Dead Frogs in Langley

   What's with frogs and craft brewing?  The Green Frog here in Bellingham is a tavern with a wonderful array of craft beers on tap.  At the North Fork Beer Shrine on the Mt. Baker Highway, Son of Frog is what owner Sandy Savage calls his English red ale; this, I learned recently, is his homage to the Triple Rock brewery in Berkeley, where he created something called Tree Frog Ale. Now I come to the Dead Frog Brewery in Langley, B.C.  These folks do not want frogs to die; they say they support campaigns to protect threatened and endangered frog species, such as the Vancouver Aquarium has been leading.
  This is a production brewery, no pub service or samples, located in a vast industrial park area on the east side of Langley (Aldergrove).  The walls of all the warehouses and manufacturing plants make their front a pretty rare site in B.C.; a vantage point from which you cannot see any spectacular mountain scenery.

They ship six-packs and bigger bottles (our 22 oz. bottles work out to 650 ml bottles in metric) throughout B.C. and say they have some sales in Alberta, too.  I took home a bottle of their seasonal winter ale, which they call Christmas Beeracle. This has a much spicier nose than most of the winter ales out there now.  They toss in fresh ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon sticks in the boil.  The spices aren't at war with the hoppy bitterness; I found the result pretty tasty.
(Visited 11/16/10)