Four Winds Brewing Co.

 

 

 

Vibe — A nice space with semi-high ceilings and a bunch of dark wood, stained concrete and some branded merch throughout. Draft list is a little tough to read as its hidden behind the massive growler filling station.

Quality — All the beers we sampled were great, well made.

Service — Service was OK, beers came out just fine.

Selection — I think there were 8 or so taps up and running, not bad at all, fair array of styles and profiles.

The quality of Four Winds beers is consistently great across a wide range of styles. Mix and match from 8 beers to create a flight. Their standard 4 plus 4 seasonals. Growler service on most but not all that they have on tap. Fridge with bombers and 4x330ml packs. Service was incredible when Sean was behind the bar but he's moved onward and upward in this family business so now the service is just great. Location is in a light industrial area and on a heavily travelled commuter route so try to avoid coming to or from here weekdays between 2:30 and 6 if coming from the North side of the Fraser River (bridge and tunnel traffic is awful). Nice selection of branded items for sale. Patrons are a neat mix of local workers, suburban dwellers, and beer geeks.

IMO the best young brewery in BC, and hey they just won brewery of the year in Canada. Problem/Not a problem, they're quite small. The taproom doesn't always have something super interesting on, anything unique sells faster and faster these days, but there's always something good, I find a lot of people really under-appreciate the 'standard' lineup. Service here is great/amazing. The vibe is quite relaxed, it's up and down but usually never so busy that you can't get a beer and enjoy a conversation with someone. Not the easiest place to get to is really the only downside, but that keeps it intimate which is a plus. They've expanded once, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them expand again soon. No kitchen on site (yet) but they have some tasty snacks, and a chain sub shop around corner if you're desperate. Their first single barrel release was quite the blitz, but people are very polite.

Edit: they've expanded to 12 taps, and have tacos!