The annual Great Canadian Beer Festival recently returned for its 28th year, featuring over 90 Canadian craft breweries serving more than 245 beers this past weekend. The beauty of an event like this is that you can sample some of the most unusual and creative beers our country’s skillful craft brewmasters have to offer, much of it different than what you would find on the shelf in your local liquor store.
Take for instance, Crannog Ales’ Wile Gael Potato Ale (5.4% ABV). This is by far the strangest beer I’ve ever had, considering that it’s made with potatoes. It’s dark amber in colour, malty with a bite of hops, and has such a complex robust flavour that you’ll have to try it for yourself to truly understand.
Beach Fire Brewing Company’s Orange Creamsicle Blonde Ale (5.2%) is a more familiar flavour, but not what you may expect from a beer. This tastes exactly like orange cream soda, with a crisp, clean body, barley undertone, and sweet orange flavours beneath a gentle hop finish.
Brassneck’s Raspberry Changeling (6%) has a surprisingly light flavour for a stronger beer. Its incredible red hue sparkles in the light, and the flavour tastes fresh and natural. Think of it as a slightly sour raspberry punch that somebody spiked at the dance.
Faculty Brewing Company’s London Fog Ale (5.1%) is a light citrusy ale with added earl grey tea and vanilla. If you love its namesake, you’ll love this beer.
Carrying on with the unusual flavours, I tried Howl Brewing’s Blueberry Cucumber and Mint Ale (5%). This is another beer that tastes exactly like you might expect, and I can honestly say that this is a combination of flavours that never should have met. Out of all the beers I tried, this is the only one I dumped out.
Humblebee Meadery’s Sumac & Cilantro mead (5.5%) rescued my palate from its shock with a wonderfully complex herbal flavour, but not the sort of herbal you may associate with herbal tea. These are savoury herbs blended brilliantly to make a delicious, sweet beverage that I could drink far more of.
I tried Parallel 49 Brewing’s Jelly Monster Mango Sour (5%) based on the name alone, which was inspired by those little rubber finger puppet monsters you had as a kid. It’s sour and bitter, as expected, with a pleasant fruity flavour, but, like all sours, while good in small doses, I wouldn’t want to drink a lot of it at once.
Phillips’s Cold Snap Kolsch (5%) is a lighter, refreshing beer with flavours of grape, herbs, and pepper, and a satisfying blend of German noble hops and Canadian malted barley.
My favourite beer of the evening was the Crème Brulee Vanilla Stout (8%), offered by Salt Spring Brewing Company. This beer is dark as night and strong as hell, but surprisingly not overwhelming. The burnt chocolate and coffee flavours typical of a stout are complemented by a smooth vanilla overtone.
Smugglers Trail Caskworks brought their Captain Stone Lager (5.6%). This has a beautiful, frothy head and a golden hue, and the gentle hops are followed up by a subtle malty flavour that lingers after the other flavours have diminished.
By this point in the festival, I had a powerful need for a moment of clarity, which was fortunate, because Blood Brothers brought their Moment of Clarity West Coast IPA, which features simcoe, talus, and citra (6.5%). Perhaps it’s just me, but this beer tasted exactly like raw cannabis, with strongly bitter hops that aren’t overly intrusive.
TWA Dogs Brewery served up their Rye Stout (5.7%), which tastes far stronger than it really is. Bold, dark malts dominate the flavour, while a strong hoppy aftertaste rushes in by surprise.
9 Mile Legacy’s No.1 Durum Wheat (5%) has the refreshingly subdued, sweet body typical of wheat beers, using durum wheat grown in southwest Saskatchewan. Some flavours of banana and vanilla are distinctly noticeable, but the body also feels somewhat thin, and overall, this is another beer that I think would be best in small doses.
Victoria already has a strong brewing community, and hosting guests from all over Canada gives beer-lovers an amazing opportunity to sample hundreds of unique beers. After a two-year hiatus, the 2022 Great Canadian Beer Festival was a fantastic return to form.