On a recent trip to Seattle, I was greeted by an unexpected sight. Smack in the middle of my favourite Whole Foods was a display of Driftwood Singularity and Fat Tug. Upon further examination, there was Red Racer, Howe Sound and more Driftwoods in the beer cooler. The stack of Unibroue Ephemere by the green apples was appropriate, but BC craft brewers in the States?
Email is wonderful: let's go to the source and ask why our great beers are leaving the province?
"We [Driftwood] are really a result of the Cascadia craft beer renaissance that originated from Northern California, Oregon & Washington State," explains Gary Lindsay from Driftwood. "We don't consider international borders when looking at a relevant market to share our efforts."
Dave Fenn (one of the HoweSound owners) agrees, "We think it's important to compete in these markets, much like US breweries are competing with us in British Columbia. We get recognition within a huge market, and many search us out when visiting Canada."
The bigger beer market not gone unnoticed by Gary Lohin of Central City, "We look at North America as our market, and hope to build some traction when the new brewery opens." Central City can be found in Chicago, Boston, Philly, and Portland (Maine). Howe Sound sales in Washington, California, Wisconsin and Minnesota. These markets are a small percentage of overall Howe Sounds, but they are growing steadily.

Shipping product stateside is not always about sales. Gary Lindsay explains, "I think we feel we belong in the Seattle market and it and gives a bit of a 'personal' validation to be able to sell our beer in an extremely discerning market." Dave Fenn concurs, "We started our US work about 4 years ago, and participate in local festivals where our beer is sold.  I believe this is one important way for our brewery to grow in terms of knowledge and new ideas."


Thankfully the local brewers are not forgetting their local markets. Gary Lohin never forgets the locals, "We in fact sell all over BC, and in Alberta and Manitoba selectively. Red Racer was just given a general listing on Ontario, which means access to 264 of their stores."
"This market in no way compromises our [Howe Sound] ability to distribute in Canada.", say Dave Fenn. Howe Sound is in 180 BCLDB stores, over 200 private stores in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and soon Ontario.

What does this mean for local beer drinkers? Who knows? Hopefully access to bigger beer markets will spill over into more seasonal releases and a greater chance for experimentation. This will only make things better for the craft beer scene in BC.

My opinions about hemp ales is pretty low. It is not that I don't like the style, but often they lack the flavours you would expect. Most of the ones I have tried are mostly hype and not a lot of actual hemp flavour. I am particularly suspicious when they are released in April.
High Tide Hemp Ale = 6/10

Ratebeer 2.98/5 (5 ratings)
Beer Advocate B+

The nose is very promising: vaguely nutty, toasted and caramelized. The medium-full delivers a standard sweetish ale (wee heavy) but the extras make this brew a unique one. You can actually taste the particularly nuttiness that is characteristic of hemp. The just right balance of hemp nuttiness, slight sherry malts and herbal hops makes this brew very drinkable. After every gulp, yup this is gulpable, there is a decent slick coating of sweet nuttiness.

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.5%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (great ruby colour and fun label: not overly 4:20 hipster)

Howe Sound Nut Brown

Nut browns have never appealed to me. Perhaps all the styles have been focused at mass markets and not very interesting.

Ratebeer 3.39 81st percentile
Beer Advocate B+

Taste +3

This one was a refreshing change of events. The nose was roasty and slightly nutty. I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of caramel, roast, bourbon, wood and pecans with every sip. Your mouthfeel was medium and slightly creamy. I think there was a little cocoa powder thrown in there.

Aftertaste +1

It was clean with dry pecans, wood and bourbon. Sadly it faded quickly leaving a slick coating.

Alcohol Content -1 4.7%

This should count as a +2; a beer this flavourful with such a low ABV is unusual.

Value +1

This is one nut brown I would buy again and not just to get the fancy bottle.

Ingame Enhancement +1

This was the perfect beer to make me forget about the Big Rock Lager.

Overall 5/10

All of the beers from Howe Sound have been excellent; this was no exception. The flavours were unexpected and welcome: wood, bourbon, pecans and creamy caramel.

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Bailout Bitter and Carbon Footprints
Three Beavers

Howe Sound - Pothole Filler Imperial Stout

Ratebeer 3.64 77nd percentile
Beer Advocate A- (1 review)

Taste +5

It pours with a large, long pillowy tan head. The colour is as black as a coal mine at night. Oddly the nose is faint but carried some roast, chocolate and fruit scents. The mouthfeel was thick, molasses with a right amount of alcohol burn. The burn wastes no time and hits the lips at the start. Bitterness is delivered 1/2 from earthy hops and other 1/2 from roasted malts and bitter chocolate flavours. The bitterness barely contains this sweet and dry stout. Did I mention about the coffee, big roasted and chocolate bits? For those keeping stats it was 21 Plato and 65 IBU.

Aftertaste +2

It was not as long as I would have liked. The finish was just like the first sip with no new surprises. Eventually the dry, roasted finish just vanished clean. It did take a while.

Alcohol Content +1 9%

It is a session beer as long as the session lasts about 3 hours per one liter bottle.

Value +1

A wonderful, wonderful imperial stout. Buy one if you can find it.

Ingame Enhancement +1

It really did a number on my reflexes. I was about as sharp as a wet paper bag. At least I had a good time whacking zombies, even if they were a bit blurry.

Overall 10/10

Yay, the second perfect 10 of the year. This is a must for those who like big, roasty, chocolaty stouts. Make sure you share it with a friend.

Longwood Imperial Stout
Rogue Shakespeare Stout
Cannery Maple Stout

Three Beavers (Howe Sound)
Imperial Red Ale

Beer Advocate A+ (1 rating)

I like this brewery for two reasons. The beers are usually very good and extremely drinkable. The beers are also packaged in 1 liter resealable bottles; so they are perfect for home brewing.

Taste +4

A most pleasant, caramel maltiness burst through the huge pillowy head. The distinctive citrus, floral and spicy aroma from the cascades could also be noted. Every sip had a chewy and juicy sensation on the palate. There was a good mix of bready malts, slightly spicy, with the classic citrus (tangerine) cascade tang.

Aftertaste +2

It left a peanut butter like coating everywhere. The residual hops left a citrus and alcohol tingle on the tongue.

Alcohol Content +1 7.5%

It was a little stronger, but it enhanced the hop tingle.

Value +1

This was a great tasting beer. And at under $8 a bottle I might pick up one more.

Ingame Enhancment +1

Did the Hard Rain map on advanced. It is always great to play with 3 real people for a change. Those guys are very nice and always let me carry the grenade launcher. Why do they always stand so far behind me?

Overall 9/10

This is a great drinkable beer with above average flavour. It was the citrus bite from the cascades, nice bready malt and a chewy mouthfeel. Sadly it only comes in the liter size.

Double Dragon Red Ale (Phillips)
Nelson Faceplant Ale and a new beginning
Arrogant Bastard Ale

Howe Sound Hangdog Hefeweizen

This brewery is located about an hour south of Whistler BC. They are perhaps the most recognizable brand because they use one litre re-closable pot-stoppers. This makes the bottles sought after by homebrewers like me. It is nice that the beer inside is usually good. Their nut brown ale won a silver medal at the Canadian Brewing awards in 2009.

Ratebeer 2.98/5 40th percentile
Beer Advocate A-

Taste +2

The nose has the standard lemon zest and yeast. Sadly the taste is a little weak and watery. On the plus side, the light lemon sweetness is not tart at all.

Aftertaste 0

It was average, dry and clean.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value 0

It was nice and drinkable but not spectacular.

Ingame Enhancement 0

What is lacks in quality it makes up in quantity. Any litre of beer easily calms the ingame twitching.

Overall 2/10

It was a little weak for a hefe, but that could be good for some people. At least it comes with a cool bottle.

Howe Sound Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter
Granville Island Hefeweizen
Tree Hefeweizen and I get by...

Meterman: Any luck trying to reduce your carbon footprint?
Flavius: Yup, I sold the Suburban and bought a Smart car. I am eating more organic foods.
M: That is a good start.
F: But I now have to make six trips to get all my kids to school.
M: Sigh. Well at least there are fewer pesticides.
F: Yup, Kiwis jet fresh from New Zealand. Free range eggs from Poland...
M: You do know that they produce organic kiwis and eggs in Victoria.
F: No Way. I have seen those kiwis farms; they spray the kiwi trees.
M: That was the farmers dog you idiot!

Bailout Bitter (Howe Sound)

Ratebeer 2.92 not rated
Beer Advocate A

Taste +3

With only the faintest nose of hop bitterness, I wonder if it would actually be a bitter. Yup, but it was the sweet tangy bitter, not the dry grapefruit hoppy style. These flavours all floated on a sweet pale malt ocean. A good attempt at a English style bitter. Well balanced between the toffee malts and light floral citrus hops.

Aftertaste +1

Very light coating of bitterness was left, almost a light pale ale style.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value +1

This was a nice bitter, I think their best bitter was better. The 1 liter pop-topper costs about $7.

Ingame Enhancement 0

I played singstar with friends. No glasses shattered so it was a good night.

Overall 5/10

It is a nice refreshing bitter, enough said.

Howe Sound Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter

Rate beer 3.26 62 percentile
Beer Advocate A-


Taste +3

This was a nice beer. Very light hop bitterness in the nose with hints of nuts. The taste was a pleasant surprise; very light hop bitterness, grass and hollow malt and honey sweetness. It was very refreshing; an excellent example of a English style bitter.

Aftertaste +1

Slight warming tingle with the following hop bitterness.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value +1

I got this on tap at the Oak Bay Rec Center lounge. How is that for a hip and happening place?

Ingame Enhancement +1

It was almost like L4D in the lounge. Many of the patrons were rotting and moaning.

Overall 6/10

Who would have guessed that one could find good beer at the Rec Center.