Nanaimo Kinsmen Beer Festival Review Part 2


 In the previous review, we covered Vancouver Island Brewery and Phillips - today I'm going to cover a couple more Vancouver Island breweries that made the night a complete success. 


Longwood Brew Pub is a Nanaimo favourite. Being the only brew pub in Nanaimo - it's a pretty popular place to go to knock back a few brews. I was impressed to see that Longwood has done some rebranding on old favourites, I was digging the new labeling and the beer is always great. They were offering some of their best beers here, the always popular Framboise (now Berried Alive) a palate pleasing punch of raspberry ale. Crafted from whole BC grown raspberries refermented with lightly hopped Blonde ale. This is a refreshing clean beer that borders on tart and sweet.

Photo from the Longwood Brew FB page
 They were also serving up my personal favourite (yes I'm a fan of a darker, maltier brew) the Dunkelweisen (now SteamPunk) this beauty is fused with traditional taste and modern technique. This dark beer is light bodied and crisp, crafted with 35% white wheat. It has a great deep flavour that is not overpowering.  

The Big One (IPA) a brew that is always more hoppy, this one is quite palatable and even a not-so-hoppy fan like me enjoyed it. I would probably even have another, not excessively hoppy and finishes clean. Medium bodied. The Extra Ale, also a more hop-filled beer was also being generously served. 

 Last but not least the Stoutnik (Russian Imperial Stout) launched my tastebuds! A combination of roasted barley, chocolate and black barley gave this beer a rich, complex malty flavour. Deep delicious flavour! 


 Moon Under Water Brewery from gorgeous Victoria may have served up my favourite beer of the festival. I have visited this brew pub before and couldn't get enough of their light pumpkin ale (which brew master Clay informed me had pears in it!) I knew after enjoying that pumpkin ale back in October I had to try more of their brews.

 For lighter beer fans there was Potts Pils being served, a Northern German style Pils. This was a bit hoppy with dry citrus notes.

 Highlight at the fest for me was the Creepy Uncle Dunkel (love the creative name too!) this is a German Black Lager with a 5 week lagering time. The dark Munich malts and roasted wheat gives this beer a rich, vanilla and nutty-sweet palate with a dry rounded finish. This beer is AWESOME! If you like dunkelweizens you NEED to try this one!

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