Four days later, our hangovers have finally let up and we’re ready to start over, the same tasting crew out and about, and trying out the many and amazing casks at theVancouver’s  Alibi Room’s 500th Tap Celebration. (First sips at: Alibi Room 500th)

Alibi Room II: Our First Beers

This was the last day of this 5-day event, and it was interesting to note that most of the beers they had run out of were the really sour fruit beers, as in cherry, raspberry, rhubarb and blackcurrent…

Here are this evening’s tasting notes:

Batz 1, Powell St. Brewing Co., White IPA, cardamon??? spices????, whatever it is that I’m tasting makes this an excellent and refreshing summer beer!
Al 1 and Al 4,  Persephone Brewing Limited Release, American Pale Ale with Citra Hops: lots of depth, lots of flavour. So good Al ordered it three times. But Grant was less impressed, didn’t think it had good body.
Grant 1, Powell St. Brewing Co. Dry-hopped Ol’ Jalopy Pale Ale: “so so”, according to both Al and I, but Grant said it has “good body compared to Al’s.”
Batz 2, Reverend Nat’s Hallelujah Hopricot Cider: slightly sour and has a weird taste in the front, what the hell is that flavour? Grant says banana. Or is it an ester? Maybe I really don’t like esters. Is it dill pickle I’m tasting? What? What?
Grant 2, Parallel 49 Pacifica Dry-hopped ESB: so-so, especially following a sip from a later brew after which Grant decides this ESB tastes like water…
Al 2, Parallel 49, Nitro E.S.B.: creamy head, apparently it’s the nitro. Nitro is what gives Guinness its famous creamy head. This beer is not nearly as interesting as Guinness though.
Grant 3, Parallel 49, Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout: It tastes to me like a classic stout, and I like it a lot. Grant says that what I’m liking is the bourbon barrel and that it isn’t as classic as I think.
Batz 3, Parallel 49, Snap, Crackle, Pop: smells green, tastes decent, although a tad light. Al says, “lovely nose.” NOTE: the tap list for this 5-day event was 75 kegs and 23 casks so they weren’t all opened at once. Most kegs were listed showing what would be opened AFTER that particular keg ran out. In this case I only tried the Snap, Crackle, Pop in the hope that they would run out of it and open the Green Flash keg.
Al 3, Phillip’s Brewing, Monkey Drummer: All these flavours are coming out of these beers that are in my memory bank but I can’t identify them – it’s so frustrating! Al says licorice. Smooth, a little malty, lots of hops, great aftertaste, boozy.
Al 4, see Al 1.
Batz 4, Breakside Brewing, Wanderlust IPA: This beer is from a Portland brewery. While I’m trying to update my notes the guys are into it. “So fresh”, “Isn’t that great, so fresh”, “Try it before Elizabeth gets any”, “Wow, that’s nice.” They did leave me a half a glass and it’s pretty good, with more punch at the end than Al’s Monkey Drummer.
Grant 4, Double Dragon, Imperial Red Ale: A winner! Toasty, tasty.

And now a bit about the food…

Pork Apple Bangers served with Scallion Mash with Braised Greens and Portobello Gravy. Bangers seemed a tad stale but the ‘Champ’ (Scallion Mash) was great and I loved the greens, whatever they were. Camera doesn’t work too good in the dark but here they are anyway!