These past few months have been a critical mass of new beginnings. It started off in January, when I finally proposed to my longtime girlfriend Darrell on at sunrise on top of Mount Phou Si in Luang Prabang, Laos. (Not as romantic as you might think.) We spent all of February trying to plan two weddings - one in Canada and one in Malaysia - and at the same time, planning to uproot our comfortable lives in Toronto and move to Vancouver. With my contracts finished, I'm having to get serious about the job hunt, and I'm about to start studying for the
BJCP certification. Now I'm sitting in my uncle's living room in Coquitlam, a week before we move into our apartment in the city.
I could go on about everything we had to do to get to this point, but this is a beer blog. So it's time to talk beer.
I've been into home brewing and craft beer since 2009, when I started working on my master's degree with no money in the bank, no student loan coming, and thus needing to secure a cheap source of decent beer. Recognizing my passion, Darrell got me a set of brewing equipment for Christmas (probably one of the reasons I'm marrying her now). Once I secured a part-time job and a scholarship, I was free to start exploring commercial brews, and got really into the offerings of Ontario's craft brewers.
I went to quite a few of the Great Lakes Project X events, and I attended the pre-opening at Bellwoods. I visited the LCBO weekly to see what new stuff had come in. I even stood in line for the tiny Westvleteren XII release (twice, before I finally got some of it). For more than three years I got to know Ontario beer intimately, along with everything else the LCBO brought in. I knew which breweries to expect good things from, and which to approach more cautiously. It was easy to walk into a store and see exactly what was new, what was familiar, and what to avoid. This background knowledge is something you come to rely on.
Now I live in BC, and everything's changed.
