The Beer Brief is Scout’s round-up of all the local beer-related news and events we think you should know about. Got news brewing? Send it to thalia [at] scoutmagazine.ca and we’ll do our best to include it!
BEER + BUGS | There’s a fun pairing of beer and film happening at Faculty Brewing next month. On February 3rd, the scholarly Olympic Village brewery and tasting room is hosting Hoovie for a special screening of the 2017 documentary, “Bugs.” Here’s a bit about the film from the event page: “A charming journey across the globe as two chefs and a researcher forage with locals to discover the culinary and nutritional delights of maggots, bees, crickets and grubs…Everything they taste and learn they take back to Nordic Food Lab, an initiative founded by Copenhagan’s famed Noma restaurant to discover the next food frontier. But as the question of ethics emerges, one chef in particular finds himself torn. Bugs is a film about both what’s on our plate and the responsibility we have to shape the system that got it there.” Tickets to this intimate event are super limited (only 30!) so get yours here ASAP.
GET CRIB-BY | Looking for some simple, somewhat wholesome fun to accompany your Monday or Tuesday night beer? How about a good ol’ game of cribbage? East Van’s Callister Brewing is just the spot for that. Check out their cool branded wooden cribbage boards (points for creative beer branding!) on Callister’s Instagram feed to get inspired. We’ll see you there!
BEER-ISSIMO! | Want to eat and drink up some Vancouver history? Me too! Lucky for us, Dine Out Vancouver’s roster includes a cool-sounding Italian beer and food element among their line-up of events this year. The Italian Brewery and Culinary Tour is a 3.5 hour gastronomical adventure kicking off with a behind the scenes tour of East Van’s Italian inspired brewery, Luppolo, before hitting up a bunch of tasty Italian food joints. The $99 ticket price includes food, drinks, transportation and education (retention of the latter, however, is up to you). Some dates are already sold out so you’ll want to act quickly and hop onto the beer tour wagon over here.
STRANGE FELLOWS | The end of the winter season is something to sing about, don’t you think? If you’re in agreement and are looking for some like-minded revellers and/or an audience, then you’ll want to hit up Strange Fellows’ Japanese-inspired Last Day of Winter Karaoke Party. On February 2nd, the East Van brewery is throwing their 50th Strange Day celebration, inspired by the aforementioned Setsuban mythology. The evening’s event includes the traditional good luck beans and evil spirit exorcism, along with a special “Yokai” Ginger Wit beer. Bonus: karaoke singers get a glass of yummy good fortune on the house.
BEER-RESOLUTIONS | Attention rule-breakers: there are a couple of chocolate-infused January beer releases out now that sound doubly delicious. Break your resolution with a cheeky beer homage to the traditional fruit-shaped holiday treat by cracking a can of the coca nib and orange peel loaded “Terry” Dark Mild Ale collab from Steel & Oak and Powell Street breweries…
Twin Sails’ “Tinted” Chocolate Milk Stout with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt errs on a the lighter side of the chocolate (and guilty pleasure) scale, favouring creaminess from the addition of lactose over the usual bitterness of cocoa. However, the palate-cleansing affect of the sea salt also comes with a disclaimer from the brewery: It will leave you wanting more…
At 11% and loaded with dark and chocolatey flavours, we think that Phantom Beer’s “Resolution Solution” Imperial Stout is the perfect enabler for ending January with a delicious swan dive…
PERFECT PAIRING | On the more savoury side, Strathcona Beer Company is hosting a pairing event in February that will satisfy beer and cheese lovers. It’s called “The Perfect Pair”. Included in the ticket price are two flights of beer plus their matching cheeses (that’s eight of each in total). For those who want to expand their knowledge while nibbling, there will be pairing notes and a discussion led by in-house cheese expert, Maya, and “Brewmasterfezz”. Hit up the tasting room and chat up a staff member for more details and tickets.
GET TINKERING | Need an excuse to get in touch with your inner big kid? How does an evening of drinking and fiddling around with small machines and building your own miniature catapult sound? Well, if you’re already squealing with joy (and compiling a mental hit list) then you’ll want to sign up for Storm Crow Alehouse’s “Brews, Builds ‘N’ Bytes Night”on February 21st. The evening includes a happy hour pint and on-hand tinkering assistance for the 2.5 hour session, plus you’ll get to take home your very own handmade cotton ball contraption. Get your tickets here. UPDATE: THIS EVENT WAS RESCHEDULED FROM IT’S ORIGINAL JANUARY 30th DATE.
HAPPY BREW YEAR | We think that the beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to get in touch with old pals over some new beers! How about making it your joint mission in 2019 to venture beyond the familiarity of your go-to pint and barstool to explore the province’s amazing beer culture? If you’re not sure where to start – or are convinced that you’ve already done it all – then our constantly evolving “Beer Atlas” is a great jumping off point.