This past weekend, local New Westminster brewery, Steel & Oak celebrated their 11th anniversary with a party.
This was a free event held in their back alley that served as a block party for the neighbourhood. An all ages family and dog friendly affair with multiple Steel & Oak beer stations and wine and cider from Pacific Breeze, their neighbour. The latter, like other vendors on location were from the surrounding area, coming out to help support and celebrate.
I was most impressed by the Ford 150 Lightening EV from Key West Ford that was used to power the stage and speakers for the live musicians, as well as a refrigerated unit for keeping bottles of water cold.
However, given the locale I found it only right to stick with beer, especially seeing as each of their three beer stations had different options on tap. The following was what they were pouring.
Cold Lager – 4.5%
Sunglow Hefeweizen- 4.8%
Shiny Things Hazy IPA – 6%
Cider Rotating from Banditry Cider
Anniversary Beer
New Zealand Pilsner – 5%
Red Pilsner Amber Pilsner – 5%
No Biggie Hazy Pale Ale – 4.5%
Sparkling Hibiscus Hard Water – 4.5%
S20 Lemon Pale Ale – 2.9%
Okome Japanese Rice Lager – 5%
Royal City Ale Pale Ale – 5%
The Breaks West Coast IPA – 6.9%
For those underage and looking for non-alcoholic option there was also lemonade supporting local girl’s soccer, soda by Phillips, and Steel & Oak’s non-alcoholic beer. Along with their alcoholic counterpart, you can purchase any Steel & Oak can beers to enjoy on location or to take home as a single or four pack.
The event proved to be a great way to spend a leisure afternoon, outdoors. There was plenty of seating across picnic tables, makeshift high tops out of beer kegs and pallets, and even a faux lawn that the kids especially gravitated towards. Here, there were lawn games like giant connect four and cornhole, and an activity area for kids hosted by New West Family Place.
For food there were several food trucks to choose from, including Steel & Oak’s own food truck with burgers and fries. However, I went for both at Between 2 Buns, which is one of my favourite spots for smash burgers. I had their classic cheese smash burger that comes with a side of their Cajun fries, and loved every saucy and messy bite of it.
The arincini and Tex-mex truck with their variety of fillings and mound of nachos were tempting, but my guest eventually decided on Veg Out for their vegan fried chicken sandwich made with soy.
For dessert we indulged in ice cream by the scoop from Crema. They had their portable ice cream bike doling out scoops in cone or cups. With so many interesting sounding flavours, I was ecstatic that they gave out samples to help me commit to their matcha strawberry fog, with no regrets. Exactly as it sounds, this was matcha ice cream with ribbons of London fog and strawberry jelly. Not only did all three flavours jibe well together, but they offered breaks from one another.
My guest got the PB chocolate whisky with real spirits, but it was more a chocolatey malt than anything else. I would have liked to see a beer flavoured ice cream or a collaboration limited edition one with Steel & Oak, given the setting and circumstance.
And seeing as we were already in the area, we decided to visit Pacific Breeze to check our their urban winery. There, we sat on their outdoor patio, adorned with real grape vines.
The natural drink of choice was one of their wine slushes. The flavours are on rotation and today it was a strawberry kiwi. This was a wonderful way to end our day.
Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
1319 3rd Ave, New Westminster, BC V3M 1R2
(604) 540-6495
steelandoak.ca
