Hi Julien,
as you may have noticed, almost nobody from the area uses the forum anymore…
Best IPA/IIPA producers (you can trust almost everything from these guys):
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Superflux: they client brew, so you can find 1 or 2 of their beers in the best bars, but there’s no taproom;
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Backcountry: they are out of town, chances are you may drive through Squamish, then you have to stop there;
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Boombox: they contract brew at Parallel 49, so a couple of beers may be on tap there, and one or 2 available in cans to go;
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Beere: they are in North Vancouver, easy to reach with the seabus, but a few beers are also on tap around town, and 2-3 of their cans are available;
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Twin Sails: a short train ride to the East (or 30 minutes drive from downtown Vancouver); they changed brewer 3 months ago and they have been less impressive, they started brewing more beers with shit in it (rather than straight pure beers); still worth trying out.
Fuggles & Warlock can brew some good IPA, but they belong to the school that still adds shit to beer believing that that’s creativity; Four Winds have fallen down a lot, they mostly brew lame saisons and fruit sours, but still their Vexillum when in season is the best West Coast IIPA of BC; Yellow Dog brew good beers, but their selection is usually very limited, still it’s a fun stop if you are also visiting Twin Sails nextdoor…
Decent mentions: Brassneck, 33 Acres, Powell, Parallel 49 (30-40 beers on tap, mainly theirs), Luppolo.
Breweries where you shouldn’t waste time: Main Street, Red Truck, Brewhall, Electric Bicycle, Big Rock Urban, Faculty, R&B, Granville Island, Yaletown, Callister, Andina, Doan’s, Storm, Bomber, Off the Rail, East Van, Strange Fellows; Parkside, Moody Ales
Best beer bars: Alibi Room (nice atmosphere, large taplist, very expensive); Darby’s Gastown (moderate taplist, but they often have some highlight or tap takeover); St. Augustine’s (chaotic sportbar, but they have the longest taplist in town).
Almost every brewery and main bar has a comprehensive taplist online, let me know if you don’t find them (for example, Parallel 49 calls “taproom” the growler station, and “street kitchen” the taproom, fuck, but the info is there).
STORES: Legacy has the best “single cans” selection in town; Denman is quite good too in that sense, probably on par with The Gull, in North Vancouver; High Point has the better prices but very few single cans.
Avoid these; no matter the selection, they are vampires: Brewery Creek, Firefly, Viti’s.
Classic hoppy beers just released this week: Persephone Amarillo Pilsner; Driftwood Raised by Wolves.