http://oakes.hoppress.com The World Famous Beer Blog Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:57:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I read the other day that Phillips Black Toque is now one of the beers considered to be the originator(s) of the “Cascadian Dark Ale” style, or “India Dark” or “Black IPA” or whatever floats your boat. The name isn’t important. I have always liked this beer, and ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/03/04/the-evolution-of-cascadian-dark-er-india-brown-er/ A friend asked me what I thought of the Vancouver beer scene these days. It has been two years since the last time I was here but I’ve been keeping track and the signs have been optimistic. I can safely report that the optimistic signs have panned out, in my ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/02/25/vancouver-2-years-later/ This past week has been all about the Olympics for me. The Games are about so much more than competition and medals. Every day and every night, the streets of Vancouver are flooded by people from all around the world having the times of their lives. We ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/02/19/the-olympic-beer-experience/ Welcome to Vancouver and the 2010 Winter Olympics! Allow me to be your official beer ambassador to our great city. For the next few weeks, sports fans will be fixated on Vancouver and thousands upon thousands will visit. But even though we’re in the great nation of Cascadia, our beer ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/02/11/2010-winter-olympic-beer-guide-to-vancouver/ Every winter in Port Townsend, WA, the brew gets a little bit strange. The Strange Brewfest is held in the back parking lot of the Water Street Alehouse in the depths of winter every year. I had not attended this event since 2005 so I was looking forward ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/02/04/strange-brewfest-port-townsend-wa-jan-3010/ It’s that time of year again – the Ratebeer Best has been released. Our annual compilation of ratings is always a hoot to read, and always seems to cause a little bit of controversy. Remember when Westvleteren was mad about getting hassled by the media when some website ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/01/29/ratebeer-best/ When in China, it is hard not to get sick of pale swill. That’s mostly all they make here. There are exceptions, mind you. One of which is the very delicious Zentrumsbier Weizen from the national brewing school in Wuhan, which you can buy either at the ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/01/14/tasting-the-rochefort-line/ Hong Kong has generally fallen short of expectations when it comes to beer. The UK thing never amounted to a British beer scene beyond the usual lame import kegs. Asia’s other elite cities like Tokyo and Singapore have lots of good beer spots. The world’s pre-eminent SAR ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2010/01/07/hong-kong/ The year of 2009 was officially my biggest in far of tracking down new beers. I’ve never really been that prolific as a beer-ticker, mostly only as a finely-honed beer hunting machine capable of uncovering entire new beer scenes for the world (Lithuania in a joint effort, Central Asia ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2009/12/31/2009-oakes-awards/ I believe I first learned about Cambodia having brewpubs from Fal Allen’s blog, which of course I read through in the course of my SE Asia research. I was intrigued. Five years ago I was through Cambodia and quite frankly I didn’t think much of it. ... http://oakes.hoppress.com/2009/12/24/holiday-in-cambodia-redux/