I wasn’t always like this. Two years ago, I was more interested in buying the cheapest, most underwhelming, domestic beer that I could find—until I had my “conversion moment.”
For me that moment occurred in 2016 at the B.C. Agrifood and Seafood Conference in Kelowna. It was during a session put on by representatives from B.C. Hop Company and the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild where my world changed. All of a sudden I realized that my choice of beer could shape the landscape of my community by supporting local breweries, that were in turn sourcing their materials from local farms and small businesses. I became a craft beer aficionado and I haven’t looked back since.
Little did I know that in 2017 my beer-drinking world would be “rocked” again, when I received my first copy of The Growler. At the time I realized that there were some local craft breweries in the Victoria area, but I had no idea just how many breweries existed throughout B.C., the diversity of their selections and how many new breweries were in the works.
So began the B.C. Craft Beer Quest, an epic craft beer-drinking quest to end all quests!
The goal of the #BCcraftbeerquest is simple: set out to sample a beer or two from every craft brewery in this great province and mark them off in your latest copy of The Growler.
This quest will take you all over this province because some of the nanobrewery selections are harder to find due to limited retail hours and smaller distribution chains, but the journey is a lot of fun! From a tasting room at Cumberland Brewing to a private liquor store in Kelowna, to the Tap and Barrel in Vancouver, I’m moving closer to 100%. In the words of the band Kongos, “Come with me now,” and start your own #BCcraftbeerquest!
If you’re on Twitter or Instagram, throw down a tweet and maybe a pic, so that your fellow craft beer enthusiasts can follow you on your quest as well.
• In addition to being a massive craft beer nerd, Carl Jensen is a city councillor for the District of Central Saanich.
