Spent a few days this summer climbing in and around Squamish, British Columbia, and finally made it to the Howe Sound Brewery. They had a dozen or so beers on tap, and I was thirsty. We sat down at a table, and I asked about a sampler tray, expecting to soon have lots of little tasty beers in front of me. Rather than the usual, “I’ll have that right out for you!” response, however, the otherwise friendly waitress launched into a long sob story about what a pain it was to put together a sampler tray: the little glasses foam up, and there are so many beers on tap that it takes forever, and they have to kill a kitten or something, so they hate making them. If I really, really, really wanted one they’d do it, but how about a couple of tasters for free, instead, but not too many? Um, okay. So I picked three, and the little glasses arrived, half full of beer, half full of foam. As I made my way through those, a couple other climbers joined us, and we ended up ordering a pitcher of a fourth.

Update! 4/20/13: Howe Sound beers have started showing up on tap around Seattle, so now I can try them with having to leave the good ol’ US of A. Very convenient.

Rob’s Picks
• Pothole Filler Russian Imperial Stout – 9% – Dense chocolate/coffee aroma. Thick and chewy with good bitter chocolate/coffee flavors, with some alcohol undertones, as well. Lingers on the tongue as well as palate.
• Baldwin & Cooper Best Bitter – nice and smooth with a slight hoppy edge
• Pilsner Plunge – drinkable, which is always nice, and pretty crisp. Not too bready.

The Rest
• Devil’s Elbow IPA – not bad, decent hoppiness, flavor a bit blah but, again, not bad
• Diamond Head Stout – sorta watery and sour but actually not too bad

Forgot to get a picture, but next time I’m hanging out in Squamish I’ll fix that as well as try their other beers, with or without a sampler tray.