In 2010, British Columbia had 54 operating breweries. As of 2020, the BC Craft Brewers Guild reports a total of 204 breweries in operation, and the BC liquor distribution branch sales reports a revenue of $319 million. In 2020, the beer industry across Canada created $5.3 billion in labour income while contributing $13.6 billion to Canada’s GDP, according to Beer Canada’s 2021 industry trend report. Canada’s brewers are also environmental leaders, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 57.3 percent and energy consumption by 48.1 percent since 1990.
Now there are some good reasons to drink beer.
All of this can be traced back to 1982, when John Mitchell approached Frank Appleton with a simple goal: to make damn good beer. The pair worked together to open Horseshoe Bay Brewing, the very first craft beer brewery in British Columbia. Two years after that, they opened Spinnakers Brew Pub here in Victoria.
Appleton went on to help in the founding of over two dozen breweries in BC, and his apprentice Sean Hoyne runs Victoria’s Hoyne Brewery with what he learned from Appleton in the time they worked together. Appleton passed away from cancer at the age of 80 in April of this year, but his passion lives on with the many talented brewmasters he has worked with over his career.
Sadly, craft breweries have taken a heavy hit during COVID-19; for example, Beer Canada reports that keg sales have dropped 54.8 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. This translates into permanent closures, as many microbreweries rely exclusively on keg sales to local restaurants. When the pandemic forced restaurants to close their doors or limit their sales, many microbreweries watched their sales plummet to zero overnight.
The easiest way to help those still standing is to go out and enjoy the latest craft beers on offer this season. With so many options, it can be dizzying to figure out what to buy. Thankfully that means there’s a hidden treasure waiting for everyone, even those who don’t enjoy many standard offerings from larger breweries.
So in honour of Appleton and in support of over 200 amazing breweries that call BC their home, let’s raise our pints high and have a taste of some of the best craft beers this season has to offer.
So, where to start? Well, one complaint I’ve often heard about craft beer is that what’s available is just “too much,” whether that means it’s too hoppy, too bitter, or too sour.
A-Frame, a brewery out of Squamish, has solved the first of these problems with their Okanagan Lake cream ale, a pre-prohibition style lagered ale. They promise light citrus notes and a clean malt flavour, and I found it to be exceedingly refreshing, with a light aftertaste. Big bonus: minimal beer breath on this one. At 5% ABV, this is perfect if you’re not a fan of hoppy beer but you find dark beer too intimidating.
Another contender for a light, uncomplicated beer is a collaboration done by Vietnamese restaurant Anh and Chi with Powell Brewery from Vancouver. Fever Grass is a gose with 4.4% ABV, and it takes something simple and enjoyable and brings it one step forward in the perfect elevation of an uncomplicated beer. Lemongrass and Vietnamese coriander combine perfectly to enjoy on its own or with a side of fries.
Hoyne’s Bier Garten Kölsch is another great one to have if you’re trying to focus on what you’re eating with it, rather than having your dish overpowered by your beer. This one was all about the consistency, with great foam and high carbonation, and only 4.6% ABV.
In the winter, however, it can be hard to turn toward light beer. Dark and stormy days make me crave a sweet and comforting porter or stout, and this is where many newcomers to the beer world can experience our next problem: bitterness. But we’ve got the solution. If you want to avoid a bitter beer, you simply need to steer clear of Indian pale ales and similar styles, as these brews are crafted to highlight the flavours of hops.
A big reason why so many people preach their love of IPAs and many bitter beers is that those bitter flavours trigger the part of the brain that slakes thirst. I’ll be one of the first to tell you that there’s nothing quite like an IPA after a hard day’s work, and it’s that carnal satisfaction that led to the huge popularity of IPAs. But if you don’t like bitterness and every beer recommended to you has been bitter, the easiest solution is to run all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum.
Many friends and acquaintances that I’ve introduced to the joy of craft beer are intimidated by dark beer. Something about staring into a drink that looks like the void at the end of the universe can be off-putting, and they’re convinced that the brew will be overwhelmingly bitter. A first sip leaves them reeling from how sweet dark beer can be. Alternatively, they find one-note coffee profiles leave every beer tasting the same.
In an effort to create distinct flavours, Squamish’s Howe Sound Brewing has not one but two limited edition porters available this season: sea salt and raspberry. Both check in with 6.5% ABV, but they couldn’t be more different. The sea salt porter is perfectly smooth, with gentle and approachable flavours and a luxurious texture that coats the mouth. The raspberry porter, however, is bright and fresh. The raspberry flavours are front and center, keeping the sweetness of the beer from overwhelming your senses. Malt notes prevent the raspberry from feeling candied; it’s a fantastically balanced profile.
Let’s say neither of these are sweet enough for you. You crave sugar! Dessert in a glass! Saltspring Island Brewing Company—based out of, you guessed it, Salt Spring Island—has you covered. Their Creme Brulee Vanilla Stout is a staple for the dreary winter season, and I highly recommend enjoying it on its own. Just make sure you don’t have an empty stomach: the 8% ABV will creep up on you before you know it, and, considering this taste is perfectly true to its name, it goes down quickly.
We’ve covered subtle beer: approachable, light, and airy. We’ve talked about dark beer: decadent, smooth, and rich. In my quest to solve the third problem—beer being too sour—I stumbled into my favorite beer that I’ve ever had the absolute pleasure of drinking. It’s the only beer I’ve decided to recommend if you like fruit but hate when your cheeks pucker and your jaw aches every time you sip a sour beer.
In my experience, if you’re going to use lemon in a beer, it needs to be sour. If it isn’t, you end up with something akin to dish soap. I’ve also found that any attempt to use lemon out of season cements an artificial and bitter aspect to the profile. Lemon has absolutely no place being used in an autumn or winter beer.
A-Frame decided that they disagreed, and they proved exactly why that opinion is wrong with the absolutely phenomenal tart ale they created with Squamish’s Lucas Teas. Cup Lake is made by pairing lemon peel and juices with Lucas Teas’ vanilla earl grey tea. It combines vanilla, honeysuckle, and bergamot with subtle and sharp citrus that entirely skips the dish-soap flavour and lands squarely in just plain amazing.
I love it. I absolutely love it! I love the smell even more than I love the taste. Before I had even sipped this beer, the second I opened the can I was hit with its fantastic aroma. A-Frame, can I get this in a candle? I’ll take a whole box.
Cup Lake isn’t a subtle beer, and it’s the start of where we’re leaving safe profiles behind.
3 Limes and a Gose Walk Into a Bar. I wish that was the set up for a clever joke, and I did a double take when I saw this imperial gose sitting on the shelf. It couldn’t possibly be good, I thought, not with a name like that. And 7% ABV? In a sour beer? Ridiculous.
The back of the can made me even more skeptical, where the brewery boasts of massive amounts of lime puree, lime juice, and lime zest with the usual sea salt and coriander found in goses. How sour was this thing? Then I read it again and realized that Penticton’s Cannery Brewing added all that lime only after they had already soured the beer. We’d passed ridiculous and gone to absurd.
I had to try it.
When I go to Tacofino and get fish tacos, I like to get a Corona with a wedge of lime. 3 Limes and a Gose Walk into a Bar is what I actually want. It makes sense that this is in Cannery Brewing’s It’s Not Magic, It’s Science series: they’ve done the impossible, balancing such strong flavours into something so refreshing, and I’ll never be able to enjoy tacos without it ever again. I’m thrilled to have had my doubts so thoroughly dashed, and this is the first confidently sour beer I’ve enjoyed in a long time.
Another beer that threw me for a loop was Steel and Oak Brewing Company’s Beechwood Smoked Honey Doppelbock. Just as I can no longer enjoy my favorite tacos without 3 Limes, I don’t think I can ever experience a bonfire adequately without this doppelbock from the New Westminster-based brewery.
I have a great love for smokey liquors like scotch, bourbon, and some whiskeys. There are a few amazing bartenders I’ve had the delight of meeting that have infused smoked aspects into masterfully crafted cocktails. Sadly, I can’t always go downtown and shell out $12 to $20 on a cocktail just to satisfy my craving, and drinking hard liquor isn’t always the best idea.
Steel and Oak’s doppelbock doesn’t make my wallet weep and it has a modest 7.9% ABV compared to many hard-liquor averages of 40% ABV. The honey adds to a velvet mouthfeel and establishes a sweet, smoked aftertaste that lingers for an age after you’ve set your glass down. This beverage is best enjoyed on its own, so you don’t miss out on the full profile.
If you aren’t looking for something to sip slowly and would rather pick up a four-pack to enjoy throughout the evening, Longwood Brewery out of Nanaimo has tackled the imposing task of packing all the delicious comforts and complex profiles of a dark beer into a much lighter package.
SteamPunk is a dark wheat ale that has been crafted with white wheat in the dunkelweizen style. The flavours are as lively as the name (I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say “dunkelweizen” with a straight face) when this beer initially hits your senses, but all the heavy malts instantly fade into a crisp finish with few lingering flavours. Every sip feels like the first one, and at only 5% ABV I felt no remorse about finishing the entire pint in record time.
The trick is that SteamPunk has just enough graininess to trigger the part of your brain IPAs cater to. They’ve perfectly balanced any bitterness from the grain with plenty of spice and a clean finish, while preserving the refreshing satisfaction. It’s no easy task, and Longwood has set the bar high for any other brewmasters who want to compete.
Balancing flavour profiles in the way that A-Frame, Cannery, Steel and Oak, and Longwood have done this season is a skill that’s honed over an entire career. It can be so easy to tip too far into any one aspect and overwrite attempts at nuance. The most difficult style of brewing to manage this in is live fermentation.
Live fermentation in the liquor industry is most commonly seen in champagne, but as many cideries and wineries, and some brave breweries, are proving, there’s no need to limit the method to tradition. When live fermentation is used in brewing beer, the results are called “live beers.” Live beers are bottled with live yeast and cultures, undergoing a second round of fermentation while in the bottle. Simply put, while the product is being shipped, shelved, and sold, it’s still in the process of developing new flavours, despite no longer being in the hands of its brewers.
If you buy a four pack of Imaginal Phase, a live rye saison produced by the aptly named Wild Ambition Brewing from Kelowna, you’ll get to experience this transition first hand. Open the first can the night you buy it, and you’ll be greeted with soft barnyard flavours that compliment and elevate a traditional rye profile. Your mind will be taken to sunny autumn afternoons by apple orchards. At 6.2% ABV, this saison will be a pleasant change from more traditional styles of beer.
Open the second can a week later. The third a week after that. You’ll find yourself greeted by a different experience each time as the beer ferments within the can and its flavours develop. Now go buy a new set and repeat the process, and you’ll find that once again your experience has changed.
It’s a special treat to indulge in live beer when it becomes available, and I am infinitely glad that Wild Ambition stepped up to the job. They’ve done incredibly in preparing this beer for the metamorphosis it will undertake as it waits to be plucked from the shelf. If you find yourself tired of drinking the same old beer again and again, this one will wake you up.
Where live beer is unpredictable when it leaves, fresh hops are unpredictable from the moment they are picked. Yes, picked. Hops are delicate, and hold roughly 80 percent water by weight when fresh. If you don’t use them within 36 hours, you need to start combating the risk of mold. Further, all that water content means you need to use more hops in your batches—an average of eight times the quantity of dried hops.
If all those challenges aren’t enough, you need the luxury of being flexible in your brewing schedule. Brewers are dependent on how well the hops are growing. They need to be able to begin the process as soon as feasibly possible once the hops are picked. That alone rules out the luxury for most microbreweries.
But we live on Vancouver Island. There’s no need to worry about shipping fresh hops over from the mainland, extending the time between picking and brewing, when we grow them right here. Phillips Brewing and Malting Company is able to get their fresh hops within 24 hours at the peak of hops season, and every year the local brewery delivers the freshest Indian pale ale in the form of Green Reaper.
Green Reaper is different every year, because the hops are different every year. Further, Phillips’ brewmasters are only becoming more talented. Whenever I see Green Reaper appear on the shelves, I grab it immediately. If you love IPA and haven’t had it yet, this is the only IPA you need to concern yourself with this season.
This year’s batch checks in at 6.5% ABV and is everything there is to love about IPAs. Green Reaper is bursting with fresh flavours and overwhelms your palette with the zenith of hoppy satisfaction. It highlights everything hops have to offer, and never fails to renew my adoration for the craft-beer industry.
Despite all the delicious drinks I just talked about, I must admit that in the last couple years, I’ve found myself disillusioned with craft beer. There are so many options and strange turns brewers take to grab for attention. I’ve been burned by a beautiful can that contained a beer so disgustingly bitter, I ended up pouring it out rather than suffer another sip. I forgot, for a long time, what it was that I loved so much in the first place.
So I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the beverage that brought me down this lovely little journey to rediscovering what craft beer has to offer. Hoyne Brewing is a frontrunner in the craft-beer industry. Printed on the can of the first in a brand new series of craft beer from the brewery are these words from Sean Hoyne:
Years ago, I had the great fortune of learning my craft from Brewmaster Frank Appleton. In addition to the science, process and craft of brewing, Frank taught me the wisdom and value of sharing knowledge. Now, I have the honour to do the same. Four of my team, Dave Macnaughton, Chris McCordan, Antoine Foukal, and Dylan Hoyne have been given “Carte Blanche” to design a series of beers that we have dubbed the “Young Lions” series. I am very proud of these brewers, and honoured to present the first in the series.
Carte Blanche is a Belgian white Indian pale ale that rests at a reasonable 6% ABV. Soft citrus pairs together with confident hops in a flavour that initially gave me pause. As I split the drink with my husband, I realized what it was that kept drawing me back in: Carte Blanche is simple. Not plain by any means, but simple. This was the taste that had initially started the IPA craze, before everyone was trying to outdo one another. A good, solid beer without bells and whistles and with nothing to prove. A beer for the people who celebrate its craft.
If you came of legal drinking age during the craft-beer gold rush and want to know what exactly started it all off, pick up Carte Blanche. It’s a time capsule back to the start of this incredible industry and a perfect way to celebrate just how far we have come.
I think Frank Appleton would be proud of where we’ve ended up, and I hope one of these craft beers is enough to spark your own personal love for the art of brewing.