Also, the reason that the brewery on Granville Island seemed so quaint is that hardly any beer is produced there. All of Granville Island’s products in standard bottles, cans and kegs have been produced in a “gleaming, modern operation” for years. The “real” brewery is in Kelowna, several hours away from English Bay and Cypress Mountain. They moved the operations away around the same time they started naming the beers after local neighbourhoods and landmarks. (an amazing feat of marketing!) That’s also when they gutted the original brewery and turned it into a taproom and gift shop. Granville Island plays up the illusion that they are a local Vancouver business but it simply has not been true for years. Only their large-bottle seasonal beers are made on the original site. A very, very tiny fraction of their output. (and by far, the best stuff they make) They keep the Island brewery open for tourists and to keep up the illusion that the beer is made there. Their former owners were a part of Ontario’s Peller wines and have been making the beer in one of their Okanagan winery plants. Of course now that Molson has taken over, it’s quite possible that GI will move to a Vancouver facility once again — the Molson plant in Kitsilano.

Vancouver is great,

Emily B: boot camp vancouver