Granville Island Fun

Hello again all…

After the rip-roaring success of my last post, here’s a follow-up on our local microbrewery. The Granville Island Brewing Company was founded in 1984 by a gentleman named Mitch Taylor, making it Canada’s first microbrewery. Originally based on Granville Island in Vancouver, the main hub of operations has now moved to Kelowna, in the Okanagan Valley area of B.C. Some beers are still brewed in the original (fairly tiny) premises, which can also be hired for functions, handy if you want to prove that you can indeed organise a piss-up in a brewery. The company was bought by Andres Wines in 2005.

Right, that’s the boring stuff out of the way – what about the beers? I’ll be sampling 4 out of the 5 standard brews in this blog – they also do seasonal brews and I believe they even do a Scottish Ale in the winter. I’ll get hold of some of that when the time comes. Anyway, the 4 lucky contenders are –

1. Granville Island Lager – The original brew.
2. English Bay Pale Ale – First brewed in 1987, and Gold Medal winner at the 2006 World Beer Championships.
3. Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale – A more recent brew, first unleashed in 2003.
4. Cypress Honey Lager- I couldn’t find any pithy facts about this one.

My Vietnamese partner in crime will also be on hand to add some non-beer-drinker analysis.

1. Granville Island Lager 4.7%.

This is the original beer, first brewed in 1984. According to the brewers it has “a clean, refreshing taste that even the most demanding beer fans in the world can appreciate”. I don’t consider myself that demanding when it comes to beer, and I can appreciate this one but don’t think its a great beer. Clean and light certainly, but not a great depth of flavour. Its not a really fizzy lager though, which is good in my book, and a definite step up from the generic fizzy rubbish that usually passes for lager in North America. Slightly underwhelming though. 6/10

Lan’s verdict – “It tastes like beer.”

2. English Bay Pale Ale 5.0%.

This is a good beer – malty but not sweet, smooth with a caramel aftertaste. It’s not a ‘real’ pale ale of course, more one of the half a lager/half an ale arrangements that I mentioned in my last post. Still, very nice. 8/10

Lan’s verdict – “It tastes like beer.”

3. Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale 5.0%.

Named after a particularly pleasant area of Vancouver with a lovely beach, the brewers have “taken a bold step forward with this one and added a hint of pure Canadian maple syrup for a creamy taste that is smooth, not sweet”. I was pretty disappointed by this actually, its very similar to the English Bay, but with less flavour. The maple doesn’t seem to make any difference and it’s certainly not creamy. Stick with the English Bay version. 6/10

Lan’s verdict – “……….”

4. Cypress Honey Lager 4.7%.

I really like this one, they use real honey in the brewing process and it adds a pleasant extra element, leaving a slightly sweet aftertaste as well as a rich golden colour. Very smooth, and genuinely different from other lagers that i’ve tried. A quality tipple. 8/10

Lan’s verdict – Umm, I think she’s lost interest.

And thats it – 4 of Granville Islands finest. I’d recommend the English Bay Pale Ale as the best, but the Honey Lager was top as well. I got to sample these by buying a ‘Summer Mingler’ which comes in packs of 12 with various brews. Theres also a ‘Winter Mingler’ that i’ll get hold of when the time comes. Incidentally, I sampled some of the above while watching Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Alphaville’. Never let it be said that we’re not highbrow on this blog.

I’ll return next month with some more of Canada’s finest microbrews.

Cheers!