Craftbeers From British Colombia - Beer Travels To Canada

Blarghhh!!! Yeah, that is what came out of my mouth. I was stumbling from crosswalk to crosswalk through the lovely clean streets of Victoria. The goal to this adventure? Try to get to the Greyhound station and catch my bus, WITHOUT peeing my pants. I almost made it. Good thing there was Starbucks with a bathroom on the way. I was racing to the Greyhound to catch a bus to my nice room in a house I was staying at in Nanaimo. I was hoping not to miss the bus which was leaving at 6:50PM. The handicap to this adventure? I had finished 8 or so beers in the past few hours. This is why I was stumbling from street to street and my quick pit stop at Starbucks.

Eight beers you ask? Yes, it is very easy for me to down 8 beers and even easier when visiting British Columbia. You see, one of the things that British Columbia is NOT short of, is craft beers. They seem to be all over in the major cities. I had visited only 4 out of the many in Victoria alone. Drinking 2 beers at each place, which can add up very quickly. And that was not the only place where I found craft beers.

Why Craftbeers?

So why are there so many micro-brews and craft beers? Where did it all start? Well you see, one of the good things about Canada is that they have a universal healthcare system. A great advancement for a first world country. The drawback, is that there is a huge tax on things like cigarettes and beer to help pay for that healthcare. This makes sense to tax people on the items that reduce health and longevity. Unfortunately, this has made beer really expensive. When driving around, there was a sign touting Corona for $4.50 during happy hour. Apparently this was a great deal. At that point I gasped with horror.

When I was in the neighborhood Kitslano, Vancouver, I came across some locals who invited me to eat with them at a wonderful restaurant called The Naam. Ironically they were all from United States who have found a new home in Vancouver as professors/scientists at UBC. They told me of the situation of beer prices and that to combat it, they brew their own beer. As a matter of fact they had gone out to eat just to relax from a whole day of brewing and preparing a beer. This was a huge trend in Canada, home-brewing beers, which was even larger in British Columbia and a much cheaper way to get a beer. This trend grew so large that there were so many microbrews and craft beers popping up all over British Columbia. So that is the history of why there are so many microbrews in British Columbia. At least that is what I was told. There are lot of microbrews all along the pacific coast, it could have been that they just grew upward from Northern California (being from Northern California, I am more inclined to like this version). Maybe it is a combination of both.Either way, for a beer lover, British Columbia is a place to visit.

How Did It Begin?

So how did this adventures start? Using Gogobot.com, I asked the question, “I like beer, can you suggest me some local breweries and local pubs in the Vancouver?” Little did I know that it would open a can of worms. Suggestions starting streaming in. So when I first arrived in Vancouver, I had to try out the list. In Vancouver alone I visited some great craft-beers as Yaletown Brewing Co. and Steamworks Brewing Company.

Yaletown Brewing Company

The first has a great atmosphere, full of many locals and is the downtown district of Vancouver. The area was converted from old warehouses and that is where Yaletown Brewing Company was located. They have a list of great beers in which I tried the Warehouse Stout at first. I love stouts, as they are my favorite beers, but this did not do it for me. I also enjoyed a salad and then had myself a Downtown Brown, a sweet yet hop tasting brown ale. Of the two the brown ale did the job.

Steamworks Brewing Company

Now that I had good liking of some beer, my goal was to hit Steamworks Brewing Company. It is located near the waterfront area just as the last rail station and Steamtown meet. It gets it’s fair share of tourists here, and tends to cater to the tourists, but it has great beers. I started with the Oatmeal Stout and worked myself to the Black Lager. I loved the Black Lager enough to have another. I meet some locals here who were giving me hints on where else to get some great drinks. I had a taster of the Coal Porter which was good, as and the rich Espresso Stout. The surprise was the Raspberry Frambozen, a sweet yet heavy tasting fruit beer.

Rogue

Afterwards my new friends from Steamworks Brewing invited me to try a Canadian tradition one building over at place named Rogue. The drink they had me try was known as a Ceaser, which is like a Bloody Mary, with a sausage. Rogue has many drinks to choose from, it is a wet bar, yet it does have some local brews from the area here. I unfortunately did not have one. The scene at Rogue is that of the place where people go to get seen, and yet filled with tourists since it is on the waterfront. I had to kindly let my new friends go as they went one way and I headed back to my apartment.

The Alibi Room

That evening I headed to The Alibi Room as suggested by the bartender. This place is a great place to get local brews from the area. Believe me, from my experience so far, there are a lot of brews to try. It is basically a tap room and a great place to find locals who are actually really friendly and willing to talk about anything. This was hands down one of the best environments to drink in Vancouver. It was a combo of a good mix of beer, people and entertainment.

In Victoria

Vancouver had some amazing spots to drink brews. But the place that seemed to be the king of beers was Victorira. I took a ferry to Nanaimo to check out the tranquil fishing town. Spent some time with my Airbnb hosts. A day later I found myself on a Greyhound to heading to Victoria. Victoria is known as “City of Gardens”, but should be known as the city of breweries. There are plenty of breweries to visit. The staring point here for me was Spinnakers.

Spinnakers

Spinnakers touts to be one of the first Micro Brewpubs in British Colombia, at least that is what I was told by the bartender. Spinnaker is located on the other side of the blue bridge kind of out of the way of the tourist area. This makes it have a more local atmosphere and feel. It is more of a restaurant than a bar. I started off with the Nut Brown Ale, which was rather good and had a good flavor to it. Ithen proceeded to the the Dark Ale which was nice and rich but smooth enough to counter the heat. I then tried the Extra Special Bitter thanks to the bartender’s suggestion and was well surprised on the flavor. The bartender was very helpful, knew a lot about beers and explained the origins well. He also talked of the history of the area. He was also kind enough to suggestion 5 other places to get some good brews while in Victoria.

Canoe

The next stop was back over the blue bridge to Canoe. Easy to find as it is on the waterfront, easy access for tourists. It had a good atmosphere, a wide open area as well as a large open eating area. This was odd due to the random weather in the area. Canoe has a good mixture of tourists and locals.

I asked for their specialty and the set me up with the Beaver Brown Ale. I really enjoyed it a lot. The bartender at first was not very talkative, until we started talking of Bogotá and our love for the place. He gave me a suggestion of the Summer Honey Wheat Ale. It was nice and refreshing. I then had a Red Canoe Lager which was nice but I had to run as the old lady sitting next to me was starting to hit on me.

Swan Brew Pub

I started to stumble out of Canoe quickly. Feeling a bit of a buzz I had about 5 other places to hit up, unfortunately Swan Brew Pub was going to be the last place. Thankfully within walking distance, I entered the small place. I like small as they have a nice atmosphere. It was definitely different than Spinnakers and Canoe. I tried the Swans Oatmeal Stout which was nice and thick and creamy with a heavy taste. It was a good one that I really enjoyed. I then had the Appleton Brown Ale which I really liked. Was not quite like a New Castle but was pretty close. A hurried that beer as I had to catch the bus back to Nanaimo.

Nanaimo - Fibber Magees

After my excursion from Victoria, I was hungry, despite being filled with beers. I tried to find my way to the area of Nanaimo, a small boating town, that was filled with nice restaurants. Instead I found myself getting lost. I spotted a place where a lot of locals were going so I decided to head that direction too. The place was an old railroad station turned into an Irish Pub. Fibber Magees had just opened a week prior to me entering. The service there was okay, not great and the atmosphere was definitely of the youth sort. The thing that stood out? Lots of beers on taps.

I asked the not so friendly bartender for a local brew and he provided me with a Longwood Dunkelweizen, a nice wheat ale. I then started to talk to some very friendly locals, which seems to be common on Canada. They introduced me to the world of Belgium style beers. They had me try La Trappe Tripel, in which I enjoyed and had 2 of. I then tried a Tremens which was delicious. I then had a local Longwood Framboise, a nice sweet raspberry ale which was quite tasty. At this point I was schnockered from all day of drinking. My kind new friends offered me a ride to my place in Nanaimo. I hurried myself to bed and then slept all night and more

The Wrap Up

What is there to say about British Colombia? Well it is a heaven for those who love beer. Other places that are worth mentioning are The Speakeasy and Granville Island Brewery. A beer fan can have a good time checking out the many craftbeers in the area. Just remember to bring some money.

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Places visited:
Yaletown Breweries
Swans Brew Pub
Spinnakers
Steamworks Brewing Company
Granville Island
Canoe

Bars:
Fibber Magees
Rogue
Speakeasy
Alibi Room