Recently, we paid a visit to The Dockside Brewery located in Beautiful Granville Island in Vancouver. There we were treated to an amazing selection of craft beers that are sure to appeal to a wide variety of taste preferences. The Dockside not only features a solid rotating selection of quality craft beer on tap. Patrons can also enjoy some excellent food from the restaurant menu with their Beers. But now, let’s get into the beers!
Surrounded by the Dockside Brewing’s invitingly warm decor, we enjoyed tasting a featured selection of five different craft beers. Each beer has its own unique flavouring and qualities, and they were all delicious. The wide range of craft beer options found at the Dockside Restaurant ensures there is something for every visitor to enjoy, no matter what their taste preferences happen to be.
First up is the easy drinking Marina Light Lager. A German Helles-inspired light lager made with Saaz and Huell Melon hops. This beautiful golden lager will likely appeal to most beer drinkers thanks to its familiar light flavour and smooth, crisp finish. Inspired by the traditional Helles recipe native to Southern Germany, the Marina Light Lager is an excellent option for people who aren’t looking for strong flavours in their beer.
Next we enjoyed a delightful sour ale that featured flavours as playful as the beer’s name. The Mango Wango Peachy Tango wild sour wheat ale (say that five times fast) is a brightly coloured sour ale that features an excellent blend of distinct, refreshing fruit flavours. This beer is one of the best sour ales we’ve tried all year, and the flavourful notes of fruits like peach, watermelon, mango, pineapple and strawberry will take you back to the sunniest days of summer even as you look out the window and see cool fall weather approaching.
For a brewery known for their pale ales, the selection at the Dockside Brewery certainly does not disappoint. The first pale ale in our selection is the Cartwright Pale Ale. As far as pale ale’s and their distinct, hoppy flavours go, this beer is definitely one of the most approachable options on tap. Made with Amarillo and Vic Secret hops from Australia, the Cartwright Pale Ale blends the distinct pale ale flavour with a light, easy drinking finish.
For those looking for more hop flavour in their beer, Dockside’s Tight Squeeze West Coast IPA provides the perfect balance of hop aromas followed by a crisp finish that enhances the unique flavours of this beer. With its lighter golden colour, the appearance of this beer can be deceiving, until you taste the explosive hop flavours that most West Coast IPAs are known for.
The final beer in our selection from Dockside Brewery happened to be a seasonal beer that featured a true autumn flavour in the Pumpkin Pie Ale. This seasonal ale is part of a small batch release that gets featured on Fridays at the Dockside Brewery. This light coloured ale is specially flavoured to feature a baking spice aroma that is reminiscent of a freshly baked pumpkin pie. Perfect for the season, this ale can be enjoyed for a short time at Dockside Brewery, so be sure to pay them a visit before its all gone!
Special shoutout to @Dangerdan_yvr for these great pics, for more great craft beer photos and updates be sure to checkout his page!
Want to try them? Head over to this post below to enter out Giveaway!
Craft Beer Market has breweries in Portland, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Vancouver. We were invited to Craft Beer Market Vancouver, for a food and beer tasting and boy was it good!
Not only does the Vancouver Brewery have an old school farm-house vibe, but it also shows it in the restaurant design! With their open concept room, vaulted ceilings and wooden tables, it comes together nicely to create a great atmosphere to have casual drinks with friends or for large group events. If you look up, you’ll even see their beer lines that flow beer daily to their taps!
As we end the fruity beer season that Summer brought, we look forward to what Fall introduces… When we think Fall, we think of Fall colours, leaves that go from green to red, orange pumpkins, Thanksgiving and having cozy times with the family. This is how we selected Octobers Beer of the month
The Charcoal Porter by Coal Harbour Brewing based out of East Vancouver is an easy-drinking porter brewed with activated charcoal. It’s light-bodied and has a nice roast, and chocolate-like notes, with a deep dark hue from the charcoal. Some say they get a hint of smoke to it too!
The alcohol content is 5.2% and one thing to note is this porter is on the lighter body side when compared to other porters. It is quite tasty and a great brew to sip on as the weather dips into the single-digits.
You can view our Instagram post to see all our food and drink pics! They even gave away $75 in Gift Certificates!
If you own a brewery or food establishment and would like us to do a tasting, please reach out through one of our partner accounts including @VancityEats and @MainMenus.
This month we’re invited to Parallel 49’s Tasting Room to try their latest beer…
When you enter, you’re greeted with 20 beers on tap and a menu board that looks like a train station flip board! To the left, is a row of beer coolers stacked with an amazing selection of their latest craft beer. Look to the right, you can enter their Street Kitchen.
As a follow up to our June post, we continue into summer to enjoy the freshness of these new fruit-forward beers! This months beer of the month is the;
This limited release beer is a light, clean, crisp, and lightly Sour Ale produces a light fragrant guava aroma and accentuated flavor. Bringing out a tropical touch and finishing with and finishing with a crisp, effervescent, tart bite.
It is 4.7-4.8% alcohol in a tall can, and when you hear ‘sour’ you may automatically remember the taste of eating sour keys as a kid (or an adult ?), but you’ll be surprised how delicious this is! It has a light sourness to it, enough to enjoy more than 1!
If you haven’t visited Parallel 49’s Tasting Room or Beer Store, then you haven’t seen their food truck that is actually inside the building! It’s quite the setup and I highly recommend you try it out. If you’re looking for a casual event for a date or a boys/girls night out, this is a must!
Situated in the heart of the East Vancouver Brewery district known as ‘Yeast Van’, is a quaint but vibrant craft brewery known as Andina Brewing Company. The South American inspired lounge space offers a variety of artisanal beers, local craft cider, alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, as well as Chilean or Argentine wine. The tasting lounge also offers an extensive selection of traditional Andean dishes prepared in-house, with the freshest South American and British Columbian ingredients.
Beer of the Month
It just so happens, the brewing team released a fresh batch of their ‘Pálida’ pale ale on tap during my latest visit. Don’t let the hazy appearance fool you, it is approachable as it is flavorful. Notes of citrus, stone fruit, and melon, along with a light-medium mouth feel, makes it the ideal beverage to pair with their fresh and tangy ‘De La Casa’ ceviche (cooked shrimp, avocado, cilantro, peppers, red onion, and mango in a light mayo/lemon sauce).
Next on the docket, is the year round staple ‘Monita’ Blonde IPA. Although hop forward, this balanced brew has a sturdy malt presence, and restrained bitterness.
Rest assured, there are options for casual beer seekers also, as the clean and refreshing ‘Cerveza’ Pilsner pairs wonderfully with their flavorful and satisfying empanadas.
For the self-proclaimed craft beer enthusiasts, Andina offers a rotating ‘Conchita’ coffee beer series to satisfy your thirst for the experimental. Their latest release is a Kölsch, an approachable German blonde ale, infused with Colombian Coffee. This one is balanced but complex, due to the interplay of the subtle coffee and beer flavor profiles.
Be on the lookout for their ‘Agria’ rotating sour beer series as well. Rumor has it, the upcoming release will either be jam packed with a certain type of berry, and/or a popular citrus fruit!
As the month of April comes to a close, I felt compelled to pay the Twin Sails Brewing tasting room in Port Moody a visit, and see what they have lined up for the late spring/early summer season.
Beer Of The Month
The beer that screams ‘crowd favorite’ was their soon to be core brand, ‘Would Crush’ raspberry wheat ale. Since making its debut last March, this clean and approachable brew is packed with raspberry flavor and aroma. The assertive additions of malted and flaked wheat also gives it a light-medium body, and slight creamy mouth feel, just to remind you are drinking a nicely balanced beer. Would Crush, is either on draught at your local craft beer-friendly bar or restaurant, or in liquor retail stores as four pack 473mL cans. You can also visit their online shop to order your four pack, just to be on the safe side!
Additional beers on tap:
The Twin Sails Brewing tasting room also offers clean and approachable beers like their ‘low life’ lager.
European farmhouse style-inspired brews like their ‘brass section’ dry hopped saison
As well as bright and fruit-forward tart ales such as the ‘shine’ strawberry and rhubarb sour
Want to try out the Beer of the Month? Be sure to head over to our Instagram page and look for this post, we’re giving away a $50 Gift Card to Twin Sails Brewing, contest ends on Monday May 6th 2019! Good luck!
I really enjoyed my latest visit to the Steamworks Taproom in North Burnaby, because the tap list had a mix of winter seasonals that were on their last legs, some year-round crushable brews, and a limited release beer that is available in select stores throughout spring.
Beer of the Month
The limited release ‘battleship’ double IPA definitely caught my attention. There was a light burst of tropical notes on the nose, from the generous helping of aromatic hops. In terms of taste, hints of citrus fruits, mango, pineapple, and papaya, with a dash of astringent character coated my palate, as it cleverly disguised the 8.9% alcohol by volume. The 65 bittering units (IBU) provided a faint bitterness to balance out the full mouth feel, which also prevented it from being cloyingly sweet.
If big and bold flavors aren’t what you’re looking for, then their mainstay premium craft lager would be the perfect match for any pub grub or comfort food craving. Clean, crisp, with a gentle addition of hops for that zippy character, makes it easy for you to have another when accompanied with friends.
Those who have an affinity for dark and deep flavors won’t be disappointed either, as they still have their seasonal nitrogenated session stout available in limited quantities. Gentle notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and vanilla, coupled with a velvety mouth feel from the nitrogen, makes this the ideal beer to pair with caramelized meats, and hardy stews for those chilly spring evenings.
Lastly, for those who are feeling adventurous, the taproom offers an experimental small batch every Wednesday called the ‘weekly one-off’. Luckily, they still had a bit of their latest one-off, the peach and pomegranate sour ale. A light-medium bodied beer, intentionally and thoughtfully soured to impart natural lemon character, which was then dosed with a generous helping of pomegranates to create a fruity, and refreshing brew.
Although the taproom doesn’t have a kitchen, they have a selection of locally sourced light snacks and treats if you’re feeling peckish. Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood meat market and deli, Cioffi’s, also delivers a limited number of freshly prepared gourmet sandwiches daily, so grab one before they’re gone!
Give-away
We also have a Give-away to announce, hit up our Instagram page for how to enter:
Vancouver weather can be temperamental in the month of June, so finding a beer that is light and refreshing during the balmy days, but also hardy enough for the cool evenings, can be a challenge.Enter @coalharbourbrewing’s pineapple and passion fruit Tiny Umbrella Double IPA.When gently chilled, the generous tropical fruit and hop variety additions will satisfy the fruit smoothie lover in you.As the beer warms, the 8.2% ABV and 60 hop bittering units provides a subtle kick on your taste buds.Pair this juicy but hoppy beer with light greens, spicy dishes, or something greasy, and enjoy!
June 2018 – Coal Harbour Brewing Tiny Umbrella Double IPA.
The BC craft beer chapter of the Pink Boots Society got together in late winter to brew their 3rd annual collaboration brew Pink Haze India Pale Ale, to celebrate and equip women beer professionals! Don’t let the beer style, 48 IBU’s, and 7.2% ABV fool you. This is one aromatic, & yeast driven juice bomb that disguises the bitterness wonderfully while reaching maximum flavour and drinkability 😉
Your true friends will always arrive at your door bearing champagne and orange juice to kick start the day’s festivities. No basic Vancouver birthday is complete without a mimosa (or six): the pregame for birthday brunch is vital. Pick an aesthetic spot to insta-story your first beverages and head out to brunch.
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
Catch 122 Cafe Bistro
We chose Catch 122 and ordered an Espressotini (for the sleepy friend), a Bourbon Bellini (for the friend not willing to give up on the bubbles yet) and a Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour (for the classy friend). All three were delicious and had us feeling warm, fuzzy, and ready to carb up. Try the breakfast sandwich, with thick cut bacon, folded scrambled eggs, avocado and caramelized onion goat cheese, or the lamb and eggs with braised lamb shoulder and polenta. Equipped with a brunch and a buzz, take on the day’s activities with the confidence of someone who is day drunk at two in the afternoon on a Monday.
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
The Flying Pig Gastown
After draining our savings accounts on Robson for a few hours, we headed to Flying Pig Gastown: the iconic Vancouver birthday dinner spot. Here, you can spoil the birthday girl (or boy) with bottles of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, gingery Moscow mules, a walnut old-fashioned that tastes like maple walnut ice cream and Burt Reynolds shots sure to make you feel fresh the following morning. Sober up with the decadent truffle mac and cheese, lemony, parmesan-topped crispy Brussels sprouts and the wild seafood pappardelle with brin fresh seafood and a spicy rose sauce. The Flying Pig also kindly provided us with a giant piece of vanilla-chocolate cake the size of the birthday girl’s (beautiful) head.
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
The Diamond
Finish a perfect evening heart-racingly close to the suave cast of Riverdale at The Diamond. Fan girl at the top of Jughead Jones’ toque-clad head, one booth over, as you sip your Gassy Jack’s Lady made with local crème de cassis, amontillado sherry, and lemon. Try not to trip down the Diamond’s stairs as you side-eye FP Jones and Kevin Keller on your way out. Get home safe to the loving embrace of your bed, head swimming with birthday friend-love, an unseemly amount of cocktails, and dreams of horseback riding into the sunset with Cole Sprouse. Till next year!
photo by Bella Tang-Graham
For more information:
CATCH 122 CAFE BISTRO 122 W HASTINGS ST. VANCOUVER, BC V6B 1G8
?: Sweet aromatics/taste up front, then a little tickle in the back of the throat. I find the unassuming umami-like mouthfeel binds all the flavours together into a cohesive beer.
