Alibi Room

Located on the very edge of Gastown, this funky brick bar overlooking a rail yard is something of a beer mecca.  It's definitely trendy, and often packed, but this is the place to go if you're looking for a brew you've never even heard of.  

When you first walk down Water street, it's hard to shake the feeling that you're about to drown in Tourist kitsch.  However, as you go further east, and Water street ends, the touristy joints dry up, and refurbished townhouses and apartments abound.  Just before you hit the Downtown East Side, if you're paying attention, you'll pass by Alibi Room.  An unassuming place at first glance, it's one of these pubs that manages to somehow be way bigger inside than it is outside.  Two levels, bare wood, exposed brick.  Classic urban reclamation.  It looks cool, but you didn't come here for the decor.  

The food is alright.  It's a little pretentious, though.  Who goes to a pub and orders pâté with crostini anyway?  It's not bad.  Prices are reasonable for the area, but keep in mind the area is downtown Vancouver.  You didn't come here for dinner.

You came for the beer!  So many different kinds of beer.  Alibi has an enormous beer list.  At least thirty beers on tap at any one time, and a healthy bottle list.  The beers are always changing, so don't bother picking any favourites, they probably won't be there again next week.  They come from all over, local micros, craft imports.  If it's good and produced in small batches it's welcome.  The management also seems to have decided to give Alibi a heavily (but not exclusively) IPA themed beer list.  The list is loaded with changing IPAs.  (They even have a hoppiness scale).  India Pale Ales are often something of an acquired taste.  It sometimes takes beer drinkers a while to develop an appreciation for the strong flavour of hops.  Once you get there though, it's very well worth it.  

My favourite thing about Alibi, though, is it's one of the only places in the city that's always pouring cask ale.  I've briefly mentioned cask ale in the past, but as a quick refresher, cask ale is unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that goes through a secondary fermentation in the cask.  This means that the beer is still alive.  It gets carbonated in the cask instead of having carbon dioxide artificially added like most beers.  This means it's has a lighter sparkle rather than a dominant fizz.  The taste is harder to describe.  It just tastes... better.  I know several people who don't like beer, but quite enjoy cask ale.  Something about it just tastes natural.  I suggest you try to find some cask beer and give it a go.  Beer purveyors aren't generally wild about producing cask ale.  It's a pain to deal with, and there's a greater chance it'll go stale before it can be sold, but like with most things in life, the extra step appears to be well worth it.  

I don't know what more you need to hear.  Alibi Room.  Great beer.  Go get some.

Alibi Room