Operating a small business is never easy and it’s been an especially hard stretch for British Columbia breweries.
Twice at the start of this year I covered long-time breweries announcing permanent closures – Lighthouse Brewing in Victoria after 27 years and Torchlight Brewing in Nelson after 12 years.
When the Protect BC Craft Beer initiative was launched last summer, the BC Craft Brewers Guild said that more than 20 craft breweries in BC had shut down over the previous year.
With that being said, I think it’s important to celebrate milestones for some of BC’s beloved breweries, and that was the case for a popular spot in Port Moody this week.
On June 8, Parkside Brewery celebrated its 10th birthday! They’ll celebrate it properly with a birthday concert featuring The Boom Booms on July 11.
I’m celebrating it by giving you a brief look at the brewery’s five core beers. I’ve tried them all and have nothing but positive things to say, and they’re widely available across the province.
Those core beers are the Motel Hazy Pale Ale, Dawn Pilsner, Dusk Pale Ale, Dreamboat Hazy IPA and Humans New England IPA.
The last four on that list are conveniently available in the Park Pack, available at 87 BC Liquor Stores across the province, while four-packs of the Motel Hazy Pale Ale are a common sight at private liquor stores.
Motel Hazy Pale Ale (5.8% ABV)
Strong hints of lemon and a lingering citrusy-dry finish are the highlights of this crisp and balanced hazy pale ale made with five different hops.
Dawn Pilsner (4.9% ABV)
It’s refreshing, it’s sessionable, and it pays homage to a traditional German-style pilsner with a great balance between malt and hop.
Dusk Pale Ale (5.3% ABV)
The emphasis is hop flavour over bitterness in this dry-hopped west coast pale ale, which is driven by a subtle malt combined with hop aromatics.
Dreamboat Hazy IPA (6.3% ABV)
Double dry-hopped with Citra and Azacca, during and after fermentation, this juicy treat has waves of fresh melon and hand-squeezed citrus notes.
Humans - An IPA for the People (6.3% ABV)
This uniquely named NEIPA is juicy as well, with big flavours of tropical fruit, lemon ring and peach. Cashmere, Mosaic and Ahtanum hops achieve those flavours, while it’s heavily dry-hopped warm with Citra hops as well.
Josh Duncan is the NowMedia news director and a craft beer lover. Reach him at [email protected]. His beer column appears every Saturday afternoon in this space.
