Back for its 30th anniversary, the Great Canadian Beer Festival (GCBF), presented by the Victoria Beer Society, hosted an astounding number of breweries and beers, so much so that I actually had to return for a second day just to explore them all.
I started off innocently with the Bramble Raspberry Vanilla Wheat Ale (5%) by Trench Brewing & Distilling, Inc. This American-style wheat ale was fermented on two kilos of fresh Fraser Valley raspberries, then aged with whole vanilla beans. Both flavours were clean and distinct.
The next beer I had was pleasantly unusual, the Lime Margarita Voyageur Tart Pear Farmhouse Ale (4.7%) by Camp Beer Co. This one used pear saison as a base, with strong spiced flavours, combined with tequila margarita, and aged in a wooden cask. This is a sweet and heavily spiced beer and I quite enjoyed it.
Also from the same brewery was the S’mores Milk Stout (5.6%), which added vanilla bean, lactose sugar, graham cracker, and cocoa nibs during fermentation. Rich and dark in colour, with a frothy head, it’s exactly what I was hoping for from a stout, and not too strong, either.
Dead Frog Brewery featured their Pepper Lime Lager (5%) with very prominent citrus notes. The black pepper feels like a bit of a ghost, subtly noticeable out of the corner of your palette, but you might swear you just imagined it all.
Beva Brewing and Blending makes beer concoctions by blending flavours and allowing them to assimilate in oak barrels. Their Luna Di Miele Saison (7%) is refermented with local wildflower honey sourced from Nanaimo. It’s distinct and flavourful enough to be an after-dinner beer, but drink too much of it and you won’t last the night.
Small Gods Brewing accosted me with their Blink Milk Chocolate Coconut Porter (6%). The inclusion of shaved coconut is immediately noticeable on the first sip and may be somewhat off-putting, but it quickly assimilates into the larger burnt caramel flavour. Overall, this is a decent porter, but be sure to watch your back or it will steal your wallet and leave you dumbfoundedly staring at a coconut where you swear your cash used to be.
From Ile Sauvage came their Courtney Room Collaboration, the Consensus Berliner Weisse (3.6%), which uses tonka beans from Berlin. These add flavours of cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves, and drinking it evoked the image of a cozy cottage with a crackling fire. The heavily spiced flavour is unique and endearing but also very bitter.
Chimay Trappist Ales brought their imposing Grande Reserve Blue (9%), which was first launched in 1954 as a Christmas ale with the name “Speciale Noël.” It has a deep, dark, wine-like profile with complex flavours of dates, fig, pear, and rose. This is a beer that could take on a sherry with aplomb, with some lingering hints of smoky tobacco.
Dieu du Ciel from Quebec served their Peche Mortel Bourbon Imperial Coffee Stout (9.5%), which is aged for several months in bourbon oak barrels to lend characteristic smoked wood and vanilla flavours. Added coffee accentuates the foreboding, chewy stout body, which is intense, however, the high ABV ensures that whether you like this beer or not, you won’t remember tomorrow, other than lamenting an unexpected dental appointment to account for the teeth you left on the bottom of the glass as it kicked your bloody lights out.
Grey Fox Brewing is a BC gluten-free brewery. The Quick Witted Belgian Wit (5%) is brewed using rice, millet, and added quinoa to get that characteristic wheat beer flavour, with added coriander giving a distinct flavour similar to cloves, and bitter orange peel. This is a non-wheat wheat beer that tastes nearly indistinguishable to its gluten-rich progenitor, which is difficult to pull off, since other grains don’t have the same enzymes that wheat takes advantage of to metabolize the grain into sugar.
Fern + Cedar Brewing served my favourite beer of the evening, their Barbados Rum Lager (5%). This is a spiced lager with strong flavours of vanilla, rum, allspice, and a bit of coconut, all derived from added ingredients, and that special smoky flavour characteristic of aging in rum barrels. This was one of the only beers I went back to.
Finally, I finished with the Bridges & Boroughs Jasmine Green Tea Blonde Ale (5.2%) from Steel & Oak Brewing Co. This bright ale is infused with local green tea leaves from the Great Little Tea Company. Much like a pot of Jasmine left to steep for quite a while, the flavour is strong and distinct, but well-balanced with the underlying beer flavours.
Altogether, I was impressed with the selection on offer at the Great Canadian Beer Festival, which featured a massive variety of interesting, memorable beers, and thanks to their collaboration with Vessel, you can actually order quite a bit of it online to be delivered to your home. The 30th anniversary of GCBF was every bit the success that Victoria Beer Society worked hard for it to be, and I am eagerly anticipating next year.