Canadian Craft Beer

Vancouver is a city which was founded on alcohol. As all the guidebooks will tell you it was the Englishman, Jack Deighton or "Gassy" to his mates, who arrived in area in 1867 with his wife, dog and a barrel of whiskey and set up the first tavern in the area now fondly refered to as Gastown. So with this story in mind we headed to the now trendy area to find our Canadian beverage.

Although whiskey was the drink which set up the city it was mainly inported from Ireland and Scotland. What is hard to miss is the rise of the micro breweries. Almost every bar we passed boasted its own craft beer selection so we decided to sample a few of these in one of Vancouvers best craft-beer taverns, Alibi Room.

The first drink Karl sampled was the Tofino's "Hoppy Cretin" IPA (7%). Picking a drink purely based on its name, I went for Breakside "Wanderlust" IPA (6.7%). Both of these drinks tasted so much of Hops you could actually feel it fizz on your tounge, a bit like eating popping candy.

For our secound choice Karl went for Dieu de Ciel - "Peche Mortel" NITRO POUR Imperial Coffee Stout (9.5%) while I went for a slightly more reserved house cider. Karl sensibly went for a small glass of the stout which looked alot like a cold coffee, the taste was bitter and like coffee beans had been ground in your mouth. You cant quite tell if you love it or hate it but it certainly left you wanting more.

Not satisfied that he had sampled enough of the ales Karl went for a 3rd drink. Howe Sand "King Hefe" Imperial Hefwiezen (8%) because aparantly it would be rude not to try the wheat beer.

Overall the beers and bars in Vancouver lived up to our high expectations. However at $7-8 a drink we clearly wont be going on any crazy nights out while we are here.