{"id":17361,"date":"2019-03-07T09:55:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T17:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=17361"},"modified":"2019-03-08T09:11:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T17:11:09","slug":"victoria-beer-week-review-beer-cocktails-competition-blends-with-mixed-results-but-emerges-a-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/03\/07\/victoria-beer-week-review-beer-cocktails-competition-blends-with-mixed-results-but-emerges-a-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Beer Week review: Beer Cocktails Competition blends with mixed results but emerges a winner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pushing the boundaries of cocktail creativity, Wednesday evening\u2019s Beer Cocktails Competition\u2014part of Victoria Beer Week\u2014put the attendees in the judges\u2019 shoes. Six mixologists\u2014each from one of Victoria\u2019s best restaurants\u2014were on hand at this event, pairing Vancouver Island-made spirits with BC craft beer. The results were sometimes strange, but a few creations had me asking for a refill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted at LURE Restaurant and Bar overlooking the inner harbour, patrons were given a special bottle cap for judging. Crowds formed around each outlet as the mixologists recited poetic stories meant to accompany the experience. My favourite was Veneto Kitchen and Bar\u2019s Mike Norbury, who equated his cocktail to a day of fishing with friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Scenes from Victoria Beer Week’s Beer Cocktails Competition (photo by Nathan Krause\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Norbury had smoked salmon on hand while the drink was built, mixing Duncan\u2019s Small Block Brewing\u2019s Test \u2018n Tune IPA with Stillhead Distillery Vodka as he painted a picture of a perfect day on the lake. Norbury\u2019s final garnish was a spritz of cedar on the drinker\u2019s open palm. Each sip of this was distinctly Pacific Northwest, with the earthy IPA creating a scotch-like flavour, backed by whiffs of the forest floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plenty of staff was on hand delivering impressively crafted hors d\u2019oeuvres and pizzas. Every bite I had was exceptional, with the panko-crusted fried mac and cheese wedges and Kahlua ganache stuffed \u201cmonkey bread\u201d being the standouts. After filling up, I went straight for the night\u2019s winning cocktail, an elegant blend of green tea and yuzu-infused gin by Sheringham Distillery mixed with beer from Chemainus\u2019 Riot Brewing. Balanced and exotic, it completely deserved its prestige. Soren Schepkowski from Clarke & Co. took home the big win with his mix of drinks from Riot and Sheringham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all contenders were so lucky. A blended margarita with a beer float didn\u2019t exactly have what I imagine was the desired effect, leaving a slushy, flavourless iceberg to dissolve in a pool of IPA and porter. Another that didn\u2019t quite hit the mark was an intricately crafted cocktail that amounted to a two-ounce shot of sweet syrupy chocolatey framboise. Intentions were ambitious on these ones, yet the results didn\u2019t live up to the expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All told, it was a night to remember, and I applaud VBW\u2019s efforts to elevate the craft beer experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pushing the boundaries of cocktail creativity, Wednesday evening\u2019s Beer Cocktails Competition\u2014part of Victoria Beer Week\u2014put the attendees in the judges\u2019 shoes. Six mixologists\u2014each from one of Victoria\u2019s best restaurants\u2014were on hand at this event, pairing Vancouver Island-made spirits with BC craft beer. The results were sometimes strange, but a few creations had me asking for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17362,"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":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17361","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=17361"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17368,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17361\/revisions\/17368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}