 12 Kings, The Whip, Tap & Barrel / Craft (nice locations, but $$$, busy & mixed selection of beer)
Nearby Bottle Shops: Brewery Creek
2) Commercial Drive area
Strangefellows (see above)
Storm (the most interesting brewery/machine shop to visit in the province - brewmaster James is a legend, and built almost all equipment himself)
Powell St
Parallel 49
(others nearby too)
Nearby Bars: St Augustines, Tangent Cafe, Beircraft
Nearby Bottle Shops: Liberty Wine Merchants
Can I buy Lambic everywhere?!
No.
- Cantillon tends to send a couple shipments every year
- Distribution is good, most stores get gueuze / kriek / rose 375s
- Rarer stuff tends to go to a few select stores
- 1 btl limits of all 750ml bottles are across the board now and saught after stuff sells out in hours
- Yes, as recently as 2013 people were able to buy St Lam etc by the case. This doesn't happen anymore.
- Most canadian 4+ star hotels have a third tap in their bathrooms which dispenses a rotating assortment of LPs though, so make sure you bring as many empty growlers with you as you can to fill in the bathroom.
- 3F regular gueuze, GD and GB comes around sporadically - small quantities, but lasts a week or two
- Tilquin shows up in good numbers and sticks around for up to a couple months in certain locations
State of the scene - 2015
We're deep in the craft beer boom right now. For all but the most dedicated tickers it's proving almost impossible to keep up with everything that's being released locally. New breweries open every month, and it's all flowers and rainbows. Lots of sours starting to show up, lots of brett beers, and some awesome tap takeovers starting to show up on a regular basis. The first inklings of an adjustment were felt recently when a long-time local brewery almost went bust, but got bought out by another recent one.
2 of the leading local breweries
Four Winds - world class limited releases (Nectarous, Operis, Sovereign et al)
Moon Under Water - great limited releases, phenomenal recent sours, continually push the envelope
5 breweries to watch
Strangefellows - massive sour program in the works, head brewer is a local legend for his Oude Bruin
Dageraad - consistently nice belgian style beers
Yellow Dog - perhaps the best IPA in the province, other offerings bit more hit and miss
Category 12 - still too early to tell, but promising starting lineup
Callister - not even open yet, but the folks involved really know their stuff
2 older breweries worth your attention
Driftwood - bird of prey series / fat tug ipa are must tries
Central City - red racer IPA / thor's hammer
3 notable bars in the city
Alibi Room - the local legend, now with taplist on website
St Augustines - hybrid sports bar, great beerlist website
12 Kings - unpretentious, run by a fantastic owner, great all local lineup, amazing karaoke
Craft bottle shops
Brewery Creek
16th Street
Viti
Kerrisdale
Suggested brewery crawls
1) Mount Pleasant
Brassneck - great growler / tasters only spot, great local brewer, owner also founded / own Alibi Room
Steel Toad - Lineup of house beers has substantially improved in the past months, but truly exceptional local bottle list & DDC guest taps make this very recommended
33 Acres - largely german styles, bit fancier
Main St - quite inconsistent, but just around the corner
Nearby Bars: 12 Kings, The Whip, Tap & Barrel / Craft (nice locations, but $$$, busy & mixed selection of beer)
Nearby Bottle Shops: Brewery Creek
2) Commercial Drive area
Strangefellows (see above)
Storm (the most interesting brewery/machine shop to visit in the province - brewmaster James is a legend, and built almost all equipment himself)
Powell St
Parallel 49
(others nearby too)
Nearby Bars: St Augustines, Tangent Cafe, Beircraft
Nearby Bottle Shops: Liberty Wine Merchants
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