Monday, September 14 2009
Camera on CAMRA
What else could make a man this happy? Hair not precisely as shown.
When one is asked, 'How was the Great Canadian Beer Festival?', the proper response is, 'How would I know, sir? After all, I was there.' That is, if you really recall the events surrounding the festival, you were doing it wrong.
As much as it pains me to admit it, I actually did the honorable thing and covered the festival in a sober and abstemious fashion for at least 50% of the time. I was greatly aided in this by the presence of my attorney-of-record, AKA Mrs. Tim. Long-married couples understand that after a time a man begins to keep part of his memory in his wife, so she is able to assist him with such advice as, 'Remember the last time you drank 19 pints of stout?' and, 'No honey, you don't like whisky: it makes you agitated.' Bless 'em.
In any case my amanuensis/solicitor and I took the 11 am ferry to Vancouver Island, off the coast of BC, to the capital city, Victoria. It is widely felt by most of the province that forty kilometres offshore is nearly far enough away to keep our leading politicians, provided they don't try to leave too often. Victoria is not BC's first capital city (that would be my old stomping grounds of New Westminster) but it is a very pretty little piece of Brittania on the coast, all Scottishy and pip-pip time for tea. In other words, a perfect place to haul down a few pints at a beer festival.
After we checked in to my soundproof suite at Victoria's fabulous Harbour Towers Hotel (highly recommended for clean, spacious and well-appointed accomodations at reasonable rates, in a city where hotel rooms command a premium) we made the run down to the festival, to obtain my press credentials.They were forthcoming from Margaret Case, Media Relations for the festival, and general organisational wizard. Thanks Margaret!
Margaret Case: de-facto wizard, champion organiser, media volunteer
After obtaining the press package (very handy: I'm not a reporter, or even an honest journalist. When I work for pay making words in a row I'm a columnist, which means I don't even look up facts or report events, I just sit and make stuff up. Having it all written out for me was probably for the best) we went with the inimitable John Rowling and the other members of the beverage press for a tour and a quick tasting at three breweries.
John Rowling, striking a familiar pose
John let us in on the 2009 festival facts: The event features 53 brewers (172 different beers) (Victoria: 7, Vancouver Island: 5, Lower Mainland: 11, rest of BC: 5, other parts of Canada: 5, Washington State: 9, Oregon: 3, other U.S. brewers: 5, and other parts of the world: 3) and 8,000 people were expected over the two-day event. I'm pretty sure all 8000 showed up.
The first beers we tried were from Driftwood Brewery, Farmhand, Driftwood and White Bark Ales, all very well made.
Driftwood: no flotsam here!
My favorite was the White Bark, a crisp and tangy Belgian Witbier made with coriander, orange and wheat. In the heat of the day I went back for more than one taste, you can be sure.
Next up we visited a unique and exciting brewery, Hopworks Urban Brewery.
Christian Ettinger, as organic as a man can be, and not be made from twigs and granola
Appreciative, if thirsty crowd of journalists looks on
From Portland, Oregon, Hopworks is an organic, low-impact, sustainable brewery that is earth-friendly, promoting alternative fuel, carbon-offsets, and bicycling over car use. Despite this blatant hippie-ism, I loved them and their beer. The Organic Survival seven grain stout (hippie name) was a treat, richly grainy and smooth, the Organic ale was bold and rich, but for my money their best beer, and the single best IPA of the festival was their Hopworks Organic IPA. Great Ceasar's Ghost! I haven't tasted that much Amarillo since I ate dirt in Texas, and microbiologically it was so clean you could have cultured human tissue in it. I have rarely met a beer that fit so perfectly with the criteria of my value system, and can't wait until I have a chance to re-assess this judgement in a much deeper fashion.
We wound up at my favorite micro/brewpub, Central City Brewing.
John is apparently closing his eyes and genuflecting for Gary's wonderful beer
I've been following Gary Lohin around for years, waiting eagerly for him to make beer so I can drink it. Central City is my local, and a home away from home. Thier new Pilsner was fabulously crisp and grainy, the Red Racer Razz was a great quencher and nicely subtle with the fruit, but their Imperial IPA, dry hopped in cask was a wowser--a beer so happily hopped and gorgeously balanced that it brings tears to my eyes every time I can't get it.
Afterwards there was a short presentation for Frank Appleton, an early pioneer to the craft brewing industry in BC, co-conspirator with John Mitchell and all-around giant figure.
Glenn Stusek, CAMRA president, presenting an achievement award to the very deserving Frank Appleton
After that we broke up, and it was all about the drinkin', er, uh, the evaluating of beer samples. Ahem. The rest of the two days of the festival were crammed with fun and good beer: I got kissed by Scotsmen, menaced by Morris Dancers, threatened by a copper cowgirl and chatted to multiple times by members of the local constabulary.
Honestly, was the cage really necessary?
If you'd like to see more of my adventures in photojournalism, have a look at your humble correspondent's flick set, The Great Canadian Beer Festival.If you're in Victoria and want to get involved with CAMRA (hmm, become part of a group that dedicates themselves to enjoying beer . . . count me in!) Check 'em out: CAMRA Victoria.
Until next year, I'm giving my liver a rest and the poor brewers of BC a break. Good job everyone!
POSTSCRIPT: Thanks again to Margaret Case for her tireless efforts to keep my journalism on the straight and narrow, and correcting a couple of errors (all mine) that originally appeared in this post. I guess I'll have to go back next year and cover it again to see if I can get it right.
| Posted by Tim AT 10:31PM | 0 Comments |  |
Post A Comment |  |
 |