Under The Influence

What do you get when you put a bunch of social media beer nerds in a van and do a beer tour????

Great beer and great times!! What? Were you expecting a punch line? Okay maybe you get some s#!t talking and selfies too.

Seriously though, the Vine and Hops tour we did last week hosted by Mike (@thebeerrater) was such an incredible time that I had to write about it.

We started the day off at 11:30am at Broadway & Commercial in Vancouver where myself, @yvrbeercouple, @brewardinlet, @brewsbabesbanny, and @ivantheiceman were greeted by our Vine & Hops chariot with @thebeerrater & @thisisbrittbailey already inside. With seatbelts strapped and tunes turned up we headed to our first of four stops, the 2015 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Four Winds Brewing.

Four Winds

I didn’t really know what to expect from the beer tour, I guess I was just thinking we’d go grab a beer, hang out for a half hour and then go to the next stop. Nope, that wasn’t the case, Jayden at Vine and Hops organized a full brewery tour and Q&A. Jered and Sean from Four Winds showed us the whole operation from their main brewing area to the separate warehouse that holds all their barrels and foeders for aging beer. We even got to sample some future beer straight from the foeder and learned how blending beer can take one beer from being not so good to blending it with a couple others and making something new and amazing! Waste not, want not!

Side note…..the tacos at Four Winds are so damn good. I highly recommend them if you’re at the brewery drinking their award winning roster of beer.

Steel & Oak

Our next stop was New West’s own, Steel & Oak. I’ve been to S&O quite a few times but I had never been given a tour or even seen their brewing facility. One of their owners, Jordan, showed up to tell us all about their history and operations and even some new top secret stuff they’re working on.

It was interesting to see the scale of Four Winds’ operation compared to Steel & Oak. Four Winds has been pretty fortunate that the area they’re in has allowed for them to expand in to neighboring warehouse spaces. S&O, on the other hand, is in an area that doesn’t have a lot of warehouse space to begin with so they’ve had to keep their operation pretty tight (for the time being). But that doesn’t stop them from putting out non-stop amazing beer. They’ve come a long way since their days of just German & English style beer but they still have a great mix of traditional and innovative beer styles.

Dageraad

Stop number three brought us to the 2018 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Dageraad Brewing.

Dageraad is another brewery I’ve been to a few times and they’re doing some amazing things to bring traditional Belgian style brewing to Western Canada. Just check out their story online to see how much research they’ve done on the history of Belgian brewing and the work that goes in to doing it justice.

While we didn’t get a tour at Dageraad it was still a great time because we all got to sit down and chat with each other at the brewery. It was a nice change of pace. We also got to try Dageraad’s newly released Cuba Libre rum barrel aged spice Belgian ale. It was so friggin’ good. One day I’d love actually to see their operations and ask some questions to the owners. I nerded out on their story online and now this super fan would love to chat with them about it and find out the ways of the Monk.

Luppolo

The fourth and final stop brought us to East Vancouver’s own, Luppolo Brewing. I had been to Luppolo once before but it was at the end of a night of brewery hopping a year and half ago and I don’t really remember much from that night. I can tell you that I’m kicking myself for not coming back sooner though.

Lupollo has a really cool little tasting room with good music and great vibes but that’s not where our tour took us. We ended up in the back where all the magic happens. I was blown away at how small their operation is but I guess in a city like Vancouver where space is at a premium and so is the price for that space, I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s just amazing to see how much great beer and innovation is coming out of there with such a small operation.

Ryan, one of the owners, greeted us and brought us to a small standing table at the back where we were served an insanely delicious charcuterie board to go with our beer. Seriously, the spread of food there was so damn good and was the perfect accompaniment for the beer. Ryan talked through the brewery and brewing process with us but I honestly think we were all so busy stuffing our faces with beer and cheese we probably missed some stuff. He also gave us a taste of a future beer they have coming out that was absolutely delicious! Can’t wait til that hits shelves.

So Long & Thanks For The Beer

I’ve gotta send a big thanks out to Jayden at Vine and Hops, Mike TheBeerRater, all the gracious hosts at Four Winds, Steel and Oak, and Luppolo and my fellow beer-stagrammers who were along for the ride. You all made this beer tour such an amazing event. I can’t wait to jump on that magic bus again soon.