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What exactly is a festbier?
Plus 10 new beers and the women changing the beer industry
Joseph Lavoie
September 20, 2022
Happy Tuesday!
A big congrats to the team at Rewind Beer Co. for opening their doors this weekend. The latest brewery to open on Port Moody’s Brewers Row certainly wins the unofficial Best Social Media Pre-Launch Campaign Award for the incredibly fun teasers that have kept us intrigued and excited all summer long.
Today we explore Oktoberfestbier in detail and have some interesting new reads for you, including one on the women changing the craft beer industry in Canada.
– Joseph Lavoie
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FEATURED NEW BEER RELEASES
Time Travel
When a brewery opens its doors, its entire beer list counts as new releases, right? Right. Well, here’s the initial beer offering from Rewind Beer Co, now open in Port Moody. The Chili Lime Pineapple Wheat Ale catches our eye. You?
Location: 2809 Murray St, Port Moody | Map
Nitro Stout
A-Frame Brewing’s Clover Lake Nitro Stout is an Export Irish Stout brewed with UK pale malts, roasted barley and speciality malts. Since it’s in nitro format, you’ll want to pour from the can aggressively in a vertical position to create the nitro cascade effect and soft head.
Available: In the tap room, and in cans from the brewery or select liquor stores
Location: 38927 Queens Way #1, Squamish | Map
Biergarten Bavarian Lager
Howe Sound Brewing is marking the turn of the seasons with its Biergarten Bavarian Lager, “a complex and crushable” lager that pours a brilliant golden amber.
Available: In cans at the brewery or online
Location: 37801 Cleveland Ave, Squamish | Map
Guava Lime Sour
We don’t know how Backcountry Brewing does it—rarely a week goes by without a new release from these guys. The latest creation is Precocious and Full of Wonderment, a guava lime sour made in collaboration with Craft Beer Market. Proceeds from every pint will be donated to Second Harvest, so make the trip to the brewery and do some good.
Available: At the brewery, starting tomorrow, and shipping out to stores in the following days and weeks.
Location: 405-1201 Commercial Way, Squamish | Map
Red, Red Wine
House of Funk’s latest creation, OPHELIA, is a light farmhouse ale that was aged in red wine barrels from Oregon. A Golden sour with” barnyard funk, notes of oak, grapes, berries, and a light acidic finish.” It's a breezy 3.75% to boot.
Available: At the brewery.
Location: 350 Esplanade E #101, North Vancouver | Map
MORE BEER RELEASES
Beacon Brewing brings us a beer with a stunning seafoam green colour. It’s appropriately inspired by tiki cocktails, sporting coconut and passionfruit.
Farm Country Brew Co collaborated with Cavallo Winery on a farmhouse ale that aged on the winery’s French oak barrels before blending with chardonnay muscat.
The Kelowna Beer Institute promises fresh cucumber aromas and a tart finish with its new Cucumber Sour.
Persephone is also getting in on the Oktoberfest action with the release of this Oktoberfest lager.
A-Frame is also out this week with a new West Coast IPA. This one is hopped with Sabro and Talus.
Steamworks’ pumpkin ale is back with a new label design.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
What's a Festbier?
With more Oktoberfest events and beers populating tap lists at BC’s breweries, you might be wondering what a festbier is? Is it a Helles Lager by another name? A spicier Vienna Lager? That's a good question.
First, a quick history lesson:
In the early days of Oktoberfest, you would have found dunkels, or dark lagers. You can point to rudimentary kilning technology for that, as the only malts available were roasted dark varieties, which means dark beers were the only option.
As kilning technology improved, maltsters could produce lighter-coloured malts, which in turn led to the development of lighter-coloured lagers. By 1841, the use of these lighter malts led to the creation of modern Märzen, which became the official beer style of Oktoberfest by 1872.
Then things got even lighter and in 1970, Paulaner introduced a golden-coloured lager at Oktoberfest that gained popularity during the 1990s. This golden lager replaced Märzen as the official Oktoberfest beer.
What does it taste like? You can expect it to have traits you would enjoy in a Helles or a Maibock. A malty backbone and a spicy floral hop bite. The body is usually full and finishes dry. The ABV is a robust 6-6.5%.
What are some BC examples? Persephone’s Oktoberfest Lager and Strange Fellows’ Ludwig Festbier are two of our favourites.
Deep Dive: Here’s the detailed and official style guide. What makes for a good Festbier?
IN THE NEWS
KPU Brewing diploma students and instructors are taking over the taps at The Barley Merchant on Thursday.
Nelson Brewing is giving away tickets to the sold out Massif Music Festival, featuring bands from as far away as Portland and Saskatoon.
It’s Oktoberfest every day until October 2 at Parallel 49.
Trivia nights are making a return as breweries ease out of their summer programming. Old Yale has Tuesday Trivia Nights kicking off tonight at 5:30pm. It’s also Trivia Night at Farm Country, starting at 630pm tonight.
Superflux is introducing a spiked soft serve ice cream. The latest version is a 4.0% strawberry cheesecake and banana cream pie concoction.
The latest issue of The Growler is fresh off the printers. Look for it at your local brewery’s taproom.
Hoyne Brewing has a new mix-pack making its way out to stores now, featuring dark ales and lagers.
BREWERY TOUR
While this may look like the latest image from the James Webb Telescope, it is much better - an aerial view of Slackwater’s brewhouse. Yes, life does exist in those fermentation vessels.
JOB BOARD
Fernie Brewing is in need of a marketing and order desk assistant.
Five Roads Brewing is taking resumes for tasting room servers, a kitchen manager, and line cooks at the Steveston location.
Specific Mechanical Systems is looking for an automation engineer.
Bad Tattoo Brewing is in need of a brewer.
33 Acres is also looking for a brewer.
Old Abbey Ales needs a full-time brewery assistant.
SOMETHING FUN
Hey, to each their own!
Misheard the bartender and agreed to have my Orval sediment in a separate glass. It came in a little mini Orval glass. No complaints.
— Rosputin (@alldoomandgloom)
5:46 PM • Sep 12, 2022
BEER LOOP PICKS
News, fun reads, deep dives and other distractions.
Meet the women changing the craft beer industry. We're especially glad to see Red Tape's Sarabeth Holden on the list. Her brewery opened its doors at the height of the pandemic with a very small footprint and we're delighted to see that the brewery has emerged to showcase flavours from Canada's North. [Chatelaine]
What happens when a beloved brewery gets bought and the new version is a shadow of its former self? The story of Magic Rock Brewing in the UK. [Mark Johnson]
When was lager first brewed in India? Some thought it was 1946. Looks like it may actually be 1928. [Gary Gillman]