Brewery Creek Beer Festival

Beatty Street Drill Hall, 1901

Yesterday I attended the inaugural Brewery Creek Beer festival at the Beatty Street Drill Hall. It was the first time I'd ever been inside the beautiful brick building, which is celebrating it's 110th birthday this year. Vancouver has never truly been known for it's need for military might, but I'm often fascinated by the few reminders that war was once a tangible threat in Vancouver. Designed by David Ewart, the architect behind Victoria's magestic Museum of Nature, this limestone armoury is as impressive as it's three foot walls imply.

Museum of Nature, Victoria

Inside, the event was home to nearly 20 American craft brews, notably including Deschutes and Rogue, and the thirty dollars paid in advance yielded a 5 oz taster glass and three tokens, which were redeemable for the liquid I crave most. My friend and I quickly moved to buy up more tokens and took a liking to Deschutes, Shipyard, and Elysian, but were disappointed by the offerings of Buckbean. Their Orange Blossom Ale was a massive disappointment, and honestly tasted like someone had dropped orange zest into your standard pale ale. Blech.

The whole event was overseen by new Vancouver band The King Rails, who provided some awesome rock and roll throwback for the 850 beer aficionados in the hall. There is a growing microbrewing scene in Vancouver and neighbouring coastal cities. I personally recommend The Alibi Room and St. Augustine's for their incredible variety, or Steamworks and the under-promoted Granville Island Brewing Taproom for brews produced hyper-locally.