Brewing up a collaborative storm for Vancouver Craft Beer Week
Last Thursday, April 20th Lower Mainland brewers got together for the now annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week collaboration brew day. This year the brew took place at Yellow Dog Brewing in Port Moody in the heart of Brewers Row.
Although the brewing had already begun when we arrived there were still opportunities to take part in the action. Everyone present (including me!) got to be part of the hop addition during the boil. Gary Lohin from Central City took his part very literally. Instead of a handful, Gary added a single hop pellet to the brew with a big smile.
The whole day was a great time and an excellent way to connect with others in the industry. Brewers and owners from breweries across the lower mainland were there to chat, catch up, and (presumably) scheme about their next exciting project.
I was thrilled to be invited to the event. It gave me the chance to check in with my peers in the media side of the brewing community. It’s also just a nice time to reconnect and check out what others are doing this season and in the coming months.
The new contract brewery Factory Brewing was on hand as well and generously provided food for the group. If you’ve not heard, Factory Brewing is setting itself up as a contract brewery: one that will brew beers for other breweries, essentially renting out their tanks to whichever breweries need them. This is something that most breweries do in order to supplement their income. It’s also a way to assist their peers provided they have the space to do so. Look no further than both Dogwood Brewing and Strathcona Beer Company being the source for SuperFlux Beer’s recent canned releases to understand what this is about.
For now, we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks yet for the release of the VCBW collaboration brew. This year’s beer is a hazy pale ale with passionfruit and guava, similar to many of the recent hazy and cloudy IPAs you may have tried recently. Unlike those high-ABV beers, this one should be something more sessionable. With a more sensible alcohol content of 5% this hazy beer should allow consumption of more than one can per sitting!
Keep your eyes peeled for the 4-packs when they are released in May.
