Alibi Room - "400" Celebration

It's On! First Cask Is Poured

The turn of every hundredth tap list at Alibi Room spawns a multi-day festival of beer that sends us Lower Mainlanders into a rapturous state.  This past week, Vancouver's premier beer drinking establishment published their 400th beer/tap list and kicked off four glorious days of celebration.  As usual Nigel and his team gathered a set of excellent beers from local BC brewers, the United States, and even three different releases from Cantillion.  As an added bonus, all beers were CAD$4 for a 10oz. pour and the excellent value of the "Frat Bats" (Four 6oz. pours) were offered at CAD$11.25.  Needless to say, it was a highly popular event and well attended.

I managed to make it down for opening night (Monday) and closing night (Thursday) to partake in the festivities and was able to sample some really special beers with fellow beer enthusiasts.  Speaking of enthusiasts, I showed up about 20 minutes early on the first day and found 5 other geeks beer nerds guys with beards people (including fellow blogger Barley Mowat) already queueing in the lobby area.  By the time the doors officially opened at 4pm, there were a good 50 people in line outside.  Now when confronted with this many amazing beers and a high volume of competitors (uh, I mean other beer drinkers), it is necessary to develop a drinking strategy.  On this day, I went after the casks first, followed by the three Cantillions and then a break before taking round two.

400 Festival in Full Swing. All Hail Alibi Room!

Partial Drink List from Day 1 (some notes are illegible later in the night):

Tofino Brewing - Spruce Tip Aged Hop Cretin' IPA (on cask). Very solid, but not spectacular.  Strong spruce presence was a plus but when I had this beer last year, I thought it was better.
Phillips - Hop Therapy (on cask) . Slight disappointed on cask, bottled version definitely superior.
Cantillion -  Kriek.You cannot go wrong with this tart, cherry wonderful Kriek
Cantillion- Gueze.  A classic
Cantillion -  Gilloise. A blend of 1,2, and 3 year old lambics.  Slight, funk, very enjoyable.
Parallel 49 - Hay Fever Saison . Wheaty, yeasty, good not great.
Logsdon Brewing - Seizon Bretta Don't take my word for it, Beer Magazine named this beer of the year.
Central City - Citra-Hopped Imperial IPA .  Solid, enjoyable IIPA.
Central City - Amarillo and Symcoe Imperial IPA.  Definite winner here.  A great beer.
Deschutes - The Abyss Prefer it in the bottle and slightly aged but who can possibly say no to this on draft.

Drink List for Day 4 (Thursday):

Allies Win the War

Ninkasi and 21st Amendment - Allies Win the War. The beer I came here on Thursday seeking and was not disappointed.  Malts really balancing the hops, an excellent American IPA.
Brooklyn Brewing - Brooklyn Blast. Solid but unremarkable, balanced IPA
Parallel 49 - Lord of the Hops.  Same as above, balanced, standard.
Tofino Brewing - Dawn Patrol Coffee Porter - Smoky, burned coffee taste, a really, really good porter.
Ninkasi - Imperiale Imperial Stout - Light to medium bodied, and not overly complex. Straightforward.
Central City - Bourbon Aged Thor's Hammer Barleywine.  Strong bourbon as expected but very smooth, a deadly, deadly beverage.

Just a few more words here in closing about Alibi Room.  When I moved up here to the frozen north from sunny San Diego, Alibi Room was a saving grace.  It was one of the few beer bars in the city of Vancouver and certainly the best.  Now, a few years later the craft beer scene has exploded and there are many fine beer bars in the city but the Alibi Room is still the best.  The food here is always excellent, the atmosphere without TVs or overdone music, and communal seating coerces its patrons to strike up a conversation with their neighbour.  A beer and a conversation is a great way to spend a couple of hours.  Additionally, the entire staff of Alibi Room are quite remarkable.  Even in the midst of chaos on Saturday nights (or 400 festivals), the servers are the epitome of polite and friendly and the bartenders will stop and give beer profiles and information to enquiring customers with earnest enthusiasm.  So, if you are traveling up (or over, or even down) to Vancouver, Alibi Room gets the rare "Run Do Not Walk" rating.  You will not be disappointed.  Alibi Room is located on the outer fringes of Gastown at 157 Alexander Street, Vancouver, BC.

Just One Pages of Goodies From "400"