Trail Brew

Diez Vistas – Buntzen Lake

Damn Right – Twin Sails Brewing

On Sunday April 29th I was out for a hike when the idea for a semi regular series came to me. This series will be called Trail Beer and will be both about the hike and a beer review of the beer I consume on the trail. I never recommend hiking alone although I do it often myself with the safety net of too much gear and a spot locator in case I get lost or hurt. It is always more fun to hike with a buddy anyways. But being in my head for 4+ does help kick the cobwebs out.

My Sunday hike brought me out to Buntzen Lake a BC Hydro reservoir and recreation area. In the summer this place is a magnet for beach lovers and hikers alike. If it is a nice day though do not arrive much later than 1 hour after the gates open as once the parking lot is full the gates stay locked. Luckily for me though the day was dreary and there was a good amount of rain in the forecast so it was pretty dead that day.

As true hikes goes this one is not to difficult but it is not a walk in the park either. The true Diez Vistas or 10 Views trial is 7km long one way but you will need to find your way back to the parking lot. This is usually done by following the much nicer East Buntzen Lake Trail. The loop in the end is around 13km with an elevation gain of 430m and a cumulative gain of 875m. I personally recommend starting the Diez Vistas trail on the West side over the floating bridge because if the creek is flooded you will have to take a very long detour around to your car. This hike is a beautiful hike along the Western ridge above Buntzen lake running inside the Buntzen Lake Recreation area, Belcarra Regional Park and Indian Arm Provincial Park. Usually you would get many wonderful views of the Indian Arm and Buntzen lake on this hike. This day was a low cloud day mixed with varying amounts of rain from light to hard. So while I did not get the views promised by the name of the hike I did get wonderful views of the rain forest in all its glory as well as some views of Buntzen Lake itself. With the amount of rain coming down I did not take a ton of photos on this hike as I was just using my phone as a camera.

My trail beer for this hike was the Twin Sails Brewing Damn Right! Orange Creamsicle Milkshake IPA. With the rain kicking it up a notch I ended up only getting this one photo of the can of beer before the rain really began.

But as the name says this beer from Twin Sails Brewing was Damn Right for this day. The Orange Creamsicle Milkshake IPA hit the spot on a dreary day. The beer as seen in my three other cans is basically carbonated orange juice. The aroma consists massive amounts of orange with some vanilla. The flavour is of massive amounts of orange juice, passion fruit with some vanilla and maybe a hint of herbal hops. This juice comes in at 6.5% alcohol. On a hike what is better than some orange juice? Top it off with some alcohol and you are winning at life. I was a massive fan of this collaboration beer with Tap and Barrel.

Commercial Description: Damn Right! – Orange Creamsicle MIPA

We got together with our friends from Tap and Barrel a few weeks ago and brewed something magical, this Milkshake IPA is packed full of creamsicle goodness! Over 1000lbs of Orange Purée and 8L of Vanilla went into this beer along with a ton of Citra and Mandarina hops. This beer is all orange upfront followed by bright citrus and passionfruit aromatics from the hops and subtle vanilla lingering in the end.

Disclaimer: Drinking while excising and hiking can be dangerous and can put you in serious danger or lead to your death. These posts do not recommend that you drink while you hike but if you decide too make sure to be a responsible adult.