10 Reasons Victoria is a Kick-Ass Beer Town: #4 Cook Street Liquor

You know, I'd nearly forgotten I was doing this top 10 Victoria thing. Some of you might think I have ADD or be easily distracted, but really it's - oh hey look a blue car!

Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, the little gem of a store that is Cook Street Liquor.

Anyway, last night I got the hankering for some liquid bread, so I hurried forthwith to my local purveyor of fine bevvies to negotiate the purchasing of some beery comestibles. Or: Beer Run!

Now, if you've got half a brain, then you already follow @BCLiquorguys on twitter. But you might have less than half a brain, in which case, thanks for reading, Mr. Harper. Either way, check 'em out for the latest in coming attractions. In particular I have it on good authority that a buncha Baird beer out of Japan is starting to trickle in: Angry Boy Brown and Kurofune Porter are excellent.

Admittedly, the storefront is about as exciting as a PBS show on grain elevators, but as we all learned in kindergarten, it's what's inside that counts. And as we all learned in high school, if what's inside is beer, then that's AWESOME.

The Cook Street Liquor store is about the size of a Playmobil house, but it somehow manages to pack in quite the selection. Best part is there's always something new. This little place has provided me with Un*Earthly, various Half-Pints, Barton Baton, Pretty Things, Hop Rod, and it's one of the first stops for the Driftwood delivery crew, so anything interesting from them shows up right away.

This eve I went for two solid beers from Russell Brewing.

Obviously, Black Death is better on tap if you can find it, and the IP'eh! is a nice little UK-style IPA. Which reminds me, Moon Under Water has updated their beers, must go try that.

To sum up: if you're lucky enough to live staggering distance from the Beagle, remember that Cook Street Liquor closes at 9 so maybe pick up something to tuck under your chair. Apparently they also have an excellent wine selection, if you're into that sort of thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

10 Reasons Victoria is a Kick-Ass Beer Town: #6 Phillips Brewing

Note: This is the start of a new series on YADBB, listing the best beery things about the place I live. It's not in any order, which is why I'm starting at #6 with Phillips. Doing things out of order like this virtually ensures that I'm going to get muddled and end up with two #3 spots. So be it.

Today is the third week since I started this blog, and we're sitting at 1500 pageviews. Not bad! Pass the link around, as always. I'm also happy to announce that a version of these meandering and beer-soaked writings will soon be appearing in the North Shore News periodically, right up until they start getting too many letters of complaint. Which shouldn't take too long.

But enough self-congratulatory fiddle-faddle, let's talk beer.


Possibly the greatest thing that happened as a result of my wife Katie and I moving from Vancouver to Victoria is that we increased our proximity to Phillips brewing. Not that we couldn't find their excellent beers in the big Smoke; in fact, I fondly remember the days when you could still get Phoenix Lager in stubbies and the cases were stamped "Imported From Esquimalt".

But now, the Phillips brewery is a scant 10 minutes away, and we can pop in and have a 2L growler filled with fresh-drawn, draft-style beer for all of ten bucks. Bargain.

So, thinking to celebrate the steady flow of traffic to YADBB (what, are you people all brain-damaged or something? Oh, that's right, you're probably all just drunk) I selected and rinsed a likely pair out of our growler collection, chucked 'em in the Soob and booted it.

Empty growlers. Sad panda. Yes, that is a growler cozy. What, you don't have one? *tsk*

Matt Phillips is basically the Kevin Smith of brewing. Both couldn't get financing to follow their dreams, so both maxed-out credit cards and cut corners to create masterworks. Matt slept in his brewery and made deliveries in an old Subaru, and to be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about because I'd be perfectly happy to sleep in a brewery and I drive an old Subaru now, and it's not in any pursuit of some damn dream.

Anyway, thus was born Clerks and the original Phillips beer lineup including Phoenix and some other ones which I'm too lazy to look up right now. However, then Kevin Smith went on to make Jersey Girl, and up until Phillips releases a Hobo-Urine seasonal, I'm going to say their careers have diverged somewhat.

Roll into the parking lot at the Government Street brewery, and your nostrils are immediately tantalized by the smell of the mash tuns. It's twice as good as the smell of baking bread, and quite frankly, I'm not sure why real-estate agents don't set up homebrew equipment when they're having an open-house.

Step in the door and again you'll find something special. The front retail part of the brewery is set up as a kind of art studio, and functions from time to time as a space where you can rub elbows with artists and brewers and beery guys like me. They're launching some new beers tomorrow, don't miss it.

You'll also notice a coupla taps and a chalkboard showing what's growling today. Talk to Bill, a guy who's as nice as he is hirsute (which is a lot, fyi), and he'll be happy to fill yer bucket with some of Victoria's finest suds.



I picked myself out a Hop-Circle and a coffee stout for those late night deadlines, and bumped into Deebs, the brewer. He was absconding with an interesting-looking 12-pack, and when I checked the fridge, I found even more booty.

Check out this haul:
What noise? Oh, that's just my liver, screaming. Quiet, you!

Any road, for a hop-head like me, this beery cornucopia was akin to checking your phone and unexpectedly getting naked texts from Jessica Alba. Or from Brett Farve, if you're into elderly micro-peen. Either way, score!

Here's the bombers, a triumvirate of Hoppy Tripel, Malty Imperial Red and Ginger Beer (the replacement for Gentleman Jim):
But what about the contents of that inscrutable cube? Not since the Borg has a square object been more filled with dangerous mystery....

What a lineup! It's the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition for hops. We've got the ever-popular Hop-circle and Skookum, the fresh hop ale Grow-Hop (which Deeb says will be rotating with whatever is the current seasonal hop, so centennial right now) and the "guest" beer, a rye IPA called Krypton, which I'm currently drinking. It's as tasty as Lex Luthor is villainous (not the lame Gene Hackman version). My house now has more hops than a Texan rabbit sanctuary.

So let me just recap: local, fresh beer readily available and basically the same price as the corporation's swill; a strong community presence and sponsorship of local events; friendly, hairy staff; a dedication to brewing great beer; and last but not least, a plethora of seasonals, experimental beers and a general willingness to try new things. Plus, they like My Little Pony.

Phillips, we salute thee. Bottoms up!