It’s summer. It’s time to get out and enjoy the improving weather, and reach for a refreshing beverage to make the afternoons and evenings pass by a little more enjoyably. It’s also a time to be more adventurous and investigate what the West Coast has to offer the craft beer market.
The beginning of West Coast craft-brewing is usually dated back to Fritz Maytag’s purchase and subsequent renovation of the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California in 1965. As for Canada’s Pacific coast, its beer revolution is mostly attributed to John Mitchell: Mitchell set up a brewpub in 1980 at the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, and pioneered the formation of the Howe Sound Brewery in 1996. Other early contributors, such as Spinnakers Brewpub which started in 1984, count Mitchell as an inspiration for their businesses as well.
So, with a tip of the cap to Fritz and John, here are a few West Coast beers to delve into in this summer.
Salt Spring Golden Ale, Salt Spring Island, BC
The Salt Spring Ales brewing company is rather inauspicious enterprise. Its brewery is located on a dirt road that winds away from the main street on Salt Spring Island – the main street is simply named Fulford-Ganges Road because of the two villages it connects. The brewery has carved out an existence despite not being zoned for the proper amount of electricity; essentially, the brewery is a hop farm whose barn doubles as a brewhouse.
To suggest that their beers are equally as quaint would be a serious underestimate of the beers’ quality, and a disservice to how serious Salt Spring’s brewers are about their craft. This brew is the backbone of their travails; it is an easy-drinking beer that is refreshing and crisp on the palate, but that reveals a surprisingly pleasant body. Some may be daunted by the idea of an ale being highly accessible, but this beer is simply of a lighter-style that still carries the substance and flavour of an ale.
This offering is available in bomber (600-millilitre) bottles at many liquor stores and on draught at select locations.
Tofino Brewing Reign In Blonde Ale, Tofino, BC
Blondes are the also-ran in the ‘beers that are for session-drinking’ category. While lagers generally dominate the market, there is still room for the blonde ales of the world to take their place in drinking circles.
Enter this offering from Tofino, a beer that is every bit as relaxed as the town from whence it comes. Reign In Blonde Ale has slightly more of a hoppy profile than the aforementioned Salt Spring libation, but overall is well-balanced and eminently-quaffable.
The beer itself may be difficult to find. Only the most well-stocked private liquor stores will carry the Reign In, and it is only available in bomber bottles. However, the truly daring ought to venture all the way to Tofino to grab a bottle straight from the source; it’s an amazing drive and a chance to view the wild west coast of Vancouver Island that is perpetually battered by the Pacific Ocean.
Anchor Steam Beer, San Francisco, CA
The Anchor Brewing Company is widely-credited as being the first modern craft brewery in North America and igniting its craft-brewing revolution in the early 1980s. Anchor Steam Beer is their flagship brew, a lager-type beer that is stylistically referred to as “California common”, recognised as the first style that is uniquely North American.
Steam beer is a more colloquial term for the same beer, and a name that is trademarked by the Anchor Brewing Company. The style is achieved by fermenting the beer with lager yeast, but at a warmer temperature than is traditional for lagers. The result is quite a treat.
Anchor Steam Beer is bright and pétillante to start and is clean and crisp on the palate. It is truly a triumph in form and drinkability, its unique style mirrored by its unique place in the history of North American brewing.
And if that isn’t enough, search for one of Anchor’s seasonal offerings, simply called Summer Beer, another rather unique style that uses fifty percent wheat malt but foregoes the specialized yeast strains that characterise most weissbiers. Instead, the Summer Beer eschews the elevated effervescence and insistent citrus-and-spice flavours of wheat beer, but retains the smooth and silky applications of wheat malt, fostering a beer that is highly-drinkable with a clean, no non-sense finish.
Both beers are widely-available in six-pack bottles at most high-end liquor stores, but be wary of their premium-American price point.
Red Racer Pale Ale, Surrey, BC
Speaking of breweries with pedigree, it would be remiss of any West Coast beer article to conclude without mention of Central City Brewing Company, a brewery that has been named Canada’s Brewery of the year twice in the past five (2010, 2012).
Central City makes a wide assortment of beers under their Red Racer banner, but the Pale Ale offers the most flavour for its accessibility; it combines a sultry butterscotch malt flavour with a vibrant backdrop of Northwest hops, resulting in a balanced beer that’s great for session-drinking. It’s a little more bitter than the rest of the beers on this list, but that factor does not subtract from its overall drinkability.
And the best part is, it’s the only beer mentioned here that comes in a can. Most of Central City’s suite of Red Racer beers are available in cans, a convenient aspect that doesn’t draw from their flavour in the slightest.
With all that in mind, take a look at what the left coast has to offer: summer refreshment with an easy-going, but high-quality flavour. There are many styles available, each brewery offering a unique portfolio of beers too voluminous to list here. Don’t be afraid to explore. To all, good crushing.
It’s summer. It’s time to get out and enjoy the improving weather, and reach for a refreshing beverage to make the afternoons and evenings pass by a little more enjoyably. It’s also a time to be more adventurous and investigate what the West Coast has to offer the craft beer market.
The beginning of West Coast craft-brewing is usually dated back to Fritz Maytag’s purchase and subsequent renovation of the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California in 1965. As for Canada’s Pacific coast, its beer revolution is mostly attributed to John Mitchell: Mitchell set up a brewpub in 1980 at the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, and pioneered the formation of the Howe Sound Brewery in 1996. Other early contributors, such as Spinnakers Brewpub which started in 1984, count Mitchell as an inspiration for their businesses as well.
So, with a tip of the cap to Fritz and John, here are a few West Coast beers to delve into in this summer.
Salt Spring Golden Ale, Salt Spring Island, BC
The Salt Spring Ales brewing company is rather inauspicious enterprise. Its brewery is located on a dirt road that winds away from the main street on Salt Spring Island – the main street is simply named Fulford-Ganges Road because of the two villages it connects. The brewery has carved out an existence despite not being zoned for the proper amount of electricity; essentially, the brewery is a hop farm whose barn doubles as a brewhouse.
To suggest that their beers are equally as quaint would be a serious underestimate of the beers’ quality, and a disservice to how serious Salt Spring’s brewers are about their craft. This brew is the backbone of their travails; it is an easy-drinking beer that is refreshing and crisp on the palate, but that reveals a surprisingly pleasant body. Some may be daunted by the idea of an ale being highly accessible, but this beer is simply of a lighter-style that still carries the substance and flavour of an ale.
This offering is available in bomber (600-millilitre) bottles at many liquor stores and on draught at select locations.
Tofino Brewing Reign In Blonde Ale, Tofino, BC
Blondes are the also-ran in the ‘beers that are for session-drinking’ category. While lagers generally dominate the market, there is still room for the blonde ales of the world to take their place in drinking circles.
Enter this offering from Tofino, a beer that is every bit as relaxed as the town from whence it comes. Reign In Blonde Ale has slightly more of a hoppy profile than the aforementioned Salt Spring libation, but overall is well-balanced and eminently-quaffable.
The beer itself may be difficult to find. Only the most well-stocked private liquor stores will carry the Reign In, and it is only available in bomber bottles. However, the truly daring ought to venture all the way to Tofino to grab a bottle straight from the source; it’s an amazing drive and a chance to view the wild west coast of Vancouver Island that is perpetually battered by the Pacific Ocean.
Anchor Steam Beer, San Francisco, CA
The Anchor Brewing Company is widely-credited as being the first modern craft brewery in North America and igniting its craft-brewing revolution in the early 1980s. Anchor Steam Beer is their flagship brew, a lager-type beer that is stylistically referred to as “California common”, recognised as the first style that is uniquely North American.
Steam beer is a more colloquial term for the same beer, and a name that is trademarked by the Anchor Brewing Company. The style is achieved by fermenting the beer with lager yeast, but at a warmer temperature than is traditional for lagers. The result is quite a treat.
Anchor Steam Beer is bright and pétillante to start and is clean and crisp on the palate. It is truly a triumph in form and drinkability, its unique style mirrored by its unique place in the history of North American brewing.
And if that isn’t enough, search for one of Anchor’s seasonal offerings, simply called Summer Beer, another rather unique style that uses fifty percent wheat malt but foregoes the specialized yeast strains that characterise most weissbiers. Instead, the Summer Beer eschews the elevated effervescence and insistent citrus-and-spice flavours of wheat beer, but retains the smooth and silky applications of wheat malt, fostering a beer that is highly-drinkable with a clean, no non-sense finish.
Both beers are widely-available in six-pack bottles at most high-end liquor stores, but be wary of their premium-American price point.
Red Racer Pale Ale, Surrey, BC
Speaking of breweries with pedigree, it would be remiss of any West Coast beer article to conclude without mention of Central City Brewing Company, a brewery that has been named Canada’s Brewery of the year twice in the past five (2010, 2012).
Central City makes a wide assortment of beers under their Red Racer banner, but the Pale Ale offers the most flavour for its accessibility; it combines a sultry butterscotch malt flavour with a vibrant backdrop of Northwest hops, resulting in a balanced beer that’s great for session-drinking. It’s a little more bitter than the rest of the beers on this list, but that factor does not subtract from its overall drinkability.
And the best part is, it’s the only beer mentioned here that comes in a can. Most of Central City’s suite of Red Racer beers are available in cans, a convenient aspect that doesn’t draw from their flavour in the slightest.
With all that in mind, take a look at what the left coast has to offer: summer refreshment with an easy-going, but high-quality flavour. There are many styles available, each brewery offering a unique portfolio of beers too voluminous to list here. Don’t be afraid to explore. To all, good crushing.