Trail Brew
Three Brothers Mountain – E.C. Manning Provincial Park
The Bright Side – Dageraad Brewing

Back on July 15th, 2018 I headed out to Manning Park for the next iteration of Trail Brew.  The weather was beautiful this day and I knew it would be hot but I had no idea just how hot it would be up on the ridge.  Manning Park can be found about a 2.5 hour drive from Vancouver.  You head up Highway 1 east and continue until the turnoff for highway 3 near Hope.  Take Highway 3 all the way to the Manning Resort.  Instead of turning right into the resort take the first left here and then your immediate left to head up Blackwall Road.  Follow this road all the way to the end of the pavement and continue up the gravel road.  You will see a parking lot with the beginning of the the tail on the left hand side.  This trail begins as the Heather Trail.

From the parking lot the trail starts down a mostly gradual slope to Buckthorn Camp.  If you head up to this trail early enough in the year there are tons of wild flowers right from the parking lot.  From here the trail climbs fairly quickly up onto the ridge.  Keep walking on this trail while the ridge climbs and falls until you get to the turnoff for First Brother one of the three peaks of Three Brothers Mountain.

At the turn off for First Brother the trail rises quite quickly.   This is the rockiest and most rugged portion of the trail for sure but it is well worth the climb as the 360 degree view from on top is wonderful.

While this hike is only 21.5km round trip with a total elevation gain of 480 meters there is quite a bit more accumulated elevation gain.  The last two km back to the parking lot going uphill do hurt a little bit.  It had seemed very warm on the trail but we didn’t think about it all that much until we dropped back down to the ridge from the peak.  We looked at my thermometer and realized it was 36 degrees!  This was probably the warmest hike I have ever done and I was pretty impressed we made it back to the car with no heat stroke.

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With the temperatures being so bloody hot it was apparent we needed a good refreshing beer to take in the views.  I chose The Bright Side a tart table saison with lemons from Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing.

The Bright Side pours into my B Cup a mildly cloudy yellow with a white head that dissipates quickly.  The aroma consists of grain, lemon, lemon peel with some spicy saison yeast notes.  The flavour is of light tartness, lemon, lemon peel, herbal hops, saison yeast, grain and wheat malts.  This hit the spot 100% for the head that we were hiking in and so did the 4.5% alcohol!  This is a winner of a session beer.

Commercial Description:  Life gave us lemons, and we looked on The Bright Side and made lemon beer.  The Bright Side is lightly tart, gently hopped with Citra and Styrian Celeia hops and finished with fresh lemon zest and lemon juice to give it a zing and make it the perfect Summer beer.

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.