Primary Research - Beer

Okay, a lot of travel logistics the last few days have kept this post on the sidelines.  When I started this post, it was a paean to drinking in Canada, called 'There is no hops in hops' - I would like to think I would have worked on that title a bit before posting it.  Here was a little of what I wrote:

I am currently drinking Pelican Tsunami Stout, an Oregon beer (USA!) that gets an A- on BeerAdvocate.com.  To me it tastes more like a porter; it has a great richness and smokiness.  It was recommended by Tyson, our bartender at the Fish House in Stanley Park, Vancouver, who scoffed at me when I told we'd gone to Yale Town Brewing (and rightfully so, the place was shit - I actually was testing him to make sure he didn't tell me that the watered down swill I'd drunk our first night in Vancouver was anything other than a horrible excuse for beer).  Tyson recommended we try Cannery Brewing Company, one of the best craft breweries in BC.  We tried the Maple Stout (a bit like a creme brulee beer) and a Blackberry Porter he swore by, which was meh; it had a bad chemical aftertaste.

Notice the Guinness glass in this promotional shot - the taxes in Canada make creating custom stemware prohibitively expensive

The point I was trying to make was that, like with sales tax and street signage, native British Columbia beer really sucks (I won't say all of Canada, since I love me some Unibroue beers out of Montreal - I think the point of demarcation here may be Winnipeg or maybe Thunder Bay - go west of there and yer hosed).  Most people in Vancouver seemed to know very little about good beers and I suspect that the parody of our neighbors to the north sitting in thermals on their porches drinking copious amounts of cold yellow piss-water with a picture of a moose on it is not too far off from the truth.  Maybe in a few more years this will change.  The beer store we found our second to last day was decent and the owners were knowledgeable.  I would guess that in ten years time Western Canada might have some decent craft breweries.

Now we are in Hawaii and the island Safeways sell a good selection of local island beers.  I have several cans of Maui Brewing company's CoCoNut Porter in the fridge.  I will also make it a point to find some of the imperial coffee stout from Kona Brewing Company while we are here. 

The CoCoNut Porter is a tad bit pricey for a beer I picked up at a supermarket (Mahalo!) but my god it's worth it.  It's a good solid porter that I would recommend even without the wonderful toasted coconut taste that comes in at the end.  It's good on the beach and great with breakfast cereal (jk!... kinda).

In Hawaii they have developed the ability to print company logos on glass; maybe we should sell this technology to Canada

We have about two more weeks to determine if the beer culture in Hawaii is better than the beer culture in Seattle.  I have a suspicion that Seattle bars will win out but the craft breweries in Hawaii may be superior.  Taste tests to follow.