VICTORIA, BC – The folks at Phillips Brewing sent out their May newsletter earlier this week, and it’s so packed with news about new beers and other stuff that we’re just going to reprint the whole thing (with some handy links added) rather than trying to summarize it:
After much swishing, smelling, tasting and deliberation, Phillips‘ crack team of judges have sorted through the top brews from the recent CAMRA BC’s annual homebrew competition and come up with our pick for our first annual Showcase Showdown. We’re happy to announce that Gary Giesbrecht’s oatmeal stout has been chosen as the best of the best. Garry will now join the Phillips brew team and craft a full-sized batch of his award-winning stout and said stout will be featured as the rotating fourth beer in Phillips’ Showcase mixed packs in the near future.
Next up, since spring is upon us, we decided to celebrate that fact with our take on a traditional Maibock. Expect a full body and big hop kick when you meet this beast. For a limited time, the Phillips Springbock is bounding into cold beer stores in the first week of May and will also be available here at the brewery for your growling pleasure.
Speaking of seasonals, if you’re lucky enough, you still might be able to find some of this year’s batch of Double Barrel Scotch Ale on cold beer store shelves, as well as here at the brewery.
And speaking of lucky, this past weekend, Phillips teamed up with the Rifflandia to host a launch party for their 2010 fest. Early bird ticket buyers were welcomed to Phillips’ back lot for a sun-soaked, albeit breezy, afternoon of tunes from Quoia, Aquitania, Vince Vaccaro, The Racoons, Kuba, Jets Overhead, Jon & Roy and DJs Longshanks and Wood n’ Soo keeping it going between sets. There was also a hot tub, tasty grub, including a legendarily gigantic rotating bowl of tortilla chips and cheese fountain! Stay tuned for more Rifflandia details, including the return of Rifflandabrau!
Pizza, chips and cheese aren’t the only food on the menu at Phillips. In addition to the tasty Galloping Goose Sausage Company making an appearance at the Rifflandia party, Phillips is happy to be joining forces with Vancouver’s BeerBrats Handcrafted Sausages. BeerBrats has taken the holy matrimony of sausages and beer one step beyond by using some of BC’s best craft brews in their delicious missiles of meat. They’ve chosen our Skookum Cascadian Brown Ale to whip up some mouthwatering Italian sausages and these babies will be ready just in time for the upcoming Vancouver Craft Beer Week, as well as here at the brewery store in a few weeks time.
And finally, most of you have already seen the unveiling of our new Hop Circle IPA. Just to clarify, the Hop Circle is indeed replacing the Original IPA, giving more hop flavor stuffed into the same sized bottles. But that’s not the only packaging change you are going to notice on the shelves; be on the lookout for our new Phoenix Gold Lager box. But fear not Phoenix fans, as the recipe has not changed, so you’ll still be tasting the same Bohemian lager deliciousness.
I lament the loss of Philips Original IPA. The new Hop Circle IPA is not the same recipe and is essentially a different ale; anyone who’s tasted both can tell you that. What really grates is that brewery agents are telling beer-store and bar staff that only the label has changed and “it’s still the same beer”. I bough a 6-pack of the new stuff weeks ago and I’ve got 4 bottles left; free to anyone who wants them.