There are many ways to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, including a patriotic 12-pack for the beer-loving Hoser in your life.
Surrey’s Central City brewery recently released the Red Racer Across the Nation Collaboration pack, the only sesquicentennial craft beer mix-pack that features breweries from every province of the country. Red Racer collaborated with one craft brewery from each province as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories to fill every spot in the 12-pack with patriotic goodness.
Having sampled half the offerings so far I can say it’s a neat experience to pick out a bottle, learn a bit about a brewery outside the West Coast bubble and try a number of different styles of beer.
The pack includes your familiar favourites like IPA, ESB and pale ale, as well as some lesser known styles like Berliner weisse, kellerbier, honey ale and grisette.
Suitable for the season, many of the offerings lean towards the summer side of brewing with standouts including the Wide Open Spaces Kellerbier made in collaboration with Saskatchewan’s Black Bridge Brewery; the Bouclier Canadien Pilsner by Quebec’s Le Trou Du Diable; and a very smooth, fruit-packed Berry
Light Berliner Weisse from Alberta’s Last Best Brewing & Distilling that pours a strawberry red colour and goes perfectly with a midday barbecue under a hot Prairie sun.
The Across the Nation Collaboration pack is available now in B.C. liquor stores. Patriotism never tasted so good.
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Vancouver Craft Beer Week kicks off with opening night at the Roundhouse this Friday and ends June 3-4, two huge days at the PNE Fairgrounds, with more than 100 craft breweries pouring more than 300 unique beers and ciders.
In between there will be signature events scattered across Vancouver – and one on Port Moody’s Brewers Row – with suds to suit every style and taste.
For a full schedule of events visit vancouvercraftbeerweek.com.
