When it comes to romantic images of the life of a craft beer maker, we have to admit that Graham With is not dressed in a monks garb wondering around his garden to make sure the bees are pollinating his hops.
Craft beer making is, alas, rather utilitarian. Theres stainless steel everywhere and loud noises, he says of Vancouvers Parallel 49, where he spends his days digging piles of grain and lifting heavy kegs.
The most romantic he can get about making beer is his description of how he must keep his yeast happy. You need to be like a hotel manager you have a guest and you want to make your guest as comfortable as possible.
Maybe this is why theres very little elitism about beer making and beer drinking. Sure they can talk about the glories of this or that brew, but these are men and women who have a tough, physically demanding job. What they care about is that people sitting in bars or at a campsite or in their living room watching a hockey game come to appreciate that all beers are not made alike.
They make beer out of love and passion, says Chris Bjerrisgaard, a man all-knowing about all things craft beer. No ones in the craft beer industry to make millions of dollars. Its a very blue collar job. Theyre waking up at six, throwing on coveralls and working very long hours.
From craft beers humble roots come humble brewers, which is why Bjerrisgaard, a founder of Vancouver Craft Beer Week, helped come up with the rather zany idea of giving local brewers the rock star treatment in the promotional video for this years event, which runs May 19 to 26. The video is a This Is Spinal Tap spoof of brewers trash talking each other and trashing hotel rooms. (Parallel 49s Graham With does his Ziggy Stardust impersonation on our cover.)
Interviewing the craft beer rock stars is Terry David Mulligan. Known today as the host of Tasting Room Radio and cohost of Hollywood and Vine with fellow actor Jason Priestley, other past lives include writing profiles of real-life rock stars such as Frank Zappa.
I do not miss the rock n roll interviews because they were at times... vacant, he says of his subjects. There was nothing there. Then for 15 years I did movie star interviews in Hollywood. It was slightly more elevated. Then I had lots of time in San Francisco to explore Napa and Sonoma and I really liked the people around winemaking.
Hes a late convert to craft beer but a very dedicated one. For me it was a complete epiphany to realize they were using some of the same descriptors for beer, he says. And yet there was no snobbery, no trying to outdo one another on coming up with ways to described the nuanced flavours. Beer is approachable, Mulligan says. The problem with wine is its surrounded by people who think they are superior and let you know. Beer people just want to share it.
And share it they will. At Vancouver Craft Beer Week you can pick your flavour of event, says Bjerrisgaard. Weve designed the festival to go with every personality. Expect whatever you want to find.
Tickets are still available for the opening night gala on May 18 at the Roundhouse. If youre going to go to one event, go to this one because its a little taste of everything, Bjerrisgaard says.
Win a case of BC craft beers here.
