As Vancouver City Archivist Major James S. Matthews insisted in the mid twentieth century, the spirit of Brewery Creek is still alive and well today.

Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood is currently home to some of the city’s most successful craft breweries. Those in search of a pint can easily walk from Red Truck Beer Co. to Brassneck Brewery and Main St Brewing, then across to 33 Acres Brewing, Electric Bicycle Brewing, Faculty Brewing, and R&B Brewing. It’s one of the best walkable brewery crawl routes around. 

However, many craft beer fans may not be aware that under the pavement still runs Brewery Creek, whose waters initially supplied or ran alongside the earliest breweries in the city — Vancouver Brewery (and its successors), Mainland Brewery, San Francisco Brewery, Red Star, Lansdowne, Stadler, and perhaps more. As salmon-filled fresh water coursed down from Tea Swamp, eventually emptying into the original False Creek (where Red Truck is now), it was collected to brew beer and to power breweries’ grain mills. 

Charles Doering and Vancouver Brewery

The first brewery in Vancouver actually wasn’t near Brewery Creek, but it inspired one that was. City Brewery on wealthy Seaton Street (currently the area of Hastings west of Burrard) was a small steam-beer brewery opened by J. Rekab in 1887, just one year after the City of Vancouver’s incorporation. 

We know almost nothing about Rekab, but we do know that City Brewery caught the eye of Charles Doering, a German immigrant who had recently moved to Vancouver from Victoria, where he had been running a saloon and working in the Phoenix Brewery. In Victoria, Doering was proud to sell locally brewed Empire beer for 5 cents a glass at his King’s Head Beer Hall – and this was at a time when many publicans were still relying on beer imported from the US and Europe, despite Victoria’s burgeoning brewing industry. Doering knew that his newest venture in Vancouver, the Stag & Pheasant Hotel on Water Street, would need a beer supply, and he wanted to expand beyond imports. However, there was only the one local brewery in Vancouver: the City Brewery. Doering saw a gap in the market and an exciting business opportunity. 

In 1888, shortly after marrying Sarah Jane Helgesen of Victoria and celebrating with a honeymoon in San Francisco, Charles Doering purchased a property on Scotia and 7^th and transformed it into Vancouver Brewery. He dammed Brewery Creek and used it to power the brewery’s mill.

Eventually, most of the block became brewery property, including Doering’s family home, the stables, and the brewery warehouse. Doering’s horses (which were used to pull the brewery wagons to deliver kegs) and beloved dogs populated the lot, along with brewery workers and carriages. It was an exciting and busy time in Mount Pleasant.

This first Vancouver Brewery looked nothing like the current structure that sits on the same lot — the building that now houses Main Street Brewing. That facility, a beautiful yellow and white heritage building today, was built around 1920 and became the garage for Vancouver Breweries (the later version of Vancouver Brewery) in the ‘20s and ‘30s. The original Vancouver Brewery was constructed in 1888 and opened with a 1500-gallon-per-day brewing capacity. This three-storey building was made of wood, brick, and fieldstone.

Changes, Competition, and Consolidations

Doering’s efforts met with success, so much so that by 1892 he was able to hire a brewmaster from Denmark — Otto Marstrand — to join him as a partner. The brewery was renamed Doering & Marstrand Brewery (or D&M Brewery) that year, and a celebration was hosted at the brewery for its inaugural lager. Lager was the drink of choice in Vancouver — a contrast to Victoria, where English-style ales were still in fashion.

Doering’s biggest brewing competitor was there at the D&M party: John Williams, an Englishman who bought out Rekab’s City Brewery and renamed it Red Cross Brewery. One ad in the Daily News Advertiser explained the Red Cross brand identity:

“The red cross stands on the battlefield for help; in Vancouver it stands for pure beer [. . .] unadulterated with any of the foreign abominations that are injurious to health.” 

Like D&M, Red Cross began advertising their authentic German lager (made by their German brewmaster, Henry Traeger) in the early 1890s. However, it soon became clear that D&M and Red Cross were more friends than enemies. They attempted price-fixing in 1893, and by the mid-1890s they had a monopoly in the Vancouver beer market. By 1902, they announced their amalgamation. Red Cross shut down its facility on Seaton Street and Henry Traeger joined the brewing team at the newly-named Vancouver Breweries on Scotia and 7^th. John Williams was the secretary and Charles Doering was president. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” was the name of the brewing competition game in early Vancouver. 

A popular city-wide contest to name Vancouver Breweries’ flagship beer soon got the word out about the amalgamation. For a chance at a $50 prize, thousands of citizens sent in their name suggestions, from “Kitsalano” to “Acme.” The winner, however, was Cascade. Cascade beer would end up being one of the best-selling beers for decades. It was advertised in local papers as “beer that is as pure and healthful as the rippling waters of a mountain brook … contain[ing] only the purest and most healthful of ingredients … [It] is a drink fit for the most delicate lady.”

Charles Doering’s life became more busy and more complicated while his brewing career boomed. In 1893, he and his wife Sarah, who already had a four-year-old daughter, lost their ten-day-old baby. In 1906, Sarah died due to complications resulting from a tuberculosis treatment in Germany. Their daughter Beatrice, who was travelling with them at the time, wrote home to let family know the sad news, expressing both sorrow and relief that her mother’s long suffering was over. 

Business boomed in the years after Sarah’s death, but Doering began to spend increasingly more time at his ranch properties, especially Hat Creek Ranch near Ashcroft. He had plans to transform the Vancouver brewing scene by creating a holding company that would unite BC’s breweries. With the help of beer baron Henry Reifel of Nanaimo, whose San Francisco Brewery on the shores of Brewery Creek was short-lived, Doering did just that. Vancouver Breweries joined Reifel’s new Vancouver brewery, Canadian Brewing and Malting, along with his Union Brewery of Nanaimo and Pilsener Brewing of Cumberland under the umbrella of B.C. Breweries Ltd. Doering’s old brewing facilities at Scotia and 7^th were turned into office space and all brewing was moved to Reifel’s impressive new facility near Yew and 11^th (which would become the Carling brewery decades later). Classic Vancouver beers like Heidelberg, BC Export, and Cascade were made there for years. 

Doering and Reifel had a falling out shortly after the founding of B.C. Breweries and the company fell into financial trouble. After some legal wrestling, an agreement was reached and Reifel was left with a resurrected version of B.C. Breweries while Doering turned to other business interests and exited the brewing scene. Over the decades, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, BC Breweries would eventually be acquired by Carling O’Keefe, which in turn was acquired by Molson-Coors. Doering, once he left brewing, found health and happiness with a new marriage and grandchildren. He spent much of his time hunting and fishing at Hat Creek Ranch, accompanied by friends — this included Red Cross and Vancouver Breweries brewmaster Henry Traeger and his family, with whom Doering had become very close. The horses who had pulled the brewery’s wagons for years received restful retirements on the ranchlands. According to Doering’s great-great-grandson Dennis Mutter, he had a soft spot in his heart for animals. 

Mainland Brewing

Vancouver Brewery (a.k.a D&M Brewery, a.k.a. Vancouver Breweries) wasn’t the only start-up near Brewery Creek. There was also Mainland Brewing, which opened just a couple of blocks south of where 33 Acres is now. In 1888, German immigrant Robert Reisterer moved from New Westminster, where his City Brewery had burned down, and opened a new brewery “quite in the bush,” according to papers. That side of Main Street was, in the 1880s and 1890s, mostly a cluster of trees, bushes, and creeks. Reisterer made a special funding application to City Council to build a road off Quebec Street so people could actually get to his brewery. However, despite all that effort he didn’t seem to have much interest in staying in Vancouver. The brewery had only a third of the brewing capacity of Doering’s Vancouver Brewery and there are almost no advertisements for it in contemporary newspapers. Reisterer wanted out of Vancouver: he repeatedly spoke of his dream to open a brewery in the Kootenays. The brewery was up for sale in the early 1890s and Reisterer and his wife Clara moved to Kaslo shortly thereafter, following a raucous goodbye party that included plenty of Red Cross beer and a performance of the local German men’s choir. An attempt to open a brewery in Kaslo wasn’t successful, but he had more luck in Nelson, where he established the first Nelson Brewing Company.  (For more on that story check out this blog.)

The Little Guys

There were a few more breweries in early Vancouver that started up and sank without much of a trace. I already mentioned San Francisco Brewing, which was opened by Henry Reifel and his brother the same year Doering started his Vancouver Brewery. They closed within a year and auctioned off their equipment. Red Star Brewery opened in the same location immediately afterwards but closed a year or two later. In a similar pattern, Lion Brewing and Stadler Brewing both occupied the same property on 2^nd (where Red Truck is now) in quick succession, neither lasting longer than two years. One possible reason could be location: the San Francisco site was close to the tannery and the Lion Brewery at the mouth of Brewery Creek was near the slaughterhouses (see the map below). Brewing near these industries was probably not ideal!

The thriving of Vancouver’s Brewery Creek neighbourhood so quickly after the city’s incorporation showed not only the ingenuity of these early brewers and business people, but the eagerness of Vancouver citizens for locally-produced beer. These early breweries also helped to rehabilitate the alcohol industry, which had been tainted by the increasingly debauched nature of saloons at the time. Breweries were making a product marketed as family-friendly (“families supplied!” often appeared in ads) and suitable for not just working men, but for women, “invalids”, and children. Non- or low-alcohol beers, like Vancouver Brewery’s Vancouver Ale, were widely advertised, and women increasingly featured in marketing materials. While the pattern of brewery consolidations, beginning with D&M and Red Cross, and then BC Breweries, at first appeared to be a mark of economic health for the industry, we can see in hindsight that it actually spelled the death of Vancouver’s independent brewing — at least for a while. Fortunately, independent brewing has now been revived in the city and Brewery Creek is quenching the thirst of Vancouver’s beer fans once again.

Learn more about Vancouver brewing history by reading this blog by the same author.

Plan your visit with the Brewery Creek Vancouver Ale Trail.

And be sure to pick up a copy of Noëlle Phillips’ new book about Vancouver’s beer history coming out this fall!

The post Brewery Creek: The Birthplace of Brewing in Vancouver appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

Between March 28 and April 30, 2024, visit at least three breweries from both Vancouver Ale Trails (Brewery Creek and Yeast Vancouver), get your passport stamped, and drop it off at a participating location to be entered to win the Grand Prize Giveaway. If you don’t manage to fill out the whole thing, you’ll still be eligible for other prizes so make sure you hand it in! 

The Vancouver Tasting Passport’s 31 breweries, distilleries, tap houses, and liquor store are divided into two Ale Trails: Brewery Creek, where Vancouver’s very first breweries took root in the 1880s, and Yeast Vancouver, the birthplace of modern Vancouver craft beer back in the 1990s. On my journey through Vancouver this past week, I visited both Ale Trails to fill out my passport. 

Brewery Creek

My first brewery was R&B Brewing, whose taproom features a large stuffed raven standing guard and shelves crowded with books and games. It’s just a brief walk from Main St. Brewing, Brassneck Brewing, 33 Acres, and Electric Bicycle, but R&B is the oldest of the bunch, having opened its doors in 1997. It didn’t get its own tasting room and food service until after its neighbours, but it’s now known for having the best pizza around – as well as award-winning beer (Dill Pickle Gose, anyone? It might sound a bit crazy for a beer, but you should try it). 

I visited with some fellow beer history fans: Melanie Hardbattle and Richard Dancy of the Simon Fraser University craft beer archive project, and Mitch Taylor, founder of Granville Island Brewing. The tasting room was buzzing with happy energy when we arrived; couples with young children enjoyed flights, groups of friends gathered around game boards, and everyone was having fun. After ordering a couple of their fresh, homemade pizzas to accompany our beer, we sat back to catch up on one another’s news and chat about BC beer history. My flight included two fantastic IPAs (the Vancouver Special and R&B’s new Double IPA, Absolute Unit), the Stolen Bike German Pilsner, and the classic Raven Cream Ale – a much-loved Vancouver beer modelled after Shaftebury’s Cream Ale from back in the 1980s. And I couldn’t resist a taster of their cask ales, which were both served from a cask engine: a cask version of the Raven, and their East Side Bitter (R&B’s version of the classic English ESB – Extra Special Bitter). If a brewery has cask beers on the menu, I always recommend trying them. R&B did not disappoint.

A couple days later, my husband Rich and I stepped out into the Vancouver sunshine to visit one of the city’s newest breweries: Brewing August, which opened in the summer of 2022. Located near the Granville Island bridge, Brewing August is in a perfect location to capture the heavy foot traffic of, well, Vancouver in August. Or any other time of year. But August was their inspiration, according to co-founder Tate Lillies. Through casual backyard conversations at family gatherings, Lillies and his brother-in-law Travis Rea discovered they both had the same idea: to start their own craft brewery. Rea was a chef and a homebrewer, and Lillies had a wide range of business experience. With a third co-founder, Adam Jones, they turned their dream into a reality, creating a brewery and tasting room inspired by the long, warm nights of a Vancouver summer. 

Brewing August has a street-level tasting area and an upstairs space as well. Both are light-filled, and you can enjoy looking out at the Kitsilano neighbourhood while sipping your beer. They don’t offer flights, but you can purchase 6-ounce pours rather than full pints, which gives you a chance to try more of their offerings. Their hazy IPAs are popular, but their flagship beer is really their Blonde IPA, a delicious beer that somehow balances on the edge of several styles but keeps you guessing (also, sip slowly – it’s a higher ABV than its taste suggests!). It has features of an IPA, a Belgian blonde, and maybe something in between. I loved it. I was also a fan of their Golden IPA and Rich loved their Tart Cherry Sour – another hit for a hot day. Our beers were accompanied by some of the best tacos I’ve had, delivered by neighbouring Las Autenticas Tacos & Tortas (you just text them your order, and it’ll come to the tasting room). I highly recommend checking them out if you enjoy Mexican food! The cherry blossoms on the leaves outside, combined with Brewing August’s beachy taproom, summery beers, and tasty snacks, made me anticipate the warmth and sunshine of Vancouver’s spring and summer.  

From Brewing August it was only a ten-minute walk through Granville Island – crowded with visitors on this sunny Sunday – to reach the Aquabus terminal. Our plan was to commute through False Creek to reach our final Brewery Creek destination. We only had a few minutes to wait before Vancouver’s famed rainbow-coloured Aquabus came to pick us up and take us across the water to the Olympic Village terminal. Another ten minutes of walking and people-watching and we arrived at Red Truck Beer Company. 

Red Truck was immediately recognizable – a large white tower with the brewery’s name in red letters rose above the industrial surroundings, and many of the vehicles surrounding its Truck Stop diner were classic 1950s-style red trucks. These are modelled after owner Mark James’ original red truck, which he used to deliver his beer two decades ago. The tasting room is spacious, casual, and comfortable (and I was a fan of the bathrooms, too – I haven’t seen sinks made out of tires before!)

Red Truck is the place to go if you want some tasty diner food with your beer – and enough to take home in a doggie bag! We tried some of their appetizers – wings, fries, garlic fries, and deep-fried pickles – and the food was both filling and plentiful. While sharing our appies, we each sipped on a flight. The Red Truck lager is a solid example of the style (clean, crisp, and clear), but I was partial to their North West and North East IPAs, which have a good malty backbone to balance out the hops. These are approachable IPAs that are neither overly bitter nor super sweet. And this approachability is what I expect from Red Truck, which has remained a steady presence in the Vancouver craft beer scene since the company was founded in 2005. To my mind, this is due to its consistency – consistency in its branding and atmosphere, as well as in the beer styles and how it produces them. 

Yeast Vancouver

Our first stop on the Yeast Vancouver Ale Trail was Container Brewing, tucked in on the north side of Hastings and not far from Superflux, Bomber, Off the Rail, and Strange Fellows. It may be hidden from the main drag, but once you turn the corner you see that Container is much larger than expected. With its two-floor tasting room and large patio area (with room for food trucks), it has lots of room for patrons and – in this case – musicians. We arrived just in time for an open-mic session, so we enjoyed local musicians while sipping our flights.  

Container always has an interesting variety of beers on tap, and today was no exception. My flight included their Noch Mal German Pils, the Forgotten Trail West Coast IPA, a decoction Hefeweizen, and their Fresh Horizons Hazy IPA. There was also a hazy on a nitro tap and some Belgian and dark beers that I (sadly) didn’t get a chance to try – I’ll save them for my next visit. The creativity in Container’s offerings is balanced by solid brewing skill. Their current head brewer, David Dayco, came to Container from Red Truck. Combining the rigorous quality control practices and reliable recipe development learned at Red Truck with the creative flexibility of a smaller brewery has helped Dayco produce Container’s diverse yet consistently high-quality beers. I’m a fan of their branding as well – make sure you check out their gorgeous labels while you’re there. 

East Vancouver Brewing was our next Yeast Van watering hole. Stepping into the brewery feels like you’re in a cozy beer cellar; the tasting room is below street level, furnished in warm wood, decorated with beer barrels and local artwork, and filled with natural light from its south-facing position. Open since 2017, it has found its niche in its East Van neighbourhood. We enjoyed flights while sharing an excellent beef panini with sauerkraut. I loved all four of the beers I tried, which included two award-winners, but my favourites were the Black IPA and their Back Porch Pilsner, which was *chef’s kiss* perfect. Rich tried the barrel-aged cherry sour, which he dubbed #1 on his flight. Kettle sours can be nice summer sippers, but there’s something about barrel-aged beer that provides an entirely different level of complexity. They were out of most of their IPAs when we visited, but I was told that a Brut IPA may soon be in the works.

Our final visit was to Powell Brewery, which was just a brief walk from East Van Brewing. Their small tasting room is warm and cozy, providing a sense of intimacy that I enjoy in a local craft brewery. Rich and I took a seat on two comfy low-set 80s-style chairs that brought up happy memories of my grandmother’s house. The familiar feeling made me want to stay there for the whole afternoon, just watching people and sipping on good beer. And there is definitely good beer there – Powell has won numerous awards over the years, including three at the BC Beer Awards this past fall. Big hits for me on this visit were their Belgian witbier and their Dive Bomb Dark Ale – this used to be their famous Dive Bomb Porter, but with a recipe tweak, the style has shifted. On our way out, we picked up a bottle of their Mystery Farmhouse Saison, a collab beer they made with Dageraad Brewing in Burnaby.

The Vancouver Ale Trail has so many craft breweries for you to explore – from the large to the tiny, the older to the brand-new. Take the opportunity to check out breweries you haven’t heard of or revisit old favourites. Wherever you visit, make sure you get your passport stamped so you can be entered to win the BC Ale Trail’s Grand Prize Giveaway!

Get all of the Vancouver Tasting Passport contest details here. Collect six unique stamps, three from each Ale Trail, and hand in your passport at any participating location to be entered to win the Grand Prize Giveaway. Multiple entries are encouraged, and don’t forget to turn in any partially filled passports for your chance at subsidiary prizes.

Not from Metro Vancouver? It’s the perfect time to plan a road trip combining Tasting Passport ale-ventures with a Sip & Stay package! Choose from a variety of accommodation partners and enjoy the best of Vancouver this spring.

The post Explore Vancouver’s Craft Beer Scene with the Vancouver Tasting Passport appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

That’s especially true in the case of Main St. Brewing Head Brewer Azlan Graves and his passion project called The Garage Series — an ongoing collection of wild-fermented and barrel-aged beer he’s been concocting at the Mount Pleasant brewery since 2021.

The Garage Series’ inaugural release was a Bière de Coupage that married 2015 editions of Main St.’s Stag & Pheasant Imperial Stout and Barleywine that had both been conditioning in Old Forester Bourbon barrels for five years with a 2020 Bière de Garde Farmhouse Ale.

In 2022, Azlan introduced two more models. First up was Gale Force Old Ale which was built on a base of the brewery’s 2020 Tunnerman’s Dark Mild and underwent a secondary fermentation in bourbon barrels. This fermentation process was thanks to a special strain of brettanomyces yeast that was famously a key ingredient in the beloved 19th-century English beer called George Gale’s Prize Old Ale.

Next was Circa 1775 Sumac Rosewater Saison, brewed from pilsner, raw and malted wheat and rye, and three hop varieties: Magnum, Ella and Hallertau Mittelfrüh. After a 10-month secondary ferment in Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc barrels from Penticton’s Bench 1775 Winery, Azlan rested it on freshly harvested Staghorn sumac and rosewater from Mount Pleasant grocer Afra on Main before bottle conditioning.

Both turned heads and garnered critical acclaim for Main St. Brewing. The former scored top spot in the Strong Ale & Lager category at the 2022 BC Beer Awards while the latter got the nod as best Specialty Wild Ale at the annual best-of-BC event.

Azlan’s innovations also earned high praise from Jordan St. John, Beer Certificate Head at George Brown College and the first person in Canada to brew commercially with Staghorn sumac, a plant that grows extensively throughout Canada but is rarely used in beer. Sumac adds malic acid to the mix, imparting a deep, tart, almost wine-like flavour that, when paired with rosewater, reminds Azlan of a watermelon Jolly Rancher.

“Raw and malted wheat in the same beer is basically unheard of, and adding rye is a real flex,” St. John wrote in his comments about the beer after he tasted it at the Canada Beer Cup judging session last fall. “The rosewater lessens the citric character of the sumac, focusing the beer. Back in 2011, we had oak as an option, but not wine barrels. That’s a neat trick. It fleshes out the body. It’s very clever and I like what you’ve done with some esoteric ingredients in an odd genre. Bravo.”

High praise indeed for Azlan, who first dipped his toe into the home-brewing realm years ago alongside his father Tad. Their Double Axehead fresh-hopped red ale was an annual release at the Graves house in the Kootenays.

“Sure, there was a father-son connection thing, but I also probably had interest in it because I was underage and wanted to know how to make alcohol,” Azlan says. “But the whole fermentation process really grabbed me. You’re fermenting in glass carboys so you can see the reactions and the whole process in action.

“But I didn’t like the taste of most beers, so I would add vanilla and maple syrup to a porter recipe or berries to a blonde ale.”

In other words, young Azlan was never afraid of flavour experiments.

When he was 19, (and could legally consume his own creations) he moved to Vancouver and got a job at Powell Brewery, splitting time between the tasting room and the back of house learning the trade from co-owner and brewmaster David Bowkett.

Around that time, Azlan’s early tendency to brew outside the box began to flourish. It was his first sip of an Imperial Flanders Red Ale from Storm Brewing one night at the Alibi Room that truly sent him tumbling down the wild-ale wormhole.

“That beer was unlike anything else anybody was making,” says Azlan. “It was an eye-opening experience, and then I started to track down as many Belgian sours and Flanders red ales that I could, especially Duchess de Bourgogne and Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste’s Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge.”

Yeah. The rumours are true. He’s well-red.

The next stop in his evolution as a brewer came at Steamworks where he got wise to more brewing sleight-of-hand from brewmaster Julia Hanlon, R&D manager Brett Jamieson and quality control manager Dr. Dan Wilson.

“They would ‘Iron Chef’ me and give me a secret ingredient and get me to make a beer with it, so I got to trial a lot of things I had been putting into practice as a home brewer. It was an incredible opportunity, having access to their resources and knowledge and being able to run quality control questions past Dan.”

Hanlon similarly has fond memories of Azlan’s time spent under her wing.

“I would describe Azlan as a scholar of brewing,” she says, “which is a fancy way of saying he’s a beer nerd.”

“When he was with Steamworks, he was really into using kveik strains for all sorts of styles that would normally use a traditional ale or lager yeast. He seemed to have amassed an encyclopedia of knowledge on using them. Based on the beers I have seen him come out with at Main St., he definitely seems to stay on the leading edge of brewing techniques, for example, adding thiols and using thiolizing yeast strains. I have a ton of respect for him as a brewer and his approach toward beer styles in general.”

After Steamworks — and around the first few months of the pandemic — Azlan joined the Main St. family.

He already had an affinity for Main St. thanks to its dedicated Tunnerman’s Cask Ale program, and once aboard, he quickly affixed his stamp on that brand, diving deep into time-honoured recipes and techniques to add unique new styles to the ongoing series.

So what’s in a name? Plenty, as it turns out, when it comes to the sobriquet for the Garage Series. Azlan began his brewing journey in garages — his own and fellow home brewer Graeme Hystad’s — but there are more layers to this tale.

The heritage building in which Main St. Brewing has been making beer since it opened in 2014 was once home to the Vancouver Breweries Garage (circa 1902), the Auto Maintenance Co. (1919), Ye Old Brewery Garage (1920-’22) and Crescent Motors (1923 to 1934) and remained an auto body and repair garage until it was rehabilitated and restored to its former Mission Revival-style glory in 2010.

What’s next for the Garage Series?

No less than four new models will appear on the Main St. Garage Series showroom floor in 2023: The 2^nd annual Gale Force Old Ale, which incorporates portions of the inaugural release; A Brett Pale Ale that will mark Main St.’s 9^th Anniversary celebration in May; A Piquette-Style Ale that was conditioned for 72 hours on Pinot Noir pomace (crushed lovingly at Pamplemousse Winery in Summerland by Azlan and Assistant Brewer Joe Ross themselves); and a Golden Apricot & Toasted Noyaux Sour incorporating organic apricots from Blackbird Organic Farms in Cawston and noyaux (the kernel inside apricot stones) that Azlan himself toasted in Main St.’s convection oven.

He’s stoked to see what comes from all of them, particularly the Golden Apricot & Toasted Noyaux Sour. “I’m excited to see how the apricot and toasted noyaux work together,” he says.

His recent travels in Belgium inspired further interest in Lambic styles and how he can use BC fruit in his Vancouver cre-ale-tions.

Still, even he can’t predict what the fruits of his labours might ultimately be.

“They’re all calculated risks, in a way,” Azlan laughs. “That’s why it’s nice to hold back vintages and see how they continue to evolve and think ‘How did I get here?’ and ‘How can we improve on it or repeat it?’ These are very hard beers to repeat, but that’s part of the appeal.”

When it comes to pursuing a passion, Azlan knows that love don’t come easy. 

You just have to wait. You gotta trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes.

And that’s one of the many tools Azlan has in his Garage: Time. Knowledge. Resources. A little alchemy. And an insatiable thirst for planting Main St.’s flag in the unexplored terroir and terrain of the weird and wild world of barrel-aged beer.

The post Roll out the Barrel: Main St. Brewing Head Brewer Azlan Graves’ odyssey into the weird, wild world of barrel-aged beer. appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

Based in San Diego, the I Like Beer the Podcast team visited 18 different breweries in Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, and Victoria, and conducted interviews at six of them, which they released in three separate podcast episodes.

 

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Their first BC-based episode featured Faculty Brewing and Brassneck Brewing in Vancouver, both of which can be found on the Vancouver – Brewery Creek Ale Trail. They spoke with Mauricio Lozano at Faculty Brewing and with Conrad Gmoser at Brassneck.

Listen to the episode here:

The post Guest Podcast: I Like Beer the Podcast Visits Faculty Brewing & Brassneck Brewing appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

The primary effort is led by Lyviv, Ukraine-based Pravda Beer Theatre. Pravda put a call out to breweries around the world asking them to raise money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine by brewing beer using one of Pravda’s recipes.  The response has been fantastic as many BC craft breweries were inspired to collaborate with one another and launch special fundraiser beers for Ukraine. There have also been a few BC craft breweries that launched Ukraine fundraiser beers with their own special recipe.

As you keep Ukraine in your thoughts, keep an eye out for these beers and raise a glass to the mighty people impacted by the war. 

Lower Mainland Collaboration: Ukranian Golden Ale

This beer was led by Rick Dellow of PoCo Brothers Brewing after he got his hands on Pravda’s award-winning recipe for a Ukrainian Golden Ale. 

To bring the beer to life, Dellow organized a collaboration with Main Street Brewing, Five Roads Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers, Brassneck Brewery, R&B Brewing, Tinhouse Brewing, and Boardwalk Brewing.  This teamwork has resulted in 24 kegs of this beer being distributed to the breweries involved. Each brewery will be launching the beer in its own unique way, so make sure you follow them on social media for all the details. 

$2 from every pint sold plus all the money raised from the sale of the kegs will be donated to people in Ukraine through the charity World Central Kitchen.

Loveshack Libations and Hornby Island Brewing: Ukrainian Bottle-Conditioned Imperial Stout

Loveshack Libations and Hornby Island Brewing are working on a “San to Don,” a bottle-conditioned Ukrainian Imperial Stout from one of Pravda Beer’s award-winning recipes.

“Besides collapsing hop filters and running out of boil kettles, the brew went well,” says Loveshack owner and brewery Dave Paul. “It has been patiently bottle conditioning for a couple of weeks now. We’ve tried a bottle or two (not at once–9.3% ABV 60 IBU–good for sharing!) and it’s coming along nicely.”

They’re aiming to release it in a month or so–keep an eye out! Proceeds go to humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Kootenays Collaboration: Ukranian Golden Ale, Putin is a D*ckhead

Torchlight Brewing, Angry Hen Brewing, Backroads Brewing, Tailout Brewing, and Nelson Brewing Company teamed up to brew Putin Huilo (which roughly translates to “Putin is a Dickhead”). This Ukranian golden ale is also a result of efforts by Pravda.

All proceeds go to humanitarian relief in Ukraine and there are two labels available:

• Putin is a Dick label, which is available at the breweries and in select stores. 
• Putin Huilo Label, which is only available through the brewery.

Jackknife Brewing and Unleashed Brewing: Ukraine-Inspired Lemon Honey Wheat Ale

Jackknife Brewing and Unleashed Brewing’s collab beer was launched before Pravda’s call-out. Jackknife brewer Mike wanted to celebrate his Ukrainian heritage with a beer that gives back. They created KUTYA, a lemon honey wheat ale inspired by a Christmas dish that Mike’s dad, Don, would make every year. 

It’s a sweet, zesty golden ale with loads of white wheat and oats, conditioned with smashed lemons and buckets of local honey.

All proceeds from this beer and their sticker sales will go to fund OutRight Action International, an organization that helps to support LGBTQ+ folks who are displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Camp Beer Co. and Mainland Whisky: Beer Whisky

Mainland Whisky is teaming up with Camp Beer Co. to help Ukraine. They are collaborating on a special beverage release: Beer Whisky (ВІСК ДЛЯ УКРАЇНИ). Partial proceeds raised from the 26ers of Beer Whisky will be given to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. To reserve a bottle, visit mainlandwhisky.com.

Container Brewing’s Ukraine fundraiser beer (now passed)

Container Brewing created a special beer called Frau Ribbentrop, a Belgian-style wit brewed using the golden ale recipe shared by Pravda Beer. All proceeds from this beer will be donated to help support Ukrainians. They also collaborated with Russian Spoon for a “beer and pierogi” day. Russian Spoon donated 200 pierogies, along with volunteers to cook them at the brewery. 100% of the profits will go to the Maple Hope Foundation.

Natalie Gates is the Newsletter and Blog Editor for the BC Ale Trail. Based in Campbell River, BC, she’s also a freelance copywriter for small businesses. When she’s not writing up a storm, she’s probably plotting her next meal or enjoying a crisp craft lager at one of her favourite breweries. You can connect with her on Instagram, LinkedIn, or at her website nataliegates.ca.

The post BC Craft Breweries Launch Beers to Support Ukraine appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

No, we’re not kidding. If you’ve been thirsting for an opportunity to finally gather with your fellow craft beer lovers again and celebrate everything this resilient industry has to offer, it’s your time to shine.

Here are the craft beer festivals on deck for spring and summer 2022.

April 1-9 

Victoria Beer Week • Victoria

This come-back is particularly exciting. Victoria Week is returning after two years of cancellation due to COVID. In fact, COVID first arrived in Canada in the middle of 2020’s Victoria Beer Week and the final two nights had to be cancelled. 2022’s event was originally scheduled to kick off in March, but was then postponed once again because of omicron. Finally, it’s a go for April 1-9. This nine-day festival showcases BC craft breweries in a variety of awesome venues across Greater Victoria.

April 1-2

Revelstoke Beer Festival • Revelstoke 

A beautiful resort, spring skiing, and craft beer in the mountains… What more do you need? Celebrate it all with this two-day craft beer festival at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

May 14

Okanagan Fest of Ale • Penticton

Enjoy delicious food, local beers, great entertainment, and hopefully lots of sunshine in Okanagan Lake Park. This festival is celebrating 25 years strong!

 

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May 21, August 6, and September 30

Brewhalla Beer & Music Festivals • Various Locations

BrewHalla is an exciting series of three new beer and music festivals in Fort Langely, Port Moody, or North Vancouver.

• Fort Langley – Fort Langley Park, Saturday May 21 (12:30pm – 6pm)
• Port Moody –Pioneer Park, Friday August 5 (4pm – 9pm) & Saturday August 6 (12pm – 5pm)
• North Vancouver – The Shipyards, Friday September 30 (4pm – 9pm)

May 21

Fort Langley Beer + Music Festival • Fort Langley

Nestled in the heart of historic Fort Langley, this popular festival celebrates the local craft beer community. Come by then stay a while to enjoy local farm experiences, trails, restaurants, and more.

June 25

Squamish Beer Festival • Squamish

The sixth Squamish Beer Festival is back and ready to party! This half-day event features over 55 breweries and cideries to celebrate great beer, local food, and outdoor recreation culture.

July 9-10

Vancouver Craft Beer Week • Vancouver

Enjoy the energy of the PNE fairgrounds while you celebrate Vancouver craft beer culture at this always-popular event.

August 6

Farmhouse Fest • Vancouver

Beer geeks rejoice! Farmhouse Fest is returning to UBC Farm this summer. 

September 9-10

Great Canadian Beer Festival • Victoria

BC’s oldest and biggest beer festival returns to Royal Athletic Park to celebrate Canadian craft beer. This epic event features over 90 breweries (and 1,000,000 litres of beer) from coast to coast. You can be sipping a beverage from a brewery up the road one minute and, the next, be enjoying one from across the country. See ya there!

What craft beer festivals will you be attending this year?

Wherever you are, don’t forget to share your experiences and tag @BCAleTrail. Cheers to new experiences brewing nearby!

The post Rejoice! BC craft beer festivals are back for 2022 appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.