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Joe Wiebe

Craft Beer Review: Full Nelson Imperial IPA

by Joe Wiebe 05.10.2013

Warning! I am about do some serious name-dropping. I apologize if this offends anyone’s sensibilities but I have my reasons. Yesterday, brewers from across Canada—from Tofino to Halifax and up to Whitehorse—converged on Victoria for the Canadian Brewing Awards, which are being held here this weekend. There will be a series of seminars and events [...]

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Thirsty – A Craft Beer Column: April 2013

by Joe Wiebe 04.29.2013

Vancouver Craft Beer Week May 31 to June 8 Website | Twitter | Facebook Vancouver Craft Beer Week is back for its fourth year with a poker-related “We’re Going All In” theme that reflects the excitement of the boom in new breweries opening in Vancouver, as well as the location of the two-day VCBW Beer Festival, which will take [...]

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Craft Beer Review: Lighthouse Brewing Barnacle Wheat IPA

by Joe Wiebe 04.17.2013

Victoria’s Lighthouse Brewing recently expanded its brewery into a neighbouring warehouse, which gave them the room to add some big, new fermentation tanks. This is great news for craft beer lovers since brewer Dean McLeod’s line-up of limited release beers in 650-mL bombers has been one of the most interesting collections of beers put out [...]

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Thirsty – A Craft Beer Column: March 2013

by Joe Wiebe 03.25.2013

Festival Season Spring is here and with it the start of beer festival season. Sure, there are a couple of great winter beer events in British Columbia, including the Central City Winter Cask Festival, which was held in January, and the Alibi Room’s annual beer list centennial celebration, but the province’s major beer festivals are [...]

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Craft Beer Review: Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales Seizoen

by Joe Wiebe 03.07.2013

Last June, I was lucky enough to spend three glorious, beer-drenched days in Portland, Oregon. At the end of my visit, I spent 20 chilly minutes browsing the incredible selection in the cold beer room of the downtown Whole Foods where I picked out a few bottles and cans to bring home to BC. One [...]

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Thirsty – A Craft Beer Column: February 2013

by Joe Wiebe 02.18.2013

Growlin’ For Beer Growlers have been around for a long time. The unusual name dates back to the 1890s when New York City residents would carry draft beer from a bar to work or home using a half-gallon galvanized pail with a metal lid. The carbonation escaping under the lid made a purring or “growling” [...]

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Craft Beer Review: Howe Sound Brewing Wee Beastie

by Joe Wiebe 02.04.2013

For hundreds of years, well into the 20th century, all beer was stored in wooden barrels, usually oak because of its sturdiness and waterproof quality. Industrialization of the brewing industry led to the advent of metal fermentation and conditioning tanks, glass bottles, and eventually aluminum cans and kegs. Barrels all but disappeared from the brewing [...]

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Craft Beer Review: Fernie Black Mammoth Winter Ale

by Joe Wiebe 01.23.2013

When Fernie Brewing first opened in 2003, unlike most breweries it was busier in the winter than the summer. After all, during ski season there are as many as 9,000 people on the slopes of the three ski hills situated around the town of Fernie where only 5,000 reside year-round. Naturally, the bars and restaurants [...]

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2012: The Year in Craft Beer

by Joe Wiebe 01.03.2013

Here are some of the highlights from a great year for BC’s craft beer industry. 7 New breweries! BC craft beer drinkers welcomed seven new breweries in 2012 (eight if you count Hoyne which opened in late December 2011). Most of these new breweries have already made a mark on the brewing scene, and some [...]

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Craft Beer Review: 4 Recent Releases

by Joe Wiebe 12.06.2012

There have been several interesting BC craft beer releases in recent weeks. Here are some capsule reviews (in order of alcoholic strength).

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Craft Beer Review: Parallel 49 Salty Scot & Black Christmas

by Joe Wiebe 11.20.2012

Since Parallel 49 Brewing opened in the spring, the East Vancouver brewery owned by the team behind St. Augustine’s has been brewing beer like gangbusters, and most of it has been quite good. The company prides itself on putting unique twists on established styles, and so far, they’ve been successful in most cases—their hoppiest core [...]

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Thirsty – A Craft Beer Column: November, 2012

by Joe Wiebe 11.09.2012

Last month, as I was writing about all the different pumpkin and fresh-hop beers available in BC, I started thinking about how much variety there is in the craft beer scene here. It’s not news to anyone, I’m sure, but we are certainly lucky to have such a diverse array of beer styles and brands, [...]

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