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2 BC Craft Beer Month | October 2012 WEVancouver.com

By Gen Handley

Main Street Pilsner has found a new home but it can’t move in until next summer.

“It was called the Ye Old Brewery Ga-rage — it’s possibly the oldest brewery

in existence in Vancouver,” says Nigel Pike, one of fi ve owners of Main Street Pilsner. “There’s a bit of grey area but we believe it existed from about 1912 to 1920. It’s that big yellow building — it looks almost like a Mexican church. We’ll have a restaurant on one side and a brewery on the other side — it’s a pretty exciting project.”

Pike is sitting in one of the large, soft booths

at his restaurant, The Cascade Room, on a warm Saturday morning. He rotates his Macbook to show images of the renovations taking place at the future home of his popular beer.

“It’s such an amazing building and it has such great bones,” he says, fl ipping through the photos. “Everytime I go in there, I get goosebumps. It’s pretty phenomenal.”

For the time being, the pilsner is being pro-duced by Russell Breweries in Surrey. Pike and his partners spent about a month tasting more than 30 different varieties of pilsners, lagers from all over the country, identifying any fl avor profi les they enjoyed such as bitterness acidity levels. From that

Brewery salutes Main Street’s pastprocess, the group worked with a brewmaster to come up with the ac-cessible recipe that they use today.

“It’s styled around a Czech pilsner [that uses Czech noble hops],” Pike says. “The IBUs (international bit-terness units) are a lot lower, but we are going to increase them a little bit now that people are starting to notice it. It’s very drinkable. There’s none of that fi nish you get with the likes of the Heinekens and those style of beers where you get a bit of skunkiness at the back end of it. It is very clean and sharp at the end.”

Pike says the culture around his beer’s namesake has played an inte-gral part in both his business and his personal life after moving to Vancou-ver 13 years ago from the UK.

“There is this huge historical side of Mount Pleasant,” he says. “I don’t

think people realize how much it was part of the city and how the growth of the city stemmed from this one little area. Whether it was the tanneries or the slaughterhouses or the soda factories, you name it, it was here. It was really exciting to start digging and talking to people and having the opportunity to bring that back. I think being a part of the neighbourhood here is the best. We built our business around the neighbourhood and I love this neigh-bourhood. I really feel at home here and it’s a really great creative, supportive, kind of a family dynam-ic, which is really weird to say for a street. It felt like walking into a local pub in the UK — that’s what it was for me moving to this street.” MainStreetPilsner.com | TheCascade.ca

By Gen Handley

As big fans of the Portland beer and food scene, Chris Bjer-risgaard and his two friends, Cameron Forsyth and Ryan

Wellington, took their shared passion and turned it into a business oppor-tunity.

“The idea behind it is that the three of us are giant Portland nerds and we always found ourselves imbibing the delicious beverages and tasty food they have down there,” says Bjerrisgaard. “The best businesses are those that are created because the owners love it and are passionate about it. So instead of having to do six hours in the car and crossing the border, what’s the best way we could get our fi x for Portland?”

The answer? The trio opened Portland Craft, a popular Main Street bar and restaurant offering a range of 16 beers brewed in the Oregon city. Since opening during Vancouver Craft Beer Week in May, Portland

Craft has served more than 80 beers, rotating new choices constantly.

“The great thing about that is that there’s going to be a beer on the menu for everybody, for any kind of taste,”says Bjerrisgaard, who is in charge of marketing for the business. (Forsyth is the general manager and Wellington is the executive chef).

Complementing the diverse menu of beers, Portland Craft also offers a comfort-inducing, unpretentious menu of Oregon-inspired food items using local ingredients. There’s the Inner City Salad that uses a weekly selection of locally sourced veg-etables as well as the Put a Bird On It, a crispy organic chicken dish on a Belgian waffl e.

So what is it about Portland beer that Bjerrisgaard loves so much?

“It’s their willingness to take some interesting spins using crazy ingredi-ents – like tangerine wheat ales or sour Flemish pale ales and things of those nature,” he says. “They’re not a afraid to try new things.” PortlandCraft.com

Little PortlandFans pay ode to Washington beer by opening Portland Craft

Chris Bjerrisgaard, Cameron Forsyth and Ryan Wellington toast their new business venture.

Nigel Pike of The Cascade Room.

If the beerenthusiasts arebuzzing about it,we’ve got it.

Join us for a tasting of Coal Harbour Brewing beers, including the limited release Smoke & Mirrors Smoked Imperial Ale, with food pairings by chef Nick Gonzalez.

Upcoming Beer EventTUESDAY OCTOBER 16, 7-9PM | $35

1633 Manitoba Street | 604.331.7900 | legacyliquorstore.com | LegacyLiquor

For our full calendar of free tastings and Harvest Table events, visit us in-store or online!

WEVancouver.com BC Craft Beer Month | October 2012 3

No boundaries at Parallel 49By Gen Handley

There are a lot of adjectives to describe Parallel 49’s assortment of beers, but “conventional” is not one of them.

“We only make the kind of beer that we want to drink,” says Michael Tod, partner and sales director at the Parallel 49 Brew-ing Company. “The result is that we’ll try any style, take interesting spins on tradi-tional styles or stick to traditional styles.”

The guys have come up with some unique fl avours including the Seedspit-ter, a watermelon Belgian-style Witbier, as well as Ugly Sweater, a milk stout that will come out on November 1. In addition to

some ballsy fl avours, Parallel 49 titles such as Hoparazzi and Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale are accompanied by colourful, cartoonish labels that intrigue the senses long before a drop hits the tongue.

“We have a lot of fun coming up with names,” says Tod, who worked for Central City Brewing Company before Parallel 49. “Craft beer should be fun and we have a good time coming up the names. With the labels, we work with a great local art-ist, Steve Kitchen, who is East Van-based.”

The company will be launching a 650 ml-bottle campaign in mid-November, releasing a seasonal beer only that one time. While Tod could not say too much about what beer lovers can expect, he did say they will sell a limited salted caramel scotch ale.

“It’s really rewarding to see our beers on tap or in a liquor store and starting to see how the whole image of craft beer is changing and how it’s growing and peo-ple are starting to talk about it,” he says. “You guys gave us a call — that wouldn’t have happened fi ve years ago.”

Tod says it also gratifying to create beers that he enjoys and is passionate about.

“Before I joined Central City and Parallel 49, I was always trying craft beers out,” he says. “If I got into a liquor store, I go straight to that section and I always pick up a couple different ones to give it a try. I think consumers are really starting to look for choice instead of something with a bubble that will give you a buzz.” Parallel49Brewing.com

“Craft beer should be fun:” Michael Tod

4 BC Craft Beer Month | October 2012 WEVancouver.com

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