Chicago Scores Rare Vancouver Beer

^– Storm brewer, James Walton, with Mayor Robertson.

When the Blackhawks won 7-5 against the Canucks in Game 6 of the playoffs, little did Chicago know that they would score something as rare as a Stanley Cup win. And the competition between the two cities isn’t necessarily over just yet…

Two weeks ago, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson made a friendly wager with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as to which city’s team would continue on in the NHL playoffs. Each mayor put up a selection of local products they would give the other if their team lost. On Thursday, Robertson made good on the bet and packed up the Vancouver booty to send to Daley.

What did the Windy City bag? Some 2010 Winter Olympic swag, City of Vancouver umbrellas in the Canucks’ colours, smoked salmon from the Musqueam First Nation, Thai Princess sauces, dried wild morels from Pacific Rim Mushrooms, Que Pasa “Oh Canada” tortilla chips,  a box of Bad Girl chocolates and a Purdy’s gift basket, Happy Planet juices, a case of Molson Canadian, two six-packs of Granville Island Brockton IPA, and a bottle of Storm Brewing’s Black Currant Lambic.

Chicago Tribune food and wine writers, Monica Eng and Bill Daley, assessed some of the food and beverage offerings to determine whether Chicago or Vancouver would potentially get the better deal. Even though the only beer they had to sample at the time was the Molson Canadian, Daley and Eng felt Vancouver had the superior food and beverage offering.

Storm’s lambic almost didn’t make it in. Robertson had had beer from the local brewery in the past. Consequently, one of his staff contacted them about providing some cherry stout for the wager. Problem is, Storm doesn’t regularly brew cherry stout, nor do they package their beer—they’re a draught brewery. Then brewer, James Walton, remembered he had one bottle left of the one beer that he had bottled, the 12-year-old, barrel-aged lambic. Thus, Chicago will be getting a rare treat that few Vancouverites have had the pleasure of experiencing themselves.

Traditional lambic is a challenging beer to produce. It is more akin to wine making, taking years to condition. Blending is a common practice. Walton was before his time when he began experimenting with the style. Although having offered it occasionally at various beer festivals and events in BC, very few beer drinkers embraced its sour, vinous qualities. That is slowly starting to change as Belgian beer styles grow in popularity, especially the fruit ales and Witbier. Wine drinkers are also discovering lambic. Most of what is available in BC liquor stores, however, is produced for the mass-market; it is overly sweet and lacking in complexity, but this is a reflection of a lamentable trend in Belgium itself.

Unfortunately, at a time when the market is building here for this unusual type of beer, Storm is no longer producing it. There have been some other forays into similar Belgian-style ales—Yaletown Brewing’s Oud Bruin, Steamworks’ Sour Cherry, Spinnakers’ fruit ales, and Driftwood’s Farmhand Ale saison—but not lambic. Hopefully, Walton can be coaxed into making it again. In the meantime, he’s thrown down the gauntlet to Chicago’s brewers: “Your hockey team may have beaten the Canucks this time around, but try to make a better lambic!” We’ll see in a few years if they succeed, assuming they take up the challenge.

Tagged as: Bill Daley, Blackhawks, Canucks, Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Gregor Robertson, hockey, James Walton, lambic, Monica Eng, NHL, Richard Daley, Storm Brewing, Vancouver