Vancouver Island Brewery – Vancouver Island Musicfest Festival Ale

Rating

3.8 out of 5
Aroma
3.7 out of 5
Appearance
3.6 out of 5
Taste
3.9 out of 5
Palate

Total

3.8
3.8 out of 5

Overview

  • Brewery: Vancouver Island Brewery
  • Beer Style: Blonde Ale
  • Pros:

    Light and sessionable beer for a summer day

  • Cons:

    Not much going on

  • Conclusion:

    Light and easy drinking music festival inspired beer.

2013_06_BMBC

Vancouver Island Brewery – Vancouver Island Musicfest Festival Ale Review

As a part of the Brewer’s Batch concert series beers Vancouver Island Brewery has released the Festival Ale. This golden-straw coloured ale pours with 2 fingers of head and smells of malt, mild hop and a touch of skunk. The taste is extremely light and refreshing. The body is mainly malt with a subtle sweetness that carries through to the finish. A slight hop comes in as well close to the end leaving a fairly dry, neutral and lightly sweet finish. If you are not careful this beer will be gone before you start drinking it as it goes down quickly and easily. Vancouver Island Brewery nailed it on this one; this is a perfect beer for a day in the sun at a music festival anywhere.
Alcohol – 5%
Size – 650ml
Price – $6.50 (Private Liquor Store)
This is a Fall Seasonal Beer
vanislandbrewery.com

2013_06_BMBC-2

Vancouver Island Brewery’s Description

This festival ale is brewed in celebration of the amazing art, music and culture here on Vancouver Island. We’re proud to support local culture and events like VI MUSICFEST which strengthen our island’s unique collection of bouncing souls and kindred spirits. Brewed with a rhythmic blend of malts and lightly jazzed hops this beer was crafted for summer days, good friends, & great music.

Vancouver Island MusicFest is 3 days & nights of amazing roots, blues and world music from across Canada and around the world! 6 stages & over 75 concerts, on-site riverside camping, kids activities, eco-education areas, workshops, unique crafts, tasty foods & so much more.

The 2013 Festival headliners include: Kris Kristofferson, Mary Chapin Carpenter & Marc Cohn, John Hiatt , Indigo Girls, Walk Off The Earth, Guitar Heros – Albert Lee, James Burton, Amos Garrett & David Wilcox, A Curva Da Cintura featuring Toumani Diabate.

For information, tickets and a complete list of performers go to www.islandmusicfest.com

Taste: Clean, crisp and sessionable

Aroma: Rhythmic malt and jazzed hops

Colour: Bright gold

Alc. = 5%

Categories: Beer Reviews

About Author

Dustan Sept

Dustan Sept is the founder of Beer Me BC. His passion for craft beer drove the creation of beermebc.com in 2012. To learn more about the beermebc.com editorial team visit beermebc.com/the-beer-me-bc-team/.

Comments

  1. mikescraftbeer
    mikescraftbeer 12 June, 2013, 18:14

    I was very frustrated with both these beer. Almost no flavour at all. I am not going to even bother doing a post. I was so excited to pick these up at the brewery also!

    Reply this comment
  2. Adam Ball
    Adam Ball 13 June, 2013, 11:30

    Thanks for the review Beer Me BC!
    In response to MikesCraftBeer note I just wanted to reply and mention that we worked closely with our partners at VI Musicfest to develop the recipe for this beer. They wanted a sessionable, easy drinking ale that would pair well with scorching hot summer days and we think this flavour profile fit the bill…and the crew at VI Musicfest was very happy with how it turned out as well. We realize this isn’t a super flavourful Russian Imperial Stout or something along those lines, but rather a brew intended as a summer drinking beer.
    Cheers

    Reply this comment
    • admin
      admin 13 June, 2013, 11:35

      Thanks for the follow up Adam. I agree, this beer may be light and in some minds ‘simple’ but that is kind of the point. This is a beer that can be enjoyed all day in the sun. For the intended purpose this is bang on!

      Cheers!

      Reply this comment
    • mikescraftbeer
      mikescraftbeer 13 June, 2013, 11:38

      Oh I realize that for sure. Just not the mild ales I expected but more like light lager. If that is what the festivals wanted and they liked it mission accomplished. It won’t stop me from picking up as many of your seasonals as possible. I will just leave those bottles for others to enjoy. Wink.

      Reply this comment

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