Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, today announced the official release of their first exclusive craft beer label - Benchmark Craft Beer. The proprietary beer offering includes Benchmark Craft Lager and Benchmark Pale Ale, both brewed by local craft brewery Parallel 49 Brewing Company.
The collaboration came about as a way to cater to the growing craft beer trend, all while introducing beers that complimented the restaurant’s menu offering. After considering several local craft breweries in Vancouver, Parallel 49 in particular stood out.
“Parallel 49 is just blocks from our Commercial Drive location in Vancouver, and there has always been a great personality fit between our teams,” says Trevor Stride, Famoso’s National Beverage Manager. “Since opening in 2012, Parallel 49 Head Brewer, Graham With, has been responsible for Parallel 49’s consistent lineup of high-quality creative beers, so it was great to find out that his vision for Famoso’s new brews was perfectly aligned to ours.”
Working with Graham, it was important for Famoso to source local ingredients whenever possible, including hops from Chilliwack, BC, and malts grown almost entirely in Alberta - an approach that’s not new to Graham.
“We like to use ingredients that are grown as close as possible to the brewery to produce beers that have a Western Canadian flavour to them,” explained Stride. “The decision to brew a lager and a pale ale was simple. Both are well-balanced with easy drinking styles, and work really well with almost everything on the menu.”
Clean and crisp, the Benchmark Craft Lager is brewed with all malted barley and local Sterling hops grown at Sartori Cedar Ranch in Chilliwack, BC. Fermented cool using traditional German lager yeast, the result is a light, refreshing lager with a hint of malt and lightly hopped profile. “Our Benchmark Pale Ale is a perfect combination of fruity hop aromas, malt, and bitterness for a nice balance of flavour on the tongue,” described Stride.
Refreshingly drinkable and full of flavour, Benchmark Pale Ale is a true balance of malt and hops that showcase the bready, caramel flavours, malted barley and citrus, paired with stone-fruit aromas of hops grown in the Pacific Northwest. Both the Benchmark Craft Lager and Pale Ale are now available at Famoso locations across British Columbia and Alberta.
