The Champagne of Blogs

Let me start by saying that “Central City” in the context of “Vancouver Beer” is a bit misleading. You see, Central City Brewing is central to Vancouver’s suburb, Surrey, which is about a 45-minute train ride from downtown Vancouver. It’s also located in a giant shopping mall, about 200 yards across a busy parking lot from the train station. This brewery’s never going to be on a postcard, but it is worth writing home about.

Based on some forewarning (thanks again, Abe!), I knew this was going to be decent beer, and I wasn’t disappointed. I ordered a sampler tray, which was a tremendous value at $8 CDN for 8 6 oz. samples, if presented a little haphazardly tableside (I like my samples in light > dark order).

• Springboard Lager: I have been conditioned by many a brewpub to expect very little when it comes to a pale lager, which is usually on tap as a nod to the Miller Lite crowd. This was Miller Lite-colored (or, to use the Canadian, “coloured”), but with much more hoppy goodness and even a little malt note. Very nice.
• Iceberg Copper Bock: What a cool name for a kind of blah beer. Not as much hop as the Springboard, nor anything very distinguishing, but still very drinkable.
• Wally’s Wheat: This thing looked like someone had poured milk in it, it was so opaque and cloudy. It was also a bit effervescent for my liking, but had a nice herbally spice to it (they claim coriander and orange peel, but I swear there was rosemary there) that would make this a nice summer session.
• Red Racer Pale Ale: Have I mentioned yet how much better Central City is than Steamworks? This beer washed all those bad beer memories away with its herbal hops and balanced bitterness. This was a very respectable NW Pale.
• Raspberry Wheat: I fear fruit beers that don’t come with Flemish on them. I’ve had too many overly-sweet alcopops designed to pander to “girl tastes.” This was no sissy beer, with very strong raspberry flavor and aroma, but with none of the candy sweet. Maybe a little too much flavor for a full pint, but I bet this would be an awesome mixer with a chocolate stout …
• Empire IPA: CAMRA called this the best BC beer of 2008, and while I haven’t tried more than a few, I can see why. This was a solid IPA with piney, resiny flavor, and even a bit of fruitiness (though that could be the Raspberry Wheat lingering). Might have caught a bit of butter in there someplace, too.
• Boomer’s Red Ale: Like the Bock, I’m not sure this lived up to its name. It had an odd cinnamon aroma that wasn’t bad, but the flavor was pretty bland and a little dry.
• ________ Stout: I didn’t catch the name of the stout (the sampler was one of 2 that lacked a label), but I doubt I’d order it again. It might have been on cask (normally a plus in my book), but the flat-ish mouthfeel might also have been the result of a little too much oily oatmeal. There was a pretty strong smoke flavor there, too, so fans of Alaskan Smoked Porter might really like this beer, but it wasn’t really for me.

We didn’t eat anything on our visit, but it seemed like a pretty busy kitchen and the environs would lead me to suspect they have a lot of “upscale bar favorites” on the menu. The decor was also fairly standard “upscale bar” in feel, and not someplace I’d relish hanging out at … a little suburban for a regular hangout, but I’d definitely return to fill a few growlers, especially for the Empire IPA or the Red Racer Pale. Heck, maybe even the Lager if I had a wild hair (or were in the midst of a heat wave). I forgot my growlers on this trip, but I was able to bring back a mixed six pack; Central City offers 12 oz. cans of their wheat, pale and lager!

I’m not sure I’d make the trip out to Surrey again, as it was a pretty long trek out through not terribly scenic terrain. But if you do go, make sure you take your growlers, and make double-sure you arrive before 11 PM. In an odd nod to its mixed-use setting, Central City converts to a nightclub at 11 PM. If you look carefully, you can see a disco ball there between the projection screens.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t do a lot of homework before heading up to Vancouver, B.C. last weekend. I got a list of venues awhile back from someone on the Oregon Brewcrew Listserv (thanks, Abe), but I could only remember a few things once I got there. I’d planned on accessing my research on site, you see. Using the Internet. On my iPhone. Problem is, my constant companion doesn’t work too well in Canada. It would do some voice roaming on the Rogers network, but I was afraid to enable the “data roaming” for fear of incurring massive charges. So I pretty much winged it outside of the rare occasions I could find a public wifi network.

One such “stumbleupon” was Steamworks Brewing, in downtown Vancouver’s Gastown district.

We arrived there at about 5 PM on Friday afternoon, just in time to witness the after-work crowd roll in. I ordered up an Empress IPA and settled in for some Canadian-watching. Sarah, newly pregnant, ordered a Ginger Ale.

Being that Vancouver is on the West Coast, I made an assumption that their IPA would roughly follow the Northwest model I’m most fond of, with plenty of hops and fairly high alcohol content. My expectations were met in the alcohol department, but sadly disappointed in the hops. Seems the brewers may have been following the British model a little more closely, with some not so assertive hops (allegedly it’s dry-hopped with Mt. Hood and Kent Goldings). But, there wasn’t much hop to this IPA at all … I even tasted a bit of a Pabst note, indicating a brewing tradition closer to Milwaukee than Manchester!

Switching gears, I decided to try the opposite end of the spectrum, sampling their Heroica Oatmeal Stout next, which was quite a bit better, if not quite up to Portland standards. It had a nice bitterness, partially from the hops, but mostly from a strong burnt coffee flavor which verged dangerously close to acrid. Thankfully, the oatmeal’s oil smoothed the whole thing out into a pint that was fairly drinkable.

Overall, not impressed. Granted, I do live in Beervana, but for a city known for its local food scene, I expected a bit more from my first micro in Vancouver. Still, if you’re in the neighborhood, it’s worth popping in for a snack (the beer-battered yam fries with pesto mayo were excellent), and the downstairs bar looked exceptionally cozy.