Soft opening at Red Racer, Yaletown

Red Racer Restaurant:
871 Beatty Street, Vancouver

On Friday July 24^th, Surrey’s Central City Brewers + Distillers opened their 4800 sq ft Red Racer pub in the old Dix’s BBQ location on Beatty St in Vancouver. We checked it out earlier at a V.I.P. preview event.

This is a full service restaurant, not a brewpub, as they’re not brewing beer onsite (yet). The interior has been refreshed but remains mostly the same as it was for Dix. The service was vastly improved.



The sweeping main bar has a custom serving up a varied  40+ craft beers; 14 of their own plus various guest taps from mainly local craft breweries including:  Bomber, Bridge, Dageraad, Persophone, Deschutes, 33 Acres, Driftwood, Steel & Oak, Postmark, 4 Winds, Hoyne, Steamworks, Powell St, Parallel 49, Hearthstone and others. Their big screen TV’s also serve as beer menus showing what beers are being served on tap, how full each keg is and the prices for a glass, pint or pitcher. Our server mentioned that growler refills will be available soon.

Food is key and includes the BBQ that Dix was known for and a Build Your Own Burger Bar. We tried many of the starters they plan to serve and especially enjoyed the Spring Rolls Al Pastor (good crunch), the Scotch Eggs (well-seasoned) and the Squid Diablo (nice heat). The pulled pork sandwiches were tasty as were the pork ribs (a little salty) but the surprise favourite was the  S’more dessert.

Looking forward to a follow-up visit to check out the burger bar and work through more of the brews on tap.

~ Ron          .

@FoodieIam

Wold Beer Cup

Now in its 9^th year, the World Beer Cup winners were announced early on Sunday morning (just about the time the hangovers where setting in??

The event was hosted by the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference which included submissions from 799 breweries across 54 countries and 45 US states. All in all, the 211 lucky adjudicators got to judge 3921 beers in 95 style categories. 5 Breweries and Brewmasters were named champions in Various size categories:

Small Brewing Company Category: Brauerei Michael Plank, Michael Plank

Mid-Size Brewing Company Category: Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Matthew Brynildson

Large Brewing Company Category: AB InBev, Claudio Ferro

Small Brewpub Category: Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Iron Hill Brewery Team

Large Brewpub Category: Pelican Pub & Brewery, Darron R S Welch

Of the BC winners:

Central City Oaked Porter, from the Central City Brewing Co., Surrey, BC won Bronze in the Wood and Barrel Aged Beer category.

 IP’Eh!, from the Russell Brewing Co., Surrey, BC. Won Silver for their English-Style India Pale Ale and

Red Racer ESB, also from the Central City Brewing Co., Surrey, BC won Gold for their Extra Special Bitter

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