In May, we published an essay on Vancouver's microbrewing movement, entitled "Vancouver Craft Beer Week: Taking a gamble'" by Joe Wiebe.
In it, Wiebe spoke with craft breweries that were soon to open, and broke down reasons why the local industry is booming:
"Operating in the city was just too expensive, mainly due to the cost of leasing. That factor, combined with a notoriously onerous municipal development process, made prospective brewing entrepreneurs leery. New breweries continued to open elsewhere in BC, just not in its biggest city.
And then, starting around five years ago, Vancouverites began to seek out craft beer like never before: thirsty beer geeks fill taphouses like the Alibi Room in Gastown and St. Augustines on Commercial Drive (90+ taps between them, pouring mainly BC craft beer) on a nightly basis and demand craft beer at restaurants that once only catered to wine lovers. Beer tickers, who use apps like Untappd to rate every beer they try, flock to private liquor stores like Legacy and Brewery Creek to find the newest releases, and breweries are working overtime just trying to keep up with the demand.
Vancouver has become the engine that drives BCs craft beer revolution: several BC breweries have already undergone major expansions to supply the demand here. Surreys Central City Brewing is opening a new $20-million brewery this summer, and Steamworks Brewing will open a new production brewery in Burnaby this fall. Nine craft breweries opened in BC in 2011 and 2012, and 11 more are expected to open in the province in 2013 six in Metro Vancouver alone."
Now, we bring you updates straight from five of the local names making craft beer news, on how their progress is coming and plans for their new spaces.
Brewmaster: Conrad Gmoser, pictured with co-founder Nigel Springthorpe.
What: Brewery, plus growler shop with 50-seat tasting room.
Where: 2148 Main Street at 6th.
When: Hoping to be open before the month (of September) is out.
In their words: Lots of rotating beer styles. If all goes according to plan, we should be opening with six to eight beers: Imperial Stout, not yet named; White IPA, not yet named; Passive Aggressive, single-hopped, dry-hopped Pale Ale; Brassneck Ale, no-nonsense pale ale; No Brainer, nicely hopped house lager with a little twist; Multiweizen, multi-grain weisse beer with oats, wheat, barley, corn and rye. We may have a couple more experimental nano batches to add to this list, but above are our planned opening choices.
Owner: Josh Michnik | Brewer: Dave Varga
What: A production-focused, family-owned micro-brewery concentrating on classic styles, with a number of stockists around Vancouver. The tasting room (pictured) is a space built to share their craft and communicate directly with the community.
Where: 15 W. 8th, a few blocks off Main.
When: Mon-Thurs, 12-9pm; Fri/Sat, 11-11pm; and Sunday 11-5pm.
In their words: Being quite small weve started with two flagship brands: 33 Acres of Life, a California Common, and 33 Acres of Ocean, a West Coast pale ale.
Owner: Scott Frank | Chef: Cam McGowan
What: A casual, Oceanwise-certified restaurant in the historic Salt Building, boasting Canadas largest draft selection with 140 taps, including a planned 55 from BC.
Where: 85 W. 1st Avenue, Olympic Village.
When: Opening late October; hiring now.
In their words: The 13,000-sq. ft. space will seat 400, plus an additional 50 on the patio. The 83-year-old buildings high ceilings, full-length windows and rustic wooden trusses will shine, but not as much as the giant, temperature-controlled keg room, displaying roughly 300 gleaming kegs and draft lines behind glass for all to see. The central island bar will cover everything from classic lagers to obscure ales, and 12 types of wine.
Brewmaster: Caolan Vaughan (pictured).
What: Steamworks started as a historic Gastown brewpub with a steam-generated brewery the only one in Canada. In order to keep up with demand and create new styles of craft beer, Steamworks is now opening Burnabys first brewery.
Where: 3845 Williams Street, Burnaby.
When: Steamworks will kick off in-house brewing in mid-September, and plans to open their doors by late-October. The tasting room is set to open early spring.
In their words: Over the past 10 months, Steamworks has been constructing its new 50-hectolitre brewhouse, complete with $1.5 million stainless steel brewing, bottling, canning and kegging equipment. The spacious 30,000-sq. ft. brewery will brew more than a dozen craft beers on-site and house a retail area and tasting room.
Brewmaster: Jack Bensley
What: Main Street Pilsner is a collaboration between Cameron Forsyth (right) of Public Lounge and Nigel Pike (left) of The Cascade Room, and Robert Edmonds and David Nicolay of Evoke Design. The company has been renting brewing space from Russell, but theyre about to open a facility of their own with a tasting room (pictured) and retail space.
Where: 261 East 7th.
When: (Hopefully) December, 2013.
In their words: We love beer and its historical ties to the Mount Pleasant area. We will open with three Main Styles and add monthly seasonals. Our building, The Vancouver Brewery Garage, was constructed between 1913 and 1926 on the former Doering and Marstrand Brewery site adjacent to Brewery Creek. The area, once dominated by tanneries and breweries associated with Brewery Creek, is now mostly covered over. It is a rare example of Mission Revival style architecture and is one of the few surviving industrial heritage buildings.
All photos Rob Newell; except 33 Acres (supplied)
