EYELUVBEER: The Beer Offerings of Victoria, British Columbia

By Eye Luv Beer Senior Canadian Travel Correspondents Mark and Brenda

Over our holiday break, we took a short trip to Victoria, B.C. After a ride from Seattle on the Clipper, we checked into a great boutique hotel, Magnolia Hotel that would serve as headquarters for the next two days. It proved an excellent choice given the hot chocolate with mint whipped cream available in the lobby, gas fireplace in our room, and nightly reception stocked with Canadian craft beers! We had to research what this Canadian craft beer was all “aboot”, eh?

Our first stop was Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub. Spinnakers crafts beer, bread, chocolate and cheese, some of the best things in life in these bloggers’ humble opinions. We started with a Scottish style ale and a festive saison (brewed with coriander and Cointreau) and then moved on to the Cascadia Dark Ale. All the standard ales were served in imperial pints, that’s 20 full ounces of beery goodness for those of you that aren’t glassware geeks. The beers were all outstanding! Spinnakers was made all the more appealing through the friendly service and the excellent meal we enjoyed – including a “Pub pie” with squash in a puff pastry over root veggies. We ended our meal with beer and truffle pairings! You may be asking yourself – how did they muster the strength to leave this place?

Our next beery stop on our tour was at Buckerfield’s Brewery located in Swans Hotel. We took refuge at this brewery after taking a soggy tour of the beautiful light display at Butchart Gardens. Buckerfield’s offered solid beer and food in a central downtown Victoria location. The beer offerings that we tasted were the IPA (very good and hoppy), an oatmeal stout and we finished with another Scottish ale.

While we didn’t actually stop by Phillips Brewing, we enjoyed two of their beers at Irish Times Pub. We had a “Service 1904”, a sweeter ale, and the chocolate porter which was like the beer version of chocolate milk – smooth, rich, and delicious.

Our last sudsy stop on our tour of Victoria was Canoe Brewpub. As you might suspect, Canoe has a nautical theme and is located near the water (we can imagine this spot on a warm summery night). Their seasonal, Winter’s Gale Strong Ale was very good – dark, warming, and lots of spices. The Beaver Brown Ale was pretty dark with tastes of chocolate and coffee. The salmon dinner we had was absolutely phenomenal - delicately grilled salmon over a bed of farro risotto.

Oh Canada! Thank you for your friendliness, delicious food, and of course, plethora of excellent craft beers.