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!

GET DARK | So it goes: as the days get darker, so do the beers! In honour of the seasonal shift, this Thursday, St. Augustine’s is dedicating more than a dozen of their taps to the dark side of beer, for their Stout & Porter Fest. Exactly which special brews will be pouring for the occasion is being kept under wraps until the day-of; however, you can find the list of participating breweries here.

CHEERS | While you’re in the neighbourhood, be sure to swing by East Van Brewing this Thursday, and join in the brewery’s birthday celebrations. It’s been a half-decade since they opened doors on Venables, and they’re commemorating the milestone with a night of live music and special brews, like Gingerbread Porter and Nitro Toasted Cinnamon Cream Ale. Cheers to five years, team! Find out more.

GET DEBAUCHEROUS | Start your weekend hedonistically by making your way to House of Funk Brewing. Friday is their annual ‘Day of Debauchery’, during which they will be pouring eight versions of their Debauchery beer including this year’s brand new release, a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (10.5%). Not indulgent enough sounding for you? You can also dial it up by digging into one of their special Debauchery ice cream floats. Find out more.

CELEBRATE | Container Brewing officially turned three years old on Tuesday, November 22nd – congrats, guys! – and this weekend they are throwing themselves a birthday shindig to celebrate. Although Container will be offering special throwback beer pricing in their tasting room beginning on Friday through to Sunday, the real deal is happening on Saturday (Nov. 26th). Think everything from balloon twisting to burlesque dancing, fun food and birthday beers aplenty! Find out more.

TO MARKET | Christmas markets certainly aren’t everyone’s speed, but if you’ve got a holiday gift shopping list to tackle then you could definitely do worse than the Southlands edition, happening in three iterations – a Night Market (Friday, Nov. 25), Farmers Market (Saturday, Nov. 26) and Christmas Market (Sunday, Nov. 27). So what does that have to do with beer, exactly? Answer: a Four Winds Brewing beer garden. Find out more. | Elsewhere, on December 7th, Sidney’s Small Gods Brewing is hosting their own ‘Holiday Sip and Shop’, featuring a small yet mighty line-up of local female- and non-binary businesses, selling everything from handmade jewelry and ceramics, to eco-friendly self care products and vintage goods. Sounds like a pretty good set-up to me!

GET FESTIVE | If you’re anything like me, then your preferred method of filling up with ‘holiday festivity’ is via filling up on good food and beer…Storm Brewing can certainly help sort out the latter. In case you haven’t heard already, the brewery’s long-running ’12 Fills of Christmas’ tradition kicks off on December 3rd, and subscriptions ($178 each, excluding glassware) are already more than half sold out! If 12 weeks x 1 Litre of exception (and exceptionally weird) Storm beers sounds like your holiday dream come true, then lock yours in ASAP! You can do that by swinging by the brewery during regular business hours or by calling them at 604-255-9119. Get more details and tune in for a week-by-week rundown of what’s included in this year’s 12 Fills here.

GET SAISON-AL | Plan a trip to Locality Brewing in Langley for ‘T’is the Saison’, a weekend-long indoor/outdoor celebration of seasonal beers going down in their holiday event cabin. A ticket will hook you up with two specially designed flights: the first featuring four saisons (including collabs with The Beer Farmers/Barnside and Smugglers Trail) and another with a porter and stout, plus local wine and an incredible sounding boozy ice cream concoction. For the food, Locality has Surrey’s Miltomates on board, to serve up some tasty Mexican snacks. Get more details and tickets ($55 each) here. There’s nothing like an evening or afternoon spent sipping on fresh beers, eating homemade food and revelling in good company, among a beautiful rural setting to embrace the autumn season!

DRINK THIS | Looking for some new beer inspiration? ‘Stay Out Late, It Feels Grape’ is the new four-way beer collab from Beere Brewing, Ursa Major Winery, Pizza Coming Soon and Pacific Rhythm. The result is a Gerwurtzraminer Piquette Sour (5.9% ABV), with no small amount of Okanagan grapes and a bit of peer pressure…With so many good people involved in its making, this one is bound to be damn delicious! Swing by Pizza Coming Soon in Chinatown or Beere Brewing in North Van to whet your whistle with some of the stuff STAT. Get the full story behind the beer here.

BEER-STORY | ICYMI, Scout Contributor and local history buff, Christine Hagemoen, recently dug up some beer-related dirt on Vancouver, circa the mid-twentieth century…Hint: it involves salt. Read her full story here.