Magazines » July/August 2009 » A Match Made in Canada
It’d be easy to argue that Victoria, a harborfront city poised at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, earned its spot as British Columbia’s capital via a beauty contest. Now, the city’s rainbow of pale, amber, and brown ales shines as bright as its endless blue sky, chestnut earth, and lush green landscape. Heather Greenwood Davis tells why a tiny town in our neighbor to the north wins a place in the beer-traveler’s notebook.
If your image of Victoria, B.C. involves high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel and gray-haired cruise-shippers snapping photos with the city’s bronzed regal namesake, you’ve been away too long. Sure, you’ll still find buggy rides and double-decker tour buses in this city whose British roots are always showing; and yes, those gorgeous gardens that put it on the map are here, too. But the local secret is out: Victorians’ favorite brewed beverage isn’t boiling hot in a fancy pot, but served slightly chilled and by the pint.
It hasn’t always been this way -- just ask Matthew Phillips, the 30-something brewmaster who’s concocted ales and lagers at B.C. breweries for more than a decade. When he started Phillips Brewery in 2001 he was a one-man show, making, storing, and selling his beer from his apartment before taking it on the road in a 1964 milk truck for delivery. Now with eight breweries in town, Victoria has become the center of Canada’s beer drinking universe. Phillips credits the city’s history.
“Victoria, historically, is a very British city,” says Philips. “That predisposes the population to a more adventurous palate in their beer.” Which is why, he reasons, locals flock to his Amnesiac double IPA (a “bigger, meaner cousin” to his original IPA) and Black Toque India dark ale, an IPA/brown ale hybrid.
While 40 percent of Phillips’ products head off to pubs, 60 percent are bottled for home consumption. That only works in a city where the mantra is “drink local” (Phillips Brewery has been running at full capacity for the last year as a result) and many of his loyal customers would rather drink mud than Canadian stalwarts like Molson or Labatt. At local pubs like The Garrick’s Head and Christie’s Carriage House, the 10 or so taps are almost exclusively local, and die-hards craft their own porters and pilsners at brew-it-yourself spot Bedford Brewing.
It’s a no-brainer that in a city where chefs are keen on sourcing local food products and supporting area farmers, gastropubs will find success. Such has been the case at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub, one of three stops on Victoria’s small, self-guided Ale Trail. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Spinnakers is the country’s first purpose-built brewpub and a lunchtime hotspot where patrons pair the pub’s complex Belgian Abbey Ale with Kennbec fries and its kölsch with Farmhouse chicken pizza. Seasonally, you’ll find tables topped with pumpkin porter and raspberry ale, and every once in a while, the place hosts a beer and chocolate event, where house-made truffles pair with a flight of microbrews.
Other stops on the trail include Buckerfield’s Brewery at the Swans Suite Hotel (go for the ESB) and Canoe Brewpub (get a buzz from the espresso stout; the brewer partnered with a local coffeehouse that uses only fair-trade, organic beans). A fourth stop, Hugo’s Grill and Brewhouse, closed last year, around the same time Driftwood Brewery set up shop five minutes away. Though the brewery’s not equipped for visitors, you can sip White Bark Wit and Farmhand saison at a slew of pubs throughout Victoria (try Penny Farthing Public House).
There’s no Earl Grey or English Breakfast variety yet, but it would be silly to rule anything out in this city. What is clear is that Victoria has come a long way from the tea-tottling days of old.
FOLLOW VICTORIA’S ALE TRAIL…
Canoe Brewpub, Marina and Restaurant
450 Swift St.
Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub
308 Catherine St.
Buckerfield’s Brewery at Swans Suite Hotel
506 Pandora Ave.
…OR GO YOUR OWN WAY.
Bedford Brewing Co.
776 Fairview Rd.
Phillips Brewing
210 Government St.
Lighthouse Brewing
836 Devonshire Rd.
Vancouver Island Brewery
2330 Government St.
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This article originally appeared in the July/August 2009 of DRAFT Magazine
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