The Beer Brief is a round-up of all the local beer news and events we think you should know about. Got cool things brewing? Send it to thalia [at] scoutmagazine.ca and we’ll do our best to include it!

BEER CRAWL | There are few activities more satisfying this time of year than stuffing your face with good food and drink. How about mustering up some of that good ol’ holiday spirit and doing it for a good cause? Before the month of December is over, stretch your legs and take a “crawl” through Mount Pleasant to hit Main Street Brewing, AJ’s Brooklyn Pizzeria and Como Taperia, and take part in their latest seasonal charitable offerings. Each place has whipped up something special on their late December menus, with partial proceeds going towards a local charity of their choice, including MSB’s new Hazy IPA brewed with Seville oranges which is available on tap at all three establishments. Find out more.

BEER-WI | The people over at Brassneck are brewing up something that will really make you feel nice and fuzzy! The latest of their Instagram beer teasers foretells of a new kiwi beer, made with fruit grown on Vancouver Island. Who knew!? In the meantime, while we’re waiting to get a taste of this unusual locally-inspired beer, be sure to swing by the tasting room to fill up on other seasonal brews like the new muscat-infused “The Changeling” and the once-per-year “Spirit of DIX-mas” collaboration IPA.

GET CIVILIZED | Do away with the tradition of NYE debauchery and opt for a more civil segue into 2020 by snagging a ticket to “Anything Less” at The Magnet on December 31st. Along with their good friends from Four Winds the downtown beer hub is hosting a night including a scrumptious sounding five course dinner (buttermilk fried prawn sliders, polenta cakes, spiced squash, duck legs and chocolate cake, oh my!) paired with tasty beers and live jazz sets performed by the Adam Willey Trio. Get hip to all the delicious details here.

HIP HOP + BEER | On the other hand, if you’d prefer to start off the new decade with a soundtrack of old school hip hop then plot your night around Bells and Whistles. During the second annual ‘Ball Drop’ NYE celebration the Fraserhood beer hall will be absolutely bumping with throwback tunes, all night happy hour specials, good eats and fantastic beers. Find out more.

SUNDAY BEERS | Starting this January, there are a bunch of (roughly a dozen) great reasons to feel good about imbibing on a Sunday. The West Craft’s Sunday Service is a brand new five-week-long Sundays only charitable beer event happening at Prototype Coffee in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The full menu includes brews filling the flavour gamut from hoppy to malty, to spontaneous and just plain juicy, from the likes of such obscure breweries as Garden Path Fermentation, Nickel Brook, Dwinell, Three Magnets, Chuckanut, Hill Farmstead and Wildflower. You know where to find us on Sundays in January! Find out more.

DARK DAYS AHEAD | Although we’ve made it through the darkest days of winter, some of the darkest beer days of the season are still yet to come. One particularly, toasty, chocolatey, coffee and toffee flavoured one is happening on Saturday, January 18. For this special occasion, the taps at Moody Ales will be flowing with their largest selection of stouts to date, including some very special small batch experimental brews. Find out more.

EMBRACE THE DARKNESS | The dark days continue the following week when Collective Arts Brewing is collaborating with West End restaurant The Red Accordion to put together a four course dinner paired with four of the brewery’s heaviest hitting collaboration beers. The menu includes one especially incredible sounding Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout w/ Chocolate & Pistachio Cannoli that was brewed with Italy’s CR/AK Brewery. Find out more.

WEATHERED | That brings us to the Weathered beer and art festival, which will be un-bottling two full days of darkness over the final weekend of January. Brought to us by the organizers of Farmhouse Fest, the celebration of imperial stout, barleywine, hazy hop, barrel-aged, wild and lambic beers is divided into three all-inclusive tasting sessions. Repping the local scene are Temporal, Back Country, Dageraad, Boombox, Superflux, Twin Sails, Steel & Oak, House Of Funk and Slow Hand; plus guest breweries Collective Arts, Modern Times, Hair of the Dog, Ale Apothecary, Jester King, Holy Mountain, Cantillon, 3F, Tilquin, Oud Beersel, Mikkeller and Hanssens, to name only a small selection. Sessions are limited to only 150 guests each and word is that tickets for Saturday’s event are getting low, so if getting cozy with over 125 amazing (mostly) bottled beers from 50+ breweries in a beautiful environment with beautiful, beer-loving people sounds like your thing, then hurry up and get yours here already!

BEER + OYSTERS | If good beer puts you in a good mood, and you believe in the fabled aphrodisiac qualities of oysters then you have a doubly great reason to pay a visit to Yellow Dog (PoMo) or Whistle Buoy (Victoria) on an upcoming weekend because the Wandering Mollusk duo has a regular stint popping up and popping shells at both breweries. Local oysters are at their best during the coldest months, so if you want to make the most of the stuff then you need to factor in a visit to one of these two local establishments ASAP this season.