I’ve been away for the past three weeks, although you wouldn’t know it. Due to great advances in both technology and my prioritizing skills, I managed to file three columns on the same day before I left, to construct the illusion that I’ve been tethered to my desk the whole time, working feverishly to ensure that you have the most relevant beer information possible.
Instead, I’ve been swaying in hammocks beneath the Nicaraguan sun, drinking Central American lager and turning my skin from pale to pink to a sort of orange-brown that I’ve never really seen before.
As for the booze, here’s my report: It’s next to impossible to get drunk in that country. The beer is weak (though cheap) and the wine is mostly lousy (and expensive – it’s all imported from Argentina and Chile), and I was sweating out whatever I imbibed anyway. And then you pass out by 9:30pm, exhausted from the heat. In short, you have to work hard to get a good buzz on, and I wasn’t into working on my vacation.
Anyway, I’ve missed out on many important announcements that I’d like to share with you now, if you don’t mind. These include:
• Our good friends at Vancouver Craft Beer Week have teamed up with our sworn frenemies Vancouver Magazine to launch the Vancouver International Craft Beer Awards. VCBW, we ask you: how could you! But since craft beer’s all about altruism, community bonding and other nouns denoting a healthy approach to the world, I thought we should set aside whatever differences we have with VanMag as a publishing competitor and help promote these awards for obvious reasons (namely, beer is good). Eligible contestants include any BC-brewed beer available year-round at private and government liquor stores, and made by a brewery with an annual production of six million barrels or less. A panel of judges will choose the winning beer and make the announcement at VCBW opening night on May 29.
• Speaking of VCBW, regular tickets are available on April 2. Early bird tickets are available now. The festival is running over 10 days from May 29 to June 7 and will feature over 100 breweries and 16 events. Tickets range from $10-$90 per ticket. Also, the festival is moving to the PNE Centre Grounds this year, which means all the Vancouverites that enjoyed stumbling home to their centrally located homes have to rely on cabs this year. So thanks for that, VCBW organizers. Thanks a lot.
• Speaking of VCBW (again), the Farmhouse Saison & Wild Ale Festival has launched its ticket sales. The nerd-centric festival is devoted to, yes, saisons and wild ales only, and will be held on June 27 at UBC Farm. The event will feature “unique and limited brews” from Brassneck, Steel & Oak, Strange Fellows, Main Street Brewing, Lighthouse, Goose Island and more. The $50-plus-tax price tag is a bit pricey given the limited range of beers here, but, hell, if you love yourself some wild ale, just go for it.
• Parallel 49 is launching its Brews Brothers mixed pack, featuring 12 new collaboration brews with 12 different breweries. Townsite, Steel & Oak, Firehall, Bomber, Persephone, Storm, Rossland, Dageraad, Moon Under Water, Brassneck, Yellow Dog and Powell Street all took part in the new project, which is indeed a very cool project, though I can’t say if the beer’s any good because I haven’t tried any of them (wink wink nudge nudge, here’s looking at you P49 marketing team). P49 is hosting several Brew Bros. launch parties over the next month, including one at St. Augustine’s on March 30.
• Speaking of Victoria, the people (i.e., me) behind Westender’s kid sister, The Growler, are necks-deep creating Issue 2, which is out May 1 and will include Victoria, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. That’s the big announcement. Wow. I can actually hear the ripple of applause as I write this. Thanks everyone.
• Finally, on April 1, the BC Liberal government is making big changes in how alcohol will be sold in the province. While we don’t know all the details yet, it’s sure to impact prices for consumers. My point is twofold: 1) I’ll be covering this more in depth in the coming weeks and 2) buy up all the cheap booze now, while you can. Hurry!
