{"id":14392,"date":"2020-06-17T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/?p=14392"},"modified":"2022-01-14T08:10:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T16:10:45","slug":"sechelt-staycation-sunshine-coast-ale-trail-batch-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/sechelt-staycation-sunshine-coast-ale-trail-batch-44\/","title":{"rendered":"Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen Puts Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast Ale Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hyper-local staycations are a great way to support local tourism businesses on the BC Ale Trail. Matt Cavers<\/a> shares his recent family staycation in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast Ale Trail.<\/h2>\n

Between two waters<\/h3>\n

If you look for it on a map, downtown Sechelt almost isn\u2019t there. Perched on a kilometre-wide neck of land between stretches of salt water, the village just barely ties the hilly Sechelt Peninsula to the mainland Sunshine Coast and prevents Sechelt Inlet from reaching the Strait of Georgia. This unlikely location lies only half an hour\u2019s drive from the Langdale ferry terminal, where you can get on a ferry back to Horseshoe Bay. But standing in Sechelt, with ocean on both sides of you and mountains stretching into the distance in all directions, you feel like you\u2019ve come a lot farther.<\/p>\n

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And, as it happens, I really didn\u2019t go very far to get there. I live in Gibsons, and, in the spirit of Phase 2 in BC\u2019s Restart Plan<\/a>, my family and I took a hyper-local day trip to Sechelt to check out some of its up-and-coming businesses \u2014<\/span> including the one that recently put it on the Sunshine Coast Ale Trail, Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen<\/a>, which opened early in 2020 and has recently reopened for in-house service. With summer approaching rapidly, it was time for us to give \u201cstaycationing\u201d a try.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Wobbly Canoe on the BC Ale Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We left Gibsons late in the morning under uncertain-looking skies. We\u2019d planned to kick our day off with a patio lunch, but the morning had been showery and we were nervous. Nevertheless, we aimed for The Wobbly Canoe<\/a>, a popular spot for relaxed meals and drinks in Davis Bay, an oceanfront community just east of Sechelt proper. Amazingly enough, as we pulled in, blue patches were just beginning to appear between the clouds and the air felt warm, if a little windy. This made the view from the Wobbly Canoe\u2019s spectacular patio all the better \u2014<\/span> we watched a tugboat push through the whitecaps while dazzling cloud formations raced overhead.<\/p>\n

\"Batch
Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen in Sechelt, BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fed and ready for the afternoon, we continued down Highway 101 into Sechelt itself. Here we parted ways briefly \u2014<\/span> I was due to have a quick visit with the head brewer at Batch 44, while my family went for a stroll. Being a brewer myself, my \u201cquick visits\u201d with other brewers have earned a reputation with my wife and son for descending rapidly into shop talk, which, it seems, has limited appeal to non-brewers.<\/p>\n

\"Head
Head Brewer David Macanulty at Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen in Sechelt, BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Head brewer David Macanulty is one of the few brewers in the young BC craft beer scene that you can fairly call “a veteran of the industry.” He got his first brewery job at East Vancouver’s Storm Brewing<\/a> in 1995 to supplement his income as a professional musician, and later spent more than a decade working in Montreal breweries before returning to Vancouver in 2013 to take the helm at Yaletown Brewing<\/a>. David welcomed me warmly, showed me around, and poured me a pint of his delicate, lightly dry-hopped Ambrosia Cream Ale, a perfect early afternoon beer at 4% ABV. And, since my family was elsewhere, we discussed malt suppliers and the challenges of working on a new brewhouse.<\/p>\n

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Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen in Sechelt, BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Sechelt\u2019s first craft brewery (not counting the short-lived Peninsula Spring brewery that arrived and vanished in the early 1990s), Batch 44 has been greeted enthusiastically by a local population that previously had to drive to Gibsons to visit a brewery. Opened by brothers Emmanuel and George Kobas, the \u201c44\u201d in the name is a homage to their father (born in 1944), who opened a popular Greek restaurant in the same building in 1986. Batch 44\u2019s lineup of solidly crafted, sessionable beers reflects Macanulty\u2019s decades-long experience in the beer industry, and the comfort-food-driven menu features Greek restaurant classics such as gyros and calamari, alongside burgers and other pub staples.<\/p>\n