West Coast Pale Ale 5.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 341 ml.
$12.95 per six pack (Canadian) At LCBO.Twitter:
@itsgoodtobehere
Wow. Yet another month has passed between blog posts. I had a whole plan of doing a number of Canadian Beers all through the month of July for the Canada day celebration. Best laid plans I guess. So I have three days to fit them all in. I am starting on the west coast and I have a few entries from different provinces. I am going to culminate with a Scottish beer (yes Scots are Canadians too!) that was aged in Canadian Whiskey Barrels.
Tonight's offering is a blast from my past. Vancouver is quite possibly one of my most favourite Canadian cities, and in the heart of this beautiful harbour is a tiny place called Granville Island. Ganville Island is a 35 acre reclaimed pair of sand bars that had previously served the Vancouver area First Nations as a fishing corral. As the Europeans settled, the small town of "Granville" was renamed Vancouver, and industrialisation began. In 1915 in a desparate search began for land along the newly laid CPR Rail line with access to the harbour. As a solution, the town council of Vancouver approved the dredging of False Creek and the expansion of the sand bars that became "Industrial Island." With great fortune the name didn't stick and people began calling it Granville Island after the steel bridge that crossed False Creek right above it and that still casts a shadow on the island to this day.
After the war, industry on the island began to decline, pollution filled the creek, fires ravaged the gradually emptying buildings and constant battles were being waged between the young city and delinquent businesses. So a new reclamation project began and Vancouver began to develop the island to be a meeting place for the people. A fresh market was opened and is one of the most important markets in Canada to this day. The Emily Carr University of Art and design was opened. Numerous artists and craft shops have also taken up residence making Granville island one of Vancouver's "Must See" locations. It was also here in 1984 when Mitch Taylor opened Canada's very first microbrewery: Granville Island Brewing Company. Their first beer was Granville Island lager which was followed up with Lord Granville Pale Ale in 1987, Subsequently this beer was renamed after the body of water that False Creek drains into: English Bay.
I first visited the brwery in 1997 and had my first taste of English Bay back then. Since then Granville Island expanded and moved it's main production facilities to the town of Kelowna in the interior of B.C. The headquarters still has an operating brewery which is used mainly for test batches, and is the location of the "Taproom." In 2009 Granville was sold by it's majority shareholder Andre's Wines, to Creemore Springs Brewing Company of Ontario, operating under the direction of the then Molson Canada. This year MolsonCoors decided to refocus it's craft beer division into a new business: Six Pints Specialty Beer Co. which will direct Creemore and Granville and allow them the freedom they need to operate their craft breweries.
Enough already... to the beer!
Dark copper in colour, yeast and bread on the nose. Light hints of herbs and medicine. Off white head made up of small bubbles. First sip gives us caramel, oiliness, black tea. Roasted malt flavour throughout well balanced clean dry finish. There is an indescribable smell in almost every brewery. It's a warm, dry, inviting, sugary smell of malted barley cooking in the kettles. The finish of this beer captures the essence of that smell. That taste of the slowly simmering grains remains, keeping this beer very fresh and delightful.
Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Final Thoughts:
A wonderful malty, easy drinking beer. Excellent with food (I had BBQ ribs... ) Just as good as the day I had it in the brewery. I hope that is one thing that never changes. This beer reminds me of my time out west and brings back great memories. In fact it has made my feet itchy, and begs to lure me back to Vancouver. Some day... some day soon.
CheersCJT
Beer # 268 Hop Head Black India Pale Ale
Tonight's offering we go back to British Columbia. This time to Kelowna, one of my favourite towns in the interior of the province. Situated on the southern end of Lake Okanagan, in the heart of BC wine country. We have been to Tree before, we sampled their Cutthroat West Coast Pale Ale, and found it to be a good beer. Let's see what they do with a black IPA. For those of you who have not heard of this style before, it is an American Pale ale style done with deeply malted barley. alcohol range can be from 5% to 10% and this one clocks in at the higher side, at 8%.
