MyWestworld

Beervana

Posted on 14. Jun, 2009 by BCAA in Living

by Jeff Bateman
Victoria’s ale trail is a heady place to roam thefoam of the microbrew renaissance

The portico lights of Spinnakers Brewpub’s 1884 guesthouse exude a rosy glow as we return from what in some circles is known as a night on the tiles. Our upstairs room, with its vaulted ceilings and sneak views of Victoria’s Inner Harbour, is made warmer still by the dozen or so exceptionally tasty microbrews I’ve sampled while traipsing along the city’s unofficial “ale trail.” Having limited myself to sampler-sized flights of these award-winning artisan beers, I’ve not been doing the staggered dance of a sailor on shore leave. Yet after lingering in the city’s quartet of world-class brewpubs over fine food and a succession of remarkable glasses of amber nectar, I’m clearly feeling no pain. “Hoppy and happy” are my final words to my bemused, rather less-soused wife as I slip into dreamland.

North America’s microbrew renaissance, a grassroots movement dating back a quarter century that reintroduced fresh, unpasteurized lagers and ales to a public weaned on the relatively tasteless suds churned out by the major breweries, can be traced directly to Pacific Northwest pioneers in Vancouver, Victoria, Portland and Seattle. Spinnakers, in fact, was Canada’s first purpose-built brewpub when it opened in 1984, jump-starting a trend that has seen real-ale temples established in urban centres across the country. Labatt and Molson Coors still dominate the $8-billion-per-year domestic business, but StatsCan reports that so-called “premium” beers have carved out a 15 per cent share of national sales. And while a portion of this niche belongs to Heineken and other imports, Canada’s feisty micro- breweries represent the one bullish segment of an industry that is otherwise experiencing slippage. (The venerable Molson, for instance, is down four percentage points since 2001 to a current 41 per cent share of the Canadian beer market.)

No statistics confirm it, but Victoria is without question a mecca for beer enthusiasts – a Beervana or Brewtopia by any other name. Case in point: The American Society of Beer Chemists, representing the brainiest, geekiest of brewmasters, returned here in June 2007 for its third convention in the last decade, talking shop and sampling no end of local brews. The Great Canadian Beer Festival draws legions of hopheads to Victoria’s Royal Athletic Park each Labour Day weekend. And, best of all, fans of the amber throat charmer can make a night of it anytime by booking a room, parking the car and undertaking a scenic crawl from one classy brewpub to the next; all four are centrally located near or on the waterfront and separated by no more than a gentle 20-minute stroll. In this time zone, only Portland’s riot of brewpubs tops the B.C. capital for liquid variety and walkable accessibility.

Just as regional organic produce defines Vancouver Island’s burgeoning foodie culture, the same “slow food” philosophy applies to its handcrafted beer. From summery Hefeweizens and a growing array of fruit and spice-infused tipples to heavier stouts, bitters and Belgian-style ales, the house products served at Spinnakers, the Canoe Brewpub, Swans and Hugo’s Brewhouse are produced mere paces from each of their gleaming tapheads. “The whole point of craft ale is that it’s fresh, pure, nutritious and local,” explains Andrew Tessier, the amiable beer guru at Swans who brewed up for the first time as a teenager, refined his talents with a group of friends dubbed “the Raging Grainies” and last year won four golds at the Canadian Brewing Awards in Toronto. In the early afternoon of my big night out, the 35-year-old Victoria native is showing off the brew room where, outfitted in overalls and black rubber boots, he has just finished transferring a batch of his bestselling Arctic Ale into stainless-steel fermentation tanks. “West Coasters demand a bit more flavour and taste than you get in the bland, straw-coloured beer traditionally produced for the mass market. We’ve got some great brewers in this town combined with educated drinkers who appreciate their work.”

Since the mid-1800s, when the province was first settled by non-aboriginals, Victoria has been at the forefront of brewing in Canada. (Next year marks the 150th anniversary of beermaking not just here but in all of Western Canada.) First on the scene was William Steinberger, one of thousands of adventurers lured to the West Coast during the early days of the gold rush. In 1858, the native of Cologne, Germany, opened the Victoria Brewing Company – the first commercial plant west of the Great Lakes. As Steinberger soon discovered, satiating thirsts was an honourable profession at a time when bread and ale were staples of every diet. Beer historian Greg Evans, executive director of B.C.’s Maritime Museum, cites Colonial Breweries owner Arthur Bunster as a notable case in point: An Irishman and outspoken critic of the temperance movement, Bunster served as a provincial and federal member of Parliament. Reputations remained solid for the simple reason that Victoria’s breweries were producing liquid gold. Thomas and Robert Carter’s operation in the 500 block of Herald Street (the Vancouver Ale, Porter & Steam Beer Brewery), for example, won medals at the Paris Exposition of 1889. Such was the city’s reputation a century ago, says Evans, that local ales were being exported to California, the Yukon and even Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Dutch East Indies.

With the mono- polistic rise of the giant beer corps in the first half of the 20th century, however, the arcane and ancient arts of handcrafted ales were lost in a tsunami of stubby brown bottles. The industry would not turn around until June 1982, when John Mitchell, widely known as the grandfather of North America’s craft brewing scene, battled reluctant liquor board authorities for permission to serve two kinds of craft ales at the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, just northwest of Vancouver. Returning from a U.K. fact-finding trip with 14 different beers, Mitchell subsequently hosted a tasting session for friends and ale aficionados. Spinnakers owner Paul Hadfield, then an architect based on Granville Island, was among them. “I was fascinated by the diversity of flavours that we Canadians never got to experience,” he says. “And the homebrews made by John were the best of the bunch. I saw the opportunity right then.”

As the sun drops below the yardarm, Hadfield and his young brewmaster Rob Monk, a fresh-faced new-generation artisan who learned his trade in the Far North, pour samples of their latest concoctions – among them Mon Cherie Ale, a cherry-infused seduction brewed specially for the Victoria Erotica Festival, and a series of bold Belgian-style ales. Sommelier Brian Storen steps up with trays of chocolate and cheese – the former made in-house by a pastry chef with the delightful name of Crystal Duck, the cheeses sourced from the Cowichan Valley and Salt Spring Island. Food and beer pairings are all the rage these days in many foodie hotspots, not just upscale brewpubs. That’s no surprise: In its multitude of incarnations – sweet, bitter, dry, tart, sour, hoppy, fruity, grainy – beer delivers more flavour profiles than wine. While it may sound odd, there’s nothing quite like the taste of a wasabi-white-chocolate truffle washed down with Iceberg Pale Ale, a crisp seasonal brew created for the Royal BC Museum’s recent “Titanic” exhibit.

courtesy Canoe Brewpub

Pleasantly buzzed, my wife and I amble along the seawall as floatplanes make their last runs of the day and local residents take their Jack Russells out for a walkie. Crossing the blue Johnston Street bridge, we veer into Chinatown, descend back to water level and snag two barstools at the Canoe Brewpub. Packed as ever with the after-work crowd, the heritage warehouse space delivers an impressive west-coast fusion menu (check out the B.L.A.T., a supercharged BLT served on flatbread) and a range of traditional lagers, bitters and ales. Like his brethren, affable brew-master Sean Hoyne has an abiding respect for Bavaria’s Beer Brewing Purity Act of 1516, which dictates that “real ale” is made strictly from water, malted barley and hops. Quality was an issue in the early days of the craft-beer revival, admits Hoyne, a fixture at the Canoe since it opened a decade ago and who can often be found sharing a glass with the pub’s regulars. Some of those early batches were no better than “whatever Uncle Harry was fermenting in the basement.” Not so today.

“We now have a generation of experienced brewers backed by state-of-the-art equipment,” says Hoyne, tapping a gauge in his cozy brew room behind the bar. “The craft hasn’t changed in centuries, but today we have all the bells and whistles to make consistently superb beer.” The result is new-breed brews that are appealing to a much broader range of tipplers than ever before. “Our demographic cuts across all age groups and socio-economic backgrounds. Once you taste a craft ale, there’s no turning back. This industry is definitely not a fad.”

While Victoria is clearly B.C.’s beer capital, there has never been a shortage of quaint, English-style pubs dotted across Vancouver Island – some in particularly scenic locations, among them the Crow & Gate (not far from Ladysmith), the Rocking Horse (Nanoose Bay) and the Stonehouse (a short hike from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal). Now, to the delight of real-ale advocates, the brewpub phenomenon is also spreading up-island from Victoria. On the northern fringe of Nanaimo, brewmaster Harley Smith serves up a constantly changing menu of seasonal beers to augment the fine west coast cuisine served at Longwood Brew Pub & Restaurant. (Longwood publican Barry Ladell is the father of former Spinnakers brewer Lon Ladell, who currently operates Fuse Waterfront Grill in Sooke and has plans to open the town’s first brewpub some day in the future.) The Merecroft Village Pub in Campbell River is also now brewing its own. And in the picturesque heart of old-town Duncan, Chris Gress offers pints of his Cowichan Bay Lager and Arbutus Ale at the lively Craig Street Brew Pub, where locals socialize amid a fine collection of paintings by the late E.J. Hughes, the nationally renowned Cowichan Valley artist.

Though publicans and brewmasters alike are a friendly bunch with a deep respect for one another and the craft of brewing, the ale industry nonetheless remains a competitive business. But the rivalry isn’t hurting anyone’s profit margins. As in Victoria, each of the up-island brewpubs also does a booming business in takeaway sales, with various house brands bottled with designer labels in a variety of containers (from old-school stubbies to half-gallon glass “growlers” with clamp-down top.) Indeed, string all these establishments together, and the Island has the makings of a genuine, multi-city “ale trail.” That particular terminology, in fact, was used in the Island’s short-lived brewpub marketing strategy of 2000/01, which earned raves from The New York Times, no less.

Back in Victoria on an evening that is growing increasingly fuzzy at the edges, we walk the few hundred metres from the Canoe Brewpub to its nearby neighbour, Swans. A trio is pumping out blues chestnuts as we huddle with the locals at the gleaming wooden bar, gingerly nursing tasters as everyone else pounds back pints of Andrew Tessier’s finest. An hour later, it’s the Super G Ginger Ginseng Ale that knocks us out at Hugo’s Brewhouse. A stone’s throw from the Empress Hotel in the downtown core, Hugo’s is populated at this late hour by young, hip-shaking partiers. Benjamin Schottle’s current set of brews prove to be a fine nightcap as the DJ spins vintage funk and soul. Armed with a degree in biochemical engineering from the University of Western Ontario, Schottle realized he could combine his studies with what he laughingly tells me was “extensive research” during his student years going through his share of 24-packs. After a stint in Whistler, he moved to Victoria in 1994 and quickly became known for his recipes.

The Super G is Schottle’s signature ale, but lately he has been experimenting with fruit-infused Hefeweizens – notably a mandarin varietal that is popular on summer evenings. With the late great James Brown exhorting us to get on up from our comfortable perch on Hugo’s brown leather sofas, it’s clear that Victoria, and Vancouver Island as a whole, has become one superb place to get down with the best of the microbrews.

the macro view of microbrews

Augmenting Vancouver Island’s brewpub scene are an assortment of first-rate microbreweries — defined as relatively large-scale operations that produce less than 12,500 hectolitres (15,000 barrels) of beer annually.

A snapshot guide to Island brews available in many liquor stores:

Fat Cat Brewery
Nanaimo. Six varieties of “beer made from scratch.” Bestseller: Fat Head India Pale Ale.

Phillips Brewing Co.
Victoria. Founded by one-time Spinnakers brewer Matt Phillips and reigning B.C. Brewery of the Year (as judged by the hardcore enthusiasts who belong to CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale). Bestseller: Blue Truck Ale.

Lighthouse Brewing
Victoria. Brewer Paul Hoyne is the brother of the Canoe Club’s resident beer man Sean Hoyne. Bestseller: Race Rocks Amber.

Vancouver Island Brewery
Victoria. Launched in 1984, shortly after Canada’s first micro-brewery, Vancouver’s Granville Island Brewery, opened. Bestseller: Pipers Pale Ale.

a four-step guide
Victoria’s brewpub crawl (and where to sleep it off)

Hugo’s Brewhouse
Brewpub by day morphs into a nightclub after 9 p.m.
Drink this: The full-bodied Voodoo Porter weaves its magic with scents of chocolate and coffee.
Crashpad: Next door in the lush confines of the Magnolia Hotel (which also houses the Asian fusion restaurant Sanuk, where Ben Schottle’s beers are also served). Hugo’s: 250-920-4844; 625 Courtney St. The Magnolia: 1-877-624-6654; 623 Courtenay St.;

Spinnaker’s Gastro Brewpub
Trendsetting slow-food menu, a lively upstairs pub and postcard views of the Inner Harbour.
Drink this: Fogfighter, a strong Belgian ale to navigate the foulest autumn weather.
Crashpad: Either the Victorian-era guesthouse or the contemporary garden suites — both steps from the pub itself. 250-384-6613; 308 Catherine St.

Swans Brewpub
Victoria landmark and the reigning National Brewpub of the Year.
Drink this: Legacy Ale, a barley wine-style strong beer dedicated to the hotel’s late founder, the renowned entrepreneur Michael Williams. Crashpad: Upstairs in one of 29 uniquely decorated, art-strewn studios and suites. 250-361-3310; 506 Pandora Ave.

Canoe Brewpub Marina & Restaurant
Built in 1894, this heritage warehouse’s brick and timber bones look smashing after a $6-million facelift.
Drink this: Beaver Brown Ale, dark and smooth with hints of chocolate and maple.
Crashpad: No on-site accommodation, but the Bedford Regency Hotel (604-384-6835) in nearby Bastion Square offers boutique rooms at reasonable rates. Canoe: 250-361-1940; 450 Swift St.

Lead photo courtesy of sashafatcat.