I have many charming qualities, ask anyone....and one of the most endearing and hardest to contain is my wanderlust. I have always...okay, perhaps not always...there was that 9 month period before I was born...loved to dream about places to go and things to do when I got there..or do, whilst getting there.
My career was a city bus driver in Vancouver, BC. and that was a saving grace..I went places every day I was at work. I would not have been suited to office life...I don't suffer fools and gossip easily, I have trouble enough with just me. I would spend much of my workday thinking up places to go on my days off and holidays. And..I was successful at getting to some pretty cool spots....Cuba, Costa Rica, many..all..of the southwestern states, repeatedly. New York twice and New Orleans for Mardi Gras this past February.
Now, living in BC's north in my retirement, nothing about that desire to wander has changed. Given any opportunity, I am hot footin it down the road. I don't have to be going far, that really, was never the issue..it was just about going. So, you will understand my immediate leap to the keyboard to send an E mail off to a company in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, that I had been told were hiring people to camp out and conduct exit interviews with folks that had been holidaying/traveling in the Yukon.
They were offering a pay rate of $13.00 and hour and covering the cost of parking your RV/tent while off interviewing folks at pre-selected places in the Yukon. I suggested that rather than the hourly pay, that it they were to cover my fuel costs, that I would be able to come up for a stint.
And that then, will explain my newest plan, a trip to the Yukon. I am going to be in Whitehorse for a days training, spend a day or two with a bud in the area and then be off, to hopefully entrap 300 people to be interviewed.
https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Whitehorse,+YT&daddr=Faro,+YT+to:Mayo,+YT+to:Pelly+Crossing,+YT&hl=en&ll=62.074213,-136.536315&spn=2.887106,10.821533&sll=62.169015,-135.10614&sspn=5.760824,21.643066&geocode=FSOIngMdMzLz9ymBU7yAmERUUTFLNdBk6rc95A%3BFT6ItQMdODEN-CkHF82CaLZQUTHfs0l_TvaLAQ%3BFRZfygMdVGLm9ynrKm1ZAIlPUTHy8SGm9-0zpQ%3BFeKGvgMd6f7b9ynhUc0U7C5OUTEX4_B_acECOg&oq=pelly&t=f&mra=ls&z=7&ecpose=62.07421311,-136.5363151,503565.16,-1.145,0,0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon is a pretty in-depth information piece for you.
Maybe this is a better reason to visit the Yukon.....
Birch Beer is Back!!!
It
is officially spring….we might say summer but sometimes we don’t get
one in the Yukon. The birch trees produced their magical syrup, Berwyn
did his alchemy yet again, and we have knocked off one more version of
our Birch Marzen. It is really hard to say how it
differs from the year before, because we go 10 months without it, then 2
months (or less) with it. Birch sap does not keep. We have to rely on
our beer memory, and those neural receptors are sometimes overworked
around here, if not completely MIA.This year the Birch Marzen is very dry, it almost seems like some of those unfermentable sugars in the syrup were – fermentable after all. The beer started at a higher gravity than in past years, and finished lower. The beer is less sweet and very, very crisp. The colour is a magnificent deep bronze, and the tartness of the birch comes straight on through like an arrow.
One of the gang in the store summed it up nicely today – “I took home a growler last night, figuring it would last a couple of days – and here I am, filling it up again”. So get in here, and fill yours.
February 16, 2012
Megalomaniac
Our Yukon Red
has won numerous awards – it has kind of become our poster child for
award winners. So, when our brewers decided, ‘lets see if we can change
it’, our first thought was “what a bunch of megalomaniacs, why would you
think you should take our biggest award winner and change it – even
just as a one-off?”. But, then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So they created the sort of self-titled Megalomaniac Imperial Red. It is built much like the Yukon Red in terms of the malt bill and hopping, except moreso. It has almost 60% more grain per litre of beer (and Yukon Red
is pretty malty on its own) and nearly double the hops, including a
dry-hopping that the Yukon Red does not get. We describe the result as Yukon Red on steroids, and is available at the brewery in growlers. And, in case we are confusing anyone, we are NOT changing the Yukon Red, this is just a one-off for fun.
February 1, 2012
Feeling Rash or Cheeky?
In that well known and oft quoted Scottish language, “yer gallus” means, “you’re daring, rash, wild, or cheeky”. Kind of describes most of the folks here at the brewery on their best days, let alone after a couple o’ gigots of this Scottish ale! Of course, in that fine language, a gigot is a pint, and yer growler holds a couple o’ those, so come on in and fill ‘er up.
Scottish ales were traditionally defined by the tax that was levied on them – Back in the day, the amount of tax varied by alcohol content, so the lightest ales (under 3.5% alcohol) were 60 schilling ales, while the strongest (over 6.0% alcohol) were 90 schilling ales. Our Yer Gallus is 5.2% alcohol, and hence falls into the group of export Scottish ales, or an 80 schilling ale. In deference to the style, this beer is very malt forward, with a nearly indistinguishable hop finish. It’s mahogany in colour, ever so creamy on the tongue, and finishes with a hint of smoke, as we used a wee bit of peated malt in the recipe. Robbie Burns would be proud.
January 19, 2012
If Ever There Was The Perfect Winter Beer…
…this might just be it. And just to make sure you have enough winter fuel, we called it Yukon Crude. Now, with the variety of stouts out there – from American, to Foreign Extra, to Sweet, to Russian Imperial – you might ponder, “What exactly is Yukon Crude”? Yukon Crude falls into the category of Dry Stout, although the alcohol content is most definitely (!) at the high end of the range. We used a bit of oatmeal for body building (yes, beer requires body building, too), but not nearly enough to be an Oatmeal Stout. True to the style, we used a portion of roasted, unmalted barley, which accounts for a good deal of the dryness. The use of Chocolate and Black malts delivers a secondary note of cocoa, which lasts into the finish. The word that best describes this beer, we think, is sumptuous. Makes -40 a bit more tolerable. Get it in a growler, that is if your vehicle is still running.
January 19, 2012
The Ultimate Session Beer?
Technically speaking, (and by that we mean “beerspeak”), an English Mild belongs to the family of English Brown Ales. There are Northern English Brown Ales, Southern English Brown Ales, and the English Mild, which we suppose, comes right up the middle. We once read a statement that the English Mild is “readily suited to drinking in quantity”- While we always encourage responsible use, we get where the author was coming from! This beer is a rich brown in colour, but light in body with a slight malt accent, and only enough bitterness to provide a bit of balance. If a darker beer scares you, try this one…it will cure your fears and might even turn you into an advocate. Now on the growlers, till it’s gone.
December 9, 2011
Longest Night Black IPA
…is on the growler system. In fact, it has been on the growler system for about a month now…which means it is almost gone!Longest Night is dark and malty, due to the generous use of both chocolate malt and black malt. And, let’s talk hops. Longest Night contains plenty of Millenium, Cascade, and Glacier hops used during the kettle boil. But, it also is dry-hopped with both Cascade and Millenium. Coming in at 6.0% abv, full of both malt and hop flavours, and with plenty of hop bitterness, this is not the beer for the faint of heart. Nor is it a beer for procrastinators, as it will likely be gone by New Years. Come fill your growler…now! Before it really is the longest night.
November 29, 2011
It’s Dark Out and It’s Cold Out…we get that…
…so we got to work brewing up another batch of Spiced Winter Ale. After all, winter must have its upside.
Never had it before? Or, can’t remember a thing from last winter because it is one white blur? Well, Spiced Winter Ale is a rich, bronze colour, and is spiced with freshly broken cinnamon sticks, dried orange peel, cardamom, and star anise.
Our Spiced Winter Ale was launched in 2008, in time for the holidays, and was an instant hit. Sold only through growlers in our store, the entire supply (expected to last two months) sold out in three weeks. Suffice it to say that we have increased our batch size!
This year we have decided to add one litre flip-top bottles to the mix, only available in our store. They are decked out in “his” and “hers” clothing – pair them up to suit your persuasion. Don’t worry, though, it is still available in growlers as well.
Unlike our winter, this beer won’t last long….
September 29, 2011
It’s here! It’s here! Peter Peter Pumpkin Beer!
Fall must be here. We know that not because of the calendar, and not because of the snow on the mountains . . . we know it’s Fall because Peter Peter Pumpkin Beer is now on our growler system!The golds, reds, and ambers of fall are mimicked in the vivid hue of this ale. But its the flavours that really differentiate this unique beer. We add pureed pumpkin into the mash, then follow that up with molasses, Demerara sugar, cinnamon sticks (whole, but broken into bits with a food processor on brewing day), pureed ginger, crushed whole nutmeg, and whole cloves into the brew kettle. Believe it when we say, everyone in the brewery knows it is Pumpkin Beer day from the aromas wafting through the building.
We love this time of year, as friends and family reacquaint after the long lazy days of summer. For the gang here at the brewery, Peter Peter Pumpkin beer is a key element to that process. Try some now – last year it was gone by Halloween . . . Scary!
July 14, 2011
Razz-a-ma-Tazz
Our
newest beer to hit the growler system is off and running,
Razz-a-ma-Tazz Raspberry Wheat Ale. Many of you know our Grizzly Ale,
which is a North American Style unfiltered wheat beer. And, our Deadman
Creek, an unfiltered wheat ale made with natural cranberry. This newest
variation on our wheat ales is Razz-a-ma-Tazz Raspberry Wheat Ale. This
beer is different in a few ways…first of all, we used some unmalted
toasted wheat in the grain bill, which is more typical of a white (or
‘wit’) beer. This carries a bit of doughy flavour into the final
product. Then, we added the raspberry (100% raspberry puree) during the
fermentation, allowing some of the raspberry sugars to ferment. Finally,
we filtered the final product to release a bit more of the raspberry
flavour to the palate. But, make no mistake, this is a beer first, with
the raspberry complementing rather than dominating the flavours. It is
light, it is clean, it is perfect for sunny summer days…so with any
luck, the weatherman will not let it last too long.Maybe after I have some beers, I will get to experience this.....
No comments:
Post a Comment