good under/not rated breweries

I'm impressed with their brews as well, and they did take home two CBA's this year. That said, they interperate some styles a bit differently (or maybe they just don't like to be constrained by standard guidelines). I like their "IPA", but I wouldn't have called it 'west coast' because that creates certain expectations. With the malt balance, I'd say it's actually more east coast. Then again, if they had called it west coast common it'd be perceived as anchor steam on steroids and the geeks would be all over it. It really is a good brew, it just doesn't follow the modern, west coast IPA template (Fat Tug, Red Racer, Four Winds, Phillips, Lighthouse). I guess it's sort of an amped up Hophead, which Tree created ~15 years ago and still has a strong local following.

 

old abbey ales in abbottsford

 

Old Yale in Chilliwack makes solid brews too. Been a few years since I had them though.

 

Yes - their Sasquatch Stout is solid.

 

I'll throw another vote in for Black Swan.

 

Townsite Brewing in Powell River is probably the most under rated brewery in BC. One because not a lot of the beer makes it out of the city and two because they are not IPA centric. Highly respected and we'll trained brewer, cool sour program and tasty Belgian beers.

 

I wish they canned this beer, would be perfect for hiking or camping.

 

Stone City Ales out of Kingston, Ontario has my vote. They've got a solid and varied 4 beer core line up with an excellent American IPA. Their specials/seasonals/one-offs is what puts them at the top of the crop for me. Barrel aging, sours, single hoped pale ales, traditional Belgians, uncommon styles, imperials; they cover all the bases and do a very good job at that.

 

Pretty average brewery so far. Imperial stout was the best I've had, most of the IPAs have been way too heavy on the crystal malt imo. They've still got a ways to go.

 

I would agree with those comments. Of the 3 IPAs that I have tried, two were extremely malty, the other (Kapow) was much less so and definitely my favoriute of the 3. I was very impressed by the imperial stout though.

 

McAuslan also don't seem to get much excitement behind them but I love pretty much everything i've had from them (especially the Oatmeal Stout).

 

Agreed.

St Ambroise Pale Ale was one of my first craft beers, had as a 16 year old (fake ID said 19!) at Club Soda in Montreal back in 1990. I still think it is a good beer even though I very rarely drink it. The Oatmeal Stout is very good too and the Russian Imperial Stout is excellent and deservedly on the Canada Top 100. The Apricot Wheat is still a go to beer for my wife and for my mother. I almost always have it in the fridge for them.

 

I have a 3 year vertical of the RIS that some friends and I are going to crush soon. I think it's an excellent beer at an unbeatable price (at least last time I saw it it was $4.25 a bottle).

 

Second for townsite. some great one off and seasonal creations.

 

Old Abbey is quite good but when you can only try 4 of the 16+ they have for tasting it's hard to judge...

 

I used to like their Sergeant's IPA but I see that it's been renamed as West Coast IPA ... haven't tried it yet.

 

My vote for most under appreciated is Moon Under Water (Victoria, BC) and as a matter of fact I would consider them one of the top over-all breweries in BC. I don't think I've ever tasted a bad beer from them and some are excellent (Hefeweizen and Pilsner to name two) they live in the shadow of Driftwood and even Phillips. it doesn't help that they're based in an incredibly average pub in a not-so-hip part of Victoria.

 

Yes, they've had some nice stuff. Sadly, it tends to shelf turd on the mainland, but it really shouldn't.