{"id":50587,"date":"2024-02-14T10:48:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T18:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/?p=50587"},"modified":"2024-02-14T10:48:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T18:48:53","slug":"hops-among-friends-isaiah-archer-and-matt-west-patrick-of-whistle-buoy-brewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcaletrail.ca\/hops-among-friends-isaiah-archer-and-matt-west-patrick-of-whistle-buoy-brewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hops Among Friends: Isaiah Archer and Matt West-Patrick of Whistle Buoy Brewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hops Among Friends is designed to showcase the people who make up the craft beer scene on the BC Ale Trail. In this latest installment, Kim Lawton interviews Isaiah Archer and Matt West-Patrick from Whistle Buoy Brewing.<\/h2>\n

My most recent Hops Among Friends interview was with Tessa Gabiniewicz<\/a> from Land & Sea Brewing<\/a>. At the end of our discussion, Tessa recommended that I speak with Matt West-Patrick and Isaiah Archer from Whistle Buoy Brewing<\/a> for my next Hops Among Friends interview. Matt is Co-owner and Head Brewer, Isaiah is Co-owner and Sales & Marketing Manager at Whistle Buoy Brewing, which was established in 2019 in Victoria on the Greater Victoria Ale Trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matt and Isaiah are doing great things at Whistle Buoy Brewing and it was a really interesting discussion. I enjoyed hearing more about their commitment to featuring local ingredients in their beers.<\/p>\n

This interview also reminded me that it’s been too long since I’ve been to Victoria. The last time I visited Victoria, I had the opportunity to peek inside the windows at Whistle Buoy Brewing before it opened in 2019.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m super honoured to share that this is my 20th interview in this series over the last 7 years. You can read through all of my previous Hops Among Friends articles here<\/a>. It\u2019s been an absolute privilege to interview so many amazing leaders in the craft beer industry.<\/p>\n

\"A
Whistle Buoy Brewing on the Greater Victoria Ale Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kim: What was your first experience with craft beer? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt:<\/strong> Growing up in Victoria, my first experience with craft beer was seeing Phillips Brewing<\/a> boom as I came to be of legal drinking age. They were the big player in the craft beer market here and doing lots of great stuff. They were my inspiration to later on chase the craft beer dream.<\/p>\n

Isaiah:<\/strong> I moved to Victoria when I was 19. I think my first real craft beer experience was going to Sombrio Beach to surf and driving home through Sooke. We would always stop at 17 Mile House Pub after surfing, and we\u2019d eat chowder paired with Race Rocks. This nice, hearty beer from Lighthouse Brewing<\/a> was part of the whole experience. It was so different than just drinking a cheaper, commercial beer. Then I got introduced to the different beers in the mixed pack from Phillips and the White Bark Witbier from Driftwood Brewery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kim: How did you get started in craft beer together? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt:<\/strong> There were three of us that started this project together. We founded the company, and then we brought in two more partners during the process. Isaiah, Iwan and I were the three original founders. We spent a lot of time together in 2016 and 2017. We all really enjoyed the coastal life – freediving, spearfishing and other outdoor activities. I was working at Spinnakers<\/a> at the time. Isaiah had previously worked with Phillips, and we started talking about opening a brewery.<\/p>\n

\"Matt,
Isaiah, Iwan and Matt on a spearfishing trip (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The three of us started to put together our business plan in 2017. We started going to banks in 2018 once we found the space that worked for us. I am the head brewer, Isaiah handles our sales and marketing, and Iwan looks after business development.<\/p>\n

As we were dealing with the banks, we started talking about the need for extra investors, and so we brought on two more partners. Colin and Nina were in Windsor at the time and wanted to move back to Victoria. They came on board and Colin is our front-of-house manager, and Nina handles our financials and HR. In the beginning, though, it was all hands on deck, and everyone helped with everything.<\/p>\n

\"Matt,
Matt, Colin, Nina and Isaiah in a meeting in the Whistle Buoy Taproom (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Isaiah: <\/strong>Iwan, Matt and I got together based on our mutual interest in craft beer, playing on the same softball team, and our love of freediving and spearfishing. Freediving is a bit of an obscure sport that all three of us were interested in. That shared interest led the three of us to some fishing trips in Bamfield. We were diving near a spot marked by a nautical beacon, which is called a whistle buoy. That is what inspired our branding and logo.<\/p>\n

\"Matt,
Matt, Isaiah and Iwan jumping off a whistle buoy (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kim: Tell me more about the Whistle Buoy theme. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah:<\/strong> The theme really resonated for all of us because of our love of outdoor adventures and our natural and inspiring environment. Plus, we are located in downtown Victoria, which is also a coastal environment. We are young professionals working downtown in the city, but we also have a keen interest in the outdoor environment. So it\u2019s a balance of opposites. We are all about embracing our vibrant, downtown community, full of culture and hospitality, while also making sure we get outside and explore everything that the outdoors has to offer.<\/p>\n

\"An
An aerial photo of Whistle Buoy Brewing’s patio in Market Square, Downtown Victoria (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A big part of what we try to get across is reflecting the quality of the place that we are in. We are on the southern part of the island, which is a very productive growing region. We want our beers to reflect the growing climate here, and the variety of things that grow around us. We are looking to connect our brewery and beers to our local community in this way. We look at our taproom as an \u201cexperience centre\u201d. People can come and try a taste of Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n

We have a clear vision to make sure we are buying ingredients that are grown here first, and we work with a lot of local producers before we go elsewhere. A lot of value that we offer comes from this philosophy. It differentiates and highlights the place we are in. We are a tourism destination and we like to reflect the good stuff that is coming from our community. Our beers are made for the people who live here and our visitors.<\/p>\n

An example is using bull kelp in our Under Sea Gose. The kelp is from the ocean just up the road from us. The grain for most of our beers is grown near BC Ferries on the peninsula. For our sour beers and fruit beers, we look for local farmers for these ingredients too. It\u2019s important to us to use quality ingredients that are grown as close to home as possible.<\/p>\n

\"A
Under Sea Gose from Whistle Buoy Brewing in Victoria (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matt:<\/strong> I was at Field 5 Farm<\/a>\u00a0today, which is about 20 minutes away from our brewery. They grow and malt their own grains there for us. About 95-98% of the grains that we use for our beer right now are coming from them.<\/p>\n

\"Matt
Matt from Whistle Buoy Brewing with Kyle at Field 5 Farm (photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think it\u2019s also worth noting that we won two silver medals back-to-back in the 2022 and 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards in the Historic\/Regional Beers category for our Backyard IPA and our Garden City Fieldberry. Then we won a bronze at the 2023 Canada Beer Cup for our LoJo Lite in the Canadian Grain-Forward category. These awards reflect our commitment to working with local suppliers and featuring local ingredients, so it\u2019s very cool when we win awards for this reason.<\/p>\n