A Dan and Linda Report on Beer

[OpenMike]

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news ... ff2ae2108e




Cheers to great B.C. beers
Craft brewery celebrates 10th year of success with tasting
Joanne Sasvari, Special to The Sun
Published: Thursday, September 13, 2007


Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun

excerpt only

It took a couple of years to raise money from friends, family and the bank, but they eventually opened R&B Brewing Co. in 1997.

"The whole idea of the brewery was to start with a few bread-and-butter beers, then branch out with fun beers that would let us do what we wanted to do," Benson says.

Their first beer was Red Devil Pale Ale. Then came the Raven Cream Ale, which won bronze at the World Beer Cup, and Sun God, a filtered wheat ale that won gold at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

"That got us to the point where we needed an employee," Benson says, adding, "Our wives were extremely happy when we hired our first driver a few years back."

Now, they have nine staff, including Aly Tomlin, the brewery's general manager. The brewery takes up a scant 3,500 square feet on the edge of False Creek and is crammed with equipment repurposed from other uses.

As Benson says wryly, "We've grown slowly and frugally." Still, they managed to produce 3,000 hectolitres -- more than 600,000 pints -- of beer this year, 90 per cent of it sold in draught form.

Next week, R&B will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a dinner and beer tasting at the Hamilton Street Grill. The company is also launching two new beers: Dark Star Oatmeal Stout, dedicated to the memory of staffer James Judson Kelly, who died in a car accident last year, and a "very limited edition" 10th Anniversary Ale.

Benson and Dellow will be celebrating amid a very different beer scene than the one they started in.

The B.C. Craft Brewers' Association has grown to 18 members from eight, the Campaign for Real Ale enjoys a robust local membership, and self-described "beer geeks" flock to cask nights at such places as the Whip Gallery Café.

"I don't know if it's a relaxing of the liquor laws or people are more adventurous," Benson says.

Or maybe it's because of the influence of a couple of guys who see themselves, simply and modestly, as "a solid creator of fine beers in the city."

[Dan Sys]

Gee OpenMike thanks for the Dan & Linda report on beer acknowledgement. I guess we just have a "pisstank" kind of reputation or something (which of course, there's nothing wrong with).

Anyways, that story kind of reminds me of the good folks at Shaftesbury Brewing. I used to deliver mail to them some 25 or so years ago when they first set things up on Pandora Street in Vancouver's east end. I saw them grow from a 2 man operation to a company that employed dozens. They eventually outgrew Pandora Street and moved their operations to Delta. Shortly after that they were sold to the Okanagan Spring Brewery and everything was moved to Vernon. Okanagan Spring was in turn taken over by Sleemans, but the Vernon brewery is still in operation (as far as I know). Regardless, I'm sure the 2 original founders (whose names have escaped me at the moment.....Tim & ?) are sitting pretty today.

[Jack Bennest]

Tim Wittig and Paul Beaton

[Dan Sys]

Tim Wittig and Paul Beaton

Thanks Jack.