Dockside Brewing Company

The Dockside Brewing Company is a funny place. It's sort of a cross between a too cool Vancouver yuppie bar (on Granville Island how could it not be) and a second-rate tourist trap. That said, it does have some interesting beers on tap. Dockside has one of the finest Honey Lager's I've ever tasted. I've never been a huge fan of the honey lager, but their's was positively scrumptious. It had the perfect amount of robustness to offset its sweetness. With the honey lager as the first of our tests, it was dissapointing to try a number of poor beers. I was particularly unimpressed with the stout, which was watery and flavourless. But the honey lager is worth the visit alone.

Despite my glowing reviews of their honey lager, Dockside is not much of a pub. It really feels like a hotel restaurant so be prepared for that when you go in. Their menu is very expensive (but it looked good from afar!) and they don't offer traditional pub far that might accompany a particularly fine honey lager. We ordered a few fries as a side nibble for our tasting round, but at $5, they weren't that superb. They did bring us bread to go with our food (or lack of food) and the service was friendly and relaxed.

A taster round of six (about 200 ml or 4 ounces each glass) set us back $12.

Feb. 22, 2004