As a valuable public service, we taste the latest in Lower Mainland beers and then give you a highly opinionated, pocket-sized review.

On Tap

Granville Island Brewing Peach Sour

Their Words

“Brimming with peach flavour, this golden gose-style sour is sweet and tangy with the right amount of bitterness.”

Taste Test

Don’t let the words “right amount of bitterness” throw you off. We get it—you don’t like taste of grapefruit, cruciferous vegetables, or Cappelletti Elisir Novasalus Vino Amaro. Quite frankly we don’t either, at least where the grapefruit is concerned. No one’s going to confuse Peach Sour with a West Coast-style IPA that’s gone to town on the pine tips, pine tar, and fresh pine resin. As advertised, it’s the peach flavour and almost-intoxicating fragrance that take centre stage here. The sourness is definitely present, but not overpoweringly so. There’s a mild dryness and fizzy carbonation factor that’ll almost trick you into thinking you’ve popped open a high-end craft cider. But the key there is “almost”. Because this is a beer that’s all about beautiful subtlety no one’s going to judge you for being confused.

Deep Thoughts

Remember the days when you could load into the 1988 Plymouth Reliant and head to the Okanagan, where a waterfront cabin ran you about $73 a night in high summer. And how the highlights of every trip included stopping by roadside fruit stands to load up on fresh-from-the-orchard Okanagan peaches?

You know it to be true: nothing smells or tastes better than fruit just pulled off the tree.

Summer’s on its way in British Columbia, but until it officially arrives Peach Sour will get you to the Okanagan in spirit. Sadly, the way things have been going during this wretched period in history, the beer in your bar fridge might be as close as you’re getting to that particular destination this summer.

Try not to think about that. Or the fact that, the last time you checked, the $73 waterfront cabin from the ’90s is now about $700 a night in high season. Thank the ghost of Ogopogo you’ve at least got Peach Sour, not to mention "Peaches" by the Presidents of the United States of America, to console you.