There’s a thriving craft beer scene on Vancouver Island with options ranging from hopped West Coast styles to some innovative sours and barrel aged choices. We decided to do a deep dive into local options, and though we didn’t limit ourselves to just VI, everything we’ve tried is brewed within British Columbia.
Admittedly, neither of us are cicerones, though we are snobbish beer drinkers. If you’re looking for a rating system, check out what Beer Advocate recommends to use. We incorporated aspects of this, and slotted beers into a histogram. If we liked a beer, we sought out more from the same brewer. This has wrecked a normal distribution of beers, but given us a more enjoyable drinking experience.
Aiding in our Vancouver Island process, has been Cascadia Liquor‘s beer by the can option. Unlike poorer choices in the states, they have a solid selection of beers available as singles — no mass produced stuff. They remind me a little bit of Craft Beer Cellars combined with Binny’s.
The mid-point of our beer histogram is Russell Brewing‘s IP’eh. We then go up or down from there, comparing it to others in a slot and using other criteria to see if it gets bumped up. A few breweries have stood out for us so far:
Moon Under Water. We’ve actually been to the brewpub, and can attest that the food is as good as the beer. Our current number one brew is Sprucey Fruit — a sour flavored with spruce tips. Creepy Uncle Dunkel wins as a lager and a fun name to chant while drinking. We also quite enjoyed their Copper Kettle Sour. Sours seem to win with us lately.
TWA Dogs. Funny story — we were checking out Red Barn Market when we spotted a placard, which we followed on foot through an industrial park. What we found was a cool little distillery/brewery with a Scottish bent and backstory behind every brew. Jan and I agreed on their saison, Mistress of My Soul, which is a small miracle as I generally find saisons to be too sweet. We would’ve lugged home four packs of Drouthy Neibor IPA and Keekin’ Pilsner, but we had groceries.
Category 12. We found ourselves enjoying C12 beers enough that we hauled our butts up and down VI (there are few cross-town buses) to get there. Side Project Lager is a current fav because it’s drinkable and goes with everything, though they have a Dry Hopped Sour that’s pushing the top of our histogram. We were disappointed that it’s too early for their pumpkin-free Zombie Repellent Ale. We really hate pumpkin beers.
We have more breweries to try and several weeks to finish our local craft beer project. More to come!
