By Stephen Smysnuik, Westender. Image: Shutterstock
The Growler’s fifth issue is out next week at a brewery near you. In it, we’ve included the Growler Approved beers – five best brews you really ought to try this spring.
Since our third issue, we’ve chosen 20 Growler Approved beers. That’s too bloody high of a number for two reasons. It’s next to impossible to keep up with every new beer that every brewery is producing and it’s easier for our readers to reckon with.
By scaling our numbers down, we’re able to curate a more refined list of prime examples of BC beers. We try to think of it like is: If some snooty San Franciscan asks us, “Which local beer should I try,” we hope s/he wouldn’t be disappointed with any of these five.
These beers aren’t necessarily new, nor are they necessarily “the best” by any concrete Beer Judging Certificate Program metric. We’re merely offer suggestions that A) we think are delicious, B) haven’t been Growler Approved in two issues, C) will be available at some point over the next few months and D) we think you really ought to go out of your way to try.
One Trick Pony (Brassneck Brewery)
Imperial IPA
The BC Beer Award Best in Show winner is a single-malt, single-hop IPA utilizing pilsner malts as a base for rotating hop varieties. What stays the same? The hefty IBUs. Drink several pints of this and you’ll be, in the words of Brassneck staff, “One Trick Ponied.”
Sri Lanka (Dageraad Brewing)
Abbey Dubbel
The folks at Dageraad have married the tropical flavours of Sri Lanka (hence the name) to a traditional Belgian abbey. The result is sweet, tart, spicy and delicious.
Elementary Lager (Four Winds Brewing)
Lager
This is a crisp, light-bodied lager with a bright, lemon-y flavour and a clean finish. Let’s call this an elegant barbeque beer – a lager for people who think they hate lager. A new classic? We think so.
Hoppin’ Cretin IPA (Tofino Brewing)
IPA
A light-bodied and generously hopped IPA that features notes of citrus, tropical fruit and pine and an extremely dry finish.
7800 Saison (Townite Brewing)
Saison
Here’s a classic unfiltered Belgian harvest ale, the name of which refers to the distance to brewer Cédric Dauchot’s Belgian hometown. An actual Belgian making Belgian beer? In BC? Imagine that.
A note about The Growler’s new distribution model
The day has come that some of you have been expecting, and that some of you (I like to imagine) have feared since the halcyon days of our first issue: We’re charging for The Growler. The price is $2 at breweries, private liquor stores and other independent retailers. This is a fair price to pay for up-to-date and relevant information, some (I think) interesting articles and some very pretty pictures. It’ll also help fund the creation of even more interesting articles and even prettier pictures, so that we can grow and be better, covering other stuff beyond just the beer world.
We’re also selling them at Chapters, Overwaitea and Save On grocery stores, London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and all BC Ferries for $4.99 (which is the minimum price we had to set in order to gain access to these locations).
–With files from Joe Wiebe and Jan Zeschky
