First Bites - May 2022 - Crafty Collabs

Garage series
The first in Main Street Brewing’s Garage Series is a bière de coupage, a collaboration between the teams at Vancouver’s Main Street Brewing and Langley’s Farm Country Brewing.

Azlan Graves, head brewer at Main Street, explains that a bière de coupage is typically a blend of aged and young beers. In this case, it's Main Street’s 2015 Stag and Pheasant Imperial Stout and Barley Wine, aged in Old Forester bourbon barrels for five years, cut with its 2020 Bière de Garde Farmhouse Ale.

The aged beer was brewed while Jack Bensley, now at Farm Country Brewing, was at Main Street, and Bensley and Graves worked together on the young beer and the final blend. As described on the brewery's website, the resultant brew has "notes of soft red fruit, milk chocolate and subtle spice." It also features "a unique Berliner Weisse [yeast] strain isolated from a 1987 bottle from defunct German brewery, Willner Brauerei Berlin. The yeast, called Brettanomyces Brux Vrai, is "added just before bottling, infusing the beer with light citrus and white-wine characteristics."

Graves says of collaboration, “It’s an opportunity for us to trial something we might not otherwise do.” And because Main Street has particular expertise in cask beers, other brewers have approached him to collaborate on this style. “Vancouver has a really good community,” Graves says, remarking on the culture of sharing and open communication between brewers. “It’s basically an open-door policy.”

Main Street Brewing | mainstreetbeer.ca
Farm Country Brewing | farmcountrybrewing.com

Find it at: Main Street Brewing, Farm Country Brewing (Langley), West Coast Liquor, The Gull Liquor Store (North Vancouver)

Valley of beer
Field House Brewing will be brewing the next in the Valley of Beer series, a collaboration between four Fraser Valley brewer- ies, due out this spring. Field House Brewing Founder Josh Van- derheide explains that the concept started as a way to promote the area and the emerging brewery scene in the Fraser Valley. “We’re all award-winning breweries and there is amazing food and agriculture here.”

In “normal times,” the collaboration would see the brewers from Field House Brewing, Ravens Brewing, Old Yale Brewing and Trading Post Brewing sitting down to trade ideas in person. Due to COVID, they’ve continued this process over Zoom. Each brewery suggests a favourite hop and all four are used in each beer of the series.

Field House head brewer Matt Friesen describes the upcoming beer as a modern IPA. “It’s hazy with a lot of protein malt for full body. It’s predominantly a juicy beer, fruit-forward and easy to drink.”

From a brewing perspective, Friesen explains that the key benefits of collaboration with other breweries are innovation and learning. “We feel like we’re a bit of a family and people are usually willing to share,” he says, adding that “collaborative beers tend to be innovative beers.”

Vanderheide sums it up nicely. “We’re supporting each other and we love the support from the community.”

Field House Brewing Co | fieldhousebrewing.com
Ravens Brewing | ravensbrewing.com
Old Yale Brewing | oldyalebrewing.com
Trading Post Brewing | tradingpostbrewing.com

Find it at: Urban Liquor Store, (Lower Mainland and Kelowna), Town Centre Liquor Store (Langley), Clayton Liquor Store (Surrey), High Point Beer Wine Spirits, Denman Beer Wine & Spirits (Vancouver)

We love delta
For a second year, Four Winds Brewing Company and Barnside Brewing are getting together to brew “We Love Delta,” a collaboration between the only two breweries in Delta and Tourism Delta. Ken Malenstyn of Barnside Brewing, also a co-chair of Tourism Delta, explains that it was a way to “celebrate our great area and sense of community.” The idea grew out of the pandemic and offers locals a way to support their local area.

The hops and barley are grown by Barnside Brewing at their Delta farm and will be brewed at Barnside from a Pilsner and other specialty malts. The two breweries work together on the recipe. Last year, the first iteration, brewed at Four Winds, sold out in two weeks so the companies are planning for a bigger batch.

Plans are for a light, easy drinking IPA, moderately bitter with brewed forward notes from the yeast and citrusy, resiny notes from the hops. Malenstyn says, “It will be juicy and fairly aromatic.”

“We are a collaborative industry by nature”, says Four Winds Brewing’s Adam Mills. “As much as we are competitors, we feel camaraderie among craft brewers. There is a bigger market share to gain against big brewers.”

Barnside Brewing | barnsidebrewing.ca
Four Winds Brewing | fourwindsbrewing.ca

Find it at: Barnside Brewing, Four Winds Brewing, Speed’s Liquor Store, The Landing Liquor Store, Sundance Beer & Wine (Ladner), Liquor Quicker, Metro Liquor (Tsawwassen), Sunshine Hills Liquor Store (North Delta), Darby’s Liquor Store,Legacy Liquor Store (Vancouver)