craft beer

The beer from back east

/ Greg / Leave a comment

I’ve written here a few times how much I miss the craft beer scene back in Nova Scotia. I don’t drink a huge quantity of beer, but when I do have a pint or two, I like to try “new to me” beers and while I was living in Nova Scotia I never ran out of something new to sample. Fast forward about a year and a half, and when I got back to Halifax, I had a lot of catching up to do.

Not only was I excited in trying some new beers, but I was also thrilled to get a beautiful spring day to visit a place that had materialized since my move. The Stillwell Beergarden on Spring Garden Road is something that I wish someone here in Saskatoon would replicate just off Broadway. A very simple menu of grilled food, ten taps of Atlantic Canadian beer, and what I can imagine would be a lovely evening spot with the overhead patio lanterns – this is my kind of place. I sampled two beers on my lunchtime visit – the “Malternate Reality” from North Brewing (probably my favourite Halifax brewery) and “Dunder” an Australian pale ale from Trailway Brewing in Fredericton.

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Favourites and firsts

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A lot can change in fifteen months. And a lot can stay the same.

Back in Halifax for a couple of days after my sister’s wedding in the Annapolis Valley this past summer, my wife and I hit a few favourite haunts in our former neighbourhood. We also took some time to experience a few new things in a city that means a lot to both of us. Not surprisingly, one of the first places we revisited was the central library downtown. We had lived two blocks from here and we both used it as a second living room. The view of the city and the harbour from the library is something we both miss.

Halifax Central Library

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Southern food and beer

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Southern hospitality is a real thing. When I was in Atlanta, you could feel it in a few distinct ways. First, I was consistently referred to as “hon” or “love” in a way that reminded me of Atlantic Canadian grandmothers. Secondly, everyone I talked to was genuinely interested in having a conversation, and when they learned I was visiting, they were generous with tips on how to best enjoy Atlanta. And lastly, and luckily for someone who is a food and beer lover, the hospitality came shining through every time I sat down for a meal or for a beverage.

My introduction to southern hospitality and food started shortly after arriving in Atlanta from Saskatoon. I was starving, and through a bit of good fortune, I found Max Lager’s, a great gastropub, around the corner from my hotel. My server’s recommendation of the fried chicken was a winner – set on top of mashed potatoes, drizzled with honey and served with some tangy greens, it was a great first taste of Atlanta and was enough food for two. Or one hungry travel-weary Canadian.

Fried chicken at Max Lager's

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Beer in the ‘Peg

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After a little over a year living on the prairies, I’ve learned that some of western Canada is playing catch up to the rest of the country in the growth of craft beer. Certainly that’s true in Saskatchewan, and I came to learn it’s also true in Manitoba on my recent visit to its capital city of Winnipeg. Playing catch up doesn’t mean you can’t find a great craft beer, it just means you’ll sample you’re way through the available choices much quicker.

After a morning flight to Winnipeg a late lunch beckoned, and given the choice by my dining companion, I selected Peg Beer Co. so I could get a tasting flight to accompany my meal. The craft brewery in the Exchange District is my kind of place – industrial feel, a good selection of their beers on tap, and a fairly solid kitchen. On a hot afternoon, I stuck to fairly light beers in my tasting flight. From left to right: a wheat (that I got through most of before snapping this picture), a really solid ISA, a sour beer (my favourite from this visit) and a slightly spicy rye ale. All delicious and the good first impression would bring me back later in the trip for another meal.

Sampler at Peg Beer Co.

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Guys weekend in Montreal

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The idea for a guys weekend in Montreal with my dad started with a desire to relive some old times in the city. Aside from family road trips to visit my mom and dad’s relatives in New Brunswick, my first real travel experiences were with dad visiting Montreal to take in Expos games in the early 1980s. Those trips were fun times and the memories of them still float around in my mind from time to time. The excited feelings I had when I first arrived in Montreal as a child on the train on those trips are pretty much the same feelings I have today when I visit a place for the first time.

So with nostalgia sparking the idea, and a couple of Blue Jays preseason games in Montreal this past March forming the cornerstone of a trip, I invited my dad on a guys weekend in a city we both love. I flew in from Saskatoon, him from Halifax, and we met in the Montreal airport ready to relive some good old times and to see what kind of trouble we could get into. Trouble is all relative of course, and 40-somthing me and 70-something dad were both up for some unhealthy but delicious eating. First order of business was a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s.

At Schwartz's Deli

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There’s more than wine

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In the days leading up to leaving for France, the most common question asked of me was some variation on “How many wines are you going to try over two weeks?” No one asked me if I was excited to sample some French craft beers. While I have almost built entire trips around craft beer tastings, you just don’t do that in France. You could. Not that there isn’t an ample and growing beer community, but there’s really so much else that’s worthy of attention. So on this trip, while leaving most of my time to wine (I’ll be writing much more on that soon) I fit some beer in along the margins.

On a late morning (if there’s something I love about Europe, it’s the laissez-faire mentality to a moderate amount of morning drinking) where my wife was getting a few extra Zzzzzs, I popped into Académie de la Bière just down the road in Montparnasse from our hotel and enjoyed a just before noon amber ale from La Parisienne. Nicely balanced, my first craft beer in Paris gave me hope I’d find a few hidden treasures over the two weeks.

Beer at L'Académie de La Bière

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A great beer destination

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One of the main reasons for choosing Portland for my winter escape this year was its abundance of craft beer. Many say Portland has the highest per capita concentration of craft breweries and beer bars in the USA – that was good enough for me to book my flights! Once I arrived in the city, I knew I would be dedicating at least a couple of afternoons to some beer tastings.

My first afternoon “crawl” started at Rogue. When you arrive here, they pour you a sample to welcome you. For me, it was their Chocolate Stout, which ended up being my favourite of the visit.

Rogue Brewery, Portland

They have so many beers on tap it was difficult to make a selection of only four. I knew I’d be hitting two more breweries, so was trying to pace myself. My favourite of these was the 4 Hop IPA on the far left which was very full flavoured for a lower alcohol beer. By far one of the most intersting samples of my trip was their Beard Beer (second from the right) using wild yeast from the brewmaster’s beard. It was a touch sour with a hint of hipster.

IMG_2714

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Six days of Seattle sampling

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Anytime I got out of Saskatoon in 2016, mission one was partaking in some craft beer sampling. My desire to try a new beer every time I crack one open had run into a small (but thankfully growing and delicious) craft beer scene in Saskatchewan. In Seattle I had the opposite problem – so many beers, and so little time – so I got started right away on my first afternoon. With a reservation just around the corner at a great Mexican restaurant, I stopped in at Optimism Brewing for a quick four sample tasting. Most memorable was the Afraid of the Dark lager, but the prize for best named went to “Don’t Boo, Vote” – particularly sad as I was sipping it just two days after the election.

Optimism Brewing Company

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Craft beer vacation day

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The first half of my September vacation day in Vancouver was spent on Grouse Mountain taking in spectacular views on a simply perfect fall day. Being 4,000 feet above the city breathing in fresh mountain air allowed me to work up quite the thirst for my afternoon pursuit – a craft beer crawl through East Vancouver. First stop was Parallel 49 Brewing, oddly, a brewery whose beers I hadn’t tried before even though a number of their offerings are available in Saskatoon.

I was really happy with my selection of this as the first stop (as my palette was at its freshest) and of the samples I selected for my tasting here. These beers were all outstanding. From left to right: Holy Smokes (a smoked lager), Schadenfreude (probably the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had with a full pumpkin and spice flavour), Summer Smash (an ISA that if it were available in bottles would be my watching a baseball game game beer) and their Filthy Dirty IPA. What a great start to a craft beer crawl!

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Five days of Minnesota beers

/ Greg / 2 Comments

My solo trips in recent years have had a focus on baseball and craft beer. Minneapolis this year was no different and provided a great setting for both. Five days and nights spent in beautiful Target Field watching baseball bookended part of each day, and some exploration of Minnesota state craft beers took up a part of the remainder of those days. In the city, there was no shortage of beer options, even for someone who stuck to breweries and bars near the downtown or on one of the light rail lines. There were even a couple of great taprooms conveniently located next door to the ballpark I was heading to every day.

Modist Brewing’s taproom had a very stripped down, almost Scandinavian, feel. On a humid afternoon of city exploring, I pulled up a chair and tried four of their creations. My favourite (the picture on the left below) was their “First Call”. A light lager infused with espresso, this was deliciously weird and wonderful. If ever there was a morning beer, this was it.

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