While Seattle and Portland are widely regarded as the epicenter of the West Coast craft brew renaissance, there’s a lot going on north of the border as well. In Vancouver alone, dozens of craft breweries have emerged in the last decade, producing a highly respectable lineup of IPAs and pale ales, wheat beers, stouts and even some decent lagers. I had the chance to meet the often eccentric, always passionate brewers behind the beer as part of an article for the Globe and Mail newspaper on the nation’s top craft breweries.
12 Craft Brewers Shaking up the Industry
Mike Doherty, with reporting from Remy Scalza and Christine Sismondo
It used to be that most Canadian craft-beer drinkers were converts. After years of imbibing the mass-produced, heavily advertised products of big breweries, they’d be introduced – by enthusiastic friends, opinionated bartenders, or sheer curiosity – to small-batch beers with bold tastes well beyond the “smooth,” the “cold,” and the “less filling.” But now, 27 years after Canada’s first craft brewery, Granville Island, opened in Vancouver, craft beers are becoming mainstream, even for younger drinkers. And as the industry hits a tipping – or a tippling – point, its brewers are reaping a harvest of rewards.
Craft beer is a growth sector, despite Canadians’ slackening consumption of beer overall. Our nation’s Big Three brewers (Molson, Labatt, and Sleeman) have all flaunted their “Canadianness” over the years, but they’re now foreign-owned, and locavore drinkers are turning to regional draughts. They’re also keen to educate their palates: in restaurants, the phrase “beer sommelier” no longer raises eyebrows.
More and more breweries are opening across Canada, many helmed by beer-loving experts from other fields, whose labours of love are proving profitable. The shared fight to expand their market niche and loosen alcohol regulations makes them a collegial group of brewers who, together, pride themselves on being different.
Check out the rest of the article on the Globe and Mail website.
