Nanaimo Kinsmen Beer Festival Review Part 1


Official Nanaimo Beer Festival Program
   I am going to have to break this review into a few parts because I have a lot of #beertalk to cover! The Nanaimo Kinsmen chose a wonderful location for the Nanaimo Beer Festival to take place. The Nanaimo Ice Centre was open and inviting, a perfect place to sample some of Vancouver Island's best local brews. All the proceeds went entirely to the Kinsmen Club which supports many wonderful projects within the community (The Child Development Centre, Kin Pool and Kin Hut are just to name a few). Thanks to the Kinsmen for all you do within our community! 


 Also, big thanks to CHLY 101.7FM for being the event sponsor.

Obviously this event was a "must-attend" for me, being a rather passionate beer lover but also a community advocate and a promoter of all things Vancouver Island I was very ecstatic to be there! We arrived a little after 6pm and there was already lots of beer tasting going on.

I quickly bee-lined for the always amazing Vancouver Island Brewery table and wet my whistle with a Hermann's Dark Lager. As a dark malty beer fan this beer never ceases to impress me, with a slight hint of coffee and chocolate with low hoppiness (is this a word?) and a clean, smooth finish.




Vancouver Island Brewery was also serving up the Silver Medal winner at the 2012 Canadian Brewing Awards, the Beachcomber Summer Ale - an unfiltered light ale that is slightly citrusy, with a hint of tropical fruit and spice. 

The classic Sea Dog Amber Ale, a multiple Gold Medal winner this is a somewhat malty beer with smooth balanced flavour and lightly hopped. 

 Canada's #1 Lager the Islander. Clean, crisp and extremely refreshing!

 And lastly their Piper's Pale Ale, a well balanced beer with earthy malt flavours, medium hop bitterness with a fruity, crisp finish.

 If you've never had the chance, I highly suggest partaking in a wonderful brewery tour in the beautiful city of Victoria. 

 Next up for me was the always impressive Phillips, also based in Victoria and they always have the most entertaining and fun labels on their beer! They were serving up their best seller the Phillips Blue Buck Ale, pours a light amber with a straw head. It has soft citrus aromas with a slight toasted caramel undertone. This beer has a light crisp and refreshing finish. This is a great beer to introduce a "non-craft" beer drinker.

 They were also pouring the Phillips Bottle Rocket ISA, a big hop nose and light mouthfeel with a sweet citrus hop accented with pine. 

The Phillips Analogue 78 Kolsch was a nice crisp light beer with medium hops, quite refreshing! 

Comments

Unknown said…
Yummm
Sorry I missed it
Jim
December 13, 2013 at 1:05 PM
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