BCBC

The first thing I started to look for on a recent trip to Vancouver was a place to get a craft beer. I dreaded biding my time in the northwest with Molson and Labatts. While it was difficult to find many establishments with extensive beer selections we were able to find at least one local beers at most Thankfully, British Columbia had a variety of its own more interesting brews. After walking to a popular BBQ and Brewery place that appeared closed we finally found a little boutique whiskey bar in the up and coing Gastown neighborhood. The place was called Shebeen. I'm pretty sure it is housed in the Irish Heather Gastropub which would fit right in around the Decatur Square. I had an IPA on cask but don't recall the name.

Right across the street from our hotel was a liquor store. It, of course was very modern, attached to a trendy coffee shop, fitted with a vegetative roof, and had steady stream of live musicians performing on the street outside. Their selection was decent and they had several local brews so we stopped in often to pick up a bottle. The first one we tried was the Howe Sound Devil's Elbow IPA. Their beers come in these big bottles that were perfect for us to re-seal and keep in the hotel fridge for a day.

Next was Russel's A Wee Angry Scotch Ale. There are a surprising number of people with Scottish heritage in Vancouver. We met one while doing a hike at Grouse Mountain north of Vancouver. He talked with us all the way down the mountain and then gave us a ride back to our hotel and some dinner recommendations. He was not the wee-est bit angry.

Next was Mt. Begbie's Tall Timber Ale. This was a brown also and not my favorite of the trip but not bad. The guy who co-started the brewery has a PhD in Nuclear Physics, like my college roommate. The website says he prefers to make beer, not war. My old roommate does not drink.

Finally we bought ourselves Driftwood Brewery's Driftwood Ale. This brewery has only been around for two years but it looks like they have some interesting varietal IPAs, like the Santori Harvest IPA - featuring BC hops - and their one-a-year wet-hopped Fat Tug IPA.

On the last day we headed to Granville Island - a little haven for artists and boutique crafty types. The is also a brewery on the island called, appropriately, Granville Island Brewery. We each sampled three different brews which were only mildly impressive. All -in-all though we were surprised by the amount of BC-crewed beer there was to be had (in the liquor store, at least). It was not as easy to find all of these interesting local brews at restaurants and bars. Also I was impressed with the quality of many of these small operation beers that we found at the liquor store. It seems that the region's rapidly increasing interest in craft beer is just another reason to head there for vacation.