The Cambie Street location of Firefly Fine Wines and Ales has been hosting monthly beer focused seminars as part of their "La Table Commune" Series. These are posted on the Firefly events webpage as well as in the Firefly newsletters. Lundy Dale, Firefly's Senior Beer Advisor and president of CAMRA BC, leads the seminars. They are very informative sessions with a very casual approach. It's a great way to meet with friends and strangers alike who all share a love of good beer and an urge to learn more about it. I have been to three different seminars now and will not miss any to come.
The first seminar I attended was in March and focused on "Beer with Benefits" (a.k.a. flavours/adjuncts). Lundy selected a wide variety of flavoured beers and the group openly discussed each one and everything adjunct related. She also managed to snag us a few bottles of an R&B Brewing Mango Wheat Ale that was made especially for a beer dinner at Chutney Villa that week. We were also visited by one of the brewcrew from R&B who gave us a rundown of how the Mango Wheat Ale came to be. Pretty great way to spend an evening. Saw some familiar faces, learned a lot and had a blast doing it!
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| The selection from the "Beer with Benefits" adjunct seminar in March: Lost Coast - Tangerine Wheat Ale Elysian - Jasmine IPA Phillips - Ginger Ale Rogue - Juniper Ale Rogue - Chipotle Ale Cannery - Maple Stout Swan's - Coconut Porter |
The next seminar was a good grass routes "Beer 101". It was just that. Lundy walked us through the simple basics; ale vs. lager, the brewing process in general, basic ingredients, etc. Basically, we touched on anything the group had questions on both simple and complex. Of course, all through this, we sampled a selection of beers from around the world that were chosen to give us examples of the differences is some of the main styles from around the world. Obviously, these were just examples and there are a lot more styles out there, but we covered some of the basics. Again, good folks, good beers and a great time!
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| The selection from "Beer 101" seminar in April: Ayinger Celebrator - Germany Pilsner Urquell - Czech Republic Schneider Weisse Hefeweizen - Germany Propeller London Style Porter - Canada Samuel Smith IPA - England Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - USA Chimay Grande Reserve - Belgium |
During the Beer 101 class, Lundy encouraged feedback on what sort of focus people might like the upcoming classes to have. After discussing, the idea of now building on "Beer 101" and starting to focus on more detail as things went along seemed logical. Well, Lundy was receptive and before long was concocting plans for the next two seminars focusing on the obvious next steps,...lagers and ales.
The third "La Tabla Commune" beer seminar which took place on May 24 was "50 Ways to Love your Lagers". We discussed all things about lager, from how there made, what makes them a lager and how many different styles of lager are out there. No longer can I identify a lager vs. ale based on color. Which is what I would have done not so long ago. We sampled everything from the very light to the quite heavy and yup,...they were all lagers. It was a good learning opportunity. Lundy treated us by pulling out some North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Imperial Stout when we we done tasting the darkest lagers. It was a solid comparison of ale vs lager and highlighted how diverse lagers can be.
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| The selection from "50 Ways to Love your Lager" held in May: Chatoe Rogue - Dirtoir Black Lager V.I.B. - Hermannator Eisbock Tree Brewing - Captivator Dopplebock Rogue - Dead Guy Ale (who knew it was a lager?) Warsteiner - Premium Dunkel Ayinger - Oktoberfest/Marzen Lighthouse - Overboard Imperial Pilsner Samuel Adams - Noble Pils |
So in closing, these seminars are great and limited to only 12 seats for each one. I suggest you watch for the next one to be posted and snag a ticket or two right away. You also get 10% off your purchase that night and a mug or glass to add to your cupboard as well. I'm already excited for the ale focused class which I assume will be next. Hopefully might see you there!
