The weather wasn’t great on Friday, but not much can really ruin a weekend like the one the Great Canadian Beer Festival offers. The fest’s triumphant return this year, on Friday, September 7 and Saturday, September 8, was tons of sudsy fun, despite the return of fall weather. Nexus went, Nexus conquered a whole lot of great beers. Here’s what I can remember.
On Friday, the festival led media through a sampling tour; first off was East Vancouver Brewing Company’s When it Rains it Porter, a 5.0% American-style porter that went down smooth and had a carbonated kick that threatened to be overpowering but didn’t quite distract from the malty notes of this delicious dark brew. Next up was Ravens Brewing Company’s award-winning 4.5% Corvus Lingoberry Lime Gose; this seems like a good time to mention that I generally don’t want fruit anywhere near my beer, so even the saltiness of the gose couldn’t distract me from the fact that this felt more like a juice than a beer. Well done for fans of the flavour, no doubt; that just ain’t me.
Moving along to Sooke Brewing Company’s IPA, a big 7.0% whopper of an IPA that more than held its own; it’s a sweet drink, but it also is bold and heavy, a tricky balance that Sooke Brewing got right here. I expected to hate Whitehorse’s Winterlong Brewing’s Spruce Tip pale ale; I dislike forest “tones” in my beer as much as I dislike fruit in my beer (I’m trying to be unhealthy here, people) but Winterlong somehow made this one, which had heavy raspberry overtones, taste good. I wouldn’t drink a lot of it, but this is pretty convincing stuff.
Fuggles & Warlock’s Last Strawberry witbier had lychee berries and strawberries and tasted more like one of my kids’ juiceboxes than a beer. Again, done well, but not for me. Locals Swans had the GCBF Collaboration Dunkelweizen on tap, and this 5.5% dunkel was a victory, all dark, malty, complex, and delicious. It was the best beer of the media tour, and a great way to end it off.
Then, we were left to our own devices. And, because space is short, let’s do this: Cannery’s Naramata Nut Brown Ale was great, easy drinking but with enough rich dark flavours and a bit of sourness. Spinnaker’s Bourbon Black Lager was incredibly thick, strong, and smoky; tons of great flavour in this amazing drink. Persephone’s Dry Irish Nitro Stout was really smooth and really, really good, with hints of mocha helping it go down; surprisingly refreshing for such a dark beer.
Lighthouse’s Siren’s Echo Imperial Red Ale was strong, tons of flavour, almost too bitter but refreshing all the same. It’s a great drink, unlike their Numbskull Imperial IPA, which they poured a citra edition of at the fest; it was just way too much of a bitter hop explosion for my tastes.
Brittania’s Ashore Rye Porter was one of my favourites, with a bit of spice from the malted rye; Bomber’s Russian Imperial Stout was a huge 9.5% and brewed with oak chips, which I assume added to its incredibly strong and tasty flavour. A serious drink but seriously worth it.
White Sails’ Cathedral Grove California Common was a very well-balanced, malty but still light drink (in my notes: “happiness,” which was either a weird autocorrect thing or me being drunk). Category 12’s Juicy Data Hayz IPA had a refreshing, fruity nose (and, again, I don’t want fruit in beer, so that’s saying a lot), and went down easy, with a thicker body than IPAs usually have. Blasted the hell out of my taste buds though, with a bit too much lingering bitterness.
Trois Mousquetaires PQ’s Porter Baltique was a big 10% porter with a surprisingly light body and a very strong, tasty flavour to it. Delicious. Back to Category 12 and their Mainframe Red Ale, which was quite hoppy for a red ale, a lively combo that worked. Twa Dogs’ Rebel Run ESB was a fantastic ESB, with a perfect amount of flavour; it was easy to drink, with a nice dry finish.
I saved the biggies for last: a 2015 Thor’s Hammer from Central City had hints of toffee and sherry and a mouthful of oh my god this is one of the best beers ever, and Fieldhouse’s Salted Black Porter, which packed a good bite and was nowhere near as “look at me!” as it could have been; instead, Fieldhouse took on a complex beer and emerged victorious, the subtle saltiness mixing perfectly with the porter’s pitch-black beauty.