Latest Stories from What’s Brewing

For craft brewers, the quality of the ingredients they use to make beer is critical. Each of the natural products they source from their many suppliers can vary from year to year or even batch to batch.

The name ‘BeerSeekers’ was born six years ago when, after our umpteenth brew tour in Oregon, the two of us thought “this trip was really interesting, and we just have to tell people about it.”

As I compulsively do, I looked at the magazine pile, and was pleasantly surprised by a notice in one them about an upcoming new book on Vancouver Island craft brewing entitled Island Craft.

Thanks to the world of the Pink Boots Society, I have finally had the chance to meet Brenda and some of her family — and maybe one of these days we will brew together! Please meet Brenda Miller of Pemberton Valley BeerWorks, also known as The Beer Farmers.

This past February, beer journalist Stephen Beaumont launched #FlagshipFebruary, a social media campaign encouraging beer drinkers to consider drinking brewery core brands over ‘seasonal’ offerings.

Three years ago, I traveled up the Sunshine Coast to Powell River across to Courtenay in the Comox Valley, and then south to Victoria, stopping at every brewery along my route. Since then, several new breweries have opened in the mid- and North Island, so it was time for a re-visit.

As the days get warmer and longer, we reach that magical time of year: beer festival season. It’s when beer nerds flock to open fields and town plazas to queue up and sample tiny glasses of the latest and greatest the industry has to offer.

If you live and work in the South Okanagan business community, you might know the Agur family. Involved in highly successful hospitality and real estate enterprises and well respected for their business acumen, they were able to bring significant experience to the task of creating a craft brewery five years ago.

What’s Brewing first met Highway 97 Brewing Co. owner John Kapusty in summer 2016 when he was renovating the old Tin Whistle Brewing location to create his dream business.