It’s time to talk about what’s going on in the magical mountain kingdom of Bhutan. Bhutan has craft beer. In fact, Bhutan has very good craft beer, both traditional beer and modern American-style craft beer, and yes, it’s surprising because no one thinks of Bhutan when they think of beer. The depth of Bhutan’s indigenous…
Category: Beer around the World
What is the best beer destination in South America? The answer might surprise you.
222 Brazilian craft breweries and 1469 of their beers entered this year’s Concurso Brasiliero de Cervejas. Remarkably, the craft breweries in Brazil are home-grown, not created or sustained by expats. This is unusual for a new beer country. The top craft breweries in Brazil are already good enough to compete in the local marketplace. Many are…
It’s Official! We are judging at this year’s Okanagan Fest of Ale.
I’ve always been prone to telling people what they should be drinking. Now I can do so with great aplomb! In less than two weeks, I will serve on a panel of judges at the Okanagan Fest of Ale. While Josh has done this kind of thing many times before, it will be my first time…
Keep a Lookout for These Mexican Craft Beers
Now that you know where to drink craft beer in Mexico City, it’s time to talk about the beer itself. We were impressed by the number of breweries, the diversity of their products, and the overall quality of the beer in Mexico. Influences are definitely north of the border, with lots of porters, stouts, American-style Belgian ales, APAs and…
Top Breweries Visited in 2014
Here are some of the most outstanding breweries we visited in 2014, while we were based in Vancouver, BC. The list is based on beer quality but also atmosphere and role in the community. 49th State: Denali, Alaska Fitting well with my theory that cold places brew best, Alaskan beer is generally of high quality. However, one…
Response to “The Death of Style”
There’s a well-written blog post going around, written by one Michael O’Connor of Portland, Oregon, another in a string proclaiming the “death of beer styles“. It’s an interesting read, makes a lot of good points, gets a couple of minor things wrong that aren’t worth dwelling on (cough, Reinheitsgebot, cough), and is generally good food…
Official: Hidden Beer is Hiring!
This week, an anonymous group of billionaires started to hide $100 bills around Vancouver. Their project was quickly followed by another anonymous group of billionaires (or perhaps the same group, who knows?) hiding beer. Now, these beeranthropists are hiring globally. If you want to be part of this exciting project as a “hidden beer agent,”…
The World’s Top Beer Festivals
Beer festivals span the year and the globe. Don’t know which ones to hit up? We’ve got you covered. Here are a few of our personal favorites, followed by our bucket list of beer festivals. Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation: If you love lambic (and if you don’t, you can leave quietly now. go ahead…), then you…
5 “Beertastic” Off the Beaten Path Day Trips from Vancouver
Summer’s pretty much here. It’s time to play! For us, that means following fresh air and exercise with a pint of something tasty. There are few places you can combine outdoors activities with a local brewpub as easily as Vancouver. The variety of things you can do outside the city–even using public transport–is astounding. Everyone knows…
Moldova and Transnistria in 25 Microbrews
I’ve been readingThe Geography of Bliss lately, and was pleased find that the author, Eric Weiner, did something few people do. He flew to Moldova. Very few foreigners visit this little landlocked country. What’s even more remarkable is that Weiner went there to study happiness. Or, rather, unhappiness. Weiner claims that Moldova ranks among the least happy places in the…
Vancouver’s New Micro, Nano, and Pico Breweries Part V: Storm’s A-Brewin’
Today we kicked it old school, first visiting the venerable Vancouver institution that is Storm Brewing, before hitting up two of the new nano breweries in East Van. If you are in the area, you can walk between all three. Visiting Storm Brewing is like watching Igor meet Dr. Frankenstein for the first time: This…
Not Kosher for Passover: What’s Brewing in Israel
This is not the first time I’ve ironically written about beer during Passover. This Passover, I would like to respond to this blog post published about beer in Israel. The author of this post had chosen to visit a culturally diverse cross-section of breweries, but only covers three of them, and therefore does not scratch the surface of…
Love and Barley 