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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoe Wiebe \u2022November 13, 2025<\/time><\/p>\n\n
There\u2019s salt in my beer<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n My teetotalling grandparents didn\u2019t drink beer, but more than a few friends remember seeing their older forebears spilling some salt into their Old Style Pilsners. The reason for doing so varies considerably: it adds more head\/it dissipates excess gassiness; it makes you more thirsty\/it replaces salt lost by drinking alcohol. Regardless of the reasoning, the idea of adding salt to the flavour profile of beer is not unheard of\u2014German-style Gose is an intentionally salty and slightly sour wheat beer, for instance.<\/p>\n
Some B.C. brewers prefer to source their salt from the sea in the form of the briny character found in some shellfish or even kelp. Several breweries release Oyster Stouts each year, Spinnakers makes one with Honey Mussels, and Tofino Brewing makes a popular Kelp Stout. Prince Rupert\u2019s Wheelhouse Brewing once made a stout with scallops\u2014brewer Craig Outhet said the best part was eating the shellfish after \u201ccooking\u201d them in the mash for an hour. But probably the most unusual example can be found in Sooke: Bad Dog Brewing\u2019s Octodog Apocalypse is brewed with the addition of squid ink. The resulting beer is blacker than black and slightly salty, but surprisingly light-bodied and quaffable.<\/p>\n
Who Brewed the First IPA in B.C.?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n But neither of those early IPAs would likely be recognized as a West Coast IPA now because the dry hopping technique that defines modern IPAs didn\u2019t really originate until later in the 2000s. In 2010, Iain Hill won Best in Show at the BC Beer Awards for the Brick and Beam IPA he brewed at Yaletown Brewing. Now the brewmaster at Strange Fellows Brewing, he gives the credit for teaching him how to \u201cwarm dry hop\u201d to David Woodward, who was brewing at the Whistler BrewHouse at the time, but is now at Rusted Rake in Nanoose Bay where he makes an excellent IPA called Rusty Angler. <\/span>\n
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Joe Wiebe<\/h4>\n \n\t\t\t\tJoe Wiebe is one of Canada’s leading beer writers and has been telling the stories of B.C.’s craft beer community since 2006. His writing has appeared in publications throughout Canada. Based in Victoria, B.C., he is the author of Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to BC Breweries. He is a co-founder of Victoria Beer Week and the BC Ale Trail, for which he is the Content Manager.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n