Victoria Island beer

Going to Victoria & Victoria Island in May. Anything decent in the way of beers, brewpubs etc.?

Cheers! Dukester

Reply to
Dukester
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On 3/22/2007 12:54 PM Dukester fell asleep at the keyboard, and awoke to find this:

Perhaps you mean Victoria and *Vancouver* Island?

Pretty good beer town. Brewpubs include Swan's, Hugo's, the Canoe, and Spinnakers. Pubs include the Sticky Wicket at the Strathcona Hotel downtown, and Christie's Carriage House Pub out at 1739 Fort Street (on the web at

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Reply to
dgs

Ooops, my bad. I did indeed mean Vancouver Island. Fingers got ahead of my brain. Thanks for the tips.

Cheers!

Reply to
Dukester

There's also the Longwood brewpub up in Nanaimo, BTW - or at least there was. Don't know if it's still going; the web site is defunct.

Reply to
d.g.s.

Longwood is still open. Don't know what's up with the website.

The brewpubs mentioned above are all worth visiting. Hugo's is a bit odd though - the atmosphere is more like a nightclub and I tend to stay away on a Friday or Saturday night because it becomes one, complete with an annoying DJ, ear splitting 'music' that you can hear from 2 blocks away and lighting that threatens to induce seizures.

But the beer is pretty good, the food is excellent, and it tends to be very quiet during the day (or mid-week evening) making it a nice spot for a meal & beers.

Canoe is a gorgeous venue with good beer and good (but somewhat pricey) food. They don't brew a huge number of beers, they have 4 regulars (a lager, pale ale, bitter and a brown that's closer to a porter) plus one seasonal.

They are all worth trying and are consistently in good shape.

Swans is only a couple of blocks away, and it's back to being a great brewpub. They were having some problems with the beer quality, but hiring a new brewmaster a while back has fixed that. They will typically have 8 to 10 beers on tap, all brewed on site.

Spinnakers is the grand daddy of Victoria (& probably all of Canada) brewpubs. While almost everything is served by handpump, on Friday afternoons they do a gravity dispensed cask that's worth trying out. They usually tap that at about 4:00. Incidently, Longwood did the same thing the last time I was there - it was so good I missed a ferry savouring a pint of that!

There's also a new brewpub in Duncan called "Craig Street Brewpub" but I haven't been yet. Apparently the beers are what one might call a bit pedestrian, but that's second hand info so I don't know for sure. In any case, if the OP is heading up to Nanaimo, it's on the way so it couldn't hurt to check it out.

Actually, the beer in Victoria is generally a bit tamer than what you find elsewhere in the PNW, but usually quite well executed. You won't find any "Double Bastard Imperial IPAs" in the brewpubs here, though a local micro called Phillips Brewing comes the closest.

Phillips is owned by brewer Matt Phillips who used to brew at Spinnakers brew pub. He produces a very nice range of beers and they are worth seeking out, either in bottle or on tap at a few locations in town.

Other brewery products worth looking for include those from Lighthouse, though be warned that their IPA is pretty low on the IBUs. Even so, it's a beer that I like an awful lot. If you can find it, you might try something from Gulf Island Brewery. They are based on Saltspring Island and make some nice beers, though I've found some problems with their bottled products. There are a few places that carry them on tap though.

Vancouver Island brewery products are closer to mainstream. They are certainly not bad, but they are a much bigger brewery than Phillips or Lighthouse and it shows in the products they brew.

If you are not aware of the Canadian beer scene, there are certain beers to avoid. One is Alexander Keith's IPA. It's not an IPA in any sense of the word. A few places will have it on tap - Just Say No.

Most of the Okanagon Spring products are very pedestrian, likewise Sleeman's. Granville Island is generally in the same category, but occasionally they produce some gems sold as seasonal specialties. They did a pilsener that I thought was a very authentic Czech style pils, and they've done a nice job with some other specialties. These are only available in 650 ml bottles though.

To the OP: hope you enjoy your time here!

Cheers,

Bill

Reply to
Bill Riel

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