Day 1

Arrive & Explore Downtown PoCo

Start your weekend in the heart of Port Coquitlam at Leigh Square. Featuring public art and fountains, the square is also a hub for community events during the summer months.

Port Coquitlam Farmers Market

Shop for farm-fresh produce, homemade treats, and artisan-made goods every Thursday from 3 to 7 pm.

Downtown PoCo Friday Nights

Enjoy live music, a beverage garden, family activities, local vendors, and a fountain light show on Friday, June 19 and July 3 from 4–9 pm.

Music in the Square

Live afternoon concerts featuring professional musicians and a variety of genres on July 5, July 19, August 9, and August 23 from 2 to 5 pm.

Fountain Light Shows

Visiting on a Friday or Saturday evening? Stick around for the Leigh Square fountain light shows at 7 and 9:30 pm.

Dinner & Drinks at Patina Brewing Co. Brewhouse & BBQ

A fitting next stop, Patina Brewing Co. pairs craft beer with slow-smoked barbecue. The rotating tap list keeps both casual beer drinkers and craft enthusiasts happy, featuring approachable lagers, award-winning core favourites, and the occasional experimental brew. The food menu leans heavily into comfort classics, including brisket, ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken wings, and several barbecue-inspired poutines. 

If you’re visiting on a Friday or Saturday, stay for late-night happy hour from 8:30 pm until close. Between the busy patio, friendly staff, and laid-back atmosphere, Patina is the kind of place where one quick pint easily turns into an entire evening.

Day 2

Breakfast & the Traboulay PoCo Trail

Kick off Saturday with brunch at Crave Bistro & Bar, a local favourite that elevates breakfast classics with global twists. The menu ranges from waffle bennies and rolled omelettes to flavour-packed specialities like Mexican chilaquiles and Turkish menemen. Whatever you order, Crave is the perfect spot to fuel up before a day of exploring.

Walk or Bike the Traboulay PoCo Trail 

One of the best ways to experience Port Coquitlam is by getting outside. The Traboulay PoCo Trail is a scenic 25-kilometre multi-use loop connecting parks, pathways, forests, wetlands, and urban neighbourhoods. The trail is mostly flat, with a mix of paved paths and packed gravel, making it accessible for walkers, runners, and cyclists of all ages and activity levels.

Do the full loop, or just pick a section and go at your own pace. Either way, the trail offers a peaceful contrast to a weekend of brewery hopping and makes that first afternoon pint feel especially well earned.

Explore the North of the Fraser Ale Trail

PoCo’s brewery scene is small but well-connected, offering a laid-back way to spend an afternoon. Several tasting rooms are located in close proximity to one another, making for an ideal self-guided tasting tour. Be sure to download the free BC Ale Trail app before you start, and it’ll help you navigate between stops. Plus, check in at each brewery and earn rewards along the way.

Tinhouse Brewing

 A 12-tap neighbourhood brewery with a welcoming, community-focused space, Tinhouse Brewing is known for balanced, approachable beers with a noticeable lean toward British-inspired malt-forward styles. Alongside hazy IPAs and crisp lagers, expect rotating brown ales, porters, seasonal releases, and occasional barrel-aged offerings.

Side Quest Brewing Co.

Just a block from Tinhouse, Side Quest Brewing Co. brings a playful, pop-culture twist to the craft beer experience. Inspired by fantasy, gaming, sci-fi, and all things nerd culture, the beer lineup stays grounded in thoughtful, approachable beers, but with plenty of character.

Taylight Brewing

Bright, open, and inviting, Taylight Brewing focuses on easy-drinking IPAs and refreshing lagers across its rotating tap list. Its location near the riverfront section of the Traboulay PoCo Trail also makes it a convenient stop for walkers and cyclists looking to rest and replenish.

Patina Brewing Co

Circle back to Patina Brewing Co. for another flight and a round of shareable barbecue favourites.

Poco Brothers Brewing Co

End the brewery loop at Poco Brothers Brewing Co., located inside the historic Cat & Fiddle Pub. Established in 2021 as the pub’s in-house brewery, Poco Brothers offers fresh small-batch beers alongside the Cat & Fiddle’s full menu.

Fremont Village & Casual Local Dining

After an afternoon of tasting rooms, spend some time exploring the Fremont Village area. The north-side district combines shopping, dining and outdoor spaces, making it a convenient place to continue the evening.

When dinner rolls around, Cat & Fiddle Pub is a natural choice. A longtime neighbourhood favourite, it has been a cornerstone of the Port Coquitlam community since 1979 — known for hearty comfort food, a welcoming atmosphere, and a longstanding commitment to local charities and sports teams. 

And when you’re ready for one last pint, Poco Brothers Brewing Co. is right there for an effortless nightcap.

Day 3

Family-Friendly Activities & One Last Pint

Start your final morning at The Big Flat Pancake Co., a popular local brunch spot known for its Dutch-style pancakes. Unlike traditional North American pancakes, these are thin, soft, yet still fluffy, with plenty of sweet and savoury flavours to choose from. Alongside the signature pancakes, they also serve waffles, eggs, sandwiches, coffee, mimosas, and Caesars for a leisurely brunch experience.

Before heading home, Port Coquitlam has a few great options for a relaxed Sunday morning:

Hyde Creek Recreation Centre

A popular local complex with pools, racquet courts, and fitness amenities. 

Port Coquitlam Community Centre (PCCC)

Featuring a leisure pool and seasonal spray park that’s perfect for kids on a warm summer morning.

Leigh Square & Donald Pathway

A relaxed urban walking area connecting downtown pathways, art installations, and green space.

If you missed any breweries on Saturday, Sunday afternoon is the perfect time to squeeze in one last tasting room stop. It’s also a great opportunity to pick up a growler or four-pack and bring a little bit of PoCo home with you.

Why Port Coquitlam Makes a Great Weekend Getaway

Port Coquitlam strikes the balance between outdoor adventure, local flavour, and a strong sense of community. The city feels relaxed without lacking energy, and its growing craft beer scene adds to its appeal as a weekend destination. 

Whether you’re visiting for the breweries, restaurants, trails, or a quieter escape within Metro Vancouver, Port Coquitlam is well worth a weekend getaway.

Continue your travels along the North of the Fraser Ale Trail. 

Every Pint Tells a Story

Supporting Local. Celebrating Community.

The post Port Coquitlam’s Best Bites, Brews & Outdoor Adventures appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

Inside the city’s tasting rooms, warmth gathers, candlelight flickers against pint glasses, steam rises from wet coats hung by the door, and conversation hums low and steady. Outside, rain taps patiently on windows, and streets shine under strings of reflected light.

Winter is a season of turning inward, grounding ourselves, finding comfort, and savouring the simple pleasures. And lately, something especially beautiful has been brewing beyond the taps.

Across Victoria, breweries are transforming their spaces into galleries, giving walls life through the hands of local artists. These taprooms now invite guests not only to taste the city but to see it, reflected in brushstrokes, textures, and colour palettes inspired by Vancouver Island itself.

At Victoria Taste Buds, we’re all about celebrating where food, culture, and community intersect. And this trend? It’s a triple win, breweries, artists, and beer lovers all getting a healthy pour of inspiration.

Brewing Culture: Why Art Belongs in the Taproom

When a brewery features local art, it’s making a quiet but powerful statement: creativity is part of the craft. These aren’t just places to sip, they’re places to feel, connect, and reflect.

For artists, a taproom wall can be a canvas for connection. Their work gets seen, discussed, and often purchased by new audiences who might not stroll through gallery doors. Each exhibit can open doors to commissions, collaborations, and friendships that reach far beyond the brewery walls.

For breweries, art deepens their story. A thoughtfully curated mural or print can embody their brand—the rugged coastline, the West Coast light, the sense of community that fills every pour. It invites guests to stay a little longer, to look closer, and to feel part of something living, evolving, and local.

For the community, it’s an expression of shared pride. A pint and a painting together turn a casual drink into a cultural experience, one that reflects who we are and the city we continue to build together.

Mental Health in the Mix

Winter can be beautiful, but it can also be heavy. With darker mornings and longer nights, many of us instinctively seek warmth, comfort, and connection.

Art uplifts. Whether it’s a playful digital piece, a moody coastal landscape, or an abstract splash of colour, visual art can calm a racing mind, offer a spark of joy, or simply give us something beautiful to rest our eyes on.

Tasting rooms, in turn, become refuges, cozy living rooms humming with laughter, glowing wood, and the soft buzz of community. There’s something deeply restorative about sipping a seasonal ale beside a wall of local creativity, especially when the rain drums gently outside.

Social connection matters more than ever this time of year. Every shared laugh, every conversation sparked by a painting or a pint, chips away at the chill and loneliness that can creep in.

And for visitors exploring Victoria, art-filled breweries tell a richer story than any map could. They offer a peek behind the curtain of local life and creativity, a chance to meet the artists, photograph the murals, and maybe even bring home a little piece of the city’s soul.

Why Winter Is the Perfect Season for This

Winter invites us inward. We slow down, seek warmth, and gravitate toward spaces that feel calm, intimate, and intentional. Breweries that pair visual art with winter-inspired brews mirror that instinct beautifully, offering a refuge from the cold and a reason to linger.

 Seasonal art rotations set the tone, snowy landscapes, minimalist winter palettes, moody night scenes, or playful nods to the holidays without overwhelming the senses.
 Soft, cozy atmospheres make taprooms ideal for long conversations, solo reflection, or settling in with a notebook while the world quiets outside.
 Emotional grounding matters most in winter; art and ambiance work together to create a sense of comfort, presence, and gentle connection during the darkest months.

Breweries Leading the Way

At Driftwood Brewery, creativity pours from every corner. Their tasting room walls echo the same bold, imaginative spirit found on their iconic labels. Rotating exhibitions bring new voices to the forefront, and each display feels like an extension of the brewery’s adventurous soul.

But they’re not alone. Across the city, from cozy microbreweries tucked into industrial alleys to waterfront taprooms with sweeping views, art is finding a home among the hops. These spaces are becoming cultural landmarks, places where the line between gallery and gathering place blurs, and everyone’s invited to be part of the experience.

How You Can Support

• Admire the art and ask questions about the artists.
• Share what you discover online to spread the word.
• Buy a print or original piece if one catches your eye.
• Suggest your favourite local artist to your go-to brewery.
• Encourage breweries to keep the rotation going and highlight new voices.

At Victoria Taste Buds, we’ve always believed that food and drink are just the beginning. What makes this city shine are the people who pour their hearts into what they create, whether it’s in a glass, on a wall, or behind a camera.

So this season, when you raise a pint of stout or hazy IPA, take a moment to look around. You might just find a piece of art that speaks to your soul and a space that feels like home.

Cheers to cozy corners, creative hearts, and community-first breweries.

Looking for more artistic stops along the BC Ale Trail?

These breweries around the province also feature rotating art galleries on their walls, or have artworks permanently on display:

• Backroads Brewing Co in Nelson and Osoyoos:

Backroads hosts local artists in both their Nelson and Osoyoos locations. Artists are featured for six to eight weeks, with a focus on a variety of artistic styles as well as photography. The Nelson taproom generally showcases artists from the Kootenays, while the Osoyoos taproom will showcase south Okanagan and Similkameen-based folks.

• Cannery Brewing in Penticton:

Each year, Cannery Brewing hosts the Mini Mural project in partnership with the Penticton Art Gallery and the Ignite the Arts Festival. 10 artists are selected to create square murals, which hang at the brewery from March when the Festival kicks off, until October, when they are auctioned off. 

• Container Brewing in Vancouver:

Container features the work of Vancouver fine-art photographer Bryce Barry, with several large wood-mounted prints on display.

• Luppolo Brewing Company in Vancouver:

Luppolo is currently hosting Mending: Belonging, an art exhibition curated by the Co-Share Collective, a coalition of non-profits working in the Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley neighbourhoods. The exhibition features work from three artists seeking to discuss the question: “What is your connection to the neighbourhood, and why is it important to you as an artist?” Get more info here.

Every Pint Tells a Story

Supporting Local. Celebrating Community.

The post Beyond the Pint: Breweries as Creative Hubs appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

The auditorium goes crazy as Margo Mayhem steps onto the stage with an inflatable flamingo around her tiny waist. Underneath, she’s wearing a corset and not much else. She strikes me as a Betty Boop character with her black curly hair and bright red lipstick. Next up: her partner both in life and burlesque, Samson Night. New Yorkers might recognize him as Mustafa from Broadway’s Lion King. The audience screams as Samson Night drops his luggage and so much more for the Nelson crowd. 

It’s fitting we’re in the Capitol Theatre—built in 1927, the vaudeville house matches the exotic 1940s burlesque vibe. The duo, called Midnight Mayhem when they perform together, are internationally recognized burlesque dancers, but also regulars in Nelson’s burlesque scene. 

Over the century and a half since gold miners first dropped their pickaxes into local dirt, Nelson, BC, has become the cultural hotspot of the West Kootenays region. It became a beacon for counterculture and cool artsy types. Eight hours from Vancouver, through countless mountain passes, Nelson is called, “the best small arts town in Canada.” 

The town also got huge artsy credibility as the location of Steve Martin’s 1986 movie, Roxanne.

“The setting, which is as much a part of the film’s appeal… is the gorgeous, homey-looking little town of Nelson,” wrote Janet Maslin of The New York Times. 

Much of the energy and creativity is palpable and apparent walking through the alleyways, which serve as giant canvases for murals: cartoon cats, Indigenous art, historical figures and so much more. 

Since it began six years ago, the Nelson International Mural Festival has attracted world-class artists to paint the alleyways. A popular piece called Silver King by Kelowna-based graphic artist and illustrator, Benji Andringa, aka Lowclassart, is a mural that represents the multilayers of Nelson. The trout, named Gerrard, reveals Nelson’s claim to have the largest rainbow trout in the world. The campfire and turtle reveal the fun-loving festival culture. The toad is a nod to nearby Toad Mountain, home of the Silver King Mine. 

And that fun-loving wizard driving the bus of bears and van dwellers? “Those are some of the characters you might run into around town,” says Benji.

It’s true. Nelson locals are a stylish bunch and they aren’t afraid to dress up. At night, I’ve seen everything from feathery boas to puffy orange jackets and odd colourful outfits – likely found at a local thrift shop. There are many consignment shops in Nelson, but none weirder than Moon Monster’s Secret Cave. Walking down into the store is like entering another dimension – the walls and shelves are full of animal masks, twisted-looking baby dolls, religious iconography, buddhas, glass penises and so much more. Vintage clothes hang alongside crystal pendants and amulets of fortune and mystery.

The town itself has unique architecture: giant stone turrets, red brick archways and ornate stone cornices. Thanks to an 1897 bylaw stipulating only brick and stone to avoid fire damage, the buildings are some of the best-preserved architecture in the province.

One of my favourite corners of town – the Hume Hotel is on one side with its name in giant bright letters on the top of the hotel beside the Nelson Museum Archives & Gallery, which has a giant, grand turret. Its meticulously restored chateau-like Richardsonian Romanesque-style architecture is made from granite, nearby Kaslo marble, locally made brick, and pink brick from Spokane, Washington. Inside the history is just as intense.

The permanent exhibit reveals bits of local Sinixt and Ktunaxa culture – a meticulously stitched moccasin bootie, a black-and-white photograph of Chief Edward, the last hereditary Sinixt chief dating back to 1872 dressed entirely in animal skins. 

Across the street in the lobby of the Hume Hotel, completed in 1898, a picture of pioneer J. Fred Hume and his wife Lydia resides over the stairwell. Throughout the hotel are giant black-and-white photographs of locals fishing and hiking in bygone days. And, in a glass cabinet near the restaurant—monogrammed dishes from the turn of the century. The Hume’s own dishes! 

I’m not surprised: Nelson takes its food and restaurants seriously. According to Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism, Nelson has more restaurants per capita than Toronto, Manhattan or San Francisco, including a rainbow of diversity (hippie pun intended). 

I’ve tasted Vietnamese Pho at Yum Son, with broth that simmered for 24 hours; indulged in key lime gelato topped with marshmallow and torched like crème brulé at Gina’s Gelato; and eaten mountains of duck, fig jam and multiple cheese trays of charcuterie at The Black Cauldron whose spooky cocktails are potions of tasty herbs, fruits and booze. 

For a town of just over 10,000, there are three craft breweries each with their own brand of cool vibe. Backroads Brewing is a great spot to people-watch on Baker Street, and the bathroom walls are plastered with magazine images of mountain bikers. Meanwhile, Nelson Brewing Co., based in a historic building that housed a brewery back in 1897, has tastings, taproom tours and special artists’ nights. Torchlight Brewing is a fun open space with video games and trivia nights every Sunday. 

My favourite activity is catching the energetic vibe on Baker Street, the main street and heart of the city. At Broken Hill, I pick away at a smoked meat platter and listen to street musicians from Mexico. We meet tourists from Kelowna. “Every server has a side hustle, a passion project,” says Lauren Christoffersen, our server, who repurposes clothes on the side. 

The hallmark of any civilized and artsy urban centre: coffee. Nelson is blessed with so many. John Ward Fine Coffee on Baker Street attracts an afternoon crowd closing at 3 pm on Saturdays. Down the hill, No6 is a boutique micro-roastery that has a tasting bar, but don’t expect a take-out cup – the eco-minded owners don’t have them! And way up the hill is the ultimate space for reading, working or daydreaming. With its wooden beams and twirly iron fixtures, Oso Negro feels like you’re having java in the forest with the birdies. When owner Jon Meyer renovated the café 18 years ago, the details were important: “Seventeen different metal workers left their mark here; I wanted it to be all or nothing.” 

Arriving by motorcycle from Montreal in the late ’70s, Meyer was fascinated with two things: roasting good coffee and being around good people. They pay fair wages to coffee producers in Guatemala, and every morning seven employees serve upwards of 1,000 customers a day. 

But the coolest thing about Nelson is the mystery and surprises—what’s around the corner, what will happen if you just wander? On our last night in Nelson, it happens—along Baker Street, we discover The Royal’s anniversary: free live music! Inside, it’s packed. A guy playing a ukulele strums amidst the noise and laughter. A giant screen behind the bar plays reruns of Bob Ross painting. 

The next morning, the weirdness doesn’t stop: as we’re walking our dog near the airport, alongside Kootenay Lake and a community of boat garages, we notice the water is exceptionally low on the beach. Walking onto the sand, we see a huge labyrinth: an underwater spiral of rocks. Aliens? I wasn’t able to find who made them, but locals have a variety of names for the formation: Eye of Neldor, The Nelson Lines, The Kootenay Labyrinth. Whatever the name, it makes me giggle. Why are they there? Why not? This is Nelson. Weird? Definitely. Cool? Unquestionably.

Want to explore Nelson this fall? The timing couldn’t be better to take advantage of our Fall Sip & Stay deals, including a great package at the Savoy Hotel in Nelson! Available for stays between October 15 to December 20, 2023.

The post Cool Nelson appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

Life is about choices. Currently, I’m munching on duck prosciutto and musing about what to choose next from the Indigenous game sampler platter in front of me. Elk juniper salami, homemade pickles, cedar jelly, and smoked cheddar are among the mouthwatering options. Dinner has been good to me so far.

“Try the pemmican mousse,” suggests Salmon n’ Bannock proprietor Inez Cook, a member of Bella Coola’s Nuxalk Nation, as she pours me a glass of Red Truck Beer Company’s Amber Ale. “It’s fantastic.”

Served with bannock crackers, the frothy dish features smoked bison meat ground into powder and blended with cream cheese and blueberries. I wish I’d ordered a second helping. Additionally, I’m loving the sockeye ceviche and sweetgrass-infused cherries.

Founded in 2010, Salmon n’ Bannock welcomes patrons in my hometown of Vancouver, specializing in wild fish and organic game. This cozy Indigenous-owned and operated restaurant on West Broadway added a sister location at art-laden YVR (Vancouver International Airport) in 2022. Salmon n’ Bannock offers one of many good reasons to explore the traditional unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations.

At a challenging time in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation, supporting local First Nations businesses is important and rewarding. While sampling craft beer safely and responsibly on the BC Ale Trail, you can also admire traditional and modern takes on West Coast Indigenous art.

Before digging into my main course, a hearty bison pot roast served with seasonal vegetables and horseradish, I check out the pieces on display in this intimately lit, lively room with black-and-red decor. BC artists like Darcy Joseph and Jon Erickson represent Indigenous culture with pride and diversity. Cedar carvings and paintings with titles such as Red Salmon and Spirit Wolf are available for purchase.

As I enjoy my dinner with a glass of Howe Sound Brewing’s Rail Ale Nut Brown, I’m already making plans to discover more Indigenous cuisine and art in Metro Vancouver.

I’ve set my sights on visiting some First Nations-affiliated breweries further afield in Metro Vancouver. For instance, Locality Brewing, a farm-based Langley brewery that identifies as Métis-owned, has hosted an on-site Métis Festival. It won the 2022 Indigenous Led Business of the Year Award at the BC Food and Beverage Awards. Achievements like these are propelled by Locality’s commitment to great beers, like its distinctively sweet and salty La Tayr Saskatoon Berry and Kelp Gose.

In 2020, New Westminster’s Another Beer Co. produced its limited-edition Askî Oci Saison. Incorporating local BC spruce tips, this beer creatively celebrated the heritage of Cree brewery co-owner Nadine (Hansen) Jopson, Métis artist Kayla MacInnis, and Métis herbal therapist Vanessa Prescott.

In Abbotsford, the 2014-founded, family-owned Ravens Brewing makes award-winning beers like Corvus Lingonberry Lime Gose. Co-owner Jocelyn Sweeting’s biological mother is Ojibwe.

Ravens Brewing states: “We would like to acknowledge the traditional ancestral shared territory of the Sumas First Nation and Matsqui First Nation. These two First Nations are part of the Stό:lō Nation. The Stό:lō people have lived in the Fraser Valley for 10,000 years. It is for this reason that we acknowledge the traditional territory in which we reside.”

When I head to Vancouver’s North Shore for an afternoon of bannock, biking, and breweries, I’m in luck at the downtown Waterfront Station. Boarding the Burrard Chinook, a SeaBus ferry that TransLink launched with a traditional First Nations ceremony in 2021, I take in its incredible external artwork depicting the life cycle of a salmon.

Inside the $32-million vessel, the artistic visions of collaborators Kelly Cannell, Siobhan Joseph, and Angela George are detailed on a panel, which I check out during the smooth 12-minute crossing over Burrard Inlet to Lonsdale Quay.

After renting a bike at the nearby Reckless Shipyards store, I pedal toward the Mosquito Creek Marina waterfront on the 6.5-kilometre Spirit Trail. This winding, paved path celebrates Indigenous culture.

Although I’m eagerly anticipating my lunch at the Mr. Bannock food truck, I keep pulling over to take photos. For instance, Wade Baker’s The Gateway to Ancient Wisdom (2008) offers an impossible-to-miss entrance to the marina, constructed with stainless steel and red cedar.

I find Mr. Bannock on a quiet side street. The food truck is nestled in a driveway, and I line up with Australian visitors to order my traditional bannock (or fry bread) and a hearty beef burger. On this sunny afternoon, it’s a satisfying way to fuel up for my local BC Ale Trail tour.

Black Kettle Brewing is just a five-minute bike ride away. I grab a seat on the parking lot patio and sip a pint of Back in Blackberry Sour. The 8,000-square-foot brewery, founded eight years ago by Bryan Lockhart, features other innovative creations by brewmaster Sarah Polkinghorne, who holds a degree in chemistry.

Stand-out Black Kettle beers include Trax Pale Ale, Cascade IPA and Don’t Feed the Bears White IPA. You can also take away beer to drink between 11 am and dusk at nearby Kings Mill Walk Park, thanks to North Van’s recently liberalized by-laws.

Cycling back along the Spirit Trail, I pause to check out Xwalacktun’s Thunderbird (2018). The five-ton basalt stone sculpture powerfully incorporates petroglyphs that evoke both this land’s ancient history and modern life.

I pull up outside the Lonsdale Quay Market, eager to check out a new pop-up venue called The Brewyard (open Thursday to Sunday through August 27, 2023). Located at the south end of the market with an open-air patio, it showcases the best of the Shipyards Brewing District, with seven different local breweries represented. It’s an excellent place to relax with a beer in the sun.

Gazing toward the white sails roof of Canada Place on the downtown Vancouver waterfront, I reflect on how our understanding of Indigenous culture and history has evolved since those white sails first went up for EXPO 86, the 1986 World’s Fair.

My last Spirit Trail stop before returning my bike is Beere Brewing, just minutes away on Esplanade. At this 2017-founded, family-owned brewery, the inventive, fun beer list ranges from Pinky Tuscadero, a classic raspberry lemonade sour, to Mental Floss, an accessible, double dry-hopped IPA. I pick up a four-pack of tall cans to go.

Right next to downtown Vancouver, more First Nations culture awaits in Stanely Park. The forested 1,000-acre urban park was once the site of an Indigenous village called X̱wáýx̱way, located near Lumberman’s Arch. You can book a Talking Trees Tour with Talaysay Tours, which sheds light on edible plants in Stanley Park, from licorice fern to salmon berries.

Today, the most-visited attraction in all of BC is the extraordinary collection of nine totem poles at Brockton Point. In 2008, artist Susan Point, who was born in Alert Bay and hails from the Musqueam Nation, added three red cedar portals. They represent male and female welcome figures, the bond between grandparents and grandchildren, and a Salish dancer and a killer whale respectively.

After visiting Brockton Point, it’s an easy stroll to the Stanley Park Pavilion, where you can sip Yellow Dog Brewing’s Chase My Tail Pale Ale or Neighbourhood Brewing’s Way of Life Hazy IPA on the patio.

There’s much more to explore. The Bill Reid Gallery in downtown Vancouver is dedicated to contemporary Indigenous Northwest Coast Art, celebrating the Haida master artist Bill Reid (1920 – 1998) and the diverse living cultures of the Northwest Coast.

Takaya Tours offers guided, interpretive paddles in replica ocean-going canoes, similar to those used historically by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Guests gently paddle in the protected waters of the Burrard Inlet and beautiful Indian Arm while guides from the Coast Salish Nation sing songs, tell legends, and point out ancient village sites.

I’m looking forward to viewing Blanketing the City IV: Cathedral Square, a public mural installation that dynamically evokes Coast Salish weaving traditions from three local First Nations. It attracts supporters of the annual Vancouver Mural Festival, and is less than a 10-minute walk from Steamworks, which has offered great craft beer in Gastown since 1995. A dramatic sequel, Blanketing the City V, covers an entire building on North Vancouver’s Burrard Pier.

Canadians still have a long way to go on the path toward reconciliation. Still, the choices we make with food and drink can bring us all closer together, and that’s never a bad thing.

June is Indigenous History Month. This month, and every month, you can seek out, learn, and celebrate the rich, diverse, and living Indigenous cultures in BC and beyond. There are more than 200 Indigenous communities in BC, and over 160 Indigenous-owned tourism operators and unique experiences, each with stories to share. For more information, visit Indigenous Tourism BC.

The post Discover Indigenous Food and Artwork along our BC Ale Trails appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

Sitting down with friends and flights is a pleasure not just because of the delicious beverages, but because sharing food and drink encourages other kinds of sharing as well. Beer has always been a drink of camaraderie. According to Carlos Gomez-Corona et al, drinking craft beer “is oriented towards special and ritualized moments.” Beer writer William Bostwick, reflecting on his experience sharing beers and hearing stories, recalls that to medieval Vikings, a “beer keeper” was a storyteller. Drinking beer, with its nuanced flavours and local character, is an activity that encourages reflection, sharing, laughing, and – yes – storytelling. 

We tell stories while sitting down with a good craft beer. But what about the stories that beer can tell us? The tales of beer’s history, from ancient times to 1980s startups to modern diversity efforts, are fascinating and yet still largely absent from the public eye. So here are some non-fiction book recommendations for the beer-curious.

Please note that most of these are narrative reads, meaning that they are not beer resources like encyclopedias or homebrewing books. I can recommend Garrett Oliver’s The Oxford Companion to Beer and Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Homebrewing if you’re looking for something along those lines. But if you’re ready to curl up on the couch with a book, this list is for you. Make sure to grab your favourite BC brew before sitting down to read one of these!

Local or Regional Craft Beer Histories

If you’re reading this blog post, you’ve probably read – or at least heard of – Joe Wiebe’s Craft Beer Revolution, which provides a brief history of BC craft brewing and a thorough review of most craft breweries in the province. If you haven’t yet checked out that book, I highly recommend it! However, here are a few more suggestions for readable histories of beer and brewing in North America.

Portland Beer: Crafting the Road to Beervana (2013) by Peter Dunlop

As Dunlop explains, he wrote this book because Portland, Oregon has “one of the most vibrant beer cultures in the world” (119). Dunlop’s story begins with German immigrant brewers in mid-nineteenth-century Portland and then traces the growth of the industry through the next century and a half. Sadly, BC’s Frank Appleton doesn’t get a mention in the accounts of the famed Deschutes Brewery (Appleton assisted in setting them up). However, this is a very readable history of Portland craft beer that is supported by evidence and clearly organized. Time for a road trip to Oregon!

Brew North: How Canadians Made Beer and Beer Made Canada (2000) by Ian Coutts.

Given its publication date of 2000, this book won’t help you if you want a recent account of Canadian craft brewing. However, it gives a very helpful overview of brewing in Canada – from French Canadian brewers in the seventeenth century until the slowly growing craft beer movement at the turn of the millennium. The book is packed with photographs of various brewers, beers, and beer paraphernalia and advertisements, making it visually engaging. It’s breezy, easy to read, and a perfect beach read. 

Tapping the West: How Alberta’s Craft Beer Industry Bubbled Out of an Economy Gone Flat (2020) by Scott Messenger.

Outside of its borders, Alberta isn’t particularly well-known for its craft beer scene. However, some of its breweries, such as Big Rock, have influenced Canadian craft brewing as a whole. And Alberta is, of course, one of the biggest resources for beer’s main ingredient: barley. Messenger provides a tour of craft beer in Alberta – the early pioneers, the law and policy changes, and how Alberta’s unique culture helped shape the industry. There aren’t any pictures, but it’s chock-full of interviews with craft brewers and brewery owners from around the province, giving it a very conversational tone. That sense of ease and informality is reinforced by the book’s opening and closing narratives: a Calgary craft brewery crawl enjoyed by Messenger and his friends.

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business (2018) by Josh Noel.

This winner of the Best Book award by the North American Guild of Beer Writers was a page-turner. Beer journalist Josh Noel knows how to keep a reader’s attention. This fascinating account takes us behind the scenes of one of the most shocking announcements in the craft beer world: the sale of one of America’s oldest, most respected craft breweries to Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch InBev). The story, however, is much more complicated than the “selling out” moniker would indicate. The story of Goose Island Brewing shows what is really required to make a craft brewery profitable, and why so many breweries either fold or sell to a corporation. You’ll finish this book with a new perspective on craft beer.

Personal Reflections on Beer, Brewing, and Tasting

This is a genre I’ve always enjoyed: the more personal narrative about beer. These books are part travelogue, part journal, part history, part guidance. There are few (if any) pictures, but they are highly readable and often thought-provoking. If you’d like a pleasure book to accompany an IPA on the patio, check these out.

The Brewer’s Tale: A History of the World According to Beer (2014) by William Bostwick. 

The subtitle of this book may mislead some readers into thinking this is actually some kind of historical volume. It is not. However, it is a wonderful read. Bostwick takes us through different beer styles, exploring their histories and intertwining those reflections with his own travel and brewing experiences. Sometimes you feel like you’re reading his travel diaries, sometimes like you’re reviewing a National Geographic article about brewing history. Bostwick’s writing is elegant and often poetic in the way it recasts the experience of smelling and drinking beer.  And if you’re an aspiring homebrewer, I highly recommend his book Beer Craft: A Simple Guide to Making Great Beer, which offers a simplified and approachable guide to homebrewing for the newbie.

Drink Beer, Think Beer: Getting to the Bottom of Every Pint (2018) by John Holl.

In this book, beer judge and beer writer John Holl gives us his insider view of the craft beer industry in the United States. In addition to some brief and breezy histories of early craft breweries, Holl also discusses the history of beer’s ingredients and offers guidance for effectively tasting and experiencing beer yourself. One of his later chapters addresses how the beer industry has confronted entrenched problems with racial and gender diversity. The book ends with a suggested reading list and list of resources. Overall, it’s a compact and readable introduction to craft beer in the US. 

My Beer Year: Adventures with Hop Farmers, Craft Brewers, Chefs, Beer Sommeliers, and Fanatical Drinkers as a Beer Master in Training (2016) by Lucy Burningham. 

This book chronicles Burningham’s journey to earn the title of Certified Cicerone, one of the most challenging and comprehensive beer-related certifications out there (it’s like a sommelier for beer). In between being a spouse and a mother, Burningham pursues beer knowledge in all its forms, and across the globe. This book is interesting and entertaining, but it may – I warn you – inspire readers to look into the Cicerone program themselves!

Beer Histories – Academic and Semi-Academic

This is a pretty big category, so narrowing it down is tricky. Any decent history of beer and brewing will be supported by robust evidence, but not all are considered academic publications. Only the first five of these recommended books are conventionally academic, emerging mostly from the fields of history, sociology, and anthropology. Having said that, all of these reads provide evidence-based accounts of beer history from different perspectives. Whether you are interested in evidence of brewing in ancient Sumeria or modern Norway or are investigating inclusion and diversity in the craft beer industry, there is something for you in this list!

• Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (2004) by Richard Unger
• Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 (1996) by Judith Bennett
• A History of Beer and Brewing (2003) by Ian Hornsey
• Beer and Racism: How Beer Became White, Why it Matters, and the Movements to Change it (2020) edited by Nathaniel Chapman and David Brunsma
• Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (2022) by Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone.
• Beer: The Story of the Pint (2003) by Martyn Cornell
• Craft Beer Revolution: How a Band of Microbrewers is Transforming the World’s Favorite Drink (2014) by Steve Hindy
• A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (2021) by Tara Nurin
• Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing (2020) by Lars Marius Garshol

As a beer researcher, I’ve contributed to this body of work as well, with my book Craft Beer Culture and Modern Medievalism (2019) and the academic collection Beer and Brewing in Medieval Culture and Contemporary Medievalism (2022), which I co-edited with John Geck and Rosemary O’Neill. I’m currently working on a public-facing history of Vancouver’s craft beer industry, pre-Prohibition and post-1980. 

Craft beer is a drink deeply tied to the local and the personal, so learning about its history and its culture helps us understand our own community a bit more. If you’re a craft beer fan, you are probably interested in what makes this drink so amazing. The books above will get you started on a very enjoyable research project – so grab a pint and get ready to read!

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This open-studio, four-day event, celebrating its 26th year, runs November 17-20 in 68+ artist studios, featuring 425+ artists, and nine in-studio demos. The Culture Crawl takes place right in the heart of the Yeast Vancouver and Brewery Creek Ale Trails. This very walkable area is accessible by transit, with Commercial-Broadway and Main Street stations in close proximity. Densely packed with artist studios and breweries alike, buses #4, #7, #20, #22, #14, and #16 all run through the area, taking you to studios and breweries in every corner of the area. 

“What the past two years have reinforced is that the arts play an incredibly important role in people’s lives,” says Esther Rausenberg, Artistic and Executive Director of the Eastside Arts Society. “We’re thrilled to bring back our classic Culture Crawl experience. The challenges of the past few years have certainly proven that artists are resilient and adaptable. Many have taken the time to reflect on their art practice, taking it to the next level by exploring new avenues and fresh approaches. We can’t wait to share these new revelations in the 26th edition of the Culture Crawl; it’s truly going to be a celebration of the vitalness of the arts.” 

 

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Strange Fellows Brewing, an ECC sponsor, kicks the Crawl season off with the Preview Exhibition series, NEXT. This salon-style curated exhibition runs November 10-20 in the Charles Clark Gallery, located right in the tasting room. When moving into their 1345 Clark Drive location, Strange Fellows was inspired by the artist studios surrounding the brewery to open their own gallery space, which regularly hosts works by local artists. 

The theme of this year’s Crawl exhibitions is NEXT. After the extraordinary challenges of the last couple of years, there seems to be a longing for change or a sense of normalcy. For this exciting exhibit, Eastside Culture Crawl artists present opportunities to reach for something new, perhaps a fresh start, or maybe the progression of current practices. It explores the aftereffects of living through a pandemic as we long for and ponder about what’s NEXT. 

NEXT is running in a total of five different gallery spaces from November 1 – 27, with each gallery featuring different artists. Strange Fellows is hosting works by Andrea Des Mazes, Anne Gaze, Brigitte Potter-Mael, Cat Mudryk, Colette Tan, Dorothy Doherty, Dzee Louise, Janine Schroedter, Julie McIntyre, and Marney-Rose Edge. 

“[Strange Fellows is] an amazing partner and have backed us from day one of their existence.” – Erin Frizzell, Managing Director Eastside Arts Society (producing organization of the Culture Crawl).

As a brewery, Strange Fellows’ beers are “West Coast crafted, old world inspired,” and its branding reflects this through distinctive, original wood-block labels by Christine Moulson, Brand Storyteller. Christine captures Strange Fellows’ whimsy and “Old World” spirit while telling the story of each beer. As a result, the brewery captures our imaginations and taste buds alike. A cast of characters from the labels can be found on the tasting room walls, hand-crafted by Christine herself. 

While checking out Next, folks can sample favourite beers such as Talisman West Coast Pale Ale and Nocturnum Dark IPA. The Blackmail Stout is back, a sure sign of fall with its rich, round and slightly sweet character. For something different, Yara the Tart Grisette offers tart, juicy, refreshing notes that feel like sun on your face. 

The Culture Crawl was envisioned as an opportunity for the public to engage directly with artists, and see a bit behind the scenes. This is very much in the spirit of many of the breweries and tasting rooms on the Vancouver ale trails where you might catch a glimpse of the brewing equipment, watch brewers at work, or smell the distinctive brewing aromas. Hoppy, malty headiness.

During the classic open studio weekend of November 17-20, you might want to head down to Andina Brewing on Powell Street. The cheery, yellow building, and South American-infused beer, food, and decor are sure to warm you on a cool November day or evening of art crawling. The Cocada Coconut Lime Sour will transport you to warmer days, and make your taste buds dance. The Hazy IPA, with Amarillo hops, is a cocktail of sweet grapefruit, zesty lemons and oranges, and just a touch of floral goodness. 

This is the perfect stop while visiting Portside Studios, located right above Andina Brewing. Portside is home to both established and emerging artists working in a wide range of styles from abstraction to realism. You will find oil, acrylic, and watercolour paintings in this light-filled studio. With a great sense of community, Portside Studios not only provides affordable spaces but has also become a blossoming community for artists. 

Andina Brewing and Strange Fellows Brewing are just two of the 17 breweries located in the Crawl catchment (2nd Ave to Waterfront, Victoria Dr. to Columbia St.). Each studio on the Crawl route has a brewery within walking distance. Always a winning combo! Perfect for a pre-crawl meet-up to decide your top studios to check out, a mid-crawl refresh and refuel, and/or an end-of-crawl debrief, chat and laugh — with cans or a growler fill to go. The possibilities are endless for that delicious and inspiring intersection of beer and art.

The last few years have been a roller coaster ride for us all. As the world strives to return to normal, it is good to hang onto those lessons of the importance of community, collaboration, and connection. The Culture Crawl and BC Ale Trail breweries offer that up in abundance this November, and beyond. 

Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
#eastsideculturecrawl

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Steven Marriott is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter with a passion for bringing people together through music. He says he planned his current tour to introduce music fans to new breweries while simultaneously introducing fans of craft beer to new music. That’s why almost all of the stops on his current tour are at craft breweries, many of which rarely host live music.

“It seems like a win-win,” Marriott said. “I’ve played a lot of breweries in the lower mainland and have always found the patrons to be supportive and just overall wonderful people. The majority of brewery goers are there to have a good time, catch up with friends or family, listen to live music, and drink great local beer.”

The More You Drink, the Better I Sound

Marriott’s new song “The More You Drink The Better I Sound,” also helped inspire the tour’s brewery-focus.

The song was initially written as a fun soundcheck tune to shout-out venues and their staff. He says he never anticipated recording it, but it quickly became a crowd favourite so he opted to include it in his debut album, Caught in Parallax.

“What better place to promote what I can only describe as a polite drinking song than by performing it at craft breweries?” he said.

You can really feel a community vibe in the track. There’s a line in the song that goes “Well I think a call and answer, would suit this part just fine.” Marriott says he asked friends and fans to record themselves shouting “JUST FINE” in response, which he used in the final mix of the song.

Listen to the track on your favourite music streaming platform:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• YouTube
• Amazon Music

The album: Caught in Parallax

As for the album itself, the title Caught in Parallax refers to a line from one of Marriott’s other new songs, “So Far to Go.” He says it references the state of motion parallax, which is when objects at varying distances seem to move at different speeds when you’re looking out a window from a car or train. The term “parallax” on its own also describes how the same object can look different from different angles.

“In the song, the distant object refers to a moment in life that can seem like a far-off abstract concept, yet throughout your life, these moments can take on completely different meanings,” he said.

Sounds like just the kind of thing you’d discuss with friends over a BC craft beer!

Local taste in music and beer

When asked about his musical inspiration, Marriott said some of the most prominent ones recently have been other local musicians he’s had the pleasure of meeting, listening to, and jamming with.

“I highly recommend checking out Larry Edward, Michael Averill, Scott Crompton, Ben Crosby, Anna Katarina, and so so so many more,” he said.

If you’re looking for more local music recommendations, check out Marriott’s Spotify playlist, “Steve n’ Friends,” which features some of his favourites. He will also be posting individual track recommendations on his Instagram page over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out.

As for his beer inspiration, Marriott couldn’t help but gush about a local favourite too.

“I love the Scrumpers Triple Berry Sour at Smugglers’ Trail Caskworks in Langley. Phenomenal beer,” he said. “They even do a Dark Sour over the winter season by adding cherries to the mix, but honestly, everything they brew is delicious. Not to mention the fact that their food is phenomenal, the staff are amazing, and the venue itself is just beautiful. They’ve been so incredibly supportive of me and my music over the past year, and it may sound like I’m biased, but I’ve honestly met so many new fans and friends from playing at Smuggler’s Trail (or Smuggies as some of the regulars call it) that are regulars because of everything I just listed above.”

Be sure to catch Steve on the road at one of your favourite BC craft breweries!

BC Ale Trail craft brewery tour dates:

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For the third instalment of our Artist Behind the Label series, Robert Edmonds—co-founder of Evoke International Design and part-owner of Main Street Brewing—touches on his creative rituals, his taste in the tasting room interiors and the importance of good storytelling when it comes to design. Rob’s been crafting Main Street’s distinct brightly-coloured labels since the brewery’s inception in 2014—when the craft brew craze was just catching on. His designs celebrate the history of Vancouver’s storied Brewery Creek neighbourhood and, as of late, they’ve been inviting patrons on a series of ale-ventures that will keep you on the edge of your bar stool.

Q&A WITH ROBERT EDMONDS OF EVOKE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN

Nicole: Alright, let’s start from the beginning. Tell me about yourself! What sort of life steps led you to where you are now as a designer?

Robert: I grew up in Melbourne, Australia and my first toe-dip into real-world design was a stint of ‘work experience’ at iconic Australian record label, Mushroom Records, before landing a job in a small design studio. As with most Australians, I eventually went travelling and settled in London; again, working in a design studio, this time creating packaging. From the UK, I moved to Vancouver and spent two years working at Palmer Jarvis Advertising before returning to Australia and taking up an Art Director’s position at FCB International.

By this stage I’d met my future-permanent-date and we moved back to Vancouver to start our businesses. Janis (Nicolay) is a photographer and I launched my own design studio. Eventually, my studio merged with my brother-in-law and bar mate, David Nicolay, to form Evoke International Design.

N: Evoke specializes in all kinds of design—interior, graphic, motion. Is there any niche you particularly enjoy?

R: My portfolio consists of over 600 [music] poster designs—from limited edition tour art prints to street level gig posters for artists including The Cure, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Haim, Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson, Ice Cube to local and National Canadian bands, including album designs for Blue Rodeo and Shawn Hook.

I think over the years that has informed my work, as I try to let the style of the music lead the design (much the same way I think the style of beer should be part of the can design!).

N: Evoke talks about using spatial design as another vehicle for communication. Can you tell me more about that?

R: Evoke has a very modern aesthetic and my business partner, David, handles the interiors side, as well as designing modern houses. When we formed the company, we were doing a lot of restaurant design, which incorporated both interior and graphic design so we were able to create coherent spaces that used the same language throughout.

N: Have you always felt like you were meant to do something creative?

R: Yes. I was originally interested in fine arts but ended up going the graphic design route. I still always carry a sketchbook with me. I paint in my free time, and I’m also in a band, The Wivez. (Editor’s note: I can confirm their newest single, “Take You Higher” is pretty rad. You should check it out the next time you have a cold Fruit Bomb in your hand.)

“My portfolio consists of over 600 [music] poster designs…I think over the years that has informed my work, as I try to let the style of the music lead the design (much the same way the style of beer should be part of the can design!)”

N: Let’s talk about Main Street Brewing—how did it come to be? 

R: Early on, Evoke was drawn to the hospitality industry and we wanted to practice what we preached from a design point of view. David and I, along with Wendy Nicolay and Nigel Pike, are partners at the Cascade Group of Restaurants (The Cascade Room, El Camino’s and The Union). Through that partnership, we teamed up with our friend, Cameron Forsyth (Portland Craft) to create Main Street Brewing.

We initially started off by creating an in-house beer for our restaurants. We called it ‘Main Street Pilsner’, as that’s where all our establishments were located at the time. Then the craft brewery craze hit, so we decided to find a location and open a brewery ourselves.

N: The tasting room space is gorgeous—what was Evoke’s thought process behind the design?

R: The game has definitely been raised in the craft beer industry over the last 5+ years, so conveying the brand not only through the packaging but also through tasting room space is important. 

Main Street is in a beautiful old building in the heart of Brewery Creek in Vancouver. It was the original home of Doering & Marstrand Brewery, so we were cognizant of the history and only touched the building lightly. We used complementary materials within the retail store and tasting room to highlight the existing space, including the 30’ high warehouse ceilings and exposed wood trusses.

N: Main Street’s labels are unique. Did you draw inspiration from anywhere in particular?

R: As with the interior design, the labels were designed as a modern interpretation of historical stories from the neighbourhood. We created our core four to stand out against the plethora of multicolored labels on the shelf by keeping them a single colour with a dark graphic icon for each.

N: The “Vacation Series” was a hit! So much fun. How did the idea come together?

R: It was born out of Covid. Travel was not an option for people, so Cam and Nigel wanted to create a series of beers that gave you a chance to escape, if only in your mind, as we all longed to get back to ‘normal’. They worked with our head brewer Azlan Graves on the beer styles and I ran with the designs. We wanted to make the series a journey, so we started with “Departure Lounge”, followed by the arrival at your room with the “Ocean View”, the big blowout party with “Hula Hula Shake”, then finally the recovery day “Poolside”.

People were really engaged with the through-line and we also created a series of videos for the tasting room TV’s and social media (linked above), which embellished the stories.

N: Now, what about this not-so-top-secret new spy-themed series?

R: We wanted to riff on the release of the latest Bond film. Initially, it was going to be very similar to the Vacation Series, but once I got stuck into the design, I saw an opportunity to dedicate more space for a story. I’ve been working with writer J.C. Sorensen, who jumped at the chance to flex his beer muscle! We wanted to have a female hero, so we came up with ‘I.P.Agent Holly Hoppington’, who will be going on a series of adventures to recover the Malt-Tease Falcon.

 

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N: How important do you think storytelling is when it comes to craft beer? 

R: I think it’s part of the experience. Whether it’s designing a beer label, a wall mural, or a logo, I think it’s always important that there’s a story behind the design. It gives an opportunity for the viewer to be engaged and therefore perpetuate the story.

N: Do you have a favourite label or series you’ve worked on for Main Street? 

R: The favourite is usually the one I’m currently working on at the time.

N: How do you get into a creative headspace? Any pre-session rituals? 

R: Beer plus sketchbook. Also, I walk a lot, so a lot of ideas are born between footsteps. I stress over the idea, but once the idea is solidified I can then do the work quite easily.

N: Okay, final question (I always have to ask). Honest truth: Do you judge a beer by its label?

R: I judge a beer by how thirsty I am!

Is there some can art you’re currently crushing on that’s almost too beautiful to drink? (Keyword: almost.) Post your pics and tag the @bcaletrail!

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Craft beer fans typically have a handful of cherished beer memories. You know the kind—the time you went to Oktoberfest when you were backpacking across Europe, or the time you managed to score a rare bottle of something special from your favourite brewery. I’ve got a few, but one of the best was the time in 2008 when my wife and I visited a beer festival in Nelson, New Zealand, and there was a farmers’ market outside—and you were allowed to take your beer outside into the market.

I remember stepping onto the lawn outside the festival and eyeing up carrots and beets, sipping an ale brewed with manuka leaves, and feeling transgressive. You just couldn’t do that in BC at the time.

Stopping by Persephone Brewing’s farmers’ market

Of course, our province’s liquor laws have changed (much for the better) since that time, and now sipping a beverage at a licensed market is completely and perfectly lawful. But it had been a while since I’d done it. So, the other Sunday, I put on my helmet and rode my bike up the road to my local farmers’ market, which just happens to be at Gibsons’ Persephone Brewing Company. I needed something for dinner anyway, and I was thirsty.

Persephone’s 11-acre farm property offers the perfect laid-back setting for a market. On a lawn tucked between a farm field and a pond, a handful of vendors offered a variety of goods that included jams and preserves, wood carvings, wild mushrooms, and, of course, local produce, much of it grown on the same property as the brewery. I parked my bike, bought a pint of Pollinator Pilsner, and wandered, stopping by a booth displaying handmade soaps and body care products to chat with Persephone’s market coordinator, Sophia Ballantyne.

“My favourite part about organizing the market is the vendors,” Ballantyne told me. “They’re always so happy to be here. It’s a fun place to hang out on a Sunday.”

Meanwhile, a growler of Persephone beer was making its way from booth to booth, and as the vendors filled their cups, I could see that this wasn’t empty talk.

Crannóg Ales’ farmers’ market connection is a lifeline

Persephone’s farmers’ market is in good company—many breweries across the province take part in or host their local farmers’ markets. For most, the markets are just one innovative way among many to get their products to thirsty beer fans. But for Sorrento’s Crannóg Ales, farmers’ markets have been critical to the survival of the business.

“The farmers’ markets have been a lifeline to us this year,” explained Crannóg’s co-owner Rebecca Kneen. 

“Normally, most of our beer goes to pubs and restaurants, as we are a rural brewery focused on draught sales and we do not bottle or can. Finding ways to get growlers to people has been huge for us.”

At three weekly farmers’ markets (of which one—the All Organic Farmers’ Market—takes place year-round), Crannóg sells pre-filled growlers, swapping them out for empty ones brought back by repeat customers. The returned growlers get washed and sanitized back at the brewery, refilled, and sold at future markets. This system, Kneen said, keeps growlers from being needlessly discarded, and eliminates much of the waste created from packaging beer in bottles and cans.

Terrace’s Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse and the Skeena Valley Winter Farmers’ Market

Farmers’ markets help breweries reach their customers, but the relationship can be beneficial for the markets too. In 2019, Terrace’s Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse hosted the Skeena Valley Winter Farmers’ Market, providing space in its warehouse for farmers, food stalls, artisans, and live music. Market customers could come in from the snow and warm up in the market area before strolling to the adjacent taproom for a beer. 

During the Northern BC winters, it is far too cold and snowy to have any fresh or artisan items outside for selling. Hosting the market in their warehouse gave local farmers and artisans a chance to showcase their winter wares to the market visitors who may not have been able to get them otherwise.

Since it worked well in 2019, they are also going to work with the farmers’ market team this year to see if they can host the winter market again starting in November or December. Here’s hoping!

Craft breweries and farmers’ markets: A symbiotic relationship

Back at Persephone, I set to work finding things to take home. First I chose a jar of dried morels from Shaggy Jack’s Wild Mushrooms, promising to return the jar next week to recover my $1 deposit. Next, I bought a hefty bag of yellow beans and a smooth, shiny green cabbage that grew a stone’s throw away in Persephone’s market garden. Finally, on an impulse, I picked up two bars of natural soap—they smelled too good to pass up.

I finished my pint, got back on my bike, and, riding away, I reflected that there really is no better way to shop for vegetables than with a delicious craft beer in your hand.

Breweries all across British Columbia participate in local farmers’ markets.  Check this list to find one in your area:

Whistle Buoy Brewing and 3 Victoria Farmers’ Markets

Whistle Buoy Brewing does several Victoria markets! When it’s running, they do the Esquimalt Market on Thursdays, the TOPSOIL Market on Fridays, and the Moss Street Market on Saturdays. 

They will be continuing with the Esquimalt Market for September, and potentially into the winter as well (depending on vendor space as there are fewer spots for the fall and winter). The TOPSOIL market has wrapped up until the Spring, but they will continue to be at the Moss Street Market until the end of October, and potentially through the winter too.

Rustic Reel Brewing Co. and Three Kelowna Farmers’ Markets

Rustic Reel Brewing Co. keeps busy with three Kelowna Farmers’ Markets, which they’ll keep participating in through September and potentially October:

• Kelowna Farmers’ & Crafters’ Market
• East Kelowna Market
• Mission Community Market

Smugglers Trail Caskworks and the Fort Langley Night Market

Smugglers Trail Caskworks is a vendor at the Fort Langley Night Market, which runs Fridays until October 8.

Four Winds Brewing and the Southlands Grange Centre

Four Winds Brewing is involved with the brand new Tsawwassesn farmers’ market at a new development called the Southlands Grange Centre (which is also where Four Winds is planning a new brewery and restaurant). The market takes place every Saturday 10am – 2pm.   In the winter, it will likely move inside a barn.  

Lighthouse Brewing and the Esquimalt Farmers Market

Lighthouse Brewing has a longstanding relationship with the bi-weekly Esquimalt Farmers’ Market, where they have been testing a Beer Garden for the 2022 season! This is a pilot project they’ve been brewing up with the Esquimalt Farms Market.

Lighthouse is working with the market to keep the beer garden going next year, so stay tuned! The beer garden is 19+ only, with beer tickets being sold. All proceeds for beer garden sales go towards the Esquimalt Market, a wonderful not-for-profit organization.

Trading Post Brewing and the Fort Langley Farmers’ Market

Trading Post Brewing participates in the Fort Langley Farmers’ Market at St. Andrew’s Church every Saturday 10am – 3pm, from May until December. They also occasionally participate in the Langley Community Farmers’ Market, which takes place Wednesdays at Derek Doubleday Arboretum from 3pm – 7pm. This market ended September 1st, but keep an eye out next year!

Howl Brewing and Three Victoria Farmers’ Markets

Howl Brewing takes part in three Victoria Farmers’ Markets. They’re at each for at least a couple more weeks and may continue with the Esquimalt Market into the fall.

• Esquimalt Farmers’ Market (Bullen field Thursdays 4:30-7:30) Aug 21, Sept 18
• North Saanich Farmers’ Market (10990 N Saanich rd Sat 9:30-11:30) Aug 26, Sept 9&30
• Peninsula Country Market (Saanich fairgrounds Sat 9:00-1:00) throughout the summer. Sept 4&25, Oct 9

Luppolo Brewing and the Vancouver Farmers’ Markets + the New West Farmers’ Market

Luppolo Brewing participates in the Vancouver Farmers’ Markets, which run at several locations around the city all year round (they reduce to two locations from November to April). They also participate in the New West Farmers’ Market which takes place in Tipperary Park every Thursday, from 3pm-7pm, from April 1st to November 4th, 2021. 

Cannery Brewing and the Naramata Community Market

Cannery Brewing participates in the weekly Naramata Community Market in Naramata. It is organized by the NaramataSlow Society. It runs every Wednesday from 4-7pm all summer long until September 29th.

NaramataSlow is committed to the farmers’ market principles of “make it, bake it, grow it”, the goal is to showcase a variety of in-season fruits and vegetables and locally made food products, as well as convenience meals, snacks and locally crafted goods. 

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For the second instalment of our Artist Behind the Label series, I sat down with Leif Miltenberger and Richard Hatter, cofounders of Hired Guns Creative and talented “art-chitects” (I couldn’t resist…) behind some of BC’s most celebrated craft beer brands. Longwood Brewery, Driftwood Brewery, and Whitetooth Brewing Co. are just a few whose bottles are lucky enough to bear their delightfully dark, brooding, stare-at-you-from-across-the-liquor-store designs. Hired Guns has been blessing BC beer with award-winning designs for nearly 14 years now and, according to them, they’re just getting started.

Q&A WITH LEIF MILTENBERGER & RICHARD HATTER

So, tell me about yourselves! How did Hired Guns Creative come to be?

LEIF: I originally studied music composition at Capilano University. While I was there, I started teaching myself how to build websites as a hobby. Eventually, that hobby evolved into a career as a web designer and developer. Richard and I met when we were both working at a web design company here in Nanaimo back in 2007. We clicked right away and eventually started our own web design company together. At first, we would take any job that would help keep the lights on but, eventually, we decided to niche down. We phased out the web design and focused solely on the packaging side of things. Now, 14 years in, I mostly handle new business development and Richard is our Creative Director. Our clients are concentrated in B.C. because that’s where we’re based, of course, but we serve international clients now, too.

RICHARD: I’ve always wanted to be a graphic designer. When I dig through old report cards and school stuff, it’s clear that’s what I focused on. I studied graphic design at Vancouver Island University and then did a post-grad in web design. After graduation, I dove straight into the workforce. I worked at a lot of shops and started lots of companies along the way that never worked out… but you’ve got to fail a few times to succeed, right? In the past, everywhere I’ve worked, I’ve been referred to as a “hired gun” (hence the name). Now, I’m like a proud papa. We’ve been able to grow our team substantially over the last year or so since the pandemic started and everything we’ve built is the result of a lot of hard work. This version of Hired Guns is badass—it’s gonna really propel us into something new. I’m excited about it.

What drew you toward the craft beer industry? Why do you love it?

RICHARD: Well, we were pretty into beer… ha! We started experimenting with designing labels for wineries—there are a lot of wineries here on Vancouver Island—and eventually phased into mostly breweries. The breweries were a better creative fit for us. We realized winery folks tend to be more conservative in their design, whereas the beer industry is far more game for experimentation… They pretty much let us do whatever! We were also entering the B.C. craft beer boom at that point.

LEIF: Yeah, the beginning of the craft beer boom was so much fun to be involved in. We were at the forefront of designing some really fun labels and it felt like we were creating something new from the ground up—that’s something I’ll always look back on fondly. It was really exciting. Also, I think a lot of graphic designers want to be in the craft beer industry because of the creative freedom it allows. For us, [craft beer is the] pinnacle of graphic design. There’s so much flexibility in what people are willing to do on a can. We wouldn’t think of doing anything else.

Can you give us some insight into what’s trending right now in label and packaging design?

LEIF: There’s been a trend over the last three years or so of minimalist design. Bright repeating patterns are something we see all over the place, as well. They’re quick and cheap to design, which I think has been driven by the crazy new beer release cycles we’re seeing these days (some of our clients have started releasing a new beer every week!).

We definitely watch trends, but we also try to avoid them for the most part. We keep our clients separate from the trends so they can stand out and not look like everybody else in the shop.

RICHARD: Yeah, in terms of leading-edge stuff, I can’t go into too much detail on what’s coming next for us, obviously, but there’s a lot we’re about to show the world. I’m excited about that! Definitely keep your eyes on our website for some new releases soon.

Does B.C. differ from other provinces when it comes to industry trends?

RICHARD: Oh, definitely. Because of the high concentration of breweries, B.C. has always been on the leading edge. The shelf here looks a lot different than it does in, say, rural Alberta or Manitoba. Other provinces are catching up, though. Everybody’s seeing what works here and integrating it. As far as beer styles go, in B.C. we’re seeing every designer hop under the sun and lots of milkshakes coming out right now, which you don’t necessarily see yet elsewhere. Like, in Manitoba, lagers and pilsners are still something people are focused on doing really well…

LEIF: …Yeah, and it’s not like in the East Van ultrahip, “hey, we just rediscovered lager” kind of way… ha! In terms of design, there are a lot more of what some might consider “feminine” designs in B.C. beer than there are in, say, Ontario right now.

RICHARD: Yeah, you’re not gonna see a leather-clad unicorn on the shelf there as you would here. You’ll see more forest scenes and wheat designs—that sort of thing.

You manage a lot of different brands. How do you keep things fresh when your designs all need to be different?

RICHARD: Hmm… staying well-read on history is something I personally find helpful to pull from for inspiration… But otherwise, keeping things fresh is kind of what we do! It does get difficult when people come to us because they’ve seen something specific in our portfolio (which happens quite a bit). We’re pretty paranoid about keeping our clients separate from each other—especially when they’re competing in the same market. Our designers are all pretty spread out now, too (we have people in Pittsburgh, Edmonton, and the UK), which is awesome because they all come with their own unique experiences and visual languages.

Do you and your design team have any rituals to help get you into that creative headspace?

RICHARD: As far as creative rituals go, let’s just say I used to be a lot more punk rock about it… but lots has changed over the years. I’m 40 now. I have kids. I kind of have to just show up and do it. Although, music has always been a huge driver in my ability to focus. When I sit down to work, I crush albums, get into my zone, and try to ignore as many texts and emails as I can throughout the day (which isn’t always easy).

LEIF: Yeah, we do sometimes taste the beer first, so we have an idea of where the product is going to be competing in the market and we try to design something that really speaks to the flavour of the product. I’d like to say we taste them all first, but sometimes we’re designing the label for a beer that doesn’t even exist yet. 

Talk to me about some of Whitetooth’s designs—THE OUTDOOR SCENES. 

RICHARD: That idea came from their camp—they really wanted the designs to revolve around outdoor activity. It totally makes sense for their brand; that’s who they are, it’s what they’re passionate about, and what they design their beer to be about. I don’t know if you’ve been to Golden, but it’s insane. It’s gorgeous. And Whitetooth owns that place, they totally do. We usually stay away from the place-based designs—we’re always pushing for new approaches and new art—but those designs make sense for them. 

Longwood’s Stoutnik. I need to know how the idea for this came about!

RICHARD: That was one of the first labels we ever did! I was really bringing high design to beer at that point. It was a big fishing lure to get people interested in Hired Guns back then and it worked! It did really well. We won several major international design awards. It was one of the more expensive beers in Longwood’s portfolio at that time and they gave me 100% free rein to do whatever I wanted. We were able to spray paint the bottle black and add a blind embossed label with prism foil and a morse code story hidden in there. If you were to decode it, you’d find it reveals the tasting notes of the beer. You wouldn’t even know [the morse code] was there unless you touched it. That decision really came from our experience in the wine industry. If you watch people buy wine or spirits, they touch the labels—it’s pretty interesting; it plays into the whole purchasing decision. 

I love Driftwood’s “Bird of Prey” sour series. What’s the story there?

LEIF: Yes! So, before we started working on their labels, Driftwood had a hawk fly into their brewery one day and it ended up staying for a while. They looked it up and it was called a cooper’s hawk. A person who makes barrels is called a cooper and they just so happened to be crafting some barrel-aged beers at the time, so it became the “bird of prey” series. Then, once Richard got his hands on it, he went a bit apeshit with it—it’s just so weird and cool. They’re some of my favourite designs he’s ever done.

RICHARD: Yeah, Jason [at Driftwood] kind of just lets me draw. As we continue through the series, each bird gets more and more obscure. Some of them just stare at you from across the liquor store; the stopping power they have on the shelf is pretty amazing. Those types of labels are really why I got into this—to do that kind of work.

Do you have a favourite label or series you’ve worked on? 

RICHARD: Other than Bird of Prey, there’s a new series that’s also unfolding from Driftwood right now that has a cyber tech alien thing going on (you’re going to see a lot more of that type of theme coming out). It started off with Oumuamua, then it went to Eccentricity and now it’s evolved into a whole other thing. I’ve had a lot of fun with that because, creatively, it’s so “out there.” Son of the Morning we had a lot of fun with, too—that one actually got us an interview in Decibel magazine, which is a heavy metal magazine publication. All of them are my favourites, really.

Okay, final question. Honest truth: Do you judge a beer by its label?

RICHARD: Absolutely.

LEIF: Not just the beer… I’ll judge the whole brewery!

RICHARD: Yeah, I know it’s “cool” to say “it’s what’s in the can that matters,” but if it didn’t matter, then you might as well just have a piece of tape on a can.

LEIF: What you do on the outside says how much effort you’re putting into what’s inside, in my opinion. I don’t think high design means bad beer, by any means. The label matters.

Is there some can art you’re currently crushing on that’s almost too beautiful to drink? (Keyword: almost.) Post your pics and tag the @bcaletrail!

Travel in BC

Travel is part of our DNA and we’re all excited to see it return and welcome our neighbours from Alberta and the rest of Canada. Summer 2021 is a great time to #exploreBCnow and connect with family and friends and explore everything British Columbia has to offer – great cities, incredible nature, and parts less travelled ready to welcome people. Step 3 has a lot of changes, such as masks being optional for those who have had both vaccination shots, and showing proof of vaccination is not required. It’s important to remember we are all learning as we go, and we need to have kindness and patience at the heart of everything we do. We’re asking everyone to be patient as we work to get our services to the same high levels they were before the pandemic. We’re improving quality all the time as we address staffing shortages, train new staff, and adapt to new guidelines. The B.C. government information on travel and business rules are online at www.gov.bc.ca/covidtravel.

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