{"id":14650,"date":"2017-09-20T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=14650"},"modified":"2017-09-18T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T19:30:18","slug":"great-canadian-beer-fest-celebrates-a-quarter-century-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2017\/09\/20\/great-canadian-beer-fest-celebrates-a-quarter-century-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Canadian Beer Fest celebrates a quarter-century in style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gettin\u2019 loose
\nFriday, September 8: media tour<\/b><\/p>\n

Friday may have started off with a bit of morning rain, but the sunshine came out in the afternoon, and so did the beer fans. They were headed to the 25th annual Great Canadian Beer Festival, and so was I.<\/p>\n

Racing down to the park, I was thinking about how this wasn\u2019t my first beer festival but it was my first as a member of the media. We gathered together for a press tour of the fest grounds, which started at the tent of Spinnakers, BC\u2019s oldest craft brew pub and one of the original beer fest participants. Unfortunately, their keg hadn\u2019t arrived yet, so we had to skip them this time around.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This year’s beer fest was a hit, again (photo by Jay Wallace).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next was a stop at one of BC\u2019s newest brewers, Riot, to try their popular and refreshing Sorry We Took So Long Saison, inspired by their seven-year-long journey from concept to opening late last year in Chemainus.<\/p>\n

Langford\u2019s Axe & Barrel shared a Fruity Mutha Pucka Sour with us\u2014it was tart but too heavy on the berries for my palate. Moody Ales\u2019 Lusty Chocolate Oatmeal Stout is not something I\u2019d drink much of, but it\u2019s perfect for dessert. Finally, we visited Gibsons\u2019 Persephone to try their refreshing Amarillo Pilsner, which was a nice way to cleanse the palate. Then we were on to the cask tent\u2014I tried the Briteline tangerine IPA from Foamer\u2019s Folly, which was okay but didn\u2019t wow me\u2014before being turned loose to explore the festival on our own.<\/p>\n

Gettin\u2019 hazy
\nFriday, September 8: sampling solo<\/b><\/p>\n

Finally, I was in my beer-nerd element. Wandering amongst the many attendees pouring in to get tasting, I wasn\u2019t too interested in trying beers I could buy in town or have already had; I wanted to taste brews that were made just for the festival, and to get sneak peeks of beers to come. I wanted to challenge my palate.<\/p>\n

I went to Twin Sails, who are known for taking a different approach to brewing. I was not disappointed. Their Dad Jokes double IPA was crazy hoppy, and I was worried it may have done permanent damage to my palate\u2014in a good way. I followed that up by sampling their Con Leche milk stout and was wowed by the beautiful coffee and cinnamon flavours; I\u2019ll definitely pay the extra dollar to treat myself to this if I see it on store shelves.<\/p>\n

Twin Sails was just the first of many breweries from the mainland that brought its A game to our island festival. Small brewers such as Hathi (brewed through Abbotsford\u2019s Ravens Brewing), Brassneck, and 33 Acres offered festival-goers a fresh taste of what competition on the other side of the Georgia Strait is like. Hathi\u2019s Coriander Pale Ale was a standout for me\u2014the seasoning often used in Indian cooking added bright citrus notes.<\/p>\n

Gettin\u2019 rainy
\nSaturday, September 9:
\nthe booze continues<\/b><\/p>\n

Bright faces were common at the festival this year. Even though the sunny Friday afternoon was followed by rain on Saturday, everyone at the festival was really having a great time. Hoods and umbrellas may have hidden some faces from the rain, but they couldn\u2019t hide the big, beaming smiles and jovial laughter of family, friends, and strangers enjoying themselves.<\/p>\n

Festivals have that effect on people; beer festivals, doubly so. Speaking of bright, my favourite brews were just that.<\/p>\n

Luppolo\u2019s Black Lime Gose is made with sun-dried limes and salt, and it reminded me of being a kid and sucking on those tart little tablet-shaped candies; it would pair well with peppery pasta and grilled fish.<\/p>\n

Beau\u2019s, from Ontario, offered Buenos Dias, a zesty gruit-style beer made with citrus fruits that had me craving a few more weeks of sunshine. The Bandit, a k\u00f6lsch from Bomber, reminded me of how much I deplore cutting the grass in summer, but it also reminded me that the reward of a cold beer like the Bandit afterward makes it all worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Spoke Oceanside Brewery offered what was my favourite beer from the island breweries: its High Tide Rye Imperial Rye Ale, which had that toasty warmth and spice that rye imparts; it reminded me that good things come in late summer.<\/p>\n

But, like summer, all good things must come to an end, and that includes festivals. On my way out, I reminded myself that summer would return next year, and I hoped the beer fest would too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gettin\u2019 loose Friday, September 8: media tour Friday may have started off with a bit of morning rain, but the sunshine came out in the afternoon, and so did the beer fans. They were headed to the 25th annual Great Canadian Beer Festival, and so was I. Racing down to the park, I was thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-september-20-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14653,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650\/revisions\/14653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}