The Lower Mainland is blessed with an amazing wealth of quality craft breweries and wineries. The Springs Group family has the luxury of sampling pretty much every single craft beer and wine available in the Lower Mainland. With that in mind, we’ve put together a small list of some staff favourites below. Hopefully, there are some new names listed here that will perk your interest and possibly entice you to visit their location or find some of their wares at one of our liquor stores. Enjoy!
Backcountry Brewing
Backcountry Brewing is located in a 6,000 square foot brewery in Squamish BC. Their location houses the brewery, a killer tasting room and a kitchen offering some sweet pizzas and other snackery. Check them out the next time you’re in Squamish and sample some of their award-winning brews. Sadly, the main vibe of the place is the tasting room and the food and, just like everyone, they’ve had to resort to pick-up only for their beer. Visit their website.
Barnside Brewing Company
Barnside Brewing calls Lander BC its home. They’re all about the farm environment since the brewery is literally on a working farm. They refer to themselves as agriculture retro – and honest. Currently, you can visit them and sample their wares in a socially distanced manner on their patio. “Wander inside and sit amidst century-old beams and wood gathered from heritage barns right here in Delta. Sample farm-fresh beers while enjoying the view across the hop yards and cranberry fields, all in a setting that speaks to our long-standing farm history.” Visit their website.
Bridge Brewing Company
Bridge Brewing Company has it made in its North Vancouver location. This local favourite has been crafting beauty brews since 2012 and will serve up their signature tacos while you drown a pint or two. They’ve recently opened a new restaurant attached to the brewery where they offer brunch, lunch and late-night menus. You can even order online and roll by for curbside pickup. Visit their website.
Chaberton Estate Winery
Finally, a winery to add some diversity to our list. The Chaberton Estate Winery has its roots in France dating back to 1975, the owners started again in 1991 with new beginnings in Okanagan wine country. The owners passed up locations in California, the Okanagan and Ontario before settling in the Frazer Valley. Now, they boast over 50,000 cases of wine a year and claim to be the valley’s oldest winery. Visit their website.
Field House Brewing
Field House Brewing. East Abby is short for East Abbotsford and they are taking table reservations as they re-open. Study their menu and book a table! They love to experiment with their brews and have some fairly interesting sounding varieties like Citra Tettnang Galaxy XPA, Nelson Sauvin Sour IP and Salted Lime Mexican Lager. Visit their website.
Foamers Folly Brewing Co.
What a great name! It’s probably not what you think unless you’re an obsessed train nut. Take from their old-skool-vibe website, A ‘foamer’ is someone who absolutely loves trains. They’re obsessed. With its 20 taps delivering a unique, crafty brew out of each spout, you won’t run out of ideas when visiting them at their Pitt Meadows location. As a matter of fact, you’re likely to hear the whistle of a passing freight train while you drain all manner of liquid from their award-winning line-up. Visit their website.
Four Winds Brewing Co.
Four Winds Brewing cracked its doors in June of 2013 and have been dispensing their brand of west coast liquids ever since. Several of their beers are award-winning creation sporting labels named after Greek Gods like Zephyrus and Notus. Boasting some hefty awards from Canadian and world beer contests, you’ll want to add their Delta location to your next brewery tour. You can order directly from their website (don’t forget to scroll) or visit their tasting room which is now open! Visit their website.
Mission Springs Brewery
We can’t get through this without mentioning our own amazing brewery, right? No surprise there. As one of the oldest breweries in the lower mainland, it opened its doors in 1996. The brewery is alongside the Mission Springs Pub where you can order up a feast and sample the tried and true brews from the Trailblazer Pilsner to the Fat Guy Stout. This should be no surprise as we are very proud of our own brewery. We are always crafting up new batches of cunningly crafty beer to accompany our year-round staples. Visit the website.
Old Yale Brewing Co.
Old Yale Brewing cracked its doors in 1999, so they’ve been around the block. Venture a little farther out into the valley and visit this well-established brewery in the heart of Chilliwack under the gaze of the Northern mountains. Their tasting room is at the heart of their location serving up their brews and tasty appies from their Campfire Kitchen which is a converted airstream camper! Visit the website.
Ravens Brewing Company
Ravens Brewing claims all their ingredients are sourced from local growers in the Frazer Valley which isn’t hard to believe. This multiple BC Beer Award-winning brewery is located in Abbotsford and also houses a distillery (navigation is a bit funky, but you’ll figure it out). You can have it all at Ravens Brewing from their award-winning Corvus Lingonberry Lime Gose to a classic German Allfather Pilsner. Visit the website.
Silver Valley Brewing Company
Silver Valley Brewing brings a chill and relaxed vibe to the craft brew family in the lower mainland. No pretense here. They don’t take themselves too seriously and are in no way snobbish about their beer. This super laid back establishment isn’t ‘technically’ in Silver Valley, but close enough! Their tasting room is open from 1 pm – 7 pm Monday to Friday so drop by and check out their amazing Rocket Pilsner (5.75 @ 35IBU). Another stellar Maple Ridge craft brewery to frequent.
So many more craft breweries
There are dozens of breweries that could be featured on this list so you’ll just have to head out there and check off your brewery passport. Hmm, we don’t have one, but that’s a great idea, hey! Surely there’s an app for that. 🙂 We hope that at least one of these amazing local establishments gets you out the door (in a safe way). With many businesses closing it’s important to support those that we can.
Be well. Be safe!
