VanDusen, Bomber Brewing team up for beer botany course
Part one of the class is at the botanical gardens, and the second part is at Bomber Brewing Nov. 11 or 12
VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver and Bomber Brewing are offering a two-part course exploring how a wide variety of botanicals —everything from elderflower to vanilla beans to juniper berries — can also go into the brewing process.
The first part of 'The Botany of Beer', which takes place at VanDusen Nov. 5, will feature a talk about the history of beer brewing, followed by tastings of beer brewed by Bomber Brewing with ingredients harvested from the garden.
The second part will be a tour and tasting at Bomber Brewing, offered on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12.
"The garden's got an incredible array of historical ingredients, we're going to dive into those, the laurel, the sichuan peppercorns, spend some time with them, get to know what they taste like," said Rachaal Steele, the operations manager at Bomber Brewing.
Steele said that historically brewers experimented with a variety of plants they found in their gardens.
"We grabbed what was off the trees around us and put it into beer...some of them stuck, some of them didn't," she said.
"Now lately craft beer brewers are taking back that tradition, they are experimenting with what's in the garden, and what's in the pantry."
To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled: VanDusen Botanical Garden and Bomber Brewing team up for beer botany course