And in the Coquitlam/Port Moody there is no shortage of them.

Tonight is my first time at Mariner.

It’s a nice little spotbut maybe not the best location. I much prefer brewery row.

At any rate, to the beer!

I started with a dark lager.

It may look heavy but it’s not.

This is such a great beer. Chocolate and caramel flavours but in a light, refreshing beer.

I also had a Mango Ale.

This is a perfect summer Ale. Even in December.

The mango comes flavour come through perfectly. And apparently it’s low carb. It certainly doesn’t taste it

Then the pineapple coconut sour.

I did get some coconut but the pineapple was so subtle you wouldn’t know it’s there if it wasn’t on the menu description.

Not ok sour either.

Some breweries really take the “sour” to an extreme. And make their beer undrinkable. This was just sour enough to be good.

Got a Smash burger to go with all that beer from the food truck parked outside

Smash burgers are not my favorite. I prefer a thick, juicy burger. But it did the job.

The beer was good, the burger was fine, the atmosphere is nice, but the location sucks. I really prefer brewery row by Rocky Point.

7/10

The post Mariner Brewing appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.

This beer is a little hard to pin down.

It’s dark like a stout (it’s an ale) but it’s really light on the palette. (like an ale)

Normally with a dark beer you get a very heavy drin, I can only drink one or two Guinness myself.

But Dark Matter is a completely different story.

You get that chocolatey, toasted flavor but a very light and creamy beer.

It has fairly low ABV at 5.3% so you can have a few and not get plastered.

I’ll definitely be keeping these in the fridge from now on.

9/10

The post Dark Matter appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.

Now what’s better than enjoying Victoria day weekend sitting on a patio drinking beer and eating good food. With the dog no less.

I started with a flight.

From left to right:

1. Strawberry Kiwi Sour.

 Apparently the kiwis are grown locally which to me I found unbelievable at first until I researched it and found that yes there are some kiwis that grow on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Who knew?

At any rate I didn’t find this beer particularly sour. It was fruit forward and it was refreshing but not my first choice.

2. Peach Passion fruut Sour.

This is my kind of beer. Here too the peaches are BC grown.

From their website; “This sour brings the perfect balance between fruity sweetness and a gentle, lingering sourness”

However to me that sourness actually kicked my ass a little. Which I like. What’s the point of a sour if it’s not sour?

3. Amber lager

This is a fairly typical dark lager to me. Didn’t quite fit with the sours unfortunately but I generally like this type of lagger a lot. It has a nutty and deep flavor.

4. Thai lager

Here we have something a little bit different. Like a lot of beers today there’s lime present but there’s an underlying savory note. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it at first thinking perhaps it was lemongrass and it turns out that’s part of it. It also has ginger and calamansi. For most of you out there (like me as well) a calamansi is a citrus hybrid, also known as a Philippine lemon.

I enjoyed it so much I brought a four pack right from the brewery. Which if you want some of this you might have to do yourself as they aren’t in many liquor stores other than in the direct area. Hopefully their brand grows and more of their great beers get recognized.

And now for the barbecue!

I had a pulled pork bun which with white Alabama barbecue sauce.

Very tender and tasty pulled pork on a super Fresh bun with the mayonnaise based white Alabama barbecue sauce. Beautiful all around. They do a really nice fry here too. The coleslaw I could do without. It’s pretty plain.

Merilynn went with the ribs.

Okay yeah the ribs could use a little work. I would say a few more hours in the smoker would make these a really good rib. They weren’t quite tender enough and there was quite a lot of gristle.

I do a good rib at home myself, so this isn’t something I’d ever order out. And I do believe in a simmering ribs as it does melt all that collagen. So ribs at my house are completely fall off the bone and nothing but tender meat.

Merilynn did enjoy them however she did say my ribs are better.

And hopefully you notice that candied bacon on that tray as well.

This is one of my favorite things ever.

I mean it’s bacon. And they candy it.

It’s absolutely phenomenal.

We definitely had three different experiences today though

My meal was great.

Merilynn’s meal was good, but ribs need a little more time in the smoker.

But unfortunately my friend John did not care for his pulled pork tacos. His main complaint was an overall lack of flavor.

8/10

Bring River out for some beer and BBQ

The post Patina Brewing Company appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.