Vancouver, BC, Canada Craft Beer WalkAbout

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So, once again I took a loooong break from posting. I actually went to Vancouver a couple of months ago and I never got around to blogging about it, luckily I took some notes and pictures.

Vancouver and the surrounding area has quite a few breweries and craft beer bars. As in my previous WalkAbouts (NYC and Denver), I only went to places that were within walking distance from my hotel. "Walking distance" can mean a lot of things for different people, for me it is usually anything under 2 miles, especially if I am trying to hit multiple places on the same day.

I will be discussing the bars as well as the beers I drank at each one. The beer reviews will be brief compared to my single beer reviews. The locations are listed in the order that I visited them.

San Diego Beer Review: New English Brewing Troopers Tipple IPA

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New English Brewing Co.
11545 Sorrento Valley Rd.
Suite 305
San Diego, CA 92121
www.newenglishbrewing.com

New English Brewing has been around for a while and has won several awards. They used to run under the name La Jolla Brewery and then around 2007-2008 changed their name to New English. This is the first time I have seen and had one of their bottled beers, not sure if this is because they just started bottling or if I have just not been in the right shops...


IPA (ABV 5.1%)

San Diego Beer Review: Stone 16th Anniversary IPA

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Stone Brewing
1999 Citracado Parkway
Escondido, CA 92029
www.stoneworldbistro.com

Stone was one of the first San Diego microbreweries I tried back in the late 90's. I loved it back then, and that still holds true today. Stone is renowned for coming up with great collaboration beers, as well as beers with interesting combinations of ingredients. Every year their Anniversary ales push the limits in one or both of these categories. This year is no different.

 The Double IPA they brewed was made with a little bit of rye malt, Amarillo and Calypso hops, as well as lemon verbena and lemon oil....How's that for a "combination" beer?

Double IPA (10% ABV)

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
1075 East 20th Street
Chico, CA.

I originally found this beer at the local Albertson's (a chain supermarket) a couple of years ago and I had never seen it before, even though Sierra Nevada beers have been a staple of mine for 10+ years. I was pleasantly surprised by the boldness of the hops, usually you dont find beer with this much hop character in a mass chain supermarket.

This beer has become one of my favorites when I am looking for something with a little edge to it, and by 'edge' I mean hops... anyway, ON TO THE REVIEW ;)

Extra IPA

Appearance: Caramel color, slighty opaque, 1cm head on pour which easily reforms with agitation, head consists of nice tight bubbles which almost give it a nitro appearance. Head will hold 1-2mm for duration of drinking

Smell: Piney, resin, with some malt sweetness with agitation

Taste: Hoppy bitterness jumps on the tongue with first taste, carbonation "pops" on tongue for a "bright" taste

Mouthfeel: Hops grab the tongue and do not let go without a fight!

Overall: A classic American IPA with a very bold hoppiness. Mid range ABV at 7.2%

San Diego Beer Review: Double Shaka-Imperial Mucho Aloha IPA

Never seen or heard of this beer before, bought it at Sprouts in Carlsbad tonight. After researching it a bit on their website, I am a bit confused. In one area of the website it looks like the brewers are from San Diego County (Bonus points!) but they are brewing/bottling at Bayhawk Ales in Irvine, Orange County, California http://butchersbrewing.com/#about-tab . However, a Google search came up with another page showing that they have a location in Barrio Logan, near Petco Park http://www.butchersbrewing.com/about.php ...(bonus points either way but you guys might want to clear up your website...)

Imperial IPA

Appearance: Medium amber color, cloudy, small head with very low retention. Agitation will form a small head of approximately 1mm

Smell: Sweet with caramel undertones. Once agitated there is a definite alcohol odor but it is
not unpleasant

Taste: Slight alcohol taste/burn on first blush, caramel, bitterness of hops do not kick in until well after swallowing

Mouthfeel: Silky, very low carbonation, grips the tongue slightly

Overall: A different take on an Imperial or Double IPA. In my experience Double/Imperial IPAs are very heavy on the hops with a strong flowery/citrus aroma and very bitter. This beer is not overpowering for an Imperial IPA and is fairly easy to drink, even at an ABV of 10%.

Not sure if this is correct but:

Butchers Brewing

1848 Commercial Street

San Diego, CA 92113

San Diego Beer Review: AleSmith IPA

AleSmith
9368 Cabot Drive
San Diego, CA 92126
www.alesmith.com

Bottle-conditioned IPA
Appearance: Very light amber colored, clear, medium carbonation, can easily attain a head (must be careful with your pour), head retention is good, head will grab the sides of the glass from start to finish, head reforms easily after slight agitation.

Smell: Flowery, with resin/citrus undertones

Taste: Light well built IPA with very slight bitterness. There are no overpowering flavors here...nice and balanced

Mouthfeel: Velvety/Grips the tongue slightly on the way down but with medium carbonation

Overall: Easy to drink and not too high on the alcohol content (7.5%). A very good example of what a true IPA should taste like.