Tag Archives: tree brewing

Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian readers!

To all of our Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy some of those great pumpkin seasonal ales that are on the shelves. Suds Magazine will be sipping on Tree Brewing’s Jumpin Jack Pumpkin Ale tonight. Brewed in Kelowna, BC.

Follow us on Twitter for a 140 character or less review tonight! Cheers!

Tree Brewing Jumpin Jack Pumpkin Ale

Tree Brewing Jumpin Jack Pumpkin Ale

Yakima’s Fresh Hop Ale Festival 2011

Wow, not much else to say about this past weekend’s Fresh Hop Ale Festival in Yakima, WA. For the third year in a row I attended this one-evening event on the first Saturday of October. As always, the people were friendly, the weather was great and the beer was hoppy! I think the following pictures will show you how much fun this event really is…

Fresh Hop Alefest 2011

The Ninkasi Girls

Mmmm… and the food was excellent too! I went for the Thai food this year!

Thai Food

Authentic Thai food served up at the Fresh Hop Ale Festival

The festival takes place outdoors in downtown Yakima from 5PM until 10PM. It’s a great atmosphere and plenty of space to stroll or just kick back and relax and enjoy the ambiance.

Festival Crowd

A pleasant evening in Yakima, WA

If you are planning to attend a few new events in 2012, I strongly recommend checking out the Fresh Hop Ale Festival in Yakima, WA. I’ll be back next year!

Smiles at the Festival

Suds Magazine was welcomed by the locals in Yakima.

Fresh Hop Ale Festival is full of smiles!

Some more Suds Magazine Fans in Yakima

And even more Suds fans!

Big Smiles for Suds Magazine!

Special Guest Posting – “My Craft Beer Experience” by Regina

Since I moved to Kelowna, BC Canada from The Philippines and met the Suds Magazine Crew I started being curious and wanting to try more about the local craft beers which are available in beautiful Kelowna which my friend is so addicted to it. I tried some craft beers but here are some of those that interests me the most to write.

Hophead India Pale Ale by Tree Brewing of Kelowna

Tree Brewing Hophead IPA

One night during our dinner, he let me try  the Hop Head India Pale Ale from Tree Brewing in Kelowna, BC paired with the Coconut Crab dish special from Big T Taphouse and Grill. This is my first Hoppy experienced. IPA was poured with a golden amber honey color. It has a nice sweet  aroma with a medium body that was lightly bitter. On my first sip, i noticed a clean and smooth on the palate and a nice bitterness from the hops but not in any way overpowering. As an inexperienced drinker of IPA., I highly recommend this beer and it can be paired with any cuisine. I really enjoyed every sip of it till the bottom.

I was at a get together with my friends birthday party when Suds Magazine brought some Audacious Apricot Ale from Pyramid Brewing. This caught my interest because it has an apricot flavor which I never had a flavored beer before. Most ladies I know like the taste for a lighter sweet beers, so I introduced this beer to my girlfriends and surprisingly they mentioned they liked this kind of beer because of its taste and its refreshing drink.

Pyramid Brewing Apricot Ale

Pyramid Brewing Apricot Ale

This Audacious Ale has a pale orange yellow color with a creamy small white head and a very pleasant Apricot aroma. It was poured in a small glass because it is the only available glass in the party but not bad as long as the main flavor of sweet apricot still there in the beer and it did not bother us to enjoy every sip of it. The smell was delicious and it has a little bit sourness on the nose. The apricot mainly contributes to the taste of the beer with a little of sweet caramel malts and a little hops around it.

It’s winter once again.It is nice to sit by the fireplace  with a cold one. I want to try something new for a drink. I am a martini lover  since I tried the special martini served at the Big T Taphouse and Grill. I kept going back with their martini and IPA  so i decided to do my own martini. As i was browsing what ingredients should I take for my martini at the BC Liqour store, the Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewery made me stop and think why not try this one. Though I read at the bottom it was an extra strong stout with a 10% alc./vol on it, which i thought it is too strong for a woman like me, this did not made me stop bringing one of this home. Besides, Suds Magazine encouraged me to pair this for desserts or it is very good for stout float.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Brooklyn Brewing Black Chocolate Stout

For my dessert after a great early dinner with the family I am working with, I poured this Black Chocolate stout on a glass which revealed a very dark almost black color. It has a strong smell of bittersweet chocolate and a roasted espresso. On my first sip, i noticed a sweet, smooth on the palate and warmth as it goes with a satisfying taste of chocolate and roasted espresso throughout the beer and some bitterness from the hops. Half of it I made as a stout float and indeed it turned out great. This is recommendable for a cold winter night on your happy hours. But for a lady like me, the alcohol content is so strong that it made me tipsy a little bit at the end, but still enjoyed this drink.

Regina is a recent transplant to Canada from The Philippines and enjoys trying new beverages and foods. She recently offered to share her ‘newbie’ craft beer experience with Suds Magazine. We think she did a fine job.

Tree Brewing Unveils New Packaging

Tree Brewing of Kelowna, BC is celebrating 15 years of making quality craft beer. To welcome the occasion, Tree has introduced its bottled products in a new bottle embossed with “Tree Brewing co” logo and a label ringing the top of the bottle. The beer, of course, is the same great beer as always. The move to the new bottle sets the product apart from others in its category and plays upon the image of quality, character and style. The new bottles also require a bottle opener, which makes you earn that brew!

Tree Brewing's new bottle lineup.

Along with the new bottle design, Tree’s six packs will now come in a new open basket style carrier, similar to many six packs offered by American craft breweries. This change allows the bottles to be accessible at all times and creates more ‘shelf appeal’.  The packaging also takes more ownership of the Okanagan lifestyle with images of lakes, mountains, golf and other images showing off why the Okanagan Valley is truly Canada’s most desirable location.

Tree Brewing's new Open Basket style six-pack carrier.

From a marketing standpoint, these are great moves by Tree Brewing in an increasingly crowded and increasingly more popular beverage sector. Shelf appeal will definitely attract those new to the craft beer world and follow up nicely offering the consumer Canada’s best brewed beer.

Follow Suds Magazine on Facebook