This evening was a night out with guy friends. One of my friends, of British origin, was interested to try out Bitter Tasting Room to see what interesting beers we could sample. The location is located on the western outskirts of Chinatown. Hip industrial looking inside with ceiling to floor windows on the two outer walls.
Their beer menu is quite long; an entire sheet double column with beers listed by the bottle and a few on tap. No Molson Canadian or Labatts Blue on the menu. All the beers on tap that I could see were from BC. The bottled beers were mainly from Canada and the USA, but there was a selection from Europe. Here is a link to their full beer list.
I started my evening with a L’ABBAYE DU VAL-DIEU BRUNE Dubbel from Belgium. Very full-bodied, dark, low hops with some sweetness to it. I quite enjoyed it as it reminded me of my trip to Belgium last summer. At 8% alcohol I needed to get to the meal soon. This was my favourite beer of the evening.
The Dine Out Menu selection I ordered:
- Curried Root Vegetable Soup with Sour Cream, ‘Picker Shack’ Apple Compote
- Pot Of Sausages 4 Handmade Smoked, Mildly Spiced Sausages Served with Sauerkraut, Pickled Vegetables and Mustard Ragout
- Chocolate Terrine Dark Chocolate Pate with Chantilly Cream
It was very busy when we arrived, so the flight of beers we had also ordered was a bit tardy. There were only so many glasses in Bitter, and they were all in use, so the flights of beers slowly arrived. My flight of 3 beers were all dark beers brewed here in BC:
- R & B Brewing Company Milk Stout
- Phillips Brewery Dr. Funk Dunkel
- Crannog Ales Back Hand of God Stout
I sampled through these 3 beers together with my 3 course meal. These dark beers went nicely with the chocolate terrine, especially the Dr. Funk Dunkel which had a coffee flavour to it. A Dunkel is traditionally a dark German beer with a smooth malty flavour. The Back Hand of God Stout had some coriander flavour, which is a nice spice to enjoy with the pot of sausages. The pot of sausages consists of 4 handmade European style mild flavoured sausages. I liked the Mustard Ragout the most, followed by the Sauerkraut. The Milk Stout did not do much for me. It had an odd chalky flavour. My British friend told me that Milk Stout was a big hit during WWI or II (I’m not sure which one). The ladies that worked in the factories would go to the pubs after work, and Milk Stout would be the favourite drink. The appetizer was the curried soup, which was lightly flavoured; an OK dish.
My British friend really enjoyed the Lighthouse Cream Ale, and had a few pints. Bitter is a place to drop by and try some beers with your mates that you would have a hard time finding elsewhere. The food on the main menu may have been more interesting to sample than what we had with the Dine Out menu. The Dine Out menu was OK, but nothing really stood out for me.
If you have an interest and travel and wine, check out my Chile & Argentina Wine Trip link. The tour starts mid May. Limited number of seats.
