From the category archives:

Rick Green

Coming of Age: An Introduction to Beer Cellaring

by Rick Green 04.28.2011

The tagline of the Mark James Group is “Drink Fresh Beer“. For the most part, this is what you should do. Go into a brewpub, where you find the freshest beer, and try a seasonal release when it first comes out. Sample it again three or four weeks later, and you may notice a considerable [...]

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Vancouver’s Emerging Street Food Landscape

by Rick Green 04.18.2011

A number years from now, we’ll probably look back and say, “Remember when the only street food you could get in Vancouver was hotdogs and chestnuts? What were people thinking?”
Over the next four years, we’ll see 60 new street food vendor locations. Thirty will be Downtown and another 30 spread throughout other parts of the [...]

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Beer Review: Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale

by Rick Green 03.07.2011

The primary grain used to make beer is malted barley. Today, most industrial brewers may replace up to 40% with rice or corn which serves to reduce body and maltiness for a lighter, crisper beer with the added bonus to them of reducing cost. However, there are some traditional beer styles that have used other [...]

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The End of North American Organic Agriculture?

by Rick Green 02.14.2011

On January 27, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would, once again, allow the unregulated sale of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Alfalfa, which is genetically engineered (GE) to resist the company’s glyphosate herbicide, Roundup. This decision was made despite acknowledgment in the USDA’s final Environmental Impact Statement that the potential for cross-fertilization to [...]

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A Chinese New Year Staycation

by Rick Green 01.28.2011

When I lived in Hong Kong, there was always a festive atmosphere at Christmas in the commercial districts and hotels, but this was more for the benefit of expats and tourists than the majority of residents. For Chinese, the fifteen days beginning with the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar [...]

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Food Options to Expand on Vancouver Streets

by Rick Green 01.23.2011

(Image courtesy of: www.reupbbq.com)
There’s good news for Vancouver’s street food scene. On Thursday, city council unanimously approved expanding the number of street food vendors. Sixty new locations will be phased in over the next four years with 30 downtown and 30 spread throughout other parts of the city. There will also be a trial from [...]

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Beer Review: Dominus Vobiscum Blanche

by Rick Green 12.15.2010

Given the growing popularity of Witbier (bière blanche/white beer) here, it may come as a surprise that the style almost became extinct when the last brewery producing it in Hoegaarden closed in 1957. The Belgian village in Flemish Brabant synonymous with the name of the Witbier that most people are familiar with, had been brewing [...]

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Beer Review: La Vache Folle ESB

by Rick Green 12.09.2010

We normally think of Canada as a single country. However, when it comes to alcohol, inter-provincial sales restrictions make us more like ten countries. Until just recently, the craft beer produced in other parts of Canada has been something of a mystery that cost a few pints and an airline ticket to unravel. Now, thanks [...]

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Offaly Tasty Beer Dinner

by Rick Green 12.05.2010

Although there was no official declaration, 2010 looks like it was the year of the beer dinner in the Lower Mainland. While we can expect these regularly from brewpubs, we’ve only seen the occasional dabble from other establishments within the last couple of years, such as The Whip, Cru, Balilicious, FigMint, and Diva at The [...]

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Higher Canadian Profile for Wild Turkey

by Rick Green 11.01.2010

Local bourbon aficionados will be pleased to know that Canada is now on Wild Turkey’s radar since Gruppo Campari bought the brand from Pernod Ricard last year, after nearly three decades in the latter’s portfolio. Associate Distiller, Eddie Russell, was recently in Vancouver and Calgary to spread the good news and showcase five of Wild [...]

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Red Card Scores with Summer Beer Series

by Rick Green 08.11.2010

When you think of a typical testosterone sports bar, you imagine a place with raucous guys drinking pitchers of a heavily advertised beer, attacking plates of nachos, chicken wings, or pork bites in between fist waving and shouting at televisions. Chances are, people are not there for the quality of the food or drink. But [...]

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