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“North Of The Border Beers" Recently, Draught Board 15, our local beer appreciation club, held a meeting themed around Canadian beer. The idea was promoted heavily by me since I had previously spent a dozen vacations all over the land of the Maple Leaf, from the Maritime Provinces to Ontario and Quebec to as far west as British Columbia, and never had any trouble finding decent brewpubs and great beer. Unfortunately, however, most Canadian beers available in the US are reminiscent of American beer prior to the onset of the craft beer movement: mass produced lager all tasting mighty similar and all at EXACTLY 5% abv. There were a few Canadian craft beers to had at the meeting, but in spite of them it was not the most popular meeting we’ve ever had. In fact, when I heard grumbling questions like “Whose idea was this anyway?”, I found another reason to visit the men’s room. So, to reinforce at least MY opinion that Canada can make good beer, my wife and I decided to take a quick getaway to the Canadian Rockies to check out the brew situation in that part of Canada , to which we had never been. The flights to Chicago from whence we were to connect to Edmonton were full on the day of our departure, so we had to make a brief stopover in Cleveland where we waited for the next morning’s flight in a very inexpensive, great Ramada Inn. Great , that is, if you consider stale air, lumpy mattresses, air conditioning that blows hot air and towels the size of washcloths to be great. However it WAS economical and it did offer free transportation to and from the airport in a 1949 Nash (only kidding!). The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived late morning at Edmonton where we rented a car and drove downtown. We were having a little trouble locating our hotel so I pulled into the parking lot of a large shopping center in order to get our bearings. While my wife was looking at the map I glanced up at the building directly in front of us and was pleasantly amazed to discover it was Brewster’s Brewpub and Restaurant. How convenient for a hungry beer lover! It turned out to be an excellent stop which not only satisfied our hunger pangs with bison burgers but also added ten new beers to my log. Brewster’s offers five- beer samplers and since ten brews were on tap two flights were required. The flights were presented in a novel way I’d not seen before: the menu has a section devoted to what’s pouring with a description of each beer. These descriptions were then laminated, cut apart , and placed under each glass. “ RIG PIG PALE ALE” (two stars), “CURLY HORSE IPA” (three stars), “VAMPIRE REPUBLIC CZECH PILS” (two stars), “BOW VALLEY BROWN ALE” (three stars), “ORIGINAL LAGER” (two stars), “JIMMY”S EASY SUMMER ALE” (0 stars), “NITINAT WEST COAST IPA” (three stars), “DRAFT LEGAL KOLSCH” (four stars), “HAMMERHEAD RED ALE” (three stars), and “FLYING FROG GOLDEN LAGER” (two stars) were happily added to my list. Perhaps the idea of the descriptions under each glass were inspired by a quote on the menu attributed to Brewmaster Robert Walsh: “A beer should tell a story when you drink it”. When I presented my Beer Nexus business card and asked if I could keep a copy of the beer menu to add to my collection, our server went to okay it with the very gracious manager, Ashley Traynor, who returned not only with a laminated copy, but also with a gratis “Brewer’s Dozen”, a twelve pack of bottled Brewmaster’s beers which came in very handy on roadside lunch stops and hotel room movies. We eventually found our hotel and while Judy rested up I walked a few blocks to the Yellowhead Brewery which unfortunately was closed in preparation for a private party. But they for got to lock the front door, so I walked in, explained why I was there (beer writer from US trying to locate great Canadian beer to write about, etc.,etc, blah, blah) and was rewarded with a few gratis glasses of YELLOWHEAD LAGER and a Yellowhead glass from which I’m sipping as I write. Back at the hotel ,a pint of WILD ROSE IPA, picked up at a liquor store on the walk back, made me drowsy enough for a late pm nap before we walked around downtown Edmonton and just happened to find the Craft Beer Market, a huge pub, with hundreds of kegs in view already tapped or waiting to be. They also offer flights, so my log was enhanced by the addition of GRIZZLY PAW RUTTING ELK RED ALE, STANLEY PARK SUNSETTER SUMMER ALE, ALLEY KAT LEMON HEFEWEIZEN, TREE BREWING MELLOW MOON PINEAPPLE HEFEWEIZEN, HOUSE SOUND SUPER JUPITER GRAPEFRUIT IPA and WHISTLER BLACK TUSK IPA which were enjoyed while watching the Yankees lose in sixteen innings. We left Edmonton early the next morning to drive to Jasper National Park. Upon arrival we had lunch at , where else, a brewpub, the Jasper Brewing Company. The lunch was so-so and the flight of Jasper beers was served too warm with no descriptions or any other kind of identification. When I questioned the waiter about this rather unique presentation he handed me the menu of beers and told me I should know! Some were easy: the BLACKEYE BLUEBERRY VANILLA PORTER and the 6060 STOUT for example, but I had doubts as to the differences between the SUTTER HILL PILS, JASPER THE BEAR ALE, SESSION INDIA ALE, and a guest beer, ALLEY KAT APRICOT ALE. I used all my powers of expertise in tasting brews and made an educated guess, but when it turned out that the waiter didn’t know either (he held the empty glasses up to his nose in a vain attempt to differentiate) I didn’t feel too badly that my powers were in question. After enjoying the rest of the afternoon in Jasper, we started heading toward Kootenay National Park and not realizing that Kootenay Park Lodge, where we had reservations, was possibly further than our gas gauge allowed, we pulled into the grounds dangerously near empty and were immediately transported back to 1935. The inn, the only private business in the park, features a main lodge and a dozen or so log cabins which reminded me of the scene in which the Barrow Gang escapes from the law, dragging a mattress to stop the bullets,in the 1960’s movie “Bonnie and Clyde”. To compound the eeriness, all of the other cabins were occupied by the vacationing Calgary Model A Club and parked beside each cabin was a restored model A Ford. 1935 didn’t seem so strange at all. I wish I hadn’t thrown away my black and white wing tips several years ago. A light supper in the main lodge was accompanied by a couple of Canadian beers reminiscent of the none too popular DB 15 meeting, KOOTENAY TRUE ALE and KOKANEE GLACIER FRESH ALE. Later, while sitting outside the cabin with some of the model A enthusiasts and watching for the expected meteor showers a couple of the generously offered twelve pack were enjoyed: WILD WEST WHEAT ALE and RIVER CITY RASPBERRY ALE. Canadians must really be into groceries when drinking beer, because the raspberry ale, along with the previously tried apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon and blueberry beers counted for more fruit beers in two days than I’ve had in the past ten years. After a lovely breakfast in the main lodge we set out for the town of Radium not only to take in the scenic grandeur along the way but also to see if the folks in Radium glowed. (they don’t). Actually, according to our hostess at the lodge, Radium was the closest place to buy gas, so it was off to Radium before heading back the way we had just come to drive to Banff. To me it always seems silly to use up some of the gas you just bought only to get back to where you started from to get the gas, but when there are no filling stations in Kootenay or it’s environs you haven’t much choice. Anyway ,by the time we got to Banff it was past lunchtime and we were both hungry. Conveniently, the Banff Avenue Brewpub, featuring a second story deck overlooking the main drag was only a short walk from where we parked. This pub is part of the Bear Hill Brewing Company which owns a few additional brewpubs, one of which, Jasper, we had just visited. The server informed us that each pub has it’s own brewer and different beers. This is evident because although the presentation of the beer flight was exactly the same as at Jasper, the beers were vastly superior. They were served at the proper temperature and the server was very knowledgeable about the styles. The flight included BOW RIVER PILS, HEAD SMASHED IPA, POND HOCKEY PALE ALE, MUSCLES FROM BRUSSELS WIT, BANFF EARTHQUAKE DOUBLE IPA and NAKED NUT BROWN ALE, possibly a GREAT selection for the next Sunny Acres Nudist Beer Festival. ( see: Beer My Way article “Brews in the Buff”). We just had a light lunch figuring we’d have dinner at our next stop, Canmore, home of the Grizzly Paw Brewpub. Although there are some beautiful views of the Three Sisters mountain range, the menu at this pub is limited, the beers just okay, and the service iffy, at best. Twelve or thirteen beers were listed on the menu to choose from for your four beer sampler. Three of the four I selected were unavailable, so I finally settled for the BOHEMIAN PILS, SAISON BOREALIS, GRUMPY BEAR HONEY WHEAT and EVOLUTION IPA. The waitress was clueless about both the beer styles and availability of each. She had incorrectly set down the tasting glasses in the wrong location on the identifying tray, but these four were easy to distinguish. When I requested a pint of the IPA to have with dinner she returned with the Pils. Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some! To sum up the brief four days, the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies is not to be missed. The majestic mountains and frigid glacial streams and aqua colored glacial lakes are wonderful reasons to visit and to be sure ,there are some great beers available and some great venues to drink them in, but over all, beer wise, congested New Jersey beats scenic Western Canada. Cheers! Dan |
| Another two glasses up article from Dan Hodge! |
| Someone has to say these things and it could only be Dan! |
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Beer My Way.........
Beernexus.com proudly presents....DAN HODGE, beer reviewer, historian and raconteur
anything and everything about beer
by Dan Hodge
