The Growler B.C. • Volume 6 Issue 1 • Spring 2020

BRITISH COLUMBIA

pUBLiSHeR

Gail Nugent gnugent@thegrowler.ca

e DiTOR

Rob Mangelsdorf editor@thegrowler.ca

778-840-5005

cONTRiBUTiNG WRiTeRS

Ted Child

Kristina Mameli

David Ort

Rob Mangelsdorf

Joe Wiebe

pRODUcTiON & DeSiGN MANAGeR

Tara Ra q tara@thegrowler.ca

pHOTOGRApHY

Jennifer Gauthier

Rob Mangelsdorf

Lara Zukowsky

cOVeR iLLUSTRATiON

Cynthia Frenette

SOciAL MeDiA

Danielle Boileau

DiSTRiBUTiON

Craig Sweetman (Newsstand)

Rob Mangelsdorf (Direct) ordersbc@thegrowler.ca

SUBScRipTiONS

bc.thegrowler.ca/subscribe

Copyright © e Growler 2020

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Every e ort is made to avoid errors and omissions. If you notice an error, please accept our apologies and notify us.

pUBLiSHeD BY

Contents

06 08 12 14

LOWER MAINLAND / NORTH SHORE

VANCOUVER

VICTORIA / GULF ISLANDS

THe GROWLeR iS FiVe!

BReWeR VS BReWeR: MANiFeST DeSTiNY eDiTiON

cRAFT BeeR iS DeAD

UNSUNG HeROeS OF cRAFT BeeR: "UNcLe" BeN GiNTeR

WeST cOAST ipAS: DON'T cALL iT A cOMeBAcK

ciDeR 101: WTF iS peRRY?

WHeN GRAiN MeeTS GRApe

NYc: NeW cRAFT ciTY

WHeReFORe ART THOU, cASK ALeS?

FOR THe LOVe OF BeeR, pLeASe USe A GLASS

B.c. cRAFT BeeR eVeNTS

B.c. BeeR LOVeRS BURNeD BY DOUBLe STANDARD

SiSTeRS ARe BReWiN' iT FOR THeMSeLVeS

ReMeMBeRiNG GReG eVANS

Recipe: SAVOURY cLAMS WiTH LAMB AND LeeKS

B.c. BReWeRY LiSTiNGS

BeeR TO THe GROUND

40 63 52 68 72 80 84 91 94 96

GROWLER-APPROVED

Keep an eye out for our 10 favourite beers and ciders this spring!

is issue marks the fth anniversary of e Growler, and we’re celebrating by changing things up. e rst thing you’ll probably notice is that we’ve streamlined and condensed our brewery listings. is has allowed us to do something we’ve been wanting to do for a very long time: adding cideries.

at’s right, e Growler is now B.C.’s Craft Beer and Cider Guide. Just as craft beer has exploded over the past decade, so too has cider. It seems British Columbians can’t get enough of delicious, locally produced craft beverages! One of the many things that makes B.C. cider so great is that it’s largely made with B.C. fruits, thus supporting local agriculture. And just as breweries have experimented with beer styles, so too have cideries, with o erings ranging from traditional dry ciders all the way to funky wild-fermented Basque-style sagardoa, and everything in between. ere’s a good reason nearly every craft brewery tasting room in the province has at least one cider on tap, and now you’ll be able to discover all of B.C.’s cideries, all in one place. Of course, we’ve still got plenty of beer. In fact, we’ve increased the number of informative articles, entertaining features and interviews with the most interesting personalities in B.C. craft beer. And we’ve got more great maps, too, so whether it’s beer or cider you fancy, you’ll nd what you’re looking for.

anks for sharing the past ve years with us, we look forward to many more!

Rob Mangelsdorf, editor

Brewery Details

GROWLER FILLS

BOTTLES / CANS

TASTING ROOM

ON-SITE KITCHEN OR FOOD TRUCK

TOURS

KID FRIENDLY

DOG FRIENDLY

GLUTEN-FREE BOOZE OPTIONS

Suggested Glassware

STANGE

Kolsch

Marzen

Gose

PILSNER

Lager

Pilsner

Witbier

NONIC PINT

Stout

Pale ale

Most ales, actually

WEIZEN

Hefeweizen

Wheat ales

Fruit beer

TULIP

IPA

Saison

Strong ales

GOBLET

Dubbel

Tripel Quad

SNIFTER

Barleywine

Sours

Anything funky

TEKU

Dry-hopped sours

Fruited sours

Heirloom ciders

SIDRA

Still cider

Basque cider

The Growler

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

This issue marks the fth anniversary of e Growler, and we’re pretty excited. is is a major milestone for us, the rst of many we hope. e B.C. craft beer scene has come a long way in the past half decade, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have been there to tell the story.

e very rst issue of e Growler debuted on Jan. 31, 2015. At the time, there were barely 90 craft breweries and brewpubs around the province, the vast majority in Metro Vancouver and Victoria. Today, there’s more than double that, reaching every corner of the province.

“B.C.’s craft beer industry has grown so quickly, especially in the Lower Mainland, that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with who’s where and what’s when,” wrote Stephen Smysniuk, e Growler’s founder and original editor in that rst issue. Five years later, and it’s still nearly impossible to keep up with all the awesomeness.

In that short time we’ve seen the craft beer scene evolve in ways we could have never imagined. We’ve seen breweries open and breweries close. We’ve witnessed the birth of new beer styles, and the death of others. And thanks to collaboration, creativity and a commitment to quality, B.C. craft beer has become globally recognized.

And just like B.C.’s craft beer scene, e Growler has grown considerably since that rst adorable 66-page issue. We’ve expanded across the entire province and even to Ontario. We launched our own line of collab beers. We created e Growler’s B.C. Craft Beer Readers’ Choice Awards, a.k.a. the Growlies, to give beer fans a voice. As of this issue, we’ve even added craft cider coverage. We’ve also launched sister publications, including craft cocktail digest

e Alchemist and wine culture magazine Vitis.

So as we look forward to the next ve years and beyond, on behalf of the entire Growler team, I’d like to say thank you to all of our supporters in the craft beer industry and beyond. Most of all, I’d like to say thank you, dear reader. Because without you, none of this would be possible.

Cheers,

e Growler Team

BREWer BREWer

BREWer BREWer

THE MANIFEST DEST INY ED IT ION!

by Rob Mangelsdorf

The Yankees are coming! e Yankees are coming! at’s right, Laura Secord, the word is out about the B.C. craft beer scene down south, resulting in talented American brewers spilling over our borders (well, trickling at least) and into to the Great White North. e whole free healthcare thing helps, too.

ey’re bringing their new-fangled fancy beer ideas with them, and we couldn’t be happier. So we sat down with recent arrivals Tim Juul, head brewer at Container Brewing, and Trever Bass, director of brewing operations at 33 Acres, to talk about the American invasion and what their plans are for the new 51st state.

I, for one, welcome our new craft beer overlords.

The Growler: Well hey, welcome to Canada, guys. Tell me a bit about your rst impressions so far.

Tim Juul: I love it up here. It’s a big change from the eastern United States where I’m from. My wife dragged me out here, she’s working at UBC. After Trump got elected, my wife and I joked that we were going to move to Canada.

Growler: It doesn’t matter who gets elected, there’s always a portion of Americans who are like, fuck it, I’m moving to Canada! We’re everyone’s plan B.

Juul: Yeah, we had no real intentions of moving here, but my wife is doing her post doctorate, and UBC was one of the ones that was available, one

of the better ones that’s available, so we thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to check out Canada. And the political scene is way more mellow, which is nice.

Trever Bass: I moved up the beginning of September, but I have family here and I’ve been coming to Vancouver for 20 years.

Growler: How are you adjusting to life in Canada?

Bass: Moving to a new country, even if you have family there, it’s a process. It’s the little things. Like, I just got my phone today, with a Canadian phone number and that felt like a really big deal. You know, I’m still trying to nd my home bar.

Growler: So what’s your background? Where were you brewing before you came to Canada?

Juul: I started brewing at Fort Hill Brewing in western Massachusetts. Started out just helping out and moved up into a brewing role and head brewer. It was a fully-automated 60 hL system, 240 hL tanks. It’s a big change going from that down to the 20 hL system at Container. We were in the same market with Trillium, Tree House, all that.

Bass: I was in Portland, I was the head brewer at Migration for a year and a half and was at Hopworks for six or seven years before that. I started out as a delivery driver at Hopworks, and worked my way up. I had some brewing experience, but that’s where I started. 33 Acres is pretty similar in size to Migration.

Growler: What are some of the di erences you’ve noticed up here, in terms of the beer scene? Is there anything that strikes you as strange or bizarre? Anything we’re missing out on?

Juul: Actually, I think B.C. is skipping over some of the bad aspects of the U.S. beer scene. We have a lot of gigantic retail breweries that are suf-

fering right now. And I don’t think B.C. is really going to go through that, with massive equipment that’s not getting utilized, people getting laid o . B.C. has just skipped right to the local scene.

Growler: Have you noticed a di erence in what the Canadian craft beer consumer wants? Is the market di erent up here?

Juul: e consumer is di erent for sure, at least from the Northeast. All people want is hazy IPAs and milkshake IPAs. People here are a little more open to trying new things. I think craft beer came on a bit later here, but West Coast consumers are de nitely educated. ey might be over educated! But that education opens up the market more.

Bass: My rst impression was 10 years ago when I rst started visiting. I’ve seen the B.C. craft beer scene change a lot. Back then it was Steamworks, Granville Island, and now those are the old school breweries. It’s shifted a lot from 10 years ago to ve years ago, then shifted radically in the last ve years. Brassneck and 33 Acres were two breweries that I went to as soon as they opened. It feels a lot more like Portland now. ere’s so many breweries coming up and they each have a specialty.

Growler: I think you have to nd a niche when there are so many breweries in the same market.

Bass: Yeah, when I moved to Portland 10 years ago, there were 35 breweries and everyone was saying, this place is saturated, there’s no way it could support 40 breweries. And it happened in six months. And now there’s 70-plus, 80-plus breweries. It's crazy.

I think craft beer came on a bit later here, but West Coast consumers are de nitely educated.

—Tim Juul, Container Brewing

Jennifer Gauthier photos

Juul: Do you think that the thing that’s keeping them a oat is the hyper-local aspect of the consumer?

Bass: Yeah.

Juul: Do you think in Vancouver, it’s kind of the same idea?

Bass: I don’t think Vancouver’s there yet. I feel like Vancouver is where Portland was when I rst moved there. People think there can’t possibly be any more breweries, but we’ll see six breweries close and 20 breweries open. Bigger breweries will start to sell less beer and smaller breweries will serve their neighbourhood.

Growler: e margins are so much better when you’re selling pints in your own tasting room.

Bass: Totally. And when you have that sort of brewery scene, you have to specialize. You can’t say, oh we made an IPA, and it’s the same as the one down the street. Because people are just going to go to the one down the street or the one closest to their house. So it’s got to be good, it’s got to be well made and it’s got to have a unique twist to it.

Growler: e idea of terroir in beer is kind of a new concept, at least here. Is there anything you see here as being distinctive?

Bass: I think a lot of beer is still pretty malt forward in B.C., especially with hoppier styles. You see a lot less of that in the U.S., at least in the Oregon beer scene. I don’t know what it’s like back east.

Juul: Back east you don’t put caramel malts in anything, except maybe a stout.

Bass: Yeah, the old school style still has legs, and that’s shifting, but it’s de nitely here. ere’s a regional palate, and a B.C. IPA is di erent from an Oregon IPA, which is di erent from a South-

ern California, San Diego IPA. And I think that because of all these other in uences that come to B.C., we’re still seeing what the new B.C. IPA smells and tastes like.

Growler: What are some B.C. beers that you guys like? Anything that’s jumped out at you?

Juul: Actually, 33 Acres, the French blanche [33 Acres of Sunshine] was one of the rst ones that I drank here, and it’s a delicious beer. It’s one of my go-tos when I hit the liquor store.

Bass: I hate to be the guy that talks about the place I work now, but yeah, 33 Acres of Sunshine was the rst beer that I had at the Great Canadian Beer Festival probably six or seven years ago, right when 33 Acres had opened. And I was like, whoa, this isn’t like any of the other beer I’m seeing in Vancouver right now. My little brother lives up here and he’s always slinging stu at me. Nectarous is one of those beers when I tried it… four years ago? I don’t think there’s a better version of that beer in the Paci c Northwest. For a dry-hopped sour to have that much depth of avour and impact.

Growler: It was a turning point beer for sure. It won Beer of the Year at the Canadian Brewing Awards [2016] and the style just exploded. Soon everyone was doing them.

Bass: Yeah, I think that’s a beer that all of B.C. can be proud of. j

People think there can’t possibly be any more breweries, but we’ll see six breweries close and 20 breweries open.

—Trever Bass, 33 Acres

by Ben Coli

The term “craft brewery” dates back to some time in the 1980s, originally coined by beer writer Vince Cottone. e word “microbrewery” was current at the time, but Vince thought a broader term less speci cally focused on size was needed.

Since then, “craft” has been celebrated, de ned, dogmatized, argued over, rede ned, subverted, declaimed, reclaimed, re-rede ned, co-opted, borrowed by other industries, co-opted by other industries, and shot and left for dead in a urine-soaked alley.

In the words of the mighty Super ux Brewing Company: Craft Beer is Dead. It’s time that we buried it, recited fond words over its grave and moved on. “Craft” was never a big enough word to encompass all the de nitions that we piled on top of it. It came to mean too many di erent things, some of them in direct contradiction to one another. In my years of talking to craft beer fans and industry professionals, it’s become clear that the term is based on a false consensus. I’ve been standing in a crowd of people loudly applauding “craft,” imagining we’re supporting the same thing, while each of us has our own entirely solipsistic de nition of the term.

Is “craft” innovation or is it tradition? Is it Reinheitsgebot or Cap’n Crunch in the mash tun? Is it about beer quality or about brewery size? Can you know “craft” when you taste it, or do you have to exhaustively research the ownership structure and total output of a brewery before you know that’s what you’re drinking? Is “local” so important that a beer stops being “craft” when it’s shipped out of market? Or is “craft” whatever tastes best?

e most commonly cited de nition is from the Brewers Association, the American arbiter of all things craft. ey have de ned and rede ned what it is to be a craft brewery. Here is their current opinion:

SMA : Less than six million US beer barrels of annual production (that’s about 700 million litres: enough to ood an NFL eld to a depth of 131 metres; enough to supply every man, woman, child and suckling infant in British Columbia with 293 tall cans. If you produce more than that, you’re no longer SMALL).

INDEPENDENT: Less than 25 per cent of the brewery is owned by a member of the beverage alcohol industry that isn’t a craft brewery (but it could be owned by, I don’t know, Monsanto or General Motors).

BREWER: Makes beer.

Notice that there’s nothing in there about the beer being good, or about the brewery even trying to make good beer. It would have been too tough for them to de ne and measure, so they settled on breweries that aren’t enormous, and aren’t owned by AB Inbev or Diageo. It certainly isn’t anything you can taste.

ey’d originally tried a narrower de nition that referred to processes and ingredients, but they failed because a narrower de nition always excluded breweries that everyone agreed were craft. What the BA really needed was a de nition of an independent brewery, which is what they spent 15 years paring the de nition down to. It would have been less confusing if they’d just switched words from “craft” to “independent.”

e term “craft beer” isn’t serving consumers particularly well. When someone asks a server at a bar about “craft beer,” what are they asking? Is it local? Is it from a small brewery? Is the brewery independently owned? Is the beer good? Or as they just asking for a beer in a “craft” style, like a pale ale or an IPA? All of those are totally valid questions, but the conversation is being confused by this word nobody understands the same way.

And the term “craft brewery” isn’t really serving the breweries anymore, either. Boston Beer Company is technically a “craft brewery” and they make 500 million litres per year. I want a di erent word to describe Dageraad, which made less than 300,000 litres last year. I’d love to have a term to di erentiate my little Belgian-style nerd-brewery from lagerand-pale-ale breweries.

For years I’ve used the words “craft beer” and “craft brewery” about a hundred times a day, but I’m going to try to stop. I want to replace them with more speci c words and start saying what I’m really trying to say. I’m going to need help, though, because I need to develop a whole new vocabulary to do it.

Here’s my rst try at using a post-craft vocabulary: “Dageraad is a small, independent, specialty brewery. We make Belgian-inspired beers for beer nerds.”

So far so good? (I accidentally typed “craft” three times while I was writing that. is is going to be a tough habit to break.) j

• Ben Coli is the owner and founder of Dageraad Brewing in Burnaby.

UNSUNG HEROES OF CRAFT BEER...

by Rob Mangelsdorf

In the days of monopolized beer sales, when just three companies had a stranglehold on the beer market in B.C., only one man was brave—or possibly naïve enough—to thumb his nose at the corporate juggernauts of the day.

at man was “Uncle” Ben Ginter, and while his Prince George-based Tartan Brewing never produced anything that could remotely or conceivably be considered craft beer, his plucky determination and anti-establishment attitude helped embody the spirit of the craft beer revolution that would follow.

Ginter was a Polish immigrant who grew up in rural Manitoba before dropping out of school at 14 to go into business for himself. He started his

own construction company and, by the 1960s, had amassed a fortune of close to $30 million by paving the roads and highways of the rapidly expanding B.C. north. In all, his many trucking, construction and paving companies employed more than 9,000 people.

Ginter knew nothing about beer when in 1962, he bought the former Caribou Brewing Co. plant in Prince George for $150,000 which he intended to use as a storage yard for his heavy road construction equipment. e brewery was only ve years old, and its brewhouse was still operational, however. At the time, Prince George had the highest per capita beer consumption in the country—possibly the continent—so after

Canadian beer pioneer Ben Ginter and his Prince George-based Tartan Brewery fought to break open the macro beer monopoly in Canada for more than 20 years. Photo courtesy of e Exploration Place, Prince George.

being convinced by a group of local hotel owners, Ginter instead decided to get the brewery back up and running under the name Tartan Brewing.

Canadian Breweries, whom he had bought the brewery from, now o ered him $150,000 just for the copper brewhouse so that he wouldn’t brew beer to compete with them. But Ginter’s mind was made up, and the o er, which he took as an insult, only further convinced him.

Initially, Tartan produced a series of knock-o beers with names like Budd, Paap’s, High Life, and Pil’Can. After a predictable series of cease and desist orders, Ginter rebranded yet again, and this time decided to put himself on the labels—complete with a fake beard—and launch Uncle Ben’s Malt Liquor in 1969. e beer was an instant success thanks to the fact that it was cheap and… well, that’s about it. It was so cheap, the B.C. liquor board actually forced Ginter to increase its price to bring it in line with the likes of Molson, Labatt and Carling O’Keefe. So Ginter started taping a dime to the inside of every 12-pack of beer to refund his loyal customers.

Ever the innovator, Ginter was one of the rst Canadian brewers to adopt the beer can and later the pull tab. He was also the rst in Canada to o er a refund on empties.

“He was a true maverick,” says Chad Hellenius, assistant curator at Prince George’s Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre. e museum recently recognized Ginter as one of 100 Prince George Icons. “You have to look at him as a pioneer of viral marketing campaigns.”

Ginter hired Austrian-born Eugene Zarek to be his brewmaster and by many accounts, the quality of the beer initially ranged from merely terrible to borderline undrinkable.

“It was improperly aged,” according to Hellenius. “It was described at the time as being ‘green and chewy.’”

e quality did improve, however, and by 1977, beer expert Michael Weiner would proclaim that Uncle Ben’s Malt Liquor was “almost perfect” in his book, e Taster’s Guide to Beer.

Ginter was every bit the rough and tumble frontiersman he depicted on his beer labels. Big and barrel-chested, he was a gru self-made man, usually wearing blue jeans and a red annel shirt instead of a businessman’s three-piece suit. He worked tirelessly to build his empire, and he expected everyone around him to do the same, which resulted in predictable labour con icts.

“Ginter is a work addict,” wrote Allan Fotheringham in Maclean’s magazine in 1968. “Just as

During his two decades in the beer business, Ginter's Tartan Brewery produced dozens of products—many with his face plastered on them. Photo courtesy of e Exploration Place, Prince George.

He was a true maverick. You have to look at him as a pioneer of viral marketing campaigns.

—Chad Hellenius, Prince George Exploration Place Musem and Science Centre

hooked as the dope addict, the booze addict, perhaps just as unhappy and guilty about it.”

For close to 20 years, Tartan Brewing was a thorn in the side of the Big ree breweries: Labatt, Molson and Canadian Breweries (later renamed Carling O’Keefe). In the late ’60s and ’70s, he sought to expand his empire across the country, opening breweries in Alberta and Manitoba, while plans for breweries in Ontario and Newfoundland proved to be costly failures. e Big ree—and the provincial governments that supported them—fought him every step of the way.

“He was dangerous,” says Hellenius. “He was sticking that big middle nger up at them because he played by his own rules.”

e constant opposition caused him stress, and paranoia. Ginter famously accused his competitors of hiring actors who would order Tartan beer and then loudly complain to the bartender about how bad it was and dramatically pour it out, only to ask for a “real” beer by one of the Big ree instead.

Eventually, the ill-advised expansion resulted in Ginter overextending himself. In a last ditch e ort to raise funds, he o ered public shares in his company in return for bottle caps, according to Allen Winn Sneath in his book, Brewed in Canada. Two hundred caps could be traded in for a block of 10 shares valued at $200. Despite the incredible value being o ered, the promotion failed to increase sales. By 1978, Ginter was bankrupt and much to the joy of the Big ree breweries, Uncle Ben’s was done. Ginter died of a heart attack in 1982, his fortune gone.

Nothing remains of Ginter’s empire, not even his once opulent, ostentatious Prince George mansion. According to Fotheringham, it featured preserved butter ies mounted in the ceiling, Japanese silk wallpaper in the bedroom, a royal purple velvet headboard, stu ed woodpeckers and squirrels over the replace and the clock in the simulated-leather

cowboy boot, a 20-by-40-foot indoor pool, backed by an arti cial waterfall that, “at the touch of a button sends water cascading over the plaster elves and their shing poles.” In the den, beneath the velvet painting of the ghting stallions, is the bar, covered in the soft skin of unborn calves.

e original Tartan Brewery in Prince George is still in operation, however, albeit under a di erent name and ownership: Paci c Western Brewing, home of Cariboo Lager.

“Although he was only a player for 15 years,” writes Sneath, “his unorthodox approach to business reserves him a permanent place in Canada’s modern brewing history.”

He may have been ahead of his time, but Ben Ginter’s anti-establishment attitude and dissatisfaction with the status quo would become hallmarks of the craft beer revolution to come. j

He was dangerous. He was sticking that big middle nger up at them because he played by his own rules.

—Chad Hellenius

TOP: On the rst label of Uncle Ben's Malt Liquor, Ginter is wearing a fake beard. Photo courtesy of e Exploration Place, Prince George. BOTTOM: The Drake Eatery in Victoria has a few Tartan Brewery bottles on display. Lara Zukowsky photo

by Rob Mangelsdorf

More than any other style, the India pale ale has become synonymous with craft beer. Back in the 1980s and ’90s, when the craft breweries here on the West Coast rst decided to make beer with actual avour, they adapted the English IPA style by loading it up with a metric shit-ton of hops.

e rst hop-forward IPAs heavily featured Cascade hops and the other “Big C” hops (Centennial, Columbus, Chinook), because at the time, they were pretty much the only varieties commercially available locally. ese hops were largely developed to pack as much alpha acid as possible, allowing industrial-scale macro beers to use far less hops to bitter their beers.

e whole idea behind what become known as the West Coast-style IPA is that the beer would feature a slightly stronger, maltier character than, say, a pale ale, and that added sweetness and body would help balance out the high hop bitterness, which would, in turn, dry out the nish. e result

was a beer that was deceptively strong and bursting with avours of grapefruit, citrus and pine, blowing the minds of those of us who were raised on limp, lifeless lagers.

“I can say without a doubt that the West Coast style of IPA is what really got me obsessed with beer,” says Aaron Colyn, brewer and owner of Twin City Brewing in Port Alberni, and maker of one the nest West Coast-style IPAs in the province right now, Run of the Mill IPA. “During my university days, Driftwood’s Fat Tug was still very new, Phillip’s Hop Circle was a staple in my fridge and Central City’s Red Racer IPA was pushing some bright grapefruit-pine hop avours that no one could really match at the time.”

But soon, things got a bit crazy. Breweries tried to out-do each other with the amount of IBUs they could pack into their beer. It became a hops arms race and the West Coast-style IPA soon became associated with unpalatable bitterness. We all know someone who’s been put o of craft beer

West Coast IPAs are back in a big way, and this beer nerd couldn’t be happier

because it’s “too hoppy.” Probably because they were looking for an Alexander Keith’s IPA and got Red Racer IPA instead.

And the beer world moved on. e West Coast-style IPA became passé, supplanted by an ever-growing list of IPA variations that captured the public’s imagination. White IPAs, black IPAs, session IPAs, Belgian IPAs. Finally, an IPA style emerged that was everything the West Coast style wasn’t: the East Coast IPA, a.k.a. New England IPA, a.k.a. Northeastern IPA, a.k.a. hazy IPA. Popularized by American breweries like Alchemist and Tree House, the East Coast-style IPA focuses on fruitier hop varieties like Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic and Southern Hemisphere hops like Galaxy and Vic Secret, as opposed to the Big C hops. While West Coast-style IPAs are known for their bitterness, East Coast-style IPAs are nowhere near as bitter, and can even be slightly sweet. And whereas the West Coast style generally features a clean yeast character to avoid overshadowing the hop pro le, the East Coast style uses fruity, ester-rich English ale yeast strains to complement the more fruity hops.

en there’s the most obvious di erence: East Coast IPAs are hazy AF, with a thick, pulpy body that can resemble orange juice.

“I think the West Coast-style hasn’t been in the spotlight with all the other rapidly evolving trends,” says Colyn. “I think many brewers and consumers have enjoyed the variety of new tropical and juicy hop strains that have emerged in

recent years and there are some exciting avours there to explore.

“However, West Coast IPAs have been around a bit longer, the style is a little more clearly de ned, and I think people will and do go back to them.”

And for good reason. Out of the spotlight for the past ve years, the West Coast-style IPA has been quietly evolving, becoming more re ned and approachable. It’s learned some valuable lessons from its East Coast cousin: it’s gained balance, incorporated new hop varieties and got back to its roots and played to its strengths. e classic resinous grapefruit and pine character is still there, but now there’s more depth thanks to an increased focus on aroma hops and complementary malt and yeast pro les. A better understanding of the e ects of dissolved oxygen and improved production techniques—a major concern for East Coast-style beers—has also bene tted the West Coast style. e result is avourful, increasingly sessionable and in nitely pairable with food.

It’s telling that the winner of Beer of the Year in e Growler’s 2019 Craft Beer Readers’ Choice Awards was Driftwood’s Fat Tug, a classic West Coast-style IPA.

If you’ve been avoiding West Coast-style IPAs lately, it might be time to get reacquainted.

“You might irt with New England IPAs, hook up with a tropical hazy once in a while. Heck, even a ing with the odd Brut IPA if you can still nd one,” says Colyn. “But the West Coast IPA is gonna be the one you bring home and introduce to mom and dad.” j

Drink this

Run of the Mill IPA // Twin City

North by Northwest // Steamworks

IPA // Four Winds

Good Clean Fun // Twin Sails

IPA // Gladstone

Jagged Face IPA // Mount Arrowsmith

Red Racer IPA // Central City

Play Dead IPA // Yellow Dog

West Coast IPAs have never tasted better, thanks to the end of the IBU arms race, new hop varieties and a greater focus on balance and drinkability. Rob Mangelsdorf photo

PERRY? WTF is

by Rob Mangelsdorf

With the explosion in B.C. craft cider in recent years, local cideries are expanding their lineup to include di erent styles and avours. Enter the humble perry; it’s cider’s dry, delicious cousin and an increasing number of B.C. cideries are producing this pear-based beverage.

Often referred to as pear cider, perry is just that; a cider variant made with heirloom perry pears instead of apples.

Perry originates from Northern France and Southern England and Wales, where special perry-speci c pear varietals were cultivated—some with amazing names like Mumblehead, Merrylegs and Stinking Bishop. In the U.K., the West Midlands counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire are known for having hundreds of varieties of perry pears. Perry pears are full of astringent, bitter and tannic qualities, which make them inedible, but perfect for cider-making and o er more complexity of avour and sweetness compared to perry made from table pears.

Traditionally, English perry was incredibly dry and served still from the cask, while French perry was bottle-fermented like champagne with considerably more sweetness.

“Perry tends to be more delicate than cider but with some tannins, acid and astringency with a bit of sweetness from unfermentable sugars, even when fermented all the way to dry,” according to

Sea Cider has been producing a perry and ginger perry made with traditional heirloom perry pears grown on its farm on Vancouver Island, as well as a farm it leases in the Okanagan.

“Don’t be confused by ciders with pear juice added or pear ciders made with culinary pears,” says Gatt. “A true perry is very hard to come by in the Paci c Northwest. It’s unique, interesting and most importantly, rare.” j

Adrian Gatt, service manager at Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse.

Sidney's Sea Cider makes its Ginger Perry with heirloom perry pears from its orchard in the Similkameen Valley. Contributed photo

en grain meets grape

by Joe Wiebe

Beer and wine have long seemed to inhabit separate worlds. Lately, however, a trend has been bridging those two worlds: wine-beer hybrids. Several B.C. breweries have experimented with them, whether by blending wine and beer, or fermenting grape juice or grape must (freshly squeezed grape juice with skins, seeds and stems still in it) or even just the pomace (the solid portion of the must) along with typical beer ingredients, and often aging them in foeders or barrels.

Some brewers in Italy have been making uva birra or grape beer for more than 15 years already. Italian grape ale, or uva birra, even made it into the “Local Styles” appendix of the 2015 update of the BJCP (Beer Judge Certi cation Program) guidelines.

According to Italian beer writer, Maurizio Maestrelli, IGA was rst brewed commercially at the Barley Brewery in Sardinia, whose founder, Nicola Perra, “has to be considered the father of the Italian grape ale style.” Around 2003, Perra started experimenting with brewing an imperial stout with

sapa, a boiled-down concentration of grape must derived from local Cannonau grapes that is often used in desserts. is beer, BB10, is considered the original Italian grape ale, and is still produced by Perra today, along with several other IGAs.

Maestrelli says Gianriccardo Corbo, Italy’s rst BJCP-certi ed beer judge, has identi ed around 70 di erent grape ales brewed in Italy today. e intention “is to emphasize the wine contribution rather than other avours,” Maestrelli explains. “Only a few of them use Belgian or British yeast and very rarely wine yeast.” e hops are intentionally subtle, and they are rarely soured.

With so many di erent styles of grapes grown in a variety of terroirs in Italy, the avour possibilities seem limitless.

“ e same grape, Chardonnay for example, can be sharp and mineral when it comes from the north and very opulent and round when from the south,” says Maestrelli. “So there can be many di erences from an IGA to another because we have this wine variety.”

e rise of beer/wine hybrids in B.C.

Here in B.C., grape beers rst started showing up about three years ago. Several breweries have dabbled in the style, including Brassneck, Luppolo/Temporal, Twin Sails/Coalesce, Steamworks, Steel and Oak, and House of Funk. But leading the charge has been Field House Brewing in Abbotsford, which has released more than a dozen grape ales.

Parker Reid, head brewer at Field House, said he was rst inspired by a beer called Bumo 2 that he tasted at Burdock Brewing in Toronto three years ago. A collaboration with a Niagara winery called Pearl Morissette, it featured a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Rosé and one-year-old barrel-aged saison. “It just blew me away,” Reid remembers, adding that he soon realized “there are so many di erent grapes and so many di erent avours. at was three years ago. We’ve just been experimenting ever since.”

e rst one Reid made was Wild Riesling Ale, a collaboration with the head brewer from Dog sh Head, the famously experimental Delaware brewery. It featured Riesling grapes blended with a tart farmhouse ale, elder ower and sweet woodru , and fermented with wild yeast.

Over the past few years, Reid has learned that there are a few di erent ways to approach brewing a grape ale. Blending fermented wine and beer is one direction to take, but “you get totally di erent avours if you ferment them together.”

By steeping a fermented beer on pomace or must, “you’re going to get totally di erent avours. You almost get more peppery notes because of the stems and the skins.”

Wild Brettanomyces yeast on the grape skins has an e ect as well.

“We’ll add grape must directly to the foeder or we’ll take a beer that’s primary fermented in steel and then put it on the must to give it some wild character. Or you can put it on the must for a week and just pull avour and colour from the skins.” Some B.C. breweries have done that to make rosé beers.

Field House’s main winery partner in this endeavour is Whispering Horse in Yarrow, near Chilliwack. Reid’s favourite of their grapes is called L’Acadie, which reminds him of the Nelson Sauvin hop. Speaking of hops, Reid sometimes doesn’t even add hops because the grapes have

e beer/wine hybrid trend started in Italy (of course) with uva birra, a style of beer in which wort is fermented on grape must. Vessel Liquor Store in Victoria carries dozens of examples of the style made right here in B.C., many using local grapes and must. Lara Zukowsky photo

so much avour. In other cases they “use hops to accentuate certain avours.”

Field House would like to work with bunches of whole grapes directly, but they are very expensive and di cult to nd, apparently, so the brewery is putting in grapes at its own farm, a project that began in 2018 to support the food program at the brewery. As well, the brewery is moving its entire barrel program and foeders to the farm, which has its own manufacturing licence: the Field House BRRL Room.

It takes two or three years for grape vines to mature enough to bear fruit, so they won’t be making any beers with their own grapes for a while yet. ere are already some Concord grapes there, which aren’t typically used in winemaking, but Reid says he’ll still use them in a grape ale at some point. And why not? As the two worlds of beer and wine blend together, the rules are thrown out along with the pomace and trub. All that matters is that the results taste good. j

REQUIRED DRINKING

New New craft craft City City

Get to the outer boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn to nd some of the most creative craft breweries in the United States

by David Ort

The space for New York City in everyone’s imagination is already pretty full. at’s partly because it does such a wonderful job of promoting itself—I can think of more cultural references to individual bridges in New York City than other major cities—but also because of the variety of experiences.

NYC boroughs seem to take turns in the spotlight. As Manhattan completed its revitalization in the 2000s, Brooklyn became the centre of the hipster world. And now that ad agency directors are the only creatives in that part of town, Queens is the new darling for early adopters.

roughout these transformations (and much further back through New York’s waves of immigration) beer has played an outsize role.

Back in the early 2010s, Beer School: Bottling Success at Brooklyn Brewery was one of the rst beer books I read. It’s remarkable that Steve Hindy and Tom Potter were already writing about their craft beer success in 2007.

Food & Beer is another signpost of New York’s rare ed love of beer. It’s a high-gloss cookbook created as a collaboration by the brewer at Tørst and the chef of Luksus. Fittingly, it’s in New York that beer nally took a seat at the ne-dining table.

Luksus closed in 2016, but for a few years, it was the poster child for craft beer in restaurants. In 2014, it became the rst restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star without pouring wine or liquor— instead, each course on the tasting menu was paired with a di erent beer.

e view of Manhattan and the Queensboro bridge is soon forgotten as your discover the inventive and creative beer near Hunter’s Point in Long Island City and Brooklyn. Julienne Schaer/NYC & Company photo

Others have taken up the challenge and new breweries have joined Brooklyn on their mission to make some elbow room amongst the wine bars and brown-liquor speakeasies.

You won’t nd too many sprawling beer gardens or production breweries in Mannhattan these days. But, luckily, the Queensboro, one of those movie-star bridges, will take you to a neighbourhood in Long Island City (yes, that’s still very much in NYC) with six breweries within easy walking distance of each other.

Brooklyn Brewery

Having clocked more than 25 years of selling beer, Brooklyn Brewery deserves a spot on the list of essential American craft breweries. And it’s not just a beer factory. eir dashing brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, is the author of Brewmaster’s Table and the editor of e Oxford Companion to Beer so it should come as no surprise that his brewery o ers a complete experience.

e headquarters in Williamsburg (they also have an upstate outpost at the Culinary Institute of America) is a must-visit for the history mixed with innovation. Try to stick to what you can only get onsite—that means veering away from Brooklyn Lager.)

You’re in luck if one of the Brooklyn Quarterly Experiments or something from the Brewmaster’s Reserve programme is pouring. Bel Air Sour (5.8% ABV) is a year-rounder that graduated from the BR. It combines the tartness from their house strain of lacto with tropical fruit from simcoe and amarillo hops.

Look also for Black Ops (11.5% ABV), an annual take on a Russian imperial stout. For 2019, they managed to hide an entire black forest cake (taste-wise, at least) in each bottle of opaque goodness.

Other Half

After paying respects at the OG, we’re o deeper into the borough. ree decades of gentri cation have pushed brewery founders from areas like Williamsburg to neighbourhoods like Industry City, where Other Half runs their gritty-aroundthe-edges operation.

Where some breweries make a style or two that pushes the borders of what beer is expected to taste like, Other Half slams on the afterburners as they cross into airspace usually reserved for everything from smoothies to wine to milkshakes.

Broccoli (7.9% ABV) is an imperial IPA made with a quartet of hops that give it a smooth citrus pro le to match its opaque haziness. If you feel you need to ease gently into the hop-dominated madness, Forever Ever (4.7% ABV) is their session IPA, but it still packs in ve hop varieties and ts into the juicy, tropical New England-style family.

Alewife Brewpub

What’s the di erence between Brooklyn and Long Island City? Fresher tattoos and even more tech companies with o ces in old warehouses. Plus LIC is the home to the current boom in New York City’s craft beer scene.

LEFT: Brooklyn Brewery makes a dizzying array of beers from coal-black stouts to tropical, heat-beaters like Bel Air Sour.

RIGHT: e cult-ish following is never more apparent than at their special events. Supplied photos

e beer menu splits between taps from other breweries and the house options. Among the latter there are plenty of IPAs (including the double and dry-hopped variety) but ousand Stars pilsner (5.2% ABV) has a good malt backbone that helps refresh the hop-tired palate. Meadow Maker (7.5% ABV) is a smooth, New England-style reintroduction to IPAs with notes of peaches and tropical fruit.

With everything from Bu alo fried pickles to the Mother Clucker fried chicken sandwich, this is a tough spot to stick to just beer.

Fifth Hammer Brewing

Next stop north is relative newcomer Fifth Hammer. It’s a casual space anchored by a long bar and with plenty of seating.

Fruited sours like Palate Pigment (5.2% ABV) are a mainstay on the good-sized list of creative options. You’ll also nd a seasonal focus like the Iron Lotus (10.5% ABV) porter for the end of winter. eir four-ounce taster glasses are a great way to tour the catalogue.

Once you’re done at Fifth Hammer there are four more breweries in this part of Queens—

Rockaway, ICONYC, Big Alice and LIC Beer Project—that are worth a visit. e best part is that it will only take a half-hour walk for the grand tour.

Where else to go

With Broadway and world-class shopping (and hundreds of other attractions) Manhattan beckons those who can’t live on beer alone. We get it.

e Je rey NYC is at 60th Street under the Queensboro bridge. is rustic-looking bar has an exceptional beer list that covers strong ales from Belgium, cult IPAs from California and whatever’s in-season from NYC breweries.

Further downtown on Bleeker, Blind Tiger is a 24-year-old institution. Nearly 30 taps pour outstanding brews from (mainly) the northeastern U.S. You’ll also nd a deeper-than-average food menu of bar favourites.

For a pint before you pick up a few bottles to take home, Top Hops Beer Shop should be your go-to. ey cover a wide range including New York options like Other Half, Finback and Sixpoint.

I could ramble on for pages about pizza and hot dogs—two classics from the New York cannon. In a nutshell: get a slice from John’s on Bleeker Street and, on a nice day at least, it’s worth the trip to Coney Island for the Nathan’s dog.

Where to Stay

Expensive cities have expensive hotel rooms. So, for my money, you have two options. Either hunt for a good deal at one of the iconic Manhattan piles (the Algonquin, Pierre, Warwick, Roosevelt and Washington Square have patina without the sky-high price tag) or snag an AirBnB in LIC.

Getting to NYC

If you happen to swing a ight through JFK, BKLYN o ers 20 good beers on tap and top-notch food by chef Laurent Toroundel. e (slightly bizarre) consolation prize at LaGuardia is an outpost by the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams and fans of the Boston Red Sox.

e subway system is vastly cleaner and safer than it was in the days of Serpico and Taxi Driver. Now you’re more likely to need to keep your wits about you to avoid accidentally getting on an express train. j

TOP: e original John's in Greenwich Village is still the best slice. Supplied photo

BOTTOM: Fifth Hammer strikes an eclectic mix with their 15 in-house taps. Molly Flores photo

Wherefore art thou, cask ales?

Cask ales have a chequered past in this province, but there’s hope for this misunderstood style yet

by Rob Mangelsdorf

Afew years ago it seemed that hand-pulled cask ales were nally nding an audience in this province. e traditional English beer style was being celebrated with festivals, craft beer bars like the Alibi Room had cask engines devoted to real ale and the B.C. Beer Awards even chose the English Mild as the style of the year for its annual Brewers’ Challenge. ere was even a brewery based out of Callister Brewing devoted to nothing but real cask ales, appropriately named Real Cask Ales. And then… nothing.

e cask nights became fewer and far between, Real Cask Ales closed up shop in 2018 and in

what many saw as the death knell for the cask, the Alibi Room ripped out its cask engines. For lovers of real cask ales—like myself—it’s becoming increasing di cult to nd.

So what the hell happened?

One of the problems is that cask ales are misunderstood, predictably so. ey are everything we North Americans have been told that beer should not be: they’re not served ice cold, they’re not zzy, they’re not bursting with hops and they’re not boozy.

“I don’t think that’s what the North American drinker is looking for,” says Adam Chatburn, founder of Real Cask Ales. “Palates have been

Owner Paul Had eld serves up a proper hand-pulled pint of Mitchell's ESB o the cask at Spinnakers n Victoria. e venerable brewpub is one of the few places left in B.C. serving real cask ales. Lara Zukowsky phtoto

wrecked by years of hop bombs.”

Cask ale is beer in its most raw form. It’s unpasteurized, it’s un ltered, it hasn’t been force-carbonated and it’s refermented in the vessel it’s served from—either by a spigot or a manually-operated hand pump. It’s quite literally a living thing. “Cask ale is what beer was like 150 years ago,” says Paul Had eld, founder of Spinnakers Brewpub, where cask ales have been a mainstay since it rst opened in 1984. “It’s beer that’s produced in a very natural way, before industrialization.”

Something so radically di erent has a tendency to turn people o . And brewers who don’t understand the style are part of the problem.

“I think some brewers see it as a gimmick,” says Main Street Brewing brewmaster Ted Fine. “I remember one brewery did a fruitcake beer with an actual piece of fruitcake in the beer. ey don’t treat it with respect.”

Main Street boasts four cask engines and a dedicated brewer in charge of the cask program, all of which is brewed on its 100 L pilot system.

Unfortunately, years of ridiculous, poorly conceived and even more poorly executed cask ales may have turned many people o of them for good.

“I think there’s a lack of understanding about cask ales [amongst brewers],” says Had eld. “When you go to these cask events, there’s pressure to experiment and you need to one-up the guy at the next table. And you lose perspective.”

Had eld says his brewery is going in the opposite direction, instead choosing to focus on traditional ales that are suited to the cask.

“When we get crazy and we try to put lagers or imperial IPAs in casks, it turns people o ,” he says. “ ose beers don’t do well in casks. ey can’t carry the volume of carbon dioxide to support all the crazy fruity esters and aromas. So when we make cask beers we do so with understanding what styles make sense, being considerate of the attractiveness of cask conditioning.”

And there’s a lot that’s attractive about cask ales. Cask ales are the ultimate session beer, designed to be enjoyed for hours on end. e English pub serves as a communal living room for the community it supports, and the low alcohol—often in the 3.0-4.0% ABV range—means that once you knock o work at the textile mill or coal mine, you

can crush pints all night without worrying about falling o your horse. And the low carbonation means no gassy bloating.

“ ere’s something about the refermentation in the cask that produces smaller bubbles,” says Bill Riley, Main Street Brewing’s dedicated cask ale brewer. “You can feel it in the mouthfeel. It’s creamy and there’s no carbonic bite.”

Flavour-wise, traditional real cask ale styles like mild and bitter are malt-forward and exceptionally balanced. Serving them “warm” at 10-13 C allows the malt character to develop.

However, cask ales can be a pain in the ass to store and serve, and many bars want nothing to do with them. Casks must be allowed to settle for 24 hours before tapping, and because they are actively refermenting, they are very susceptible to temperature and spoilage. e shelf life for a cask, once tapped, is generally only a few days.

Unfortunately, few pubs and bars in B.C. have the infrastructure or training to serve proper cask ales. “ ey are a lot more work, a lot more mess and so many things can go wrong,” admits Chatburn. “ ere were only a few places that trusted. Bars would approach me and tell me they want to carry my beer and I’d go have a look at their set-up and I’d have to tell them no.”

ere may be hope yet for cask ales, however.

Jamie Overgaard of Smugglers’ Trail Caskworks is currently hard at work building his new brewery in the Langley neighbourhood of Port Kells. Once completed this summer, the tasting room will feature eight hand-pulled cask engines, the most of any brewery or pub in B.C., perhaps in all of Canada.

e former rugby player developed a fondness for the style while living in London, and he’s hoping to carve out a niche as one of the only breweries in the province to specialize in the traditional style.

“I’m hoping we can bring it back and get people interested in cask ales again,” he says. j

Irish Stout // Moody Ales

BEER, please LOVE glass

by Ted Child

If our fathers, grandfathers and jaded detectives in the movies are to be believed, beer was meant to be drunk directly from the bottle. Who needs a glass? It’s just an extra dish to wash! But like so many of the decisions of previous generations, we now realize that this is a truly terrible idea.

By drinking your beer straight from the can or bottle, you are diminishing it by two very signicant ways, mainly by not being able to see it and by not being able to smell it. Appearance—such as clarity (or lack thereof), carbonation, head retention and lacing—is an important component to assessing and appreciating a beer. Even more important to enjoying beer is the aroma. Science has shown that aroma plays a large part in the human avour experience. In order to appreciate a beer’s aroma, and ultimately its avour, it needs to be decanted into a vessel that releases the carbon dioxide and the stored aroma compounds. at

gorgeous IPA you’re drinking will not be the same coming directly from the bottle. Unless, of course, you really don’t want to smell the beer. My dad’s favorite beer, for instance, I do not recommend pouring into a glass because it smells like cat barf, despite my father’s stubborn brand loyalty. So it’s settled, then. A glass it is. But what glass should you use? ere are plenty of helpful guides for what glass to use with what beers, such as at the beginning of every issue of e Growler. But maybe that much glassware seems a bit too much to start.

A simple way to start a beer glass collection is with a two-glass system. One glass, something like a pint glass, is for your everyday, session strength beers and another, say a tulip or a snifter, for your big or fancy beers. If you wanted to be even more pragmatic, you could just use the glass that has

been widely considered the best glass to assess any alcoholic drink, the big wine glass. But even your beer nerd friends might roll their eyes if you start walking around house parties with your big wine glass full of beer.

e two-glass system begins to show its aws fairly early, however, when is comes up against one speci c beer style and that is the hefeweizen. German weiss beers demand a weiss glass. Hefeweizen creates a huge, billowing head when poured and any other glass but a weiss vase will force you to stop pouring before you get a proper amount of beer. Plus, when it comes to being a modern beer fan, exploring and discovering all the crazy new beers on the shelves, who wants to be pragmatic? One of beer’s great, yet sometimes

overlooked, joys is the joy of exploring beer glassware.

Two of the best places to explore and expand your glass collection are the thrift shop and your local craft brewery. rift and antique shops often o er a bounty of funky beer glasses and remind us of beer’s long history but also of its ephemeral nature.

On the other hand, you can learn a lot about a brewery by the glassware they sell. If you see a bunch of pint style glasses good for session strength beers, that's probably what many of the beers will be as well. Alternatively, if you see a lot more fancy stemmed glasses, like the tulip, the Teku or others, you can bet that the brewery will be brewing something appropriate for them. It is odd how much a branded glass with an appropriate beer from one of your favourite breweries seems to make the beer better.

It is important to remember that there is no point in being too pedantic when it comes to glassware. Certain styles de nitely seem to work better with certain styles of glasses. However, your favourite brewery is going out of their way to break all the rules and you should probably do the same with your glassware, at least once or twice.

Or you could drink your beer straight out of the can, like a teenager on their rst camping trip without their parents. Yes, you could do that. But now you know better. j

In order to appreciate a beer’s aroma, and ultimately its avour, it needs to be decanted into a vessel that releases the carbon dioxide and the stored aroma compounds.

If you're not prepared to shell out big bucks for 18 di erent kinds of beer glassware, a tulip (on left) and a nonic pint glass (on right) will get the job done. Rob Mangelsdorf photo

Everything you need to know about everywhere you need to be!

MARCH 6–14

Victoria Beer Week (Victoria)

is nine-day festival features more than 50 B.C. craft breweries at 15 events all over the city with a focus on education and diverse craft beer selection. e fun gets started with Lift O ! on March 6, featuring 15 brand new, unreleased beers (as well as dozens of popular favourites), and the Ultimate Craft Beer Quiz at Northern Quarter on March 9, featuring e Growler’s Rob Mangelsdorf and Joe Wiebe. For the full event schedule and online ticket sales, visit VictoriaBeerWeek.com.

MARCH 7

Coquitlam Craft Beer Festival (Coquitlam)

More than 50 craft breweries, cideries and distilleries are descending on Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club for this popular festival—as well as hundreds of thirsty beer lovers. Tickets start at $45 and are all-inclusive, so no more beer tokens! CoquitlamBeerFestival.com

APRIL 17-18

Okanagan Fest of Ale (Penticton)

Mark this one on your calendars: Fest of Ale turns 25 this year and it is going all out to celebrate. Close to 90 breweries and cideries will be taking part as the festival marks its silver anniversary by expanding from the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre to take over the South Okanagan Events Centre next door as well. Tickets starting at a highly appropriate $25. FestOfAle.ca

APRIL 18

Beer Wars (Vancouver)

Come watch the people who make your favourite craft beer beat the crap out of each other, all for a good cause. Proceeds from this charity boxing

event go to help fund the non-pro t Eastside Boxing Club’s afterschool and outreach programs. BeerWars.com

APRIL 25

Sunshine Coast Ciders and Sours Festival (Sechelt)

is inaugural fundraiser for Sunshine Coast Food Bank features more than 100 di erent ciders and craft beers on o er, along with live music, food and good times. Tickets start at $45 and are all-inclusive of alcohol. Tickets online at Share-there.com

MAY 10

Great Okanagan Beer Festival (Kelowna)

More than 3,500 people are expected to take in this idyllic beer festival, located lakeside at Kelowna’s Waterfront Park. Expect 60-plus breweries and cideries, food trucks, live music, as well as events running all week long all over town. GOBF.ca

MAY 28-30

Canadian Brewing Awards and Conference (Victoria)

e biggest craft beer awards event in the country is coming to the Victoria Convention Centre for 2020, with more than 55 style categories being contested. In addition to the awards, there’s a trade show, keynote speeches, seminars and lots of beer and food. CanadianBrewingAwards.com

MAY 29-JUNE 7

Vancouver Craft Beer Week (Vancouver)

VCBW enters its second decade with a new venue at Concord Community Park at False Creek for the main event, June 5–7. Beer events will be happening all week long all over town, starting with the VCBW launch party on May 29. Check out VCBW.ca for the full schedule of events and ticket sales. j

BURNED BY DOUBLE STANDARD

by Rob Mangelsdorf

Back in 2012, the B.C. Liberal government of the day made sweeping changes to the province’s liquor laws that paved the way for the coming craft beer revolution. For the rst time, craft breweries could operate tasting rooms, and sell ights of beer directly to their customers. One of the other liquor laws that changed at the time was the introduction of Bring Your Own Bottle or corkage. is program allows you to bring your own bottle of booze to a restaurant, and the restaurant can charge you a corkage fee for drinking it in their establishment. And if you don’t nish the bottle at dinner, you can take it home with you, too. It’s a sensible common sense provision, similar to what most other Canadian provinces and many other countries around the world already allow. However, corkage only applies to wine. If you are a craft beer drinker, you are shit out of luck. Despite the fact that wine generally has a higher alcoholic content than beer, you are forbidden from bringing that bottle of B.C.-brewed barrel-aged lambic-style sour ale with you to your local restaurant. But that big ol’ jug of Carlo Rossi is somehow A-OK!

Likewise, when the provincial government nally allowed the sale of alcohol in grocery stores, it was B.C. wine only—no beer. And last year when the B.C. NDP government reviewed that program, they updated it to include imported wine and cider—but still no beer!

“Every year we’re warned by the public health o cer of binge drinking hospitalizations and binge drinkers,” explained attorney general David Eby to News 1130. “We’re going entirely the wrong direction on this so increasing the number of outlets that sell alcohol is not on the table.”

He added that if the province were to allow grocery stores to sell beer, it would have to allow imported beer as well as local craft beer, and that could cause harm to the B.C. craft industry, in his opinion.

“If you go to a grocery store, they stock Tide and Coca Cola. ey don’t stock small boutique producers of laundry detergent and soft drinks,” he said.

Except, of course, that grocery stores absolutely do stock small boutique laundry detergent and soft drinks.

Let’s be honest, and call it for what it is: there is a prejudice against beer and beer drinkers. Wine is apparently viewed as a beverage for the upper class, and so it’s treated di erently, as though those who drink it are somehow more responsible. Why? Probably because it’s the alcoholic beverage of choice for the highfalutin muckety-mucks who make our liquor laws.

Meanwhile lowly beer, a.k.a. “ e Champagne of the Working Class,” is somehow considered more problematic. Clearly, working class people can’t be trusted. It’s a classist distinction that unfairly inconveniences beer drinkers and unfairly punishes the thousands of women and men who work in the B.C. craft beer industry.

Beer drinkers should not be singled out just because their beverage of choice is made from barley and not grapes.

ere have been recent e orts to bridge the gap between beer and wine, and the government should be commended for that. e NDP quickly xed Agricultural Land Reserve rules passed by the Liberals that allowed wineries on farmland but not breweries. However, there is clearly still a long way to go before beer gets the same consideration wine does.

If it’s a question of public safety, then put a limit on the ABV of alcohol that’s eligible for corkage and sale in grocery stores, as well as a limit on the amount you can bring/buy. at would be equitable thing to do. But the time has come to stop treating beer drinkers like second-class citizens. j

Sister are brewin' it for themselves

The women of B.C. craft beer celebrate International Women’s Day 2020 by helping to shape the future of the industry

by Kristina Mameli

Great things happen when women come together: creativity, passion and conversation ow as freely as the pints. Indeed, the women of the B.C. craft beer industry remind us of that everyday. All around the province, they are taking part in charity brew days to mark International Women’s Day to honour and champion not only women in industry, but all women. Who wouldn’t drink to that?

For the third year, I’ve had the privilege of participating in the planning and brewing process of an all-female collaboration at New Westminster’s Steel & Oak Brewing, which bene ts a local charity that supports and empowers women. is year, we’ve chosen to support the Elizabeth Fry Society

of Greater Vancouver with a beer to be launched on International Women’s Day on March 8.

It’s heartening to learn that this is only one of many collaborations happening across B.C., championed by the women of the industry who are connecting to create something meaningful that not only helps us support each other, but also gives back to our communities through charitable initiatives.

Lundy Dale is the Vancouver Chapter Leader of the Pink Boots Society, an organization that aims to assist, inspire and encourage female beer industry professionals to advance their careers through education. Since the rst brew ve years ago at Dogwood Brewing, she has been instrumental in bringing together B.C. women from throughout the industry to collaborate and network.

is Pink Boots brew day at Cumberland Brewing Co. was one of many around the province to celebrate International Women's Day. Alexandra Stephanson photo

“We want to make it bigger and better every year and get more women involved,” she says. “I’ve had a chance to connect and meet so many women: everyone from tasting room mangers to reps, to people who sell malt, sell hops. So it’s not just brewers, it’s women in the industry that all get together.”

Each year, a speci c Pink Boots hop blend is created by members and scaled up and distributed through Yakima Chief Hops. A portion of the proceeds from all Pink Boots sales goes towards educational scholarships and programming. e host brewery then decides on a style with the help and creativity of the women involved.

Dale has relocated to Penticton, where Slackwater Brewing will be host a brew on International Women’s Day with up to 15 women, including Rebecca Kneen from Crannóg Ales and Shirley Warne from Angry Hen. Similar brews are happening all over the province, including ones hosted by Cumberland Brewing,

Callister Brewing co-founder Diana McKenzie was the recipient of a Pink Boots scholarship and has been involved with the society ever since.

“I was lucky enough to earn one of their scholarships

Pink Boots Society all-female brew days, like this one at Steel & Oak, help raise money for women's charities and scholarships for women considering a career in beer, as well as connect women in the craft beer industry. Jordan Megahy photo

to do a tour of Germany about a year and a half ago,” she says. “So as a result of that I’ve done o cial Pink Boots brews the last two years to try to pay back and try and support them and their mandate.”

In conjunction with hosting a Pink Boots brew day, McKenzie is expanding on the spirit of the two by hosting female led brews year round. “We do a little pilot batch or something to be more inclusive and invite home brewers and other women to help take the mystique out of brewing and get more women involved and encourage more of that culture. I’m doing a lot of women’s brews and events all the time.”

Her goal is to have a series of Callister Women’s Collaborations each month of 2020, starting with a lichtenhainer, a traditional German smoked sour wheat ale, with Roxanne Cartwright from e Bakery Brewing Co. in January.

ese brews also serve to raise the pro le of women’s roles in the industry. ere are women brewers, women owners, women marketers, women working in the tasting room, hell—we even write about beer.

“ ere’s perceptions out there and, hopefully, by more women making themselves known, we can kind of make it a bit more of an inclusive industry,” McKenzie says.

Penticton has a longstanding craft beer community, with trails blazed for women in industry by people like Cannery’s Patt Dyck and Tin Whistle’s Lorraine Nagy.

“ ey were women in craft beer before the conversation even started,” says Kim Lawton, marketing director of Penticton’s Cannery Brewing. “ ey’re such incredible icons and mentors for what we have as women in Penticton craft beer. I don’t feel like I ever had to push the boundaries the way that other people do in other areas because we have such incredible trailblazers. I just feel so blessed to be in an industry that has those women legends ahead of us.”

e women of Cannery are collaborating on the second in their Goddess series for Pink Boots this year.

“We wanted to really do a beer that was celebration of women, by women,” she says. “All of the breweries that are supporting this are helping to create a future for more women in this industry. It’s pretty exciting to know that money is being allocated to help women grow their careers in this industry.” j

REMEMBERING

Greg Evans

by Joe Wiebe

The death of Greg Evans at age 67 in December 2018 a ected many people in Victoria’s craft beer community, as well as many others who knew Greg from his profession as a historian. Born in Nanaimo in 1951, Greg moved to Victoria at a young age and eventually received his master’s degree in history at the University of Victoria, completing his thesis, entitled, e Vancouver Island Brewing Industry, 1858–1917

Following a stint in the mid-1980s as executive director of the Vancouver Museum over on the mainland, Greg returned to Victoria to become the executive director of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. Later, he worked as an archivist at the Township of Esquimalt. At the time of his death, Greg was working on a series of books on B.C.’s brewing history for the Royal B.C. Museum. Sadly, that project was never completed.

Greg co-founded B.C.’s original branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) in Richmond and then became involved with the Victoria branch when he lived there. He was well known for his entertaining, engaging presentations of various aspects of beer history, including several Beer School classes he led at Victoria Beer Week on topics such as B.C.’s prohibition and Victoria’s early brewers.

He was also a consultant for start-up breweries. One of his favourite gigs was the Craft Beer & Culinary Cruise he hosted annually for Maple Leaf Adventures. He always put a lot of thought into the food-and-beer pairing, and the participants de nitely appreciated his entertaining stories.

To celebrate the legacy of Greg Evans, Victoria Beer Week has asked Chris Adams of Discover the Past (Ghostly Walks) Tours, to design and host a special downtown walking tour as part of

its VBW Beer School program. Scheduled for Saturday, March 7, the Greg Evans Memorial Beer Walk will visit various downtown historic locations where Chris will share beer-soaked stories from Victoria’s early days. is entertaining and engaging tour will nish at Swans for a pint of beer (included in the ticket) and a chance to check out an exhibit showcasing some of Greg’s collection of beer-related artifacts and photos (provided by CAMRA). j

GREG Evans Memorial Beer walk

Saturday, March 7, 11am or 2pm

Price: $25 / $20 for CAMRA/VBS Members

Tickets: dash.ticketrocket.co/tour/85

Victoria Beer Week will be hosting the Greg Evans Memorial Beer Walk on March 11. Contributed photo

Savoury clams with lamb and charred leeks

with Hoyne Pilsner

BY CHEF TORIN EGAN, N OR T HERN QUAR T ER

Since opening in 2015, Victoria’s Northern Quarter has brought the best of B.C. under one roof, whether it’s food, craft beer, wine, spirits, or hosting local artists and performers. And with its impressive cellar of bottled craft beer— arguably the most extensive and well-curated in the province—it’s absolutely a beer nerd’s paradise.

Chef and co-owner Torin Egan’s love for local craft beer is evident in Northern Quarter’s menu, which features fresh B.C. ingredients paired and prepared with B.C. brews.

When cooking with beer, Egan warns to be mindful of the beer’s avour.

Lara Zukowsky photos

“Although hoppy avours can pair well with spicy foods, using a hoppy beer in a dish can make it too bitter,” he says. But using the right beer with the right ingredients can add another layer of complexity to a dish.

“Sour beers are a great way to add acidity to seafood dishes, such as a sour beer mignonette on fresh oysters. Darker malty beers like stouts and porters are a great addition to desserts as well, like in an ice cream, or just substituting beer for any liquid in the dish.”

Egan’s savoury clams with lamb bacon and charred leeks are a popular menu item at Northern Quarter. is deliciously simple take on steamed clams brings new meaning to “surf and turf,” and substitutes Hoyne Brewing’s Pilsner for wine or stock—the clean and crisp lager is the perfect addition and won’t overpower the clams.

“ ere are a lot of favourite avours of mine in this dish,” explains Egan. “ e smokiness of the lamb bacon, the savoury saltiness of miso, the char of the leeks and the subtle sweetness of the clams… it all works very well together.

“Hopefully people will see this and realize how quick and easy it is to make!” —Rob Mangelsdorf

Miso butter

1. Cream 4 tbsp of room temperature unsalted butter and 2 tbsp of shiro miso together with a fork until fully mixed.

2. Season with black pepper.

3. Roll into a log with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Prepare the clams

1. Slice lamb bacon into lardons, and cook in large frying pan on medium heat until crispy.

INgredients

• 1 pound (450 g) washed and scrubbed clams or mussels

• 3 rashers of lamb bacon

• 1 leek; trimmed, sliced lengthwise, washed, and charred on a grill or in a cast iron pan

• 1 tbsp pureed garlic confit (recipe below)

• 1 tbsp miso butter (recipe below)

• 1 cup Hoyne Pilsner

directions

Garlic con t

1. Take 20 cloves peeled garlic (two bulbs) and place in a small pot and cover with canola oil. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat.

2. Cook slowly until garlic cloves are soft. Drain, while reserving the garlic oil. Add to a blender and puree, while adding in some of the reserved oil until smooth.

3. Cool and keep refrigerated until use.

2. Add clams, garlic con t puree, and leeks. Add beer, cover.

3. When clams have opened and beer has reduced slightly, add miso butter. Stir until butter has fully melted into the sauce and remove from heat.

4. Discard any unopened clams, top with fresh parsley or chives and serve with grilled or toasted sourdough. j

Northern Quarter chef and co-owner Torin Egan loves the simplicity of this delicious dish.

VANCOUVER

STANLEY PARK BREWING RESTAURANT & BREWPUB

8901 Stanley Park Dr. | StanleyParkBrewing.com

DAILY 11AM-11PM

EST. 2009

You can now enjoy your next Stanley Park brew at its picturesque brick and mortar location! Nestled in Vancouver’s West End, just at the tip of its namesake, the Stanley Park Brewing Restaurant & Brewpub is serving up casual West Coast fare and the same great beer, now brewed onsite.

DAY TRIP

WEST COAST LAGER

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 4.4%25

Smooth tasting and sessionable, with light citrus hop character. Well balanced and full of avour, inspired by the West Coast.

TRAIL HOPPER

INDIA PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 6.8%65

Full bodied, aromatic and juicy. is delicious IPA gets its bold avour from generous additions of Citra and Simcoe hops.

NOBLE PILSNER

EUROPEAN-STYLE LAGER

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.1%12

Crisp, clean and inviting, with light malt body and subtle oral hop aroma.

WINDSTORM

WEST COAST PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.4%35

Tropical fruit and citrus hop character, medium body and full, un ltered avour.

ELECTRO LIGHT LAGER

LIGHT LAGER

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 4.0%10

A clean tasting, avourful light lager, brewed with sea salt and late-hopped to add notes of citrus— and only 90 calories!

1897 AMBER ALE AMBER ALE

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.1%15

A traditional pub-style amber ale, with soft caramel aroma and toasted malt avour.

STRATHCONA BEER CO.

895 E. Hastings St. | StrathconaBeer.com

MON-THU 12-11PM ^ FRI-SAT 11AM-12AM ^ SUN 11AM-11PM

EST. 2016

e team at Strathcona combines their love for their community, art, music, skateboarding and design (and beer) to push the boundaries of craft beer.

PREMIUM PILSNER

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.0%32

is smooth and crisp Czech-style pilsner features a slight oral, spicy aroma thanks to noble Saaz hops.

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.5%55

is dry, hazy IPA is audaciously aromatic with big citrus accents and fresh tropical fruit notes.

BIG SEXY FUNK INDIA PALE ALE

ANDINA BREWING CO.

1507 Powell St. | AndinaBrewing.ca

BOMBER BREWING CO.

1488 Adanac St. | BomberBrewing.com

is charming East Van brewery brings some Latin spice to the B.C. beer scene. Come for twice monthly limited releases, stay for the ceviche.

Bomber might have changed ownership, but with four medals at the B.C. Beer Awards, clearly the beer is as good as ever!

Blundstone boots make a lot of sense. No laces to stumble over. Grippy treads. Beer-proof leather. Dance till dawn comfort.

Leather Lined Classic Rustic Black $229.95

BREWHALL BEER CO.

97 E. 2nd Ave. | Brewhall.com

CONTAINER BREWING

1216 Franklin St. | CBrew.ca

Great beers, great food and Street Fighter II, what more could you want in a brewery?

Brewhall’s award-winning beer is now available in tall cans, too.

AZEDO TROPICAL FRUIT SOUR S

Availability: Seasonal Availability: Year-round

DOCKSIDE BREWING CO.

1253 Johnston St. | DocksideVancouver.com

e brew kid on the block in Yeast Van has quickly become a popular haunt thanks to its sleek tasting room and delicious beers. Look for lots of outdoor events once the weather clears up.

GRANVILLE ISLAND BREWING

1441 Cartwright St. | GIB.ca

Spring is here, so head down to Granville Island and enjoy stunning views and delicious brews on Dockside’s famous patio.

PIRATE BREAKFAST

Canada’s original microbrewery is a great place to try GIB’s small batch, tasting roomonly brews. Try your luck at trivia night, every Wednesday at 6pm.

MAIN STREET BREWING CO.

261 E. 7th Ave. | MainStreetBeer.ca

OFF THE RAIL BREWING

1351 Adanac St. | O eRailBrewing.com

is rocking tasting room is a must-visit if you’re in the neighbourhood. It’s also one of the few breweries to o er cask ales on traditional hand-pulled cask engines.

PEACH

If you recognize the sta at O e Rail, that’s probably because they all seem to be amazing artists and musicians. Check out what’s new at the monthly cask night.

STRANGE FELLOWS BREWING

1345 Clark Dr. | StrangeFellowsBrewing.com

Contact Kristina Mameli to discuss your advertising options in the Growler. kmameli@glaciermedia.ca

is Clark Drive brewery celebrates all things strange and extraordinary with a beer lineup that is in uenced by old world traditions and contemporary craft creativity.

33 ACRES BREWING CO.

15 W. 8th Ave., Vancouver

33AcresBrewing.com

DOGWOOD BREWING

8284 Sherbrooke St., Vancouver

DogwoodBrew.com

33 ACRES EXPERIMENT

25 W. 8th Ave., Vancouver

33BrewingExp.com

BIG ROCK BREWERY

VANCOUVER

310 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver

BigRockBeer.com

BRASSNECK BREWERY

2148 Main St., Vancouver

Brassneck.ca

CALLISTER BREWING CO.

1338 Franklin St., Vancouver

CallisterBrewing.com

CRAFT COLLECTIVE BEERWORKS

1575 Vernon Dr., Vancouver

CraftCollective.beer

EAST VAN BREWING CO.

1675 Venables St., Vancouver

EastVanBrewing.com

ELECTRIC BICYCLE BREWING CO.

20 E. 4th Ave., Vancouver

ElectricBicycleBrewing.com

Port Moody

DAGERAAD BREWING

114 - 3191 underbird Cres. | DageraadBrewing.com

SUN-THU 12-9PM ^ FRI 11AM-10PM ^ SAT 11AM-9PM

EST. 2014

Dageraad makes some of the nest bottle-conditioned Belgianstyle beers this side of Flanders. And who can blame them for being Belgophiles? In addition to some of the nest beers on earth, Belgium is also the birthplace of French fries, Jean Claude Van Damme, roller skates and the internal combustion engine.

BRIGHT SIDE

Availability: Small batch

e tropical avours of Sri Lanka meet the traditional Belgian abbey ale with sweet treacle and tart tamarind.

Availability: Seasonal

Lightly tart, gently hopped and nished with fresh lemon zest and lemon juice—the perfect sunshine beer.

Availability: Year-round

Fruity, spicy and capped with a citrusy aroma and u y white head, Blonde is not only a go-to, it’s a must go-to.

Availability: Year-round

Secondary fermentation breeds a natural carbonation and extra layer of complexity with notes of coriander and oat-brewed for a silky mouth feel.

WHat’s in a name?

Dageraad Brewing is named for the Dageraadplaats, an unassuming city square in Antwerp. Over several trips there, Ben Coli spent many sunny afternoons exploring the world of Belgian beer sitting with friends at café patios there. And it’s largely why he decided to open a brewery of his own.

REMEMBER THE FUTURE WITH THE FORGOTTEN FUTURE, DAGERAAD’S WITH BLACK LIME AND WHITE PEPPER

NEW TABLE SAISON SPICED

KPU BREWING LAB

You might have heard KPU was named 2019 B.C. Brewery of the Year, but did you know it was also the 2019 Grand National Champion at the U.S. Open College Beer Championship? You do now! HAMMERSCHLAGER

Availability: Small batch

Availability: Small batch

ABV IBU 5.2%20 ABV IBU 5.0%19

Delicate and balanced with a lingering note of hops. Brewed by students Matt Pereszlenyi and Gabriela de Faria Castanheira.

is Dusseldorf-style amber lagered ale is all about the malt. Brewed by students Sebastian Peterson and Kai Neubauer.

2019 Grand National Champion | US Open College Beer Championship. Recognized by the Master Brewers Association.

FOUR WINDS BREWING CO.

4 - 7355 72nd St. | FourWindsBrewing.ca

Four Winds’ freshly renovated tasting room is now open 11am-9pm every day, so it’s easier than ever to get your hands on its God-tier awardwinning beer. If you’re into that sorta thing. NECTAROUS

Availability: Year-round

BARNSIDE BREWING CO.

Availability: Year-round

DEAD FROG BREWERY

105 - 8860 201st St. | DeadFrog.ca

6655 60 Ave., Delta | BarnsideBrewing.ca

Barnside is a true farm-based brewery, crafting un ltered and fresh-tasting beer using its own farm-grown ingredients.

You want variety? Dead Frog’s tasting room features 25 taps of craft beer and there’s cask nights featuring one-o creations every other ursday.

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Small batch

Availability: Year-round

MAISON WIL D S AISON

FARM COUNTRY BREWING

#5-20555 56 Ave., Langley | FarmCountryBrewing.com

FIVE ROADS BREWING

6263 202nd St. | FiveRoadsBrewing.com

Farm Country may have just opened but it’s already expanding with more seating and a 22-seat patio on the way.

GERMAN PILSNER

Availability: Year-round

BIG DAY ISA INDIA SESSION ALE

Availability: One-o

HOUSE OF FUNK BREWING CO.

350 E. Esplanade | HouseOfFunkBrewing.com

is new addition to the burgeoning Langley beer scene o ers an ever-changing array of fresh options on tap along with pizzas, paninis, pretzels and other snacks.

PERMANENT RESIDENT

Availability: Year-round

NORTH POINT BREWING CO.

SHAKE ‘N’ BAKE PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round

Challenging the status quo and cultivating an environment of experimentation, House of Funk’s small batch system pushes boundaries to serve up fresh and unique avours.

FLORA SOURWEISSE

Availability: Year-round

DEBAUCHERY IMPERIAL STOUT

Availability: Small batch

266 E. 1st St. | NorthPointBrewing.com

North Point was started by three lifelong friends who grew up on the North Shore together and decided to live the beer dream and open a craft brewery back where it all started.

LIFE OF RILEY HAZY

IPA

NORTHEASTERN INDIA

PALE ALE

WILDEYE BREWING

1385 Main St. | WildeyeBrewing.ca

WHITE ROCK BEACH BEER CO.

15181 Russell Ave. | WhiteRockBeachBeer.com

Stop by the brewery and try everything from fruity sours to nitro stouts, and don’t forget to stick around for some of those famous nachos and live music every ursday and Saturday night.

Expect some new beers and a new attitude thanks to veteran brewmaster Michael “Mash” Stewart taking the reins at this downtown White Rock brewery.

Give your customers a reason to

Carry us in your brewery, tap room or store and your customers will keep coming back for more.

Contact ordersbc@thegrowler.ca to order your copies.

3 DOGS BREWING

1515 Johnston Rd., White Rock

3DogsBrewing.com

BRITANNIA BREWING CO.

110-12500 Horseshoe Way, Richmond

BBCO.ca

ANOTHER BEER CO.

#11 - 30 Capilano Way, New Westminster

AnotherBeerCo.com

CAMP BEER CO.

19664 64 Ave., Langley

CampBeer.ca

BEERE BREWING COMPANY

312 E. Esplanade, North Vancouver

BeereBrewing.com

BIG RIDGE BREWING CO.

5580 152 St., Surrey

MJG.ca/Big-Ridge

BLACK KETTLE BREWING

106 -720 Copping St., North Vancouver

BlackKettleBrewing.com

CENTRAL CITY

BREWERS + DISTILLERS

11411 Bridgeview Dr., Surrey

CentralCityBrewing.com

DEEP COVE BREWERS AND DISTILLERS

170 - 2270 Dollarton Hwy., North Vancouver

DeepCoveCraft.com

FOAMERS’ FOLLY

BREWING CO.

19221 122A Ave., Pitt Meadows

FoamersFolly.ca

BRIDGE BREWING CO.

1448 Charlotte Rd., North Vancouver

BridgeBrewing.com

FRASER MILLS

FERMENTATION CO.

3044 Saint Johns St., Port Moody

FraserMillsFermentation.com

FUGGLES & WARLOCK CRAFTWORKS

103-11220 Horseshoe Way, Richmond FugglesWarlock.com

GREEN LEAF BREWING CO.

123 Carrie Cates Crt., North Vancouver GreenLeafBrew.com

MOODY ALES

2601 Murray St., Port Moody MoodyAles.com

NORTHPAW BREW CO.

2150-570 Sherling Pl., Port Coquitlam NorthpawBrewCo.com

HEARTHSTONE BREWERY

1015 Marine Dr., North Vancouver HearthstoneBrewery.ca

MAPLE MEADOWS

BREWING CO.

22775 Dewdney Trunk Rd., Maple Ridge MapleMeadowsBrewing.com

MARINER BREWING

1100 Lansdowne Dr., Coquitlam MarinerBrewing.ca

PATINA BREWING

2332 Marpole Ave., Port Coquitlam PatinaBrewing.com

RIDGE BREWING CO.

22826 Dewdney Trunk Rd., Maple Ridge RidgeBrewing.com

RUSSELL BREWING CO.

202 - 13018 80th Ave., Surrey RussellBeer.com

MONKEY 9 BREWING

14200 Entertainment Blvd., Richmond Monkey9.ca

SILVER VALLEY BREWING CO.

#101 - 11952 224 St., Maple Ridge

SilverValleyBrewing.com

STEAMWORKS BREWING CO.

3845 William St., Burnaby Steamworks.com

TINHOUSE BREWING CO.

550 Sherling Pl., Port Coquitlam

TinhouseBrewing.ca

STEEL & OAK BREWING CO.

1319 3rd Ave., New Westminster

SteelAndOak.ca

TRADING POST BREWING

107 - 20120 64th Ave., Langley

TradingPostBrewing.com

STREETCAR BREWING

123A East 1st St., North Vancouver StreetcarBrewing.ca

TWIN SAILS BREWING

2821 Murray St., Port Moody

TwinSailsBrewing.com

TAYLIGHT BREWING

402-1485 Coast Meridian Rd., Port Coquitlam | TaylightBrewing.com

YELLOW DOG BREWING CO.

1 - 2817 Murray St., Port Moody

YellowDogBrew.com

THE BAKERY BREWING CO.

2617 Murray St., Port Moody

eBakeryBrewing.com

THE PARKSIDE BREWERY

2731 Murray St., Port Moody

eParksideBrewery.com

F IELD HOUSE B REWING CO .

2281 West Railway St. | FieldHouseBrewing.com

It’s shaping up to be a big year for Field House. Not only is a second brewery set to open in downtown Chilliwack, there’s also the newly opened BRRL ROOM at Field House Farms, the new home of the brewery’s barrel-aging program. Do these folks ever sleep?

Availability: Limited

is sour and sessionable gose features pink guava and Field House Farms dried coriander.

Availability: One-o

is foeder-aged sour was conditioned on fresh golden plums from Field House’s own farm. Expect huge fruit avour and lactic character.

Availability: Seasonal

is modern take on a traditional Belgian-style witbier is light and refreshing, with a u y body, subtle tartness and a bright cirus nish.

Availability: Year-round

Unassuming new world hops combine with traditional Dutch sensibilities to create a brew that is mellow in malt and bitters, with a hint of wheat.

field house farms

With the Field House Farms project, the brewery is reclaiming underutilized farmland to produce as much of its own ingredients as possible for both its beer and its ever-growing Canteen Kitchen— including barley, tree fruits, herbs and vegetables.

With its vision of “crafting goodness,” Field House Brewing is as well known for its Fraser Valley community-building as for its unique take on classic beers. Between its East Abbotsford tasting room and upcoming Downtown Chilliwack location, Field House is connecting the Valley with a space to gather. Grab a seat on their beer lawn to enjoy drinkable ales and aged sours, local food, and weekly concerts.

INTRODUCING BRRL ROOM BY FIELD HOUSE

The latest expression of the Field House vision is the BRRL ROOM. This program presents wild aged farmhouse ales crafted from Field House farm-grown grain, wild cultivated yeasts, and other diverse hand-grown ingredients. The result is a unique marriage of complex avours featuring the best that the Valley has to offer.

O

EXPERIENCE OUR RUSTIC ARTISAN CRAFT BREWERY.

ering the biggest tap list in Abbotsford, including 15+ Beers, 6+ Sodas and Nitro Co ee, all made from local ingredients in-house, there’s no better time to stop in for a glass or sample ight! Take home your favorites in our newly redesigned cans, or a re llable growler.

OLD ABBEY ALES

30321 Fraser Hwy. | OldAbbeyAles.com

1A-30321 Fraser Hwy., Abbotsford Just o Mt. Lehman OldAbbeyAles.com

Open 7 days a week from 11am

MENTION THIS AD FOR 10% OFF!

RAVENS BREWING CO.

2485 Townline Rd. | Ravens.beer

With a minimum of 15 beers on tap at all times there is always something delicious and di erent to try at this Abbotsford brewery.

SCOTTISH MONK SCOTTISH ALE

Availability: Year-round

MOUNTAINVIEW BREWING CO.

390 Old Hope Princeton Way | MountainviewBrewing.ca

Availability: Year-round

is Fraser Valley brewery takes full advantage of the bounty at its doorstep, featuring local ingredients in its beers whenever possible.

SPACE CADET STRATA PALE ALE

PALE ALE

DRY IRISH STOUT STOUT

Availability: Seasonal

Availability: Seasonal

Owners Adam and Danielle grew up as neighbours on Mountainview Crescent in Hope. Now they’re set to open their hometown’s rst craft brewery this spring.

WILLOWWISP PILS PILSNER

Availability:

Art. Innovation. Passion. Science.

TOWNSITE BREWING

5824 Ash Ave. | TownsiteBrewing.com

BACKCOUNTRY BREWING

#405 - 1201 Commercial Way | BackcountryBrewing.com

Belgian-born brewer Cédric Dauchot brings some old world avour to the beers at Townsite. Discover his latest creation every ursday at the brewery’s cask night.

Missed out on Backcountry’s latest pop-culturereferencing hype can release? You’re in luck because their award-winning beers are now available through its online store!

WHISTLER BREWING CO.

1045 Millar Creek Rd. | WhistlerBeer.com

e recipe for Black Tusk hasn’t changed since it debuted 30-plus years ago and it’s still picking up awards, including gold medals at the World Beer Awards in 2017 and 2018.

A-FRAME BREWING CO.

38927 Queens Way, Squamish

AFrameBrewing.com

BATCH 44 BREWERY & KITCHEN

5561 Wharf Ave., Sechelt

Batch44Brewery.com

BREWHOUSE HIGH MOUNTAIN BREWING

4355 Blackcomb Way, Whistler MJG.ca/BrewHouse

COAST MOUNTAIN

BREWING CO.

2 - 1212 Alpha Lake Rd., Whistler CoastMountainBeer.ca

PERSEPHONE BREWING CO.

1053 Stewart Rd., Gibsons

PersephoneBrewing.com

TAPWORKS BREWING CO.

537 Cruice Lane, Gibsons

GibsonsTapworks.com

THE 101 BREWHOUSE + DISTILLERY

1009 Gibsons Way, Gibsons e101.ca

THE BEER FARMERS

8324 Pemberton Meadows Rd., Pemberton eBeerFarmers.com

HOWE SOUND BREWING CO.

37801 Cleveland Ave., Squamish HoweSound.com

PEMBERTON BREWING CO.

1936 Stonecutter Pl., Pemberton

PembertonBrewing.ca

CIDERIES

VANCOUVER ISLAND BREWING

2330 Government St. | VIBrewing.com

MON-THU 12-6PM ^ FRI-SAT 12-8PM ^ SUN 12-5PM

EST. 1984

Good news everyone! After two years of waiting, Vancouver Island Brewing nally has its lounge licence, which means you can now get full pints of its award-winning beer at its Rock Bay tasting room. Plans are also in the works for a dedicated brewhouse just for small batch experimental beers.

TIDAL SERIES: CHERRY COLA

Availability: One-o

Inspired by a classic cherry soda, this full-bodied German-style märzen is rich and malty with aromas of dark fruit and caramel.

Availability: Seasonal

Not your typical German beer, this hef is hazy as heck with avours of banana and clove.

Availability: Year-round

is West Coast sour hits your palate like a wave crashing against e Point at Jordan River.

Availability: Year-round

is hazy IPA o ers the best of both coasts, with bold citrus avours leading to a lingering, juicy nish.

Pod fest returns

Join Vancouver Island Brewing for Pod Fest at Victoria’s Market Square on May 23. is outdoor block party features a beer garden, food vendors and live music to celebrate the launch of the Pod Pack collaboration mix-pack, which supports e orts to save the Southern Resident Killer Whales.

TWA DOGS BREWERY AT VICTORIA CALEDONIAN

761 Enterprise Cres. | VCaledonian.com

SUN-THU 12:30-6:30PM ^ FRI 11AM-10PM ^ SAT 11AM-9PM

EST. 2016

Twa Dogs is also home to Victoria Caledonian Distillery, so drop by the taproom to try a ight of whisky with your pint of beer.

DROUTHY NEIBOR INDIA PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 7.0%60

Brewed with only Canadian barley and a fourhop blend of citrus, tropical and stone fruit avours.

KEEKIN’ GLASS PILSNER

Availability: Year-round

ABV IBU 5.0%25

Bold and refreshing, this pilsner uses Paci ca and Motueka hops for an unconventionally delicious twist.

Investors receive company shares that could generate a return on their investment. Investments are RRSP/ TFSA quali ed and are eligible for a 30% tax credit.

AWESOME PERKS include free branded merchandise, product discounts, access to our 3-day brewing + distilling academy & more!

N ORTH S AANI CH SOOK E

HOWL BREWING

1780 Mills Rd.

BAD DOG BREWING COMPANY

7861 Tugwell Rd. | BadDogBrewing.ca

One of the smallest breweries in the province, Howl is also one of the most interesting, with a focus on historical, obscure and experimental beer styles.

FUNGUS AND FLOWERS

Availability: Seasonal

Bad Dog’s recently expanded tasting room now features 12 delicious beers on tap. e perfect excuse for a roadtrip to Sooke!

GOTLANDS-

Availability: Seasonal

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Year-round

MOON UNDER WATER BREWERY

350B Bay St. | MoonUnderWater.ca

Moon Under Water brews some of the best German-style beers in B.C. on its Germanbuilt brewhouse. Check out the monthly Night at the Brewery beer education seminars.

MOON JUICE R

SEA BERRY VIC TORIA VIC TORIA

PHILLIPS BREWING & MALTING CO.

2010 Government St. | PhillipsBeer.com

Phillips’ tasting room is where they test out new ideas on very willing guinea pigs, including daily beer blends and cocktails.

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Year-round

SPINNAKERS BREWPUB

308 Catharine St. | Spinnakers.com

DRIFTWOOD BREWERY

450 Hillside Ave., Victoria

DriftwoodBeer.com

Canada’s rst brewpub has been producing top-notch craft beer for more than 35 years and it’s not slowing down, with a growing barrelaging program and heaps of new releases.

VITIS

4 MILE BREWING CO.

199 Island Hwy., View Royal

4MileBrewingCo.com

HOYNE BREWING CO.

101-2740 Bridge St., Victoria

HoyneBrewing.ca

ÎL

E SAUVAGE BREWING CO.

2960 Bridge St., Victoria

IleSauvage.com

LIGHTHOUSE BREWING CO.

2 - 836 Devonshire Rd., Esquimalt

LighthouseBrewing.com

CANOE BREWPUB

450 Swift St., Victoria

CanoeBrewpub.com

MAYNE ISLAND BREWING CO.

490 Fernhill Rd., Mayne Island

MayneIslandBrewingCo.com

CATEGORY 12 BREWING

C - 2200 Keating Cross Rd., Central Saanich

Category12Beer.com

SALT SPRING ISLAND ALES

270 Furness Rd., Salt Spring Island

SaltSpringIslandAles.com

SOOKE BREWING CO.

2057 Otter Point Rd., Sooke SookeBrewing.com

WHISTLE BUOY BREWING CO.

560 Johnson St., Victoria WhistleBuoyBrewing.com

SOOKE OCEANSIDE BREWERY

1-5529 Sooke Rd., Sooke SookeOceansideBrewing.com

SWANS BREWPUB

506 Pandora Ave., Victoria SwansHotel.com

BEACH FIRE BREWING

594 11th Ave. | BeachFireBrewing.ca

LONGWOOD BREWPUB & RESTAURANT

5775 Turner Rd., Nanaimo

Not just great beer, but also amazing food, including beer-infused dishes on the twicedaily changing menu. Save room for a giant wedge of double chocolate stout cake!

is classic English-style brewpub in North Nanaimo is the perfect place to cosy up with a pint, grab a delicious meal and check out the live music every ursday.

LONGWOOD BREWERY

101A-2046 Boxwood Rd., Nanaimo LongwoodBeer.com

WOLF BREWING COMPANY

940 Old Victoria Rd. | WolfBrewingCompany.com

Longwood is partnering with the Rugged Coast Research Society to create a lime gose with proceeds from each can sold going to help clean up B.C. beaches.

RUGGED COAST

Nanaimo’s Wolf has new ownership and is now serving full pints in the brewery’s tasting room, aka the Wolf Den!

MOUNT ARROWSMITH BREWING CO.

109-425 East Stanford Ave. | ArrowsmithBrewing.com

UCLUELET BREWING COMPANY

1601 Peninsula Rd. | UclueletBrewing.ca

After an extensive renovation, the former St. Aidan’s on the Hill Church has been resurrected into one of the most unique and stunning craft breweries in the province. WEEKEND

Parksville is known for sandy beaches and mini golf—it’s also the home of the 2017 B.C. Brewery of the Year! Now you can nd Mount Arrowsmith’s entire lineup in tall cans.

ACE BREWING CO.

150 Mans eld Dr., Courtenay Facebook.com/AceBrewingCompany

CUMBERLAND BREWING CO.

2732 Dunsmuir Ave., Cumberland CumberlandBrewing.com

CLIFFSIDE BREWING CO.

11 Cli St., Nanaimo Cli sideBrewCo.ca

CRAIG STREET BREW PUB

25 Craig St., Duncan CraigStreet.ca

GLADSTONE BREWING CO.

244 4th St., Courtenay GladstoneBrewing.ca

LAND & SEA BREWING CO.

2040 Guthrie Rd., Comox

LandAndSeaBrewing.ca

TOFINO BREWING CO.

691 Industrial Way, To no

To noBrewingCo.com

LOVESHACK LIBATIONS

1 - 4134 Island Hwy. West, Qualicum

LoveShackLibations.com

WHITE SAILS BREWING

125 Comox Rd., Nanaimo

WhiteSailsBrewing.com

NEW TRADITION BREWING

215 Port Augusta St., Comox

NewTraditionBrewing.com

RED ARROW BREWING CO.

5255 Chaster Rd., Duncan

RedArrowBeer.ca

RIOT BREWING CO.

101A - 3055 Oak St., Chemainus

RiotBrewing.com

SMALL BLOCK BREWING CO.

203-5301 Chaster Rd., Duncan

SmallBlockBrewery.com

BARN OWL BREWING CO.

4629 Lakeshore Rd. | BarnOwlBrewing.ca

BNA BREWING CO.

1250 Ellis St. | BNABrewing.com

True to its name, Barn Owl calls a barn home—a lovingly restored 1921 heritage barn complete with massive chandeliers, a rustic stone replace and shu eboard, that is.

BOHEMIAN RED

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Seasonal

BNA’s tasting room recently underwent a massive expansion with seating now for 100+ along with arcade games, skee ball, darts, board games, cards, Lego… oh yeah, and great beer!

THRILLER

GABE’S A

Availability: Seasonal

Availability: Seasonal

RUSTIC REEL BREWING CO.

760 Vaughan Ave. | RusticReel.com

CANNERY BREWING

198 Ellis St. | CanneryBrewing.com

is bright and spacious brewery in Kelowna’s North End features daily fresh-baked spent grain breads and pastries available at its Tackle Box Marketplace.

HAZY IPA

HAZY INDIA PALE ALE

BLACK IPA BLACK INDIA PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round Availability: Year-round

Penticton was just named Canada’s Craft Beer Capital by Lonely Planet travel guide, and Cannery is a big part of the reason why.

MEADOWLARK SAISON

Availability: Small batch

CERES (PINK BOOTS

Availability: One-o

PENTICTON PENTICTON

HIGHWAY 97 BREWERY

954 Eckhardt Ave. | Hwy97Brewery.com

SLACKWATER BREWING

218 Martin St. | SlackwaterBrewing.com

e Hwy 97 route runs 2,081 km through Canada to the United States border, passing directly in front of this Penticton brewery along the way.

Fun fact: e owners of Slackwater are avid shers and many of their beers are named after famous shing ies and lures.

WHAT THE

SORRENTO SUMMERLAND

CRANNÓG ALES

706 Elson Rd. | CrannogAles.com

BREAKAWAY BREWING CO.

13224 Victoria Road N. | Instagram.com/BreakawayBrewingCo

Crannóg is celebrating 20 years of stubborn existence this year with a slew of events including a long table dinner, live music, art shows, a speaker series and cask nights.

WILD

Availability: Year-round

Breakaway’s expanded tasting room and production facilities should be ready by the spring, which means more beer and more people to share it with!

Availability: Seasonal

Availability: Year-round

WOBBLY VANILLA STOUT VANILLA STOUT IBU ABV 58 4.8% IBU ABV 20 5.0% IBU ABV 25 4.5% IBU ABV 30 5.5% 87 Sponsored content

THOMPSON

ALCHEMY BREWING CO.

650 Victoria St., Kamloops Facebook.com/AlchemyBrewingCompany.ca

COPPER BREWING CO.

102 - 1851 Kirschner Rd., Kelowna

CopperBrewingCo.com

BAD TATTOO BREWING CO.

169 Estabrook Ave., Penticton BadTattooBrewing.com

DETONATE BREWING

104 - 9503 Cedar Ave., Summerland

DetonateBrewing.com

BARLEY MILL BREW PUB

2460 Skaha Lake Rd., Penticton BarleyMillPub.com

ELEVATION 57 BREWING COMPANY

20 Kettleview Rd., Big White

SessionsTapHouseAndGrill.com

BARLEY STATION BREW PUB

20 Shuswap St. N., Vernon BarleyStation.com

EMPTY KEG BREW HOUSE

2190 Voght St., Merritt

EmptyKegBrewHouse.ca

BOUNDARY BREWING CO.

2-455 Neave Crt., Kelowna BoundaryBrewing.beer

FIREHALL BREWERY

6077 Main St., Oliver

FirehallBrewery.com

BRIGHT EYE BREWING

292 Tranquille Rd., Kamloops

BrightEyeBrewing.com

FREDDY’S BREWPUB

124 McCurdy Rd., Kelowna

McCurdyBowl.com

980

1086

112-1475

1346

WHITETOOTH BREWING

623 8th Ave. N. | WhitetoothBrewing.com

ANGRY HEN BREWING

343 Front St. | AngryHenBrewing.com

Have no fear, the patio should be open by April—once the folks at Whitetooth can dig out the snow! Until then there’s always great beers, live music and regular cask nights inside.

ICEFIELDS

BELGIAN PALE ALE

BELGIAN PALE ALE

Availability: Year-round

NELSON

SICKBIRD NW PALE ALE AMERICAN PALE ALE

Historic Kaslo’s rst brewery opened in 1892 and closed in 1903. Angry Hen hopes to be around a good while longer, which shouldn’t be an issue given how tasty the beer is.

BLACK HOLE ALE

Availability: Seasonal

Availability: Year-round

BACKROADS BREWING CO.

460 Baker St. | BackroadsBrewing.com

MT. BEGBIE BREWING CO.

2155 Oak Dr. | Mt-Begbie.com

e brewery on Baker Street celebrates its third birthday on March 28—stop in for live music and some special beer releases.

STADTISCH

BARREL-AGED KOLSCH

Availability: One-o

SIPASAURUS REX

DRY-HOPPED WHITE ALE

Availability: Small batch

e 2017 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Mt. Begbie also took home six medals at the World Beer Awards in 2019—the most of any Canadian brewery!

DARKSIDE OF THE STOKE

STOUT

BEGBIE GRAND CRU

Availability: Year-round Availability: Seasonal

IBU ABV 22 4.8% IBU ABV 50 10.6% 92 Sponsored content

RUMPUS BEER COMPANY

208 1st Street E. | RumpusBeerCo.com

FISHER PEAK BREWING CO.

821 Baker St., Cranbrook eHeidOut.ca

Rumpus is averaging one new beer release every week with a tap list that’s as deep as the Revy snowpack.

ACID DROP DRY-HOPPED SOUR Availability: Small batch Availability: Small batch

ARROWHEAD BREWING CO.

481 Arrow Rd., Invermere ArrowheadBrewingCompany.ca

ERIE CREEK BREWING CO.

117 Fourth St., Salmo

ErieCreekBrewingCo.com

FERNIE BREWING CO.

26 Manitou Rd., Fernie

FernieBrewing.com

NELSON BREWING CO.

512 Latimer St., Nelson NelsonBrewing.com

OVER TIME BEER WORKS

136A Wallinger Ave., Kimberley OverTimeBeer.ca

ROSSLAND BEER CO.

1990 Columbia Ave., Rossland RosslandBeer.com

TAILOUT BREWING

1800 8th Ave., Castlegar

TailoutBrewing.com

TORCHLIGHT BREWING CO.

125 Hall St., Nelson

TorchlightBrewing.com

BARKERVILLE BREWING CO.

185 Davie St., Quesnel BarkervilleBeer.com

SHERWOOD MOUNTAIN BREWHOUSE

101 - 4816 Hwy. 16 West, Terrace SherwoodMountain.beer

BEARD’S BREWING CO.

10408 Alaska Rd. N., Fort St. John BeardsBrewing.ca

SMITHERS BREWING CO.

3832 3rd Ave., Smithers SmithersBrewing.com

BULKLEY VALLEY BREWERY

3860 1st Ave., Smithers BulkleyValleyBrewery.ca

CROSSROADS BREWING & DISTILLERY

508 George St., Price George CrossroadsCraft.com

JACKSON’S SOCIAL CLUB & BREWHOUSE

175 Hwy. 97, 100 Mile House

JacksonsSocialClub.com

MIGHTY PEACE BREWING CO.

10128 95th Ave., Fort St. John

MightyPeaceBrewing.ca

THREE RANGES BREWING CO.

1160 5th Ave., Valemount reeRanges.com

TRENCH BREWING & DISTILLING

399 2nd Ave., Prince George TrenchBrew.ca

URSA MINOR BREWING

45249 Ootsa Lake Rd. E., Burns Lake Facebook.com/Ursa-Minor-Brewing

WHEELHOUSE BREWING CO.

217 1st Ave. E., Prince Rupert WheelhouseBrewing.com

UNTANGLED CRAFT CIDER

725 Mackenzie Rd. | UntangledCider.ca

DAILY 11AM-5PM (TASTING ROOM)

DAILY 11AM-9PM (RESTAURANT/LOUNGE)

EST. 2019

Untangled Craft Cider is one of the newest cideries in the Similkameen and is also home to Row Fourteen Restaurant. Untangled and Row Fourteen are planted in the middle of the orchard at Klippers Organic Acres, a certi ed organic farm established in 2001 in sunny Cawston. If you’re planning to visit, the farm also has its own luxury guest suites.

HOPPED APRICOT

Availability: Year-round

ABV 5.0%

Made with organic Moorpark apricots, Mutsu apples and wild hops for a lingering nish of tangerines and passion fruit.

ABV 5.5% ABV 6.5% ABV 5.8% CAWSTON

Availability: Year-round

Luscious organic blueberries are blended with Red Crimson Star pears to create this crisp, light-bodied cider.

Availability: Year-round

Organic Newtown Pippin apple, this cider has a refreshing bright minerality and a long, tannic nish.

Organic Lionheart plums and heirloom apples blend beautifully, o ering notes of anise, mint and basil.

Row fourteen restaurant

Row Fourteen was named the No. 1 New Restaurant of 2019 by the Globe and Mail, and o ers a memorable dining experience focusing on local and sustainable food. Sample seasonal delights harvested from right outside the restaurant’s doors at this must-visit culinary destination.

Necessarily Uncomplicated.

Klippers

Organics was founded in 2001 with the belief that food should be organic, fresh, and grown free of pesticides or genetic modi cation—just as nature intended. Our fruits and vegetables are farmed organically and harvested at peak ripeness to preserve freshness, taste, and nutritional value.

NOMAD CIDER

8011 Simpson Rd. | NomadCider.ca

TASTING ROOM REOPENS MAY 16

EST. 2015

Nomad’s Summerland tasting room reopens in May and it’s the only place you’ll nd its one-o micro-batches of fruited seasonal ciders, including raspberry, peach and rhubarb. Enjoy them al fresco in the shaded, dog-friendly picnic area, and grab a game of bocce while you’re at it.

SEMI-DRY SEMI-DRY

Availability: Year-round

ABV 6.5%

Made from a blend of cider and dessert apples, this crisp and refreshing cider o ers a fruitforward apple aroma and palate.

PEAR

OFF-DRY PEAR CIDER

Availability: Year-round

ABV 6.5%

An elegant semi-dry cider made from Bosc, Anjou and Bartlett pears.

TRADITIONAL DRY ENGLISH-STYLE DRY CIDER

Availability: Year-round

ABV 6.5%

Made entirely from cider apples, this cider has complex tannins and balanced structure.

MAPLE BOURBON BARREL-AGED CIDER

Availability: Year-round

ABV 7.0%

Aged two months in Woodford Reserve Kentucky bourbon barrels and then backsweetened lightly with a touch of maple syrup.

In-cider information

e rst commercial orchard in Summerland was planted in the 1890s back when the town was still known as Trout Creek. More than 125 years later, Summerland produces some of the best cider and table apples in the province.

BURTON CITY CIDER

5470 BC-6 | BurtonCityCider.ca

MERRIDALE CIDERY & DISTILLERY

1230 Merridale Rd. | Merridale.ca

Located in the West Kootenays on the shores of Arrow Lake, this picturesque cidery specializes in dry ciders made from pure juice, with no sugar, sul tes or water added.

APPLE-N-RYE BARREL-AGED DRY CIDER

Availability: Year-round

CURRANT DRY CIDER WITH BLACKCURRANTS

Availability: Year-round

SCENIC ROAD CIDER CO.

770 Packinghouse Rd. | ScenicRoadCider.com

Housed in an 80-year-old repurposed fruit packinghouse, you’ll quickly understand how Scenic Road got its name when you drive to this Glenmore Valley cidery.

NEARLY DRY SEMI-DRY

Availability: Year-round

Availability: Year-round

Merridale is celebrating 30 years of farmgrown craft cider this year. In fact, it’s the province’s oldest estate cidery.

MO’MORO DRY-HOPPED SEMI-DRY CIDER WITH BLOOD ORANGE

Availability: Year-round

SCRUMPY BARREL-AGED DRY CIDER

Availability: Year-round

HOWLING MOON CRAFT CIDER

7952 BC-97 | HowlingMoon.ca

Howling Moon’s Oliver apple orchard was planted in 2012 with heirloom cider varities, perfect for its handmade and hand-bottle artisan ciders. Tasting room reopens in April.

Availability: Small batch

Availability: Small batch

CREEK & GULLY CIDER

1053 Poplar Grove Rd. | CreekAndGully.com

THE BRICKER CIDER COMPANY

6642 Northwest Bay Rd. | BrickersCider.com

All of Creek & Gully’s un ltered and pasteurized ciders are made from certi ed organic apples grown on its fth generation family farm. Tasting room reopens in spring.

PÉT-NAT ANCESTRAL METHOD SPARKLING CIDER

Availability: Small batch

ORCHARD BLEND TRADITIONAL DRY

Availability: Small batch

is 100% family owned and operated cidery now has a lounge licence, so come and have a full pint of cider… or beer!

BRICKERS PEAR BARREL-AGED PEAR CIDER

Availability: Small batch

BRICKERS STOUT CIDER NITRO STOUT-STYLE CIDER WITH COFFEE

Availability: One-o

CLIFFSIDE CIDER

103-37760 2 Ave. | Cli sideCider.com

GEO CIDER CO.

318-1201 Commercial Way | GeoCider.com

is hidden oasis in Squamish is tucked down an alley just past Howe Sound Brewing, but its creative cider blends are well worth seeking out.

FRESCA MANGO APPLE CIDER WITH VANILLA

Availability: Year-round

TINA LOUISE GINGER APPLE CIDER

Availability: Year-round

What do you get when you cross a sailor, a stuntman, a racecar driver and a veteran bartender? e talented team behind Squamish’s Geo Cider, that’s what!

OLD WORLD APPLE CIDER

TRADITIONAL DRY

Availability: Year-round

DARK FRUIT APPLE CIDER

SEMI-DRY WITH BERRIES AND STONE FRUIT

Availability: Year-round

THE BX PRESS CIDERY & ORCHARD

4667 E. Vernon Rd. | eBXPress.com

CIDERWORKS

529 Fulford-Ganges Rd., Salt Spring Island

SaltSpringAppleCompany.com/Ciderworks

BX Press is named after Barnard’s Express & Stage Line, which operated a 6,000-acre horse ranch called BX Ranch, later known as Vernon, where its third generation orchard is located.

THE HOSTLER

NEW WORLD OFF-DRY

Availability: Year-round

DEAD END CIDER

620 Sumac Rd., Cawston

ForbiddenFruitWine.com

THE BANDIT APPLE CIDER WITH CHERRY

Availability: Year-round

AFFINITY CIDERHOUSE

5155 Samuel Rd., Duncan

A nityCider.com

DOMINION CIDER CO.

10216 Gould Ave., Summerland

DominionCider.com

FARMSTRONG CIDER CO.

4305 Maw Rd., Armstrong

FarmstrongCider.com

BC TREE FRUITS CIDER CO.

880 Vaughan Ave., Kelowna

BCTreeFruitsCider.com

FAUSTINO ESTATE CIDERY

14000 BC-97, Osoyoos

FaustinoEstateCidery.ca

CEDAR CIDER

340 184 St., Surrey

CedarCider.ca

FRASER VALLEY CIDER CO.

22128-16th Ave., Langley

FraserValleyCider.ca

GABBIE’S PREMIUM CIDER

1120 Coats Dr., Gabriola Island GabbiesCider.com

RAVEN’S MOON CRAFT CIDER

4905 Darcy Rd, Courtenay

RavensMoonCraftCider.ca

GREENHILL CIDER

55 Dunlevy Ave., Vancouver GreenhillCider.com

RUSTIC ROOTS WINERY & CIDERY

2238 Hwy. 3, Cawston HarkersRrganicsRusticRoots.com

LEFT FIELD CIDER CO.

Mamit Lake Rd., Logan Lake LeftFieldCider.com

THE NARAMATA CIDER COMPANY

2370 Aikins Loop, Naramata NaramataCider.com

SALT SPRING WILD CIDER

151 Sharp Rd., Salt Spring Island SaltSpringWildCider.com

SEA CIDER FARM & CIDERHOUSE

2487 Mt. St. Michael Rd., Saanichton SeaCider.ca

NORTHYARDS CIDER CO.

9 - 38936 Queensway, Squamish NorthyardsCider.com

SUMMERLAND HERITAGE CIDER CO.

3113 Johnson St., Summerland SummerlandCider.com

ORCHARD HILL ESTATE CIDERY

3480 Fruitvale Way, Osoyoos

OrchardHillCidery.com

SUNDAY CIDER

1632 Sunshine Coast Hwy., Gibsons SundayCider.com

TAVES ESTATE CIDERY

333 Gladwin Rd., Abbotsford

TavesFamilyFarms.com/Hard-Cider

UPSIDE CIDERY

2555 Gale Rd., Kelowna

UpsideCider.com

TOD CREEK CRAFT CIDERS

273 Prospect Lake Rd., Victoria

TodCreekCider.com

VALLEY CIDER COMPANY

7661 Mays Rd., Duncan ValleyCider.com

TONY’S CRAFT CIDERY

6167 Hwy. 6, Coldstream TonysCraftCidery.com

WARDS CIDER

2287 Ward Rd., Kelowna WardsHardCider.com

TRUCK 59 CIDER HOUSE

3887 Brown Rd., West Kelowna Truck59Cider.com

WEST COAST CIDER CO.

2071 Kingsway Ave., Port Coquitlam WestCoastCider.ca

TWIN ISLAND CIDER

5601 Lupin Rd., Pender Island TwinIslandCider.com

WOODWARD CIDER CO.

5505 Westsyde Rd., Kamloops WoodwardCiderCo.ca

TWISTED HILLS CRAFT CIDER

2080 Ritchie Dr., Cawston

TwistedHills.ca

To the

BEER GROUND

e Growler’s vast network of beer and cider spies have gathered the latest intel on new openings across the province. Have a look and see what’s coming to your neck of the woods.

BRICKLAYER B REWING

Chilliwack (spring 2020) Award-winning homebrewer Kristopher Schmidt is at the helm of this hip new brewery, which plans to o er creative takes on traditional styles, as well as a focus on sour ales. BricklayerBrewing.com

DEVIL'S B ATH BREWING

Port McNeill (summer 2020) e rst craft brewery in the Tri-Port area is located in a former gas station and features the old brewhouse from Courtenay’s now-defunct Forbidden Brewing Co. DevilsBathBrewing.ca

FIEL D H OUSE D TWN CHWK

Chilliwack (fall 2020) Field House’s second location in downtown Chilliwack will feature indoor seating for 150, a patio, a full open kitchen with a wood burning pizza oven, and 15 taps of beer. e 5 hL brewhouse will be dedicated to brewing beers available only onsite. FieldHouseBrewing.com

FOX MOUNTAIN BREWING C O.

Williams Lake (summer 2020) Biologist/ homebrewer Dave Reedman is behind Lake City’s rst craft brewery, which will take over the old Greyhound bus depot. Facebook.com/FoxMtnBrewCo

G RAN D FORKS BEER C O.

Grand Forks (summer 2020) e rst modern craft brewery tasting room in Boundary Country is coming to historic Grand Forks, where the Grand Forks Brewery once operated from 1896 to 1918. GrandForksBeerCo.com

H ERAL D S T. BREW W ORKS

Victoria (spring 2020) We love a good collab and this joint venture between e Drake Eat-

ery and Steel & Oak in Victoria’s Old Town has some serious potential. HeraldStreet.com

HOM ETOWN BEER MAKERS

Grand Forks (fall 2020) Tiny Grand Forks is set to get two new breweries this year, with Hometown Beer Makers setting up shop in the former Sunshine Lanes bowling alley. Instagram.com/HometownBeerMakers

H ORN B Y I SLAN D BREWING C O.

Hornby Island (2020) Currently contract brewing out of Small Block in Duncan, Hornby Island Brewing has plans in the works to open a modest brewery on its namesake island. HornbyIslandBrewing.ca

HUD SON TAPHOUSE AN D BREWPU B

Victoria (fall 2020) Endless delays thanks to the City of Victoria have pushed back construction of this 300-seat brewpub located across the street from Memorial Arena.

L AKESI D ER BREWING C O.

West Kelowna (fall 2020) Craft beer is coming to West Kelowna’s Wine Trail neighbourhood after city council unanimously approved Lakesider’s brewery and tasting room. LakesiderBrewing.com

L OCALITY BREWING

Langley (spring 2020) is rural Langley farmhouse brewery is going to be all about terroir: In addition to growing their own hops, the Locality crew plans to grow and malt their own barley,. Facebook.com/localitybrewing

MERRI D ALE BREWERY AN D DISTILLERY

Victoria (2021) is spectacular 12,000-sq.-ft. LEED certi ed facility in Vic West’s Dockside Green development will feature a brewery,

a distillery, a restaurant and an events space— that is, if the City of Victoria ever gets around to approving it. Merridale.ca

MILLIONAIRES R OW CID ER C O.

Summerland (summer 2020) is family-run cidery is located on an apple orchard in the Prairie Valley area of Summerland, which was known as Millionaires' Row in the early 1900s. Facebook.com/MillionairesRowCider

MORROW BREWING C O.

Salmon Arm (2020) Details are scarce so far, but if Instagram is to be believed, there’s another craft brewery on the way for the Shuswap. Instagram.com/morrowbeerco

N EIGH B OURHOO D BREWING

Penticton (summer 2020) Penticton is breathlessly awaiting its newest craft brewery as the good people behind Port Moody’s Yellow Dog Brewing bring their award-winning beer know-how to the Okanagan. NeighbourhoodBrewing.com

R USTE D A RROW CID ERY

Vernon (fall 2020) is apple farm next to Vernon’s Swan Lake is hoping to have its rst batch of cider ready later this year. Facebook.com/RustedArrowCidery

R USTE D R AKE BREWING

Nanoose (spring 2020) is beloved farmhouse restaurant will be reopening soon with a brewery where it will be brewing its own beer,

made from barley grown on site. RustedRakeFarm.com

S HAKETOWN BREWING

North Vancouver (2021) B.C. brewing legend Dave Varga (formerly of 33 Acres) is at the helm of this new craft brewery coming to East Esplanade in Lower Lonsdale, stumbling distance from Beere Brewing and House of Funk.

S HORELINE BREWING

Kelowna (summer 2020) A re at e Shore development at Kelowna’s Gyro Beach has sadly delayed Shoreline, but word is things are back on track for an opening later this year.

SMUGGLERS’ T RAIL C ASKWORKS

Langley (summer 2020) is award-winning contract brand will soon be moving out of Craft Collective and into its own digs in Langley’s Port Kells neighbourhood. True to its name, Smugglers’ Trail Caskworks will feature eight hand cask engine taps pouring real cask ale. SmugglersTrailCask.com

S

TU D IO B REWING

Burnaby (2020) Details are scant about this proposed brewery for south central Burnaby, but they recently posted a want ad for a brewmaster, so that's a good sign they're getting close.

TID AL BREWING C O.

Qualicum Beach (2020) is craft brewery will be the centrepiece of the new East Village development in “downtown” Qualicum Beach.

T IKI JON’S T IKI L OUNGE AN D BREWERY

Pitt Meadows (2021) Craft beer gets a tiki-twist at this proposed Polynesian-inspired craft brewery and cocktail lounge in Pitt Meadows. TikiJons.ca

U NLEASHE D BREWING C O.

Kelowna (2021) Forget wine, Kelowna is all about craft beer these days as Unleashed hopes to be the city’s newest watering hole. UnleashedBrewing.ca j

• Got a hot brewery tip? Let us know at editor@thegrowler.ca