The missus and I are headed to Vancouver and Victoria for a week and change. What breweries should we hit? Which ones should we skip? I know literally nothing about the brewing scene there. All suggestions appreciated.
Vancouver (BC) breweries
- Thread starter Mainer
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Don't know about Vancouver, but if you get a chance you should drive an hour south to Bellingham for the day. Chuckanut, Kulshan, Aslan, Boundary Bay, and Wander are all great breweries.
bjhbrew
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I live in a suburb of vancouver so I won't be super helpful as we don't go downtown very often. I would however recommend that if you Have the means to get around that you head to Brewer's row in Port Moody (half hour out of town) where you'll find 4 excellent craft breweries within walking distance of each other; yellow dog, moody ales, twin sails, and park side brewing. They all have tap rooms and a wide variety of excellent beers. One of the bigger craft producers around here is central city (red racer) they have a brew pub at the central city mall in Surrey and a new tap room somewhere in vancouver I think. I also like steel and oak in New West and Dagaarad in Burnaby. If your staying mostly in the city it is very easy to find many craft beer offerings in most restaurants and pubs now, Comercial Drive would be a great place to start for establishments catering to craft beer drinkers. As far as the island there are several breweries: driftwood, spinnakers, and many more. Have a great time, we've had a super rainy spring so far but looks like the weather is supposed to improve for a bit.
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Mainer
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That's helpful. We won't have a car, so we probably won't get to Port Moody, but will definitely look for those brews on tap around town.
The weather can't be much worse than what we've had in Maine this spring. It's been rainy and in the high 40s/low 50s for WEEKS. Yesterday was the first time we've broken 70 this year. Amusingly, the day we leave it's supposed to top 90 and break all the high temp records.
TheHopfather
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I haven't been to Vancouver since the whole craft beer thing started up there so I won't be much help for that city. I would recommend Parallel 49 though. Never been to the brewery, but they make good beer so it's probably worth checking out.
I was in Victoria 2 years ago. I would check out Driftwood, Philips and Hoyne. Spinnakers is the original brewpub in Victoria but I found their beers to be pretty meh. Swan's was also just okay, they had a Coconut Stout that my wife absolutely loved, but I'm more of a hop head. There is no shortage of craft beer in Victoria, there are several beer bars on the main strip that carry pretty much all the local stuff. I actually saw a guy throwing a bit of a temper tantrum in one of those pubs because he couldn't find any BMC to drink in that city at all, made me laugh.
If you're getting out of Victoria at all I would recommend Salt Spring Island, go check out Salt Spring Island Ales. The entire island is really nice and the brewery itself is something to see, a strange little place right in the middle of a rain forest.
I was in Victoria 2 years ago. I would check out Driftwood, Philips and Hoyne. Spinnakers is the original brewpub in Victoria but I found their beers to be pretty meh. Swan's was also just okay, they had a Coconut Stout that my wife absolutely loved, but I'm more of a hop head. There is no shortage of craft beer in Victoria, there are several beer bars on the main strip that carry pretty much all the local stuff. I actually saw a guy throwing a bit of a temper tantrum in one of those pubs because he couldn't find any BMC to drink in that city at all, made me laugh.
If you're getting out of Victoria at all I would recommend Salt Spring Island, go check out Salt Spring Island Ales. The entire island is really nice and the brewery itself is something to see, a strange little place right in the middle of a rain forest.
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Mainer
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We're back from our trip! Thanks for all the advice, everybody.
We got to visit Hoyne, Phillips, 33 Acres, and Brassneck, and tried beers by Stanley Park, Twin Sails, Four Winds, 49th Parallel, Moody, Postmark, Strange Fellows, Driftwood, Salt Spring, and probably a few more I can't quite remember. I think I'd say Four Winds was my favorite. They're doing some great stuff. 33 Acres and Hoyne were also favorites.
We got to visit Hoyne, Phillips, 33 Acres, and Brassneck, and tried beers by Stanley Park, Twin Sails, Four Winds, 49th Parallel, Moody, Postmark, Strange Fellows, Driftwood, Salt Spring, and probably a few more I can't quite remember. I think I'd say Four Winds was my favorite. They're doing some great stuff. 33 Acres and Hoyne were also favorites.
trav77
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+1 on Four Winds. They have some really interesting beers fermented with wild yeast.
