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It’s all happening this Christmas in Downtown Victoria! The street lights are sparkling and the Christmas Trees are being decorated in seasonal style.  We’ve even had our first sprinkling of snow just to get us all excited!

To celebrate the festive season the Bard & Banker offering you the opportunity to have your pet’s photo taken with Santa and his Elves this Christmas! Only $10 per photo and all proceeds go to the Victoria SPCA and their “Paws for a Cause” campaign.

Event: Paws with Claus

Where: Bard & Banker Patio, Government Street

When this December: Saturday  4 & 11, Tuesday 16, Wednesday 17, Thursday 18.  2-6 pm

Donation drop offs are located all along Goverment Street…look for the Bear!

Buy your ‘Duffy the Christmassy Dragon’ book- 24 page storybook, fully illustrated in colour. Fun and sweet rhyming verse story for children 1-8.  All proceeds go to Santa’s Anonymous!

And just a reminder that the Goverment Street Shops will be open til 8pm every Thursday & Friday during December.

The Vic Pub Co features a diverse selection of musicians from Victoria and beyond. Check out these pics taken by photographer Mark Nicol at the Irish Times’ Celtic Night with local musicians Qristina & Quinn Bachand.  The award winning brother and sister duo had the crowd going wild as usual!   “Holy camoly, they are AMAZING” was photographer Mark’s reaction.

The Bard & Banker and Irish Times have Live Music 7 Nights a week from 8.30pm (7.30 Sundays), and it’s FREE (no cover charge).  And don’t forget that there’s now Live Music at the Penny Farthing Pub Thursday – Saturday from 8.30pm, no cover charge.

Qristina & Quinn Bachand’s Official Website:  http://www.qbachand.com/

Check out the Music Calendar on the Vic Pub Co website for details of who’s playing this week!

Bard & Banker have great value meals to warm you up on wintery days:  1/2 price appies (Mon to Fri, 3 – 6pm) and the great value 9.99 lunch features.

The Bard & Banker’s downtown location makes it the ideal place to stop and warm up with a pint and good meal if you’re  busy rushing around doing that christmas shopping!!

Here are just some of the delicious dishes on offer:

Nachos with house fried corn tortilla chips, 3-cheeses, jalapenos, roasted salsa puree, sour cream.

Fresh fish bites, house-made tartar sauce.

Fresh local 1/2 shell oysters, au natural w/lemon or mignonette or spicy lemon caper vinaigrette.

Congratulations to Keith Wildman, the winner of the $500 Vic Pub Co Gift Card draw!  We hope you enjoy many great times out at the pubs…cheers!!

It was another epic night at the Irish Times Pub, this time celebrating the penultimate Cask Night!

The Vic Pub Co together with Vancouver Island Brewery were showcasing the “Hangman IPA”,   spookily named after the hangings that took place just around the corner in historical Bastion Square. It’s a classically hoppy brew that is usually a session beer for Brits, and luckily I was sitting at a table full of Brits ready and willing to try out this boutique beer straight from the cask…hooorah!

First off, we have a whiff of the cloudy amber-coloured brew.  The hops are inevitably powerful, but this doesn’t cloud over the taste; in fact the hops were very balanced from the first sip.  Descriptions were coming in from all directions; heather, strawberry jam, citrus, fruity…there was a definite consensus of having experienced a flavour explosion.  Even Gareth, a very proud stout & porter fan, had been won-over.

“I wouldn’t normally drink an IPA, but I might have to order a second one of these!  I’m always wary of the North American IPAs as they can sometimes go too crazy with the hops, but this is far more balanced”.

And ‘balance’ is the key word here, as the Brewer, Chris Graham, explained to us:

“The number one goal was to make this cask as balanced as possible.  There is a thin line here though, as I think we could have added more hops, especially as that is what is expected for a North American style IPA.”

This sparked off a discussion of examples when hops have been over-used in the brewing process, sometimes resulting in the flavour being far too powerful for most of us to enjoy.   In some cases it can even become a contest to the point of ‘who can make the hoppiest beer’.

As well as working for Vancouver Island Brewery, Chris Graham has over 10 years experience of home brewing.  Chris and the VIB team had some spare kegs to fill and so set up a special brew house, underneath the existing brewery, especially for the Cask Nights venture.  Chris ads,

“It all came about for the brewers to scratch their creative itch.  This was home done, which makes it special.  We even used Golden Hops from a girl who works at the brewery, so we managed to get the pick of the bunch!”

The Hangman IPA seemed to be consumed in a record time.  Our table only had a chance at two pints each and a few longing eyes asked Chris whether we could expect to see the this brew again in the future.

“This was a one cask batch.  There have been talks at the brewery about introducing an IPA…whether this will be the one, we’ll have to wait and see!”

…and there he leaves us (please excuse the pun) hanging!  Just hope I get to the Bard & Banker or Irish Times on Saturday in time to try the final brew on the Cask Nights Calendar: Puca Pumpkin Ale!

Oh, and here’s some food for thought from the Vancouver Island Brewery relating to pairing food with beer:
“While hops can kill your taste buds when paired with many foods, they do make for some particularly good matches — fried seafood, for example, because hoppiness cuts through grease, or anything with vinegar as a main ingredient. They also complement smoked, boiled, steamed or broiled seafood. And they can enhance the spiciness of highly spiced cuisine like Thai foods or any type of curry. Nothing on the feature sheet really pairs well.”

These are some IPA pairings to try  from the Irish Times menu:
1. Curry Soaked Halibut
2. Veggie Delight Pizza
3. Irish Bacon and Brie Burger
4. Seafood Surfboard
…they will all be a hit with the IPA!

Last Tuesday the Bard & Banker was host to the third cask night this month, presenting the Dunsmuir Dopplebock!

Literally, Doppelbock means double Bock(bier). It is one of Germany’s “biggest” beers, typically with an alcohol content by volume of around 8% like the Dunsmuir Dopplebock, but some go up to 13% in strength.  It is exceptionally malty, with very little bitterness.
Doppelbocks first emerged in the late eighteenth century as a powerful lager variant of the old monastic strong beer, the monks’ “liquid bread,” which they traditionally brewed for the Lenten season.

Vancouver Island Brewery’s representatives Tom, Chris and Jim were there to give us some delicious pairings from the Bard & Bankers menu to go with the brew.  Their choices were:
Thin Crust Sausage Pizza: Andouille sausage, fresh tomato sauce, green olives, feta & red onion.
Spicy Lamb burger: Little Qualicum’s oolala Monterey Jill cheese, pickled red onions, tomato chili sauce.
Sticky toffee pudding: caramel ice cream & toffee sauce.
Dopplebocks tend to pair very well with game style meats and chocolate as one of the defining malts is a chocolate malt.

Introducing…Confessional Festbock @ the Irish Times Pub.

Gareth, Mike and I were pleased to find an intriguing looking cask at the bar when we ventured into the Irish Times Pub on Tuesday afternoon.  I’ve been looking to the  Cask Nights ever since word got out that the Vic Pub Co. & Vancouver Island Brewery were collaborating to bring the worthy people of Victoria a taste of new craft beer! The Confessional Festbock is the second treat on the list of 5 brews that are planned to be showcased at the Bard & Banker and Irish Times pubs during October.
Drum roll please….

A rather tasty looking pint + description of the Confessional Festbock.

Each unique cask has a story or link to the venue that they are tapped.  Tom Davidson, VIB’s Territory Manager was there to tell the tale…

“There’s a confessions box at the rear of the Irish Times pub, so that’s where the link to beer & pub comes from there. The used to hang people right outside the pub in Bastion Square, and that is where the idea for the Hangman IPA comes from.  We’ve been creative this year, and we’ve had a lot of fun brewing this…you can probably tell!”

The enthusiastic smile on Tom’s face is catching on.  He also tells us about the great reviews they have had already today.  All this talk is making us thirsty, but before we know it the pints are there in front of us ready to taste…phew!

The first thing I did was to go straight in for a gulp, when I should have had a good smell of it first, bad me!  I looked to Gareth & Mike who had done the decent thing, taking in the aroma first and taking a smooth sip.  We were all nodding approval at each-other.  Gareth was first to comment:

“…starts clean and then has a treacly sweetness to it with a slightly hoppy back-taste.  I can taste the toasted malt.”

We then looked on to Mike for his first thoughts:

“That’s a really nice beer.  There are a lot of flavours to it and that keeps it really interesting, but not too overpowering…”

I agreed while observing the brews dark copper colour and coolness.  The cask seems to be brought to a good cellar temperature (10-11 degrees) which makes it lovely and easy to drink.  I take another swig observing the malts and bittersweet flavours, whist thinking quietly to myself…

“I  could drink a lot of this, perfect…”

Although at 7.5% abv I realise I should put some tight reins on that thought!

Tom proudly pouring the brew straight from the cask…

The Vancouver Island Brewery decided last year to start experimenting with casks to broaden their selection of speciality beers.  They even made an additional micro-brewery ready for the challenge!  Keeping it local is the motto here, so the Bard & Banker and Irish Times are perfect venues to showcase new craft beers.  Tom adds:

“Victoria for me is the Craft Beer Capital of the Country.  It’s all about keeping it local and on the Island.   All three of the Vic Pub Co bars have local beer on tap… you won’t find anything here that is deemed commercial.”

The “Cask Nights” this October are a collaboration between Tom and VIB colleague and talented brewer Chris Graham.  In the past they’ve experimented with brewing unique casks that include local ingredients such as rhubarb.   There’s even talk about using locally grown heather for a version of a traditional Fraoch Scottish Ale.  In the case of the Confessional Festbock, Chris sourced toasted Munich Malts from Bavaria;  they definitely give the beer  its unique flavour!

We’re looking forward to the next “Cask Night” @ the Bard & Banker on Tuesday 19th October.  Introducing: Dunsmuir Dopplebock straight from the cask.   Come meet us at the bar from 4pm!

Coming up next: Pairing Tips from VIB’s Tom Davidson…

Forget pumpkin pie…the real taste of fall comes in a glass!

CBC sampled some locally brewed pumpkin beer yesterday including Red Racer Pumpkin Ale, Granville Island & Howe Sound Imperial Pumpkin Ale…and all in time for Thanksgiving! Check out what they thought of them here:

Click here for CVC Pumpkin Ale Review…

Each Tuesday during October the Vic Pub Co & Vancouver Island Brewery will be presenting a  new speciality brew leading up to Halloween on the 31st!

The first Cask  Night is being held at the Bard & Banker today from 4pm:

The next event will be held at the Irish Times on Tuesday 12th October, introducing:

The Bard & Banker will be hosting the event on Tuesday 19th October:

The Irish Times will be showcasing the next Cask Night on Tuesday 26th October:

The final Cask night will be celebrated at both the Irish Times and Bard & Banker on Tuesday 30th October:

…and just to let you know in to a little fact:
The Púca (Irish for goblin) is a creature of Celtic folklore, notably in Ireland, the West of Scotland and Wales. It is one of the myriad fairy folk, and, like many fairy folk, is both respected and feared by those who believe in it.

And for any of those who happened to miss out, the on any of these nights, the Pumpkin Ale will be available at the pubs on Halloween night: