Alright, we’re writing this backwards. Today marks part two of our beer tour. Our previous walking tour which turned out to be an awesome success can be found in our Part 1 of the Vancity Walking Beer Tour!
Interested in your own walking tour? Check out this:
Breweries Walking Tour
(a PDF with Open/Close times!)
Let us outline today’s walking tour:
- Steel Toad Brewing
- R&B Brewing
- 33 Acres Brewing
- Main Street Brewery
- Brassneck Brewery
- Red Truck Brewing
- Big Rock Urban Brewery (which we all skipped due to already having a previous birthday event at)
First stop, Steel Toad Brewing Company. Although Jenina & Robert had a fairly negative experience on the last visit with some friends, Kirsten and Dan had never been here before. There was no wait times, and the service was fairly quick at the bar. The warm pretzels were an excellent compliment with the flight of beer. Houses beer flights were $8 and consisted mostly of IPA’s. Our favorite being the Old Style Brown Ale.
Second stop was at R&B brewery. Not to future patrons that this establishment does not have a tasting room and/or have flights of beer. Instead, they offer small 1/2 oz sample glasses by donation while standing in front of the main counter. You enter the building and follow a set of stairs onto a platform overlooking the brewing process. The platform wraps around to their cash register. A small fridge containing some of their bottled crafts greets you on the entry. Overall a small location, friendly helping staff, and very tasty brews. Although Jenina and I would have loved to try their oatmeal stout, they didn’t have it on tap at the time. We don’t care for IPA’s but the White IPA was very enjoyable followed by their Saison. Talking with the staff, R&B is opening a gastro pub next door that will be serving pizza and beer. Hopefully to be open in the first week of June! Until then…
Following our first two stops, we ended up waiting in an exhausting line to get into 33 Acres brewing. They have a fairly large selection of brews, and an equally large selection of snacks. Jenina and I opt’d for the Chips and Dip. Simple dish with a french onion dip that paired nicely with their beers. Finding seating was like playing musical chairs. It’s also worth mentioning that the line-up for the one and only washroom was just as long as the line to get into 33 Acres! Our beer choice was the 33 Acres of Darkness! Excellent tasting dark brew!
We made the hike over to Main Street. I mean, Main Street brewing! Not really on Main street, but one block east. Busy little location, but adequate seating. Again we ordered flights at the front counter. Except near the register, their were these massive pickles that would impress even the pickiest of pickle lovers! Let me tell you that these pickles were so juicy that after you bite into them, you could pour out a shot glass worth of pickle juice! Amazing! Moving along from the pickles, Kirsten and Dan ordered some flat bread and hummus dip. Another great compliment to some very flavorful tasting flights. Although, one beer (the brown ale) was flavorless. The rest of the flight for bold and full of flavor. It was actually a shock to find that the brown ale didn’t appeal to any of us. A downside to this brewery would be that they don’t write clearly which beer is which on their paddles. Thus making it difficult to know which beer you’re exactly drinking. Overall an excellent experience.
Around the corner we made our way to the Brassneck. Another line-up. One group of 4 and another group of 6 ahead of us. Time moved quickly and the host welcomed us into the tasting area. A tasting area with limited seating. Another game of musical chairs. Not ideal, but glad to get their beer in our bellies! Our favorite beer being the Inertia Imperial Stout and our least favorite being the Passive Aggressive dry hopped pale ale. Thankfully we had Danny to down our Passive so the beer didn’t go to waste.
Earlier between Main Street brewing and the Brassneck, we passed Cartems Donuts. The more we spoke while we were enjoying our flight at the Brassneck had us talking about backtracking to Cartems for some “Craft Donuts”. That’s exactly what we did, and we’re glad we did. Throughout the night Kirsten was haunted by two things. Ernest Ice Cream, and Dickies Gingerbeer. Cartems had both, but she gave in and bought the gingerbeer along with a half dozen donuts. A nice little mid beer treat; not that we hadn’t been snacking all night!
Making our way back towards the Skytrain, we reached our final location. A hidden gem that by chance we left to last. Down in a commercial warehouse area, Red Truck Beer Truck Stop and Brewery blends right in. An exceptionally large tasting room with a live band. The tasting room continues out onto a beautiful patio. No waits and very few patrons. They had a food menu that would please anyone’s taste buds and a decent selection of craft beer. The only negative we had at this location was the servers. You order your beer and food at the bar, and in turn they give you a number. The first approach, the server brought meals meant for another table. Second time around they mixed up one of the sandwiches from another number. Third time was a charm, and everything was right. They need to get a better system in place with food. The band was a pleasure to listen to. Favorite two beers go to the Golden Ale and the Zero Tolerance ESB. Both excellent beers would be an ideal choice for a hot day on the beach!
That sums a part 2 of our Walking Tour. Ended the night with over crowded May long weekend weirdos on the Skytrain. One creeper especially who freaked us a little. You know who you are…
I’ll finish with another PDF attachment of the break down of our original color coded plans. A must download for the beer enthusiast! …and Yes, there are more tours planned to tackle the last of the breweries. We also know that there are more opening soon, and we’ll have to do some update posts.
DOWNLOAD the MASTER COLOR CODED URBAN BEER HIKE / WALKING TOUR PDF – CLICK HERE
