Six Beers to Try at the Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival
The 2018 Vancouver Craft Beer Week is in full swing! I, like many other craft beer fans in BC, circle this week on my calendar every year. With a smorgasbord of craft beer-related events happening throughout the city, VCBW is craft beer heaven.
The crown jewel of the week is the Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival at the Pacific National Exhibition Fairgrounds. This event features over 100 breweries and cideries pouring over 300 craft beers and ciders. With so many drink options available and only five hours to work your way through the incredible beer lineup, I thought it would be helpful to provide a list of beers to look out for. Here are my top picks for this year’s festival!
Vancouver Craft Beer Week Collaboration Beer
Double Dry Hopped Pilsner (ABV: 7%)
This is not your average pilsner. Brewed with a healthy dose of Citra, Mosaic, Vic Secret and Enigma hops, the official VCBW collaboration beer created by Backcountry Brewing, Beere Brewing Co., and Coast Mountain Brewing packs a punch. Tropical hop flavours give way to a nice crisp malt flavour that reminds you that this is still in fact a pilsner! A brew as unique as the breweries that made it! If you miss it at the VCBW Festival, don’t worry. You can find the collaboration brew in stores and on tap across the Lower Mainland and Sea to Sky area. Check out the locations here.
Boombox Brewing
Don’t Call it a Comeback Double IPA (ABV: 8%)
After a brief hiatus, Boombox Brewing is back in a big way. They’re brewing out of Parallel 49 Brewing in East Vancouver, and just launched a new DIPA that is sure to fly off of the shelves. As per Boombox’s Instagram page, this beer has a “pillowy soft mouthfeel, low bitterness, bursting with tropical fruit aromas and rich notes of mangoes & melons.” I don’t know about you, but I like everything about that description. This is likely a beer worth going back for seconds…or thirds…or…you get the picture.
Luppolo Brewing Company
Gose with Black Lime (ABV: 4.5% | IBU: 10)
This is hands down one of the best summer beers being made in B.C., boasting citrus fruit flavours, sea salt, and a mellow tart finish. For a lighter beer, it has a lot going on! This Gose was one of our top picks from last year’s VCBW Festival and is sure to be a crowd pleaser again this year.
Raven’s Brewing x Yellow Dog Brewing
Sports Day Sour IPA with Tangerine (ABV: 6.5% | IBU: 25)
These two breweries from the ‘burbs have teamed up to create a new IPA that sports a fruity and sour character. This one sounds interesting and refreshing…I’ll definitely be lining up for it early. You can find it pouring at the Raven’s Brewing Co. tent!
Field House Brewing Co.
Dry Hopped Pear Kolsch (ABV: 5.2% | IBU: 19)
300 pounds of fresh Anjou pears went into making this recent release from the hip brewery out of East Abby (Abbotsford), BC. Kolsch isn’t my go-to beer style, but this sounds too refreshing to pass up. Also, when I was a kid I used to crush pears like they were going out of style!
Dageraad Brewing
The Bright Side Tart Table Saison with Lemons (ABV: 4.5%)
Fresh off of wining the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards Brewery of the Year, Dageraad has released a lightly hopped tart table saison with a lemon zest and lemon juice addition. Mildly tart and definitely refreshing, this beer is a great option when trying to survive a long afternoon of beer festival drinking.
I hope everyone has a blast at this year’s Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival. Whether you’re attending it today or on Sunday, June 3, you’re sure to experience an awesome beer, cider, food truck, and music lineup. Let us know what you enjoyed the most about the festival this year!
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