Tofino is a great place, fun little brewery too. Lots of breweries over there like Driftwood, Lighthouse, Hoyne, VIB, Longwood, Swans, Moon etc. Many have taprooms and offer growler fills. Smith's in Victoria is a cool pub. This site may point you in a good direction > http://victoriabeers.com/ p.s. it's a bigass island
Victoria is obviously the best place with lots of breweries in close proximity, as noted by Jonny. The area also has several pubs and stores with good variety. If you want something more specific please ask.
Will be mainly in Victoria. Just looking for the best place to sample a variety of well made beers, I like pretty much all styles (except Rauchbier, gross). Thanks for the help!
Victoria has a great scene... Driftwood, Phillips, Lighthouse and Vancouver Island are the biggest, with Hoyne and Spinnakers also being in the discussion. You also have Moon Under Water, Canoe and Swans brewpubs that are solid. No shortage of options.
I'd also recommend Garrick's Head. Irish Times, across the street, has its advantages tough. if you want to take some bottles home as well you should try Hillside Liquor Store, Cascadia at the Uptown Center and both Metro at Shelbourne and McKenzie (there are like 100m from each other). If you don't want to go too far, Strathcona store is a good option downtown.
If you're in Victoria, the best places to grab a pint are the Garrick's Head, Moon Under Water, Spinnaker's, and Swans. The best places to buy bottles are The Strath, Hillside Liquor, Metro Liquor at University Heights, Spinnakers at James Bay, Cascadia on Quadra, Cook Street Village Liquor Store, and Spinnakers Spirit Merchants (Wilson/Tyee). I haven't visited many of the local breweries, but I believe most offer growler fills but make sure to check their hours before going since taproom operations can be a bit spartan in BC - Driftwood, Hoyne, Phillips, Lighthouse, and Vancouver Island Brewing are a few local gems and the brewpubs in town should be able to fill a growler for you.
if anyone is able to make it to nanaimo, Lucky's is selling almost everything 10-20 percent cheaper than i can find in the comox valley. i imagine their prices are similarly better compared to victoria and vancouver. 10.75 for singularity and bird of prey for example. cheers!
What would folks say the best store is in the proximity of Victoria? And, yes, I would be interested in finding some Cantillon. ;-)
I've been to all of Cook St Liquor, Cascadia (Quadra and Uptown), Strath, and Hillside Liquor recently and none of them have any Cantillon right now. The Strath tends to have good stuff that lingers around for a long time, and I like Cascadia Quadra and CSL.
Thanks for the tips. If anyone has pointers on local beers that are currently on shelves that an out of towner should pick up, I'm all ears!
Check this thread, it has many of the top choices. Most of them you should able to find easily, some may be harder nowadays, but usually not impossible.
