As I was doing some Daddy Day Care, I wasn’t actually able to get to visit any breweries and so my research was purely arm chair and virtual.

The one brewery that interested me the most but sadly I wasn’t able to try was Crannóg Ales.  They currently don’t do any bottling and have a limited distribution but from the following description you can probably understand why the Tank wants to give these guys some serious attention at some point.

Crannóg Ales is Canada’s only Certified Organic farmhouse microbrewery, one of only a handful of such breweries in the world. We brew unfiltered, unpasteurized ales using only organic ingredients, some of which come right from our own farm.

Of those that I did try Phillips Brewing, Victoria and Cannery Brewing, Penticton were my favourites followed closely by Mt. Begbie, Revelstoke.  I also tried Tin Whistle, Penticton which was fine and was disappointed with Granville Island Brewing, Vancouver.  On a previous visit to Kelowna this year, I was able to try the local Tree Brewing but this visit was about sampling as many different beers as possible.

Here’s a list of my favourite beers I was able to sample:

• Cannery Brewing, Anarchist Amber Ale
• Mount Begbie Cream Ale
• Mt Begbie High Country Kolsch
• Philips Amnesiac Double IPA
• Phillips Black Toque Indian Dark Ale

I came across the Craft Brewers Association of British Columbia after all ready having put in some hard graft but as you can see from the screengrab below they seem to have all the good ones signed up.

Double IPA, enough said

Scarbs says,

This one is a summer porch beer, where one would lead twelve.

I would agree with that, in that this is a very light, fresh, straw-yellow (4.5%) session beer.

Pours out as peaty, almost black with a light brown head.

It’s quite a meaty bear where the roasted malts bring chocolate tones to balance out the hops (which have quite a good length.)

I would have this beer again (maybe have to head out now to get another bottle) and thinks it’s one worth searching out.  It’s currently rating in the 89th percentile on ratebeer.

Initial thoughts are, and these at some level don’t make sense, is this is a combination of a tasty Golden Ale mashed with an original style IPA.

Or, as the Tank has been doing extensive tasting of Dark Star this summer, would suggest that the Anarchist is like Sunburst vs. Hophead, which is so good on so many levels.

The Cannery says:

This is a beer lover’s beer. Anarchist Amber Ale is a full bodied hand-crafted ale that is a generous combination of carefully roasted malted barley balanced with three Northwest hop varieties. Patient and watchful conditioning results in a harmony of hop and malt.

It pours out as a nice amber colour with a golden tinged head that soon dissipates though stays through the glass.

It’s a very refreshing ale that I would say has some peach tones with some malty uplift at the end.  Other drinkers mention some hops but I reckon my taste buds have been hammered by the American IPAs I have been drinking as I don’t get that.

All in all, a good start to tonight’s tasting session.

One of the beers on my must have list was the Phillips Amnesiac Double IPA, which at 8.5% I expected to be at heavier end of the scale like the Barleywines…but actually it seems that Matt Phillips has spent some time learning from the Belgians…meaning that yes, this is a big beer and not for the feint of heart but it’s got a delicious, grapefruit hoppiness you would expect, matched with a nice dark caramel colour and poured with a solid white head that stays with the beer as it get’s drained.

One thing, it’s not bottle fermented and I don’t recall seeing that yet in any of the beers…probably some legal brewhaha that stops the brewers from doing so.